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Few tourist see it, fewer even do it. River fishing with some local fishermen. It’s quite an adventure. The local fishermen have so their own way of working. And you have to get up early. I did on invitation of Mr. Goh from Explore the Wilderness and I didn’t regret it. It was a great opportunity to learn something about the very local way of making a living.
Magic, that is what the Gua Tempurung caves are! I can tell you that. I spend a morning with a family in the caves and we had a lot of fun.
The caves are about 25 km south of Ipoh Malaysia and they can be easily visited together with a visit to Kellies Castle and for example the Sam Po temple just outside Ipoh.
The 2 km long cave system has a partly underground river system that you will visit during the longer treks. Wade through the water and explore total darkness are part of these longer treks. No interest in wading through the water but still interested in seeing the caves? No problem, the short 45 minutes walk through the wide open and beautiful caves is worth too. Many strange formed rock formations and a wind tunnel are part of what nature has produced.
In the two years I backpacked and cycled in China, I have visited many sites: temples, caves, museums, the Great Wall and others. Everybody wants to visit the site, the Chinese take pride in giving you a nice memory back home. In the two years I collected a whole pile of those entrance tickets. I felt it was too bad I could only have a look at them, so I scanned some and created a page about entrance tickets in China.
Entrance ticket for the Budhhist temple in Hezhuo in Gansu north China.
Many of the places I have visited gave me very nice entrance tickets, but the problem soon was which ones to put on my website. As I had many it was hard to choose. So I created another page with just pictures of those tickets, a whole set more tickets. Here’s the link so you can see for yourself.
Some Malaysians call it crazy: “You can not ride a bicycle in Malaysia! It’s too hot and too dangerous”. The real truth is that cycling in Malaysia is not dangerous, the roads are good and the circumstances you travel in are OK. However, some precautions have to be taken. It’s the same precautions you would take anywhere in the world.
- Hold on to the traffic rules, stay left!
- Make sure you always have water with you because of the tropical heat
- Big cities are always a bit more problematic then small cities, safety first
Cycling in Malaysia is good fun, along the coast it’s usually flat, and you can make quite a bit of progress. There’s plenty to see, if you want! Example?
Perlis in north west Malaysia is a good example. Few tourist go there. Travelers from Thailand usually take the train from either Bangkok or Hat Yai direct to Butterworth (Penang) or take the ferry from Satun in Thailand to Langkawi.
Perlis is the forgotten corner of Malaysia and it’s not fair. There’s great caves to visit, the beaches are nice too. The limestone mountains may not be as spectacular as in Yangshuo but there are pleasant hikes in the vicinity of Kangar and Padang Besar to do in areas where few people ever come. Pearl wrote a good article about Perlis
I have been cycling in other areas in Malaysia and recently crossed Perlis to Alor Setar. And as I said, it’s too bad so few people visit Perlis. But for cyclist who want to skip Langkawi and do not want to cycle through Betong this is an excellent alternative.
What does cycling in Europe have to do with Pangkor and Malaysia? Simple, I cycled Holland to Malaysia, half the world around. If you are interested in those stories, please read my bicycle adventures website.
And like I said, as I cycled through Europe, I collected a few stories on the road in Europe. You can read a few right at this page.
Pulau Pangkor was hit by a fire that razed 17 shop lots down. Check my post in the Pangkor Forum. Yesterday I was back at Pangkor and I had a chat with my friend Mr. Beh. He gave me some good news. In a few weeks time the rebuilding of the shop lots will start. The new shops will be a two storey building but Mr. Beh’s will have a 3 storey shop, as his original shop was the last corner shop.
The burned out shop of the Family Beh
Another thing that really gives hope to a new and bright future for the Beh family is that the old name board was not damaged. In fact, the same night after the fire the birds returned to the board as they have been building nests around it.
The legendary signboard of the shop
In a few weeks time, ground zero, will be again full of activity. The expectation is that in August the rebuilding of the new shop lots will start. Mr. Beh told me that later this year the first shops may already be able to open. Good news for the local businessmen and for the visitors to Pangkor.
