Grabbing some food from the local market

When we got back, he had another surprise for me. Quite a few of his cars were already uncovered, so I identified a mid 80s Jaguar XJ6 Series III, as well as an early 70s Ford Capri MK1. But in the corner was yet another covered mystery waiting to be unveiled...


1955 Sunbeam Alpine MK III Convertible - same kind of car Grace Kelly drove in "To Catch A Thief"

I'm pretty sure no else is allowed to drive this car, but for some reason my uncle offered me the driver's seat. Coool! I felt so honoured!

In my head, I was singing the Rush song, "Red Barchetta":

I fired up the willing engine, responding with a roar. Tires not spitting gravel, because I was going to baby my uncle's prized possession. Neda clambered onto the passenger seat beside me and we drove slowly out of the driveway, both of us grinning like little kids. I was looking forward to wind in our hair, mechanical music... that adrenaline surge!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Instead, a tired, coughing sound crept out from beneath the bonnet somewhere far ahead of us.

With a shudder, the old girl sputtered and died. Neda's eyes grew wide, "WHAT DID YOU DO?!?". My eyes grew wider than hers. "NOTHING! I DID NOTHING!", I protested. "I didn't stall! It wasn't me! Look, my foot is still on the clutch". I pointed at my left foot planted to the floorboard. I don't even know why I said that. That doesn't even mean anything...

We hadn't made it 200 meters from the entrance of the driveway.

I stared at the mess of unmarked instrumentation on the dashboard. How do you even turn this thing back on...?!?

In the rearview mirror, I watched as my 83-year old uncle slowly walked towards his beautiful darling car that I had killed. It took forever for him to walk those 200 meters. He's 83. In that time, I was replaying the phone conversation he was going to have with my dad:

"How was my son? Was he a good houseguest?"
"No. He broke my car."
"NO! Not the Sunbeam! That's your favorite!"
"..."
"I'm so sorry. Just wait till he gets home... I'll deal with him"
(I'm thinking I'll never go back to Canada now)

I slunk lower in the seat dreading the moment I had to face my uncle's accusing eyes.

He finally arrived at the driver's side door. He leaned down and gave me a sheepish smile, "I forgot to put gas in the car."

OMG! SO relieved!!!!


This turtle belonged to my grandfather. When I saw it, I laughed with surprise

This is the first thing I've seen that reminded me of my childhood in Malaysia. When we used to visit my grandfather, I would play with this huge turtle statue on the floor. When my grandfather died, many items in his house went unclaimed by all his children. They were all going to be tossed away when the place was sold, so my uncle, being the oldest of his siblings, decided to keep most of the things. I guess out of a sense of duty or preservation of history.

That turtle is a lot smaller now than how I remembered it back when I was 8 years old...!

The turtle wasn't the only thing he kept. My grandfather kept binders of newspaper clippings and faded B&W pictures spanning decades before my uncle was born. I saw a picture of my great-grandfather for the first time, as well as several ancestors that my uncle didn't even know the names of.

He told me with a smile that he had now become the archiver of the family history. The duty of the eldest son.


Later on that day, my uncle and aunt took us on a short tour of Ipoh

There's not a lot of things to see in the city, the main attraction for tourists is the Ling Sen Tong Temple. It's claim to fame is that it's carved right into the limestone rock of a karst formation, similar to the ones we saw in Krabi province in Southern Thailand.


Chinese temples are very colourful. Lots of red.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

The statues outside look like they are part of an amusement park! This place must be popular with kids.

There are a few cave temples in Ipoh, this is the most visited one. Despite it being so over the top with its colours and statues outside, there are a lot of worshippers inside who take this place very seriously.


Inside, you overlook the cartoony statues and marvel at how they've turned this cavernous space into a temple


It was nice to get out of the heat. My aunt and uncle have probably been here tons of times, so they waited for us as we walked around

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

These cave temples are a mixture of Taoist and Buddhist. Here are some Buddhas carved into this pretty lantern

Buddhism originated from the Indian subcontinent, while Taoism comes from China. Most of the cave temples in Ipoh are Taoist, but Ling Sen Tong caters to both.


