Route Without Horizons - Bunga!!!

The days leading to the new year was probably one of the best ways i ever ended any year. Knowing full well that my new year was probably going to be spent either nicely tucked in my bed in singapore, tired from the ride or in the worse case, along the north-south highway, i decided to take the chance to go touring for the first time ever since i started work. and it proved one of the best decisions of the year.

Malaysia Route Map

the route we were about to take was punishing. much of the route would be to explore the mountain range roads along northern malaysia which hugs the malaysia-thai border. The gerik highway (west-east highway) is reputed by many singapore and malaysian bikers to be one of the best and most scenic routes u can find in malaysia with an appealing mixture of nice big sweeps to tight twisties. being nature lovers as well, it offers us a relatively unspolit view of the great reserves in northern malaysia from the dizzy heights of mountain roads.

Pushing all the way on the north south highway from 1am in GP esso, we would hopefully reach the kuala kangsar exit around sunrise. after an hour's rest and catching up on some much needed sleep in Tapah R&R, we headed straight for the exit to Kuala Kangsar which would lead us straight to Gerik along highway 76 and the destination for the first night, Banding Island Resort on Pulau Banding (where else...kekeke).

Perak

By the time we were at tapah R&R, i was so deadbeat (not riding for so long has taken its toll...me and xj used to be able do 1200km in a day) that my extreme hunger was ignored. Lenggong (halfway from kuala kangsar to Gerik town) is the place for breakfast as isaac had been there abt 3 years ago and was familiar with that area. indeed, it was such a quaint little place with picturesque sights and having nice piping hot prata al fresco style completes the package. it was said that anna and the king was filmed around the area as the beauty of the place with its calm waterways were mostly untouched.

Lenggong's causeway with water on both sides of the road (the buses and lorries were speeding round the corners like jay in initial D)

Parked along the 'causeway'

the 3 musketeers

taking in the sights (isaac and cysiong)

indulging in some vanity here

a quick trip to the muzium arkeologi lenggong nearby provided us also with the historical background of perak's or even malaysia's first inhabitants, the perak man. (something like the more famous peking man) that was actually quite a fruitful stop as we caught up on some really good air-conditioning in an otherwise hot and humid morning, made worse with our thick jackets.

Off we went again, this time another stop to take pics with something u'll prob wun see much of. a 'wild elephant crossing' sign..........hahah...wat a joke..i really doubt any one would have seen a wild elephant crossing the dang road...though cows are not uncommon.



The route to banding island wasn't really fantastic though it had some nice sweeping bends, though we couldnt lean much with our slower speed in the trunk roads. dear thot that the route up to banding was the gerik highway and wondered wats so great about since there was little to marvel at except a few spots along the way....but she never knew.....

the twisties and scenery along the way

Soon enuff, we reached our destination for the night. having ridden almost 800km to reach here, the end product certainly didn't disappoint. The eagle eyed peeps amongst you would probably be asking. 'A pulau (island) in the mainland?' yup, right smack in the state of perak is tasik (lake) temenggor, which i believe is the largest in malaysia. (circled in the map of perak)

nearing Pulau Banding

1200ft above sea level

the length of the lake is almost the width of singapore! a dam built fairly recently caused much
of the lowlands to be drowned leaving only wat used to be the summits of mountain ranges as islands. Pulau Banding is serviced by two bridges, one in and one out joining 'mainland' malaysia. naturally, the whole area, with its long ranges and excellent wildlife, became a reserve.

the bridge to pulau banding

Home for the night was banding island resort and it seemed that we were the only occupants for the day. a quick chat with the employees revealed that weekends were the only times where they would be filled with more pple, namely from KL and Penang.

View from our room

the resort

having seen the receptionist area, something caught my eye. Eco tours such as boat rides and treks can be organised and guess wat. Rafflesia flowers are sighted in the region!! none other by the natives, the orang asli still living in 'relative' obscurity, hunting and growing their own food in the vast expanse of the reserve.



having decided on the boat ride after much negotiating with the organisers, we were off on a boat ride to possibly see the biggest species of flower in the world.

boat ride (im playing with the gps..next item on my wanted list)

sure enuff, we stopped after half an hour of slicing through the waters and came to an enbankment. a ten minute trek brought us quite a sight. first off, we saw elephant tracks which were hardened, indicating that they were here a few days ago.

young elephant's tracks

den the reason why they were there was revealed. on a steep slope on one of the face of a hill, we saw the rafflesia flower. the only time i saw a rafflesia flower was in primary school textbooks, exclaiming that it is the biggest flower in the world. they were only to be found in the island of borneo in sabah and sarawak, so having seen them in peninsula malaysia is quite a pleasant surprise. They are not as humungous as their borneo counterparts but still huge nonetheless and apparently, elephants love to eat their buds.

the flower up close (the bud is on the top left of the flower)

knowing that there are wild elephants in that island ready to pop out anytime was already an exciting prospect, though the experience of seeing the flower made it perfect. and finally...no...the flower doesnt eat insects or man and it doesnt stink after it has bloomed. it only stinks during blooming.

small flower compared to the man sized ones in borneo

i wondered if i could touch the flower since it looks so puffy, but our guide said it might not cause the buds to bloom. anyway, i think it might just be a way of leaving the flora 'untouched' as they say, and i gladly obliged.

out we went and next stop was an orang asli settlement. my impression of natives would be unkempt and wild pple, naked childen running everywhere and stuff like dat. but no, their settlement show signs of social bonding and camadamerie with homes built in an open concept and a huge elevated hall for, wat i assume, for village gatherings. the men were out hunting but the village headman entertained us with his blowpipe skills.

the settlement

showing off his array of darts, which were numbered and marked, he pointed his crusty finger to the dark blob at the tip of the dart. an anasthetic from a plant was smeared onto the tip and it's potency is so strong it could knock u out in 2 seconds, claimed the headman. and i tended to believe him. the tip of the dart would remain in the victim while the rest of the stick ( thinner and weaker than a satay stick) breaks off, making it very hard to pull out the poisoned tip. the other side is made of some lotus look alike pod with a firm yet soft texture.

the unpoisoned dart (poisoned ones have a dark blue tip)

pointing his blowpipe at a hard tree some 15 metres away, a 'thunk!' reverberated and we were all stunned. some 10cm of a farking weaker than satay stick actually penetrated into the tree! the headman explained further that they have stronger darts for the bigger animals. an invitation to blow was declined as we had tried it before some other place and also, his mouth piece was put everywhere from his feet to the ground.

groovy baby yeah!

hygiene isnt a particularly important issue for these guys as i saw swarms of houseflies hovering around their unused utensils in the main house. well, at least these guys have TV, a hi-fi system and a satellite dish from 'astro' (malaysia's scv)! yup, modernity have crept into their lives, much as we want them to remain obscure. with that we headed back for some much needed rest and dinner

that boat ride took almost 3 hours in total and we greeted the shower with great joy.

the end of the day and a beautiful sunset from our room.....

and there's no better way to unwind after a hard day's work with malaysia's hidden gems. tigers!!




stay tuned for Route without Horizons - Gajah!!(Day two) where a surprise awaits....