Zi Kai finally agreed to join me for a morning run. From Brinchang, we ran to Tanah Rata (6km), tried finding the Robinson waterfall by climbing a steep road (but failed), explored Tanah Rata, then headed back to Brinchang. The run was a total 12km, the longest I have ever done on a mountain of altitude around 1500m.
While we encountered a lot of climbs and down slopes along the way, it felt good to run in cool (almost cold) weather. I really enjoyed the experience and was also quite impressed to see both foreigners and locals running/walking. A local had told us the day before that the highlanders frequented the road up Gunung Brinchang for their daily evening jogs.
At Tanah Rata, we found the bus station and realised there were a few bus companies providing transport to Ipoh and other destinations. The tickets were also priced at lower rates (at the bus station), compared to the grocery shop we had purchased them from in Brinchang (for the sake of convenience). We also realised the bus had dropped us off at a parking area a couple of hundred metres away and in the dark of the night, we had not realised we passed the bus station. We visited the tourist information centre but there was no one in so we started our run back.
We realised the prawn noodles shop was closed so we explored the market at Brinchang. I found my breakfast there - bread and kueh and very good prices. Zi Kai and I went back to collect our valuables and we ran into the other two who had awakened and got sick of waiting for us. We had breakfast at the market; I had ang gu kueh, pizza bread and the biggest packet of soya bean drink in my life! I was simply bloated. Zi Kai ate a lot, as usual, and he was going crazy over cherry tomatoes! He just couldn't stop eating.
We spent the rest of the morning slacking in our rooms, packing up, slacking at the lobby after check-out, looking for lunch (each of us eating at different places), before slacking at the bus stop while awaiting our bus. Finally, we saw a bus approach the Shell petrol kiosk across the road and we ran over. To our disappointment, it was not the Kinta Omnibus. We waited a good half hour before the bus came.
I believe it was the same bus as the one we took up. The distinctive smell of exhaust in the bus, the incredible vibration as it ran over potholes and the "high Gs" of each turn caused us headaches as we tried to sleep. Thankfully, the bus pulled up at Medan Gopeng and we got off.
Medan Gopeng was just like Puduraya. Almost every company had buses going to KL and they were all awaiting their slice of the cake. In the end, we chose Ekspres Kesatuan because their 1am timing fitted us. We wanted to save a night's accommodation.
We caught a city bus to Pusat Bandaraya, which was a mistake because the town was dead at night. We managed to find a Indian-Muslim restaurant where we had dinner, then caught a bus back to Medan Gopeng where it was much more lively with restaurants and hawker centres. McDonald's and KFC beckoned us from a distance. We were definitely attracted. An apple pie each granted us a few hours' stay at McDonald's =P and we fully utilised their toilets!
Close to 12.15am, we stumbled back to the express bus terminal where we had to wait for the bus to arrive.
Total expenses over 18 days: S$535
Participants: LSH, Zi Kai, Jing Kai, Lim Hwee
While we encountered a lot of climbs and down slopes along the way, it felt good to run in cool (almost cold) weather. I really enjoyed the experience and was also quite impressed to see both foreigners and locals running/walking. A local had told us the day before that the highlanders frequented the road up Gunung Brinchang for their daily evening jogs.
At Tanah Rata, we found the bus station and realised there were a few bus companies providing transport to Ipoh and other destinations. The tickets were also priced at lower rates (at the bus station), compared to the grocery shop we had purchased them from in Brinchang (for the sake of convenience). We also realised the bus had dropped us off at a parking area a couple of hundred metres away and in the dark of the night, we had not realised we passed the bus station. We visited the tourist information centre but there was no one in so we started our run back.
We realised the prawn noodles shop was closed so we explored the market at Brinchang. I found my breakfast there - bread and kueh and very good prices. Zi Kai and I went back to collect our valuables and we ran into the other two who had awakened and got sick of waiting for us. We had breakfast at the market; I had ang gu kueh, pizza bread and the biggest packet of soya bean drink in my life! I was simply bloated. Zi Kai ate a lot, as usual, and he was going crazy over cherry tomatoes! He just couldn't stop eating.
We spent the rest of the morning slacking in our rooms, packing up, slacking at the lobby after check-out, looking for lunch (each of us eating at different places), before slacking at the bus stop while awaiting our bus. Finally, we saw a bus approach the Shell petrol kiosk across the road and we ran over. To our disappointment, it was not the Kinta Omnibus. We waited a good half hour before the bus came.
I believe it was the same bus as the one we took up. The distinctive smell of exhaust in the bus, the incredible vibration as it ran over potholes and the "high Gs" of each turn caused us headaches as we tried to sleep. Thankfully, the bus pulled up at Medan Gopeng and we got off.
Medan Gopeng was just like Puduraya. Almost every company had buses going to KL and they were all awaiting their slice of the cake. In the end, we chose Ekspres Kesatuan because their 1am timing fitted us. We wanted to save a night's accommodation.
We caught a city bus to Pusat Bandaraya, which was a mistake because the town was dead at night. We managed to find a Indian-Muslim restaurant where we had dinner, then caught a bus back to Medan Gopeng where it was much more lively with restaurants and hawker centres. McDonald's and KFC beckoned us from a distance. We were definitely attracted. An apple pie each granted us a few hours' stay at McDonald's =P and we fully utilised their toilets!
Close to 12.15am, we stumbled back to the express bus terminal where we had to wait for the bus to arrive.
Total expenses over 18 days: S$535
Participants: LSH, Zi Kai, Jing Kai, Lim Hwee
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