The bearded guy on the horse is Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism
s
We asked my uncle if we could try some Ipoh food, so he took us to the city centre to try some local delicacies.


No, we didn't go to the place on the left. Although there is truth in advertising.

Ipoh is known for it's bean sprouts (Nga Choi in Cantonese), so we went to a restaurant and had a meal of chicken with bean sprouts (Nga Choi Gai). Or rather, bean sprouts with some chicken. We had a huge heaping plate of bean sprouts to share amongst the four of us and a smaller plate of chicken with some rice to wash our palettes with! Yummy bits.


Ipoh is also known for these huge citrus fruits called pomelos. Yummy... melons.

My uncle bought one for us for our journey. They're huge. About the size of a person's head. I'm not sure where we'll put them on the motorcycle, but we'll have to figure it out soon because tomorrow will be a long riding day.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Gene

you are a great story teller. out of gas . LOL . BTW great posed pics from the murals you posted a couple of days ago.

as always thx for posting

john

Nice, I like your style.

Updated from Apr 09 2016: Batu Cave Guards



We leave Ipoh bright and early, headed to Kuala Lumpur today. I'm a bit excited. So far, nothing in Malaysia has sparked any childhood memories, but I'm sure seeing my old hometown again will re-kindle a few of them.


Leaving the limestone Karst formations of Ipoh and heading south

The western coast of Malaysia is fairly flat. The main north-south highway provides a rapid corridor for travel up and down Malaysia. However, it's been so long since we've ridden any interesting roads (since Northern Thailand, I think), so we duck into the Banjaran Titiwangsa (Titiwangsa Mountains), which is the central ridge of mountains making up the back bone of the country.


Stepping off the highway, we take a twisty road as it climbs up into the mountains

We quickly shed the warm Ipoh morning. It's replaced by chilly mountain air as the road twists and climbs higher and higher. We're heading towards a hill station called Cameron Highlands. It's very popular with the locals because the colder climate provides a respite to the unrelenting heat of the lowlands. My parents said that due to the clear-cutting performed by farmers in the area, the climate in Cameron Highlands has steadily grown warmer over the last few decades.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

At 8AM in the morning, the temperatures up here in the mountains feel like it's 15C. Even though we're having a blast leaning the Hondas into the curves of the empty roads, our ventilated motorcycle gear is flowing a lot of cold air. We're freezing! It's been months since we've felt like this! I don't complain too much. Only when we stop for gas and bask in the sunlight, do we warm up slightly. Cameron Highlands may not be as cold as it once was, but it's better than the >35C in the lowlands!


Ugh. Crowds and cars.

The summit of the Highlands are up around 5000 feet above sea level and are dominated by hotels and roadside stalls selling teas and strawberries grown up here in the hills. Cameron Highlands is very crowded and we fight through the weekend traffic as locals from Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh all come up here to get away from the heat.


Taking a break to view the beautiful fields of tea plantations


Pretty, but the deforestation of the Highlands is blamed for the rapid warming of the region

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It would have been nice to stay a day or two up at Cameron Highlands, but we're on a schedule to meet the rest of my family in KL. I was talking to my cousin the other day arranging plans for a family get-together. I told her a date I thought we would arrive and she replied, "You should probably try to make it on a weekend, you know... when people aren't working..."

OMG I felt like such a douche: "Everyone drop what you're doing, we're coming into town!"


The way back down

The road south from Cameron Highlands is not as wide as from Ipoh, the surface is not as maintained, but we still manage to find a few spots to enjoy pristine tarmac and the views and the turns don't disappoint.


Back to the hot and humid climate of the lowlands. We grab some lunch at the food stalls in the gas stations


To celebrate our trip to Cameron Highlands we eat some Beef Rendang. Mmmm... spicy meat dish

I think I'm getting the hang of Malaysian cuisine. Forget the fancy sit-down restaurants, the real food is found in stalls and hawker centres.

