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Published: January 20th 2013
With me playing sucker dj and navigating our way out of Penang, Dean did a sterling job of driving the family truckster along the freeway to Taiping. In the left lane, vehicles were doing anything from 60 km/hr to 100. In the right lane, the average speed was probably 150 km/hr. With the limit being 110, and with advice from the concierge at the Mansion - "Ask for a receipt if pulled over by the police, they are corrupt." - fresh in our memories, Dean was zig zagging our way towards the old tin mining capital. Luckily traffic wasn't too heavy and we found ourselves in what was also the place where Chinese secret societies flourished last century by early afternoon without causing, or being in, an accident.
The town centre reminded me a little of Kampot in Cambodia - hot and tired. Trying to find our way to a recommended eatery for lunch, we asked a few people for directions and each gave different answers. One man provided some additional advice - for Eleanor to hang on to her bag in case of a bag snatch. Fantastic. We were in a dying town, melting in the heat and obvious
targets for thieves. The prison close to our hotel was also quite comforting. I then realised we were in the Ararat of Malaysia.
We made it back to the car before the scratchy parking ticket ran out and decided to go for a swim in the rooftop pool of the hotel. It turned out to be one of the highlights of the day as the location was lovely. We had a great view of the surrounding area and watched clouds move across the mountain tops nearby. This town is supposed to be the wettest place in Malaysia, but it didn't rain, even though the clouds looked a little threatening.
Arriving about 10 minutes early for the night safari, I didn't feel confident that it was open. There were no signs of life until 8pm when the roller door went up. We paid our entrance fee and then spent the next hour and a half wandering around in semi-darkness. I guess I was expecting something like the Singapore Zoo at night but it obviously doesn't get enough tourists in the evening to provide an experience like that. Anyway, we did get to stand within a metre of giraffes feeding
Entry to lost world
I wish we had matching t-shirts - just to fit in with the crowd.and I've never been so close to hippos before either. The otters were playful and teasing a monkey, so that was amusing. It was kind of an eerie experience walking around a zoo at night with nobody else around, except the animals, of course.
A late dinner at a hawker market fairly close to the hotel was, as usual, quite delicious but Eleanor was very tired so we didn't spend too much time there. We slept soundly in a lovely room overlooking the lake and woke to a beautiful morning.
Dean was keen to make a quick getaway so after breakfast we packed up and hit the road. Just like the Griswalds - Wally World here we come! (Although, in our case, The Lost World of Tambun at Ipoh) An uneventful drive saw us arrive nice and early and we were able to check in and dump our stuff before sauntering over to the theme park at 10am. A situation similar to that which greeted the Griswalds awaited - where was everybody? Was it closed for renovations? No, it opens at 11am on weekdays. Back to the hotel for a bit of Oprah v Lance.
At 11,
The Lost World
You can't imagine there's a theme park in there... we walked through the gates with a couple of other people for six hours of funfilled family entertainment. Not a huge theme park (much like Hong Kong Disneyland), although the petting zoo, tiger valley, mineral springs and spa, lazy river, wave pool, pirate ship, water slides and an historical exhibit on tin mining occupied our time fairly well.
Being a Friday, there were no crowds. In fact, for the first hour or two, we only saw a couple of other people. That meant Dean and Eleanor were able to enjoy lots of uninterrupted rides on the water slides. The history of tin mining exhibit was a bit like Sovereign Hill in a tropical setting and located in front of the team building section of the park, so not really a well visited part. Apparently Malaysians companies are mad for team building activities, and we did see a bunch of people wearing company t-shirts later in the day. The lazy river slowly took us around the park and Dean and Eleanor made sure I was the one who copped all the splashes of water each time.
We missed the turtle feeding but purchased some raccoon food and had fun
with Ruby Raccoon and her friends for a while. They are pretty fat and I'm sure some diet feed is in order. At 3pm the tiger feeding frenzy began. When the chickens were released (to the 'Chicken Dance' song) and ran along the wall of the tiger's enclosure, I was a little concerned. We were reassured that live feeding didn't occur during the show but I couldn't help but wonder where the chickens went afterwards.
To end the day, we relaxed in the mineral springs and spa. At 43-45 degrees, the water was a little warm but Dean said they weren't a patch on his baths in Japan. At 5pm we were well and truly wrinkled up, so we headed back to the hotel to freshen up. A helpful lady at the desk drew a map that somehow guided us to a local hawker market for dinner where we had a delicious ayam claypot.
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Rosemary Lewis
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Great driving experience in Taiping
Got your postcard. We went to Melbourne for Christmas and the Boxing Day Test. Amused to hear your driving experiences. Sounds like us in Canada. The worst is when you come to a roundabout and you have to turn the opposite way. Glad to hear that Eleanor has recovered from her fall. Not long to go before you return.All our love Rosie and Dad.xxxxoooo