The Beh’s continue selling their ikan bilis, as their fishing boats are all damaged. Ikan bilis? It’s the local name for anchovies and according to many people in Malaysia, there’s no better place to get Ikan bilis then at Pulau Pangkor, so when you visit, don’t forget to buy some.
Over the years I have spend two years in China. It was partly backpacking and partly on the bicycle. Now here in Malaysia I cycle quite a bit, but compared to China, I haven’t done too much here. I was reading some of my diaries and realized there are quite a few good stories to tell about my travel in China.
Some years ago I arrived in Liuzhou, south China. Liuzhou is mostly famous for being the little ugly brother of Guilin. But if you ask me, Guilin is the less interesting uncle of Yangshuo. That year I was in the rainy season on the bicycle. Believe me, even if it is 30C it’s not pleasant to cycle the whole day in the rain. And after 2 week only rain, Liuzhou was an oasis, so to say.
Me in Yangshuo China, West Street
The story I have to tell is from the journey I did from Liuzhou to Yangshuo, following some old roads over the hills to Lipu and Yangshuo. It was one of those journeys I could have done in a day if I wanted, even though I had all my luggage with me. Traveling by bicycle has the advantage (and probably the disadvantage too) you have everything with you, including tent, sleeping bag, cooking gear etc.
But it was a fine 2 day journey through a rustic south China country side with NO rain! And by the time I was in Yangshuo, the rain came on and off back. But no wonder, May, June and July are notorious rainy seasons months.
Taiping is a nice city. It’s not too big, not too small, has some interesting things to do and has, according to locals, a more moderate climate then other parts in Malaysia. Truth or fiction?
Let’s see the facts, Taiping, about 100 km south of Penang in North Malaysia is close to the hills. Therefore it seems to rain more often in Taiping then in other areas in Perak. I come regularly in Taiping as it is on the way from Sitiawan to Penang.
The center of the city is nice and cozy. As the city was originally founded by the Chinese tin mine workers and hosted the first Malaysian railroad, it was a center of economic activity and prosperity. Some of that is still visible, think of the Peking Hotel, build in the 1920’s and recently renovated.
The Taiping Zoo is the pride of Taiping and not for nothing. It’s a neat zoo located near the hills at Lake Gardens and Maxell Hill. Visitors to Pangkor should do a day trip to Taiping and enjoy the city. Better it would be to give it a day or two and breath the atmosphere of this beautiful Malaysian city. Worth a visit!
Team building for your organization is popular in western countries. Slowly in the east companies see the benefits too. Mr. Goh anticipates and offers some excellent for your company. Check his offers here
But what if you have a school class and want them a few days out? Doing jungle trekking, rope courses, rock climbing of canoing? Mr. Goh has a special student program running which is good fun. I talk, of course, from experience because Mr. Goh invited me to join him in two of his school classes. The first was an International Australian school from Kuala Lumpur.
The second group was a Japanese international school with kids of 10 and 11 years old. Good fun with them too. Apart of the usual rope course, canoing and other jungle related activities the school class, staying at
Teluk Rubiah had to cook a typical Japanese curry, right at the beach. As I was around, I tried ALL. Believe me, these 10-11 years kids cook better then many of us! It was awesome. Besides, it was good fun with them in the jungle!
The kids get cooking lessons at school but that they would cook this well, I didn’t expect. Excellent work! Hopefully later this year we can expect more school classes and organizations for team building!
Read more about the team building, school camp and student camp and more details about a few of the school camps you can read and see here
Recently I spoke to William and Linda. Over the months they have kept in touch with them when they were building their new hotel in Yangshuo: the Snow Lion Resort.
I know Yangshuo well, and I know the place where they decided to build their hotel. It’s a magnificent place.
What do you think? Doesn’t it look fantastic? I think it does. And it’s only 5 minutes away from the town center. William and Linda, with their daughter Christina runs this great hotel. The think customers deserve a good memory of Yangshuo and the surrounding. So they offer the very best. Come and chill out. I will be there in September. Who knows, we meet then!
