Day 11 - Fri 22 Nov: Ipoh to Raub

Mostly sunny 23 to 31 deg with 94 % humidity. Afternoon drizzle.
Ride: 80km; total: 443km 

Coffee machine in the room meant for a nice coffee to start the day. The apartment’s living area is huge, with full length windows in all directions, not that we had any time to sit around and enjoy the views. Breakfast was impressive with everything your little body desires; except muesli which is the favourite part of my brekky. I’ll survive though.

Away on time again, the crew are really on the ball now. Grey skies indicate that we may get wet, which is quite nice when it’s so warm and humid. After 2.5 hours on the bus, we reached the cycling start point for today, up on the Cameron Highlands. Lovely temp up at 1,500 odd metres, no wonder it was the favourite holiday place for the Brits when they were running the country. However, it’s now absolutely chock a block with hot houses for growing just about anything that requires a cool climate. Unfortunately, the locals have no respect for their environment as the whole region is completely covered in waste plastic and other rubbish.

Although the ride today headed “downhill” there were a heck of a lot of uphill sections. The road over the Cameron Highlands must be an absolute nightmare to keep open as we saw many repair crews out fixing landslides.

Lunch was a simple affair purchased from a restaurant as a takeaway as there’s not much in the way of civilization once you leave the top of the Highlands. We called it a day at 3 pm with 80 kms under our belts. It had started to drizzle with rain so good timing really.

An hour or so in the bus put us at the Rock Mountain Resort, near Raub, but actually in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

After chores we met up down beside the pool for a drink. We don’t have to go anywhere tonight as dinner is in-house. Unsurprisingly it was very tasty. Tomorrow we ride to the big smoke Kuala Lumpur.

Thousands of green houses

Veggie farms everywhere

A hydroelectric dam in the Cameron Highlands


Landslides are a constant problem

The start of another landslide

Lunch venue

Not on the menu, I hope

My room


Lovely carriage, I'm guessing used for weddings

Entrance to the pool area

Pool bar

One of the many dinner dishes; butterflied fish in a light black bean sauce


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