Malaysia Round Trip - Day 2

Malaysia Round Trip - Day 1
Malaysia Round Trip - Day 2
Malaysia Round Trip - Day 3

The next morning, I was woken up by a chorus of alarm clocks from our handphones. We washed up and checked out of the hotel and was on our way at about 8.15am. I wanted to get out of KB before the traffic got bad again. Driving around in KB wasn't pleasant as the traffic was heavy and road rather congested. From there, I plotted a route to Jeli, starting off our cross country to the other side.

Leaving Kota Bahru


Village road with custom post here


Yikes. A flood


Police check


More police check point


From KB, the road took a quick change to more village roads and from the GPS, I found myself very close to the thailand border. At some places, thailand was like a stone throw away. The atmosphere of the drive here was a bit different as there were presence of police customs and soldiers along the road. We had to pass by a few road checks, and some custom post. I wasn't sure as to why I had to go through custom as I shouldn't I still be in Malaysia? Another thing was there were more thai influence in this area, and quite logically so.

Long road straight road


Roti Prata house in the middle of nowhere


Man preparing our prata


We were near the thai border


Delicious prata


Prata eating cat


We were getting hungry as we hadn't had our breakfast since our hurrid departure from Kota Bahru. I was hoping to find somewhere clean to have a good meal. However, the roads seemed mostly deserted and the food stalls at the villages were not too clean for our city standard. But as I was driving along a long straight stretch of straight road, I saw a house/shop selling prata that looked decent. I actually overshot it but I jammed brake and reversed back to get closer. It was around 9.30am.

The food was pleasant and served by a nice traditional malay family. There, roti prata was known as roti chanai and they took awhile to understand us. They must have been thinking what a Singapore car was doing here and not in some Shopping malls. We chatted a little and I told the lady in my smattering of malay that we were heading towards Jeli, and then to Sg Petani. She sounded shocked and replied "Tamat". Tamat I was to learn meant the end. Hmm, I learnt a new word that day.

Going up the mountain


Lots of majestic mountains


Reaching the rest point


Everyone here for hot drinks


Where we were


Were were 1.06km above sea level


This biker came in all drenched


Brrr...


An accident here


I next continued the drive down to Jeli. From there, we found ourselves going higher and higher up the mountain. Not unlike the drive at Cameron. We arrived at a large open area with lots of car parked. There was a canteen with all the travllers stopping there for food and rest. It was drizzling at that time and the air was very cold especially when a strong wind would blow at us once a while.

My trip meter reading at Lake Temenggor


This is the Royal Belum State Park


Strict regulation here


Street fighters at the Heli pad


The bridge that we came over


From there, I drove to Gerik further west of the route. We passed by the Temmanggor lake and there was a look out for rest and recreation. We stopped there for some pictures at this famous lake and then continued along the way to Gerik. I was tempted to take out my fishing rod, but evidently there was to be no fishing there.

Gerik rest point




Going for food


All the same fare from every shop


At rest point, we had our lunch at around 1.30pm. Lunch was traditional malay rice with fried fish. Simple fare and nothing to shout about. From there, it was the drive towards Baling and then Sg Petani. The place I was heading for was the Carnivall theme park that I had found on the internet. This was like the furthest north theme park and coming here was by no means an easy feat for us Singaporeans.

Arriving at Carnivall!


At the main entrance


Nice "monkey island" resort feel to this


Pleasant decor


Hmm, the floats were free, unlike other theme parks


Lazing around




Spa pool




Even the first aid house looked cute


Arh..the dress code is stricter than usual for Malaysia


Giant slide (quite scary according to D)


We arrived at the theme park at 4pm, with a sleepy headed D. When she woke up, she was all excited and wanted to jump into the water immediately. We got tickets and proceeded on to the water park. I asked the counter girl if the resort was nearby and was given a number to call.

Shot of someone else on it


I love this horse


Onward horsey!


This is a boring life


You could hear her scream from Kota bahru


Knick Knack shop outside the park


Leaving the theme park


Did I grow taller?


On the road again, towards Kampar


Leaving Sg Petani


Theme park was rather nice, and the standard here was comparable to those in Sunway Lagoon. The park was constructed with good material, unlike some of the other themeparks done with local craftmanship. However, the park itself was quite small, but I find it sufficient for an afternoon fun. Furthermore, it wasn't crowded at all and the time there was very pleasant.

We checked out the resort and found that the place was reasonable, BUT no room for the night. By now, I was worried that we would again find ourselves "homeless" for the night. I was thinking if I should head for Kampar straight away. That would reduce the distance needed to travel the next day as Kampar would be further down south. But as a precaution, we thought that it would be wiser to call and book the room. Luckily we did that as room was still available, but the hotel was rather full. So with our accomodation settled, there were no need for anymore worry on that part.

After D had her fill of the fun at the theme park, we started off driving out of Sg Petani and down to Kampar. From there, the distance would be about 200km. My expected arrival time from GPS was 9:30pm. That should be ok, and we would do dinner at the hotel when we reached.

Arriving at Kampar around 9.15pm


Checking in


Do I look cute like this god of fortune?


Tired travellers


From the window, I could see my Pica


Reunion dinner


From there, the road was more expressway and the drive was easier. Good thing as the drive was to be at night which would be more tiring than day driving. I reached the place a little earlier at 9.15pm. My girl loved this place from the last time we visited as it was big, clean and had a bath tub. :). Indeed, I would recommend this hotel for anyone in the vicinity as it was cheap for us Singaporeans, and I would easily put this hotel as 3 stars. Only gripe was that the food was kind of clinicky. (can eat, but nothing much to shout about).

Malaysia Round Trip - Day 1
Malaysia Round Trip - Day 3

Comments

Ender said…
Are you able to converse in Malay? Don't think I can order the prata there, as I believe up north, the Malay may not speak English, or do they?
Ender said…
What's the hotel name you recommend in Kampar
nafishnafish said…
I can't, but my wife can :). Over there, roti prata is known as roti chenai...They didn't understand "roti prata" and we had to point to it.

That prata shop is really located at a strange place. On a long straight road, suddenly got this little shop run by a man and his pretty wife. Not bad some more! :)
At night I think becomes Pontianak!!

The place at Kampar is Kampar Grand Hotel. It is on the GPS poi.

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