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We dive into Kuala Lumpur's heavy rush hour traffic and try to find our hotel. So glad we have tiny dirtbikes, they filter and cut through traffic like a hot knife through beef rendang - which is not that fast but still satisfying. Neda is dying in the equatorial heat. She is not doing well at all. She's fighting chronic crabbiness and I have to remind her constantly to eat because she can't feel herself getting hungry. Not good for someone who suffers from low blood sugar and the resulting hanger-management issues.



We finally pull into our hotel that we're staying at for the next few days. It's not a fancy place, but it's cheap and I'm reminded how much more expensive Malaysia is compared to Thailand. Neda immediately flees into the sanctuary of the air-conditioned lobby while I lock up the bikes. I feel bad for her, I know the heat is really affecting her enjoyment of traveling through South-East Asia.


My cousins, Choong San standing behind me, and Tanya sitting beside me with their respective spouses

The next day, we ride to a nice Chinese restaurant to meet up with my very large family. My grandfather has eight kids, who gave him seventeen grand kids - my cousins. Most of them still live in Malaysia and I had a great time catching up with the ones that could make it to the luncheon. I've been waiting for something that would remind me of my childhood. I haven't found anything in the buildings and places we've visited, but staring into the faces of people that I haven't seen for over 35 years -- that sparked all the old memories for me. I remember them so well!

Most of us were very young when I left. My eldest cousin was barely 15. It's quite trippy seeing the faint echo of the children that we once were, reflected now in the much older versions of ourselves. Despite all the embarrassing stories they told about me to Neda, it was a great family re-union.


To celebrate a great family get-together, we go out later that night to scarf down some roti

Malaysian roti is thinner, lighter and fluffier than the Indian roti. It's a popular breakfast meal and is served in the mornings with a fried egg rolled up inside, but it can be had anytime of day. You just choose whatever sauces to dip with the roti. Of course, we always wash every meal down with the liquid sugar they call teh tarik (pulled tea). Our hotel is right across the street from a huge hawker centre, which is convenient but dangerous to my arteries and waistline.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

After dinner, we ride into the heart of downtown Kuala Lumpur

The traffic is not bad after everyone's gone home from work, and the temperatures are way more bearable after the sun sets. Both Neda and I have a much better time riding around at this time of the night. The downtown core is very modern, boasting skyscrapers and huge shopping malls with colourful lights strung up everywhere to give a good impression to the tourists.

We're here mainly to visit the Petronas Towers. At 452m high, it was once the tallest building in the world when it was built in 1998, but is now "only" the tallest building in SE Asia after losing that title in 2004. Obviously, this building wasn't here when I left so I've never seen it before. No memories to be found here.


Very cool looking at night!


To celebrate seeing the tallest building in South-East Asia, we go out in search of some famous Malaysian Char Kway Teow


The Internet said this is the best place in KL for Char Kway Teow. Hawker centre, of course!

Char Kway Teow is a dish made of flat rice noodles with eggs, shrimp, chicken and bean sprouts. Char Kway Teow is stir-fried in pork fat. Char Kway Teow is my favorite dish. Those last two facts might not be entirely unrelated...

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By far, the most popular tourist attraction in Kuala Lumpur is the Batu Caves

It's only about 15 kms away from where we're staying, so we hop on the bikes and head out there after the morning rush hour has subsided. The Batu Caves are the site of a Hindu temple built inside a limestone cavern, similar to the Taoist temple that my uncle took us to in Ipoh the other day. The only difference is that these are several times larger and grander.


Instead of Buddhas and Lao Tzu, Ganesh is presiding over this Hindu temple

Besides the Chinese, Indians make up the second-largest ethnic population representing about a 10th of the population of Malaysia.


During the long climb to get into the temple, several monkeys charge the tourists an admission fee consisting of bananas.

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"Have you paid your admission fee yet? Not to me, you haven't. Give it up now!"


As part of the admission fee you get to take a selfie with the guards


Another guard on the lookout for more admission fees

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

"Here you go, may I enter the temple now?" "Yes yes, move along."


The inside of the cