Several challenging climbs awaited us along the way but the incredibly long down-hills were exhilarating. Imagine maintaining a speed of 45km/h for hours. The scenery was good and we stopped to take pictures at unique sights such as waterfalls and the smaller towns.
Dad soon pulled ahead and disappeared out of sight. He wasn’t even pedaling. On a mountain bike, I didn’t dare to stop my consistent cadence. The bike slowed too quickly when you ease off. There were times when I hit “max speed”. Unable to pedal further, I just cruised and prayed for a steeper decline in hope of catching Dad. Fat hope.
In the end, I was just contented to play with my GPS and take pictures along the way. Our rest point was a drain. Taking “cover” there, we had our snacks and I finished the remainder of our tomatoes. My shoulders were aching from the load of my backpack. As I carried additional but essential equipment, my load was incredibly much heavier than Dad’s. But I was accustomed to such loads with experience from previous expeditions and frequent commuting to school. Dad was already complaining about the weight on his back.
We reached Ipoh in time for lunch and commenced our search for hotels. The first few hotels were more like brothels. I checked out a pretty decent one but they didn’t allow bikes in the room. That was the first hotel I have come across that didn’t want to accommodate us (I would come across a few more on the trip). Even Hotel Theme Park on Genting was willing to take our bikes in. I call that good service =)
I checked my GPS and found a “Hollywood Hotel”. We approached the building and immediately I was skeptical. How old was it? It sure looked past its glory years. Probably a 1960s hotel? The wooden ceiling had huge gaping holes while the exterior walls (wood) sounded hollow. I would give it a vote of no-confidence. Dad went to check the room out. He accepted it as it was only RM55. I remained skeptical when I spied few empty slots in the key-press. I signed in the logbook. We were the first guests of the day. Wonderful.
We went up to our room. I was astounded at the condition. And amazed at how low Dad’s standard can get. We might as well camp out. The idea was to get a comfortable enough room so that we can rest well. Never mind, I reassured myself. We were moving out at 3am anyway.
A shower was a wonderful reprieve. We walked the streets of Ipoh, checked out Jalan Lim Bo Seng (named after Singapore’s war hero) and “The Store”. At nightfall, we headed back to the hawker centre opposite our hotel for dinner. We had mixed rice which was reasonably priced but not great. Indian rojak didn’t look that good but it was uniquely delicious! The peanut ice kacang was great too =)
We couldn’t sleep well that night. The air-conditioner was almost non-functional. That model was probably older than me. When Dad got the windows open, in came the mosquitoes. I caught forty winks just after midnight but by 2.30am, we had to be up.
Total distance: 90km
Money spent: RM90
Participants: LSH, Dad
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