The Makan Trip 2

The makan trip is on again... this time we are planning to explore the Tempurung Cave (Gua Tempurung) in Perak as part of the

trip.

There are 7 of us this time, myself, Daniel the faithful, Noel the photographer and his friend Elena, Peng Nam the lansee, SL

the slow and his gf Wai Bein. Peng Nam is our driver this time taking us on his award winning, car of the year Waja while SL

and his gf join us in their zippy yellow-black Kelisa.

As usual, we met in Kelana Jaya in the morning and SL is also as usual late, so we went ahead and waited for him at the Sg.

Buloh rest stop at the PLUS highway. After a short wait, we decided to proceed and let the Kelisa chase us and SL somehow

managed to catch up with us when we are reaching Bidor, don't under estimate the Kelisa! hehe... or SL driving skills? hehe..

We are supposed to head to Batu Gajah for their local Pan Mee which is supposed to be different and good according to my

colleague Jack, but because of time constraint, we have decided to just do a quick breakfast in Bidor again (you can never

have enough of this place) before proceeding to Gua Tempurung.

We went back to Pun Chun Restaurant again, this time Noel wanted to try to Duck Noodles because he had tried their Wantan Mee

the last time. I ordered my usual favourites too. There are also lots of Malaysian food produce like the "Kai Chai Peng" -

chicken biscuts which originate from Kampar on sale here as well as other stuff like Tambun Biscuts (popular from Penang),

Heong Peng (tiger brand from Johor is the best), Sak Keh Mar & etc. After breakfast, we decided to drop by the fruits stall

nearby for some shopping and there are always plenty of them here. Mostly you will find Guava which is produced in Tapah,

Mango from Sitiawan and also Petai from the Bidor forest itself. I bought some Guavas and they even helped you to cut them

up, some bought Mangos and Noel is as usual busy snapping away with his new camera!

Without wasting time, we proceed to Gua Tempurung, to reach there we had to go back to the PLUS highway and head north until

we reach the Gopeng toll. After Gopeng toll you will reach a traffic light junction, take a left turn and you will see the

Gua Tempurung signboard on your left. When we reached Gua Tempurung, the place is already filled with it's usual weekend

crowd, mainly families as well as students coming in buses as part of their field trip. We quickly change and get ourselves

ready for our experience into the Cave.

SL and gf whom have been here before helped us to enquire and we soon got ourselves a guide. But the entrance fees into the

cave is not cheap, I can't really remember but we paid like RM15 or so per person to go in. Anyway, we finally got ourselves

set to go but the guide is having his lunch, so we hang around entrance and Noel immediately got busy with his camera and

start snapping away. When we are finally ready to go, it seems that it didn't occur to any of us that a Cave is dark and you

need like a torchlight to go in!!! haha... the only one who brought torchlight is SL and his gf have a small one too but it

wasn't too bright.

Anyway, we proceed into the Cave, you first have to cross a metal bridge before reaching the entrance, it's still bright at

first because they have some lightings and some areas have lights shining in. We had a funny guide, chubby guy in his 40s,

told us he is actually a sweeper and he is doing this as his part time job... haha.. funny but I think none of us really care

to find out if he is really a janitor! But he seems to be knowledgable of the Cave, so we quite safe although there's this

occasion battery working problem with his flash light, hehe.

So what do you see in the Cave? Basically because of the natural erosion process in the cave, you can actually different kind

of formation of rocks in the cave, I can't remember what they are called, there's a scientific name for it. But basically

what happens is when water drip from the top of the cave, it also carries erosive minerals and eventually the form a rock at

the bottom of the cave. See the pix and you will know what I can talking about. There are also certain rocks that's covered

with crystal like minerals. Other than that, Gua Tempurung is also used by the Communist as a hiding place during the

insurgency Malaya period, so you can find traces of those too. The guide will tell you the stories of all the findings as

well as various rocks and location in the cave.

It's quite a long walk in the cave, there are staircase, then walk way, wind tunnel (better than aircond) we went like up and

down the cave. But the thing you have to becareful of is bats' droppings, certain part of the cave is covered with them. The

cave lead the other side of the mountain where you will eventually be at the highest point within the cave, I was feeling

slight difficultly in breathing at this point because of the high attitude = thin air. From there we make our way to the

below through a long and dark staircase.

At the bottom we could either chose to further explore the cave before venturing into the underground river of the cave. But

we took the shorter route and immediately head to the underground river. There are a big groups of students in front of us at

this point and our guide decided not to wait for them to get through because it will probably be too long, so we overtook

them and from this point onwards, things start to get a little challenging. We had to slide down slope and all before

reaching this tiny hole on the ground and below is the river. Being the fattest in the group, immediately I was the joke

among the guys, grrr... fortunately I manage to get through alright, hehe... and nobody had to call the bomba to rescue me.

At the bottom is a running river, the water is shallow but at certain point, you have to lie down on the river bed of rocks

and crawl your way through because the ceiling is right above your head. So we crouched and crawled our way through the

river. Noel was really worried about his brand new camera at the point, wrapped in plastic bag and holding it above his head,

he somehow manage to get it through ok. At one point, we were told to switch off the torch and try putting your hand in front

of your face. YOu cannot imagine just how dark that is!!! You see zero! Nothing at all. Imagine if our torch lights die off,

we will probably not find our way out. After much struggle, we reach the exit of the cave and there are some rocks

(marbles!!!) that we lied down to rest and enjoy the clear and cooling water. Believe or not, our guide actually manage to

find like RM6-7 along his way out of the river, I guess by having so many visitors, some of them tend to drop their money.

A short rest and a few photographs later we decided to move on, the only problem we had is that toilet (to change) in Gua

Tempurung is in a terribly sad shape. Tap is not working, only one lockable doors. Feeling hungry and tried, we decided to

shoot up to Ipoh to look for the famous Salted Steam Chicken (Yim Kuk Kai). Not very familar with Ipoh town, we found Aun

Kheng Lim Restaurant selling it in town. Later I found out the original one is just a few streets away. Anyway, the chicken

was so so and portion is small. So we just had two and decided to go back for more Chicken Tauge this time we went to Onn

Kee. There are a lot of pictures of celebraties both locally as well as overseas which was taken in this shop. Even the Hong

Kong King of Food (sek san) have visited this place! The best is the meatballs which we repeatly ordered. I also discovered

that some ah kua (transvestite) uses the back alley as their pick up point - no I am interested, I just saw it when I went to

toilet at the back.

After filling out tummy, we went to the Yee Hup biscuts shop nearby to shop a little. From there we decided that we need some

exercise before dinner. So we proceed to Tambun which we heard is famous for it's hot spring with the locals. So we head to

Tambun, just 20 mins drive or so from Ipoh and after stopping for directions a few times, we manage time find the place. It's

actually situated inside Sunway City Ipoh next to the driving range. You will have to drive through some dirt road, passing

an Indian or Sikh temple before reaching the place. First glance it looks like an abandon building that's being burnt down

but the parking is almost full! So we went down and investigate and the place is actually running, just that the development

of the top which is supposed to be some sort of hotel was abandoned.

Now really expect this to be the Japan type of hot spring... hehe... I remember I had to pay like RM200++ for 2 hours of less

when I visit a hot spring in Taiwan years ago. Basically the feeling is like going into the PJ State public swimming pool,

they have the same kind of entrance, and inside the owner will be seating at a counter and playing with his pinpall arcade.

Entrance fees is RM5 per adult.

After getting ourselves ready, we venture into the hotspring. There's basically two swimming pool in which they pumped and

filtered the hot spring water into. But I doubt anyone can swim there unless you don't mind you b**ls being cooked, so hot!

Then further up is a pond where you can go in and swim, it's filled with the natural hot spring water. There is also a sauna

or steam room which uses the hot spring water as well. But it looks like an old shacks with smoke to me, so I dare not

venture there, hehe. But suprisingly the scenery on the pond is beautiful, surrounded by mountains and greenery, as if you

are swimming in a pond in a valley. The water is hot, and it took a while to get in and body immediate start to itch because

your blood basically start flowing faster the moment you hit the water. One part of the pond's bottom is filled with rocks,

so you can actually stand there but the rest are muds and the moment your feet touches it, it burns. We saw some people

covering their body with muds, believe to be able to beautify your skin. So SL gf asked SL to get her some, and SL our hero

swam there immediate and the moment his hands touched the muds, our friend went screaming crazy.. hehe. We also saw some

Shaolin Monk liked people there whom position their hands in praying like stance and submerge themselves into the hot water.

After 20 minutes or so, I start to feel dizzy, guess it's too hot, so I went up, move to the swimming pool for a dip (I

thought it's cold water!!!) but the moment I dipped it I got fried again by hot spring water! After getting up from the poor

and taking a shower (the shower water also not very cold), we quickly changed. The funny thing is that I can't stop sweating

even in the car! Guess the hot spring effect got me!

As the day draw dark, we decided to head back to KL. While debating over whether to take the risk and try to go Peng Nam

Restaurant again, we decided to stop at Tanjung Malim instead. This place used to be a popular stopover those days when you

had to use the federal roads to go up north from KL.

SL took the lead as he know this nice restaurant to eat there, we got a bit stucked because Saturday is pasar malam night in

town but behind the pasar malam sits Restaurant Wun Nam. Can't get Peng Nam so I guess Wun Nam will do first. It looks like a

typical small town kopitiam but the service is good and fast. We ordered their specialty House Tofu (Chew Pai Tou Fu) which

is deep fried then topped with minced pork. Next is Braised Pig Trotter which is absolutely soft and tender. We then have

Fried Potato Leaf in Belacan and Fried Chicken Wings (Lam Yee Kai Yik) as well.

The food was great and so is the day, from there we depart home and in all, we spent about RM70-80 per person and the whole trip concluded by 9pm! Another makan trip mission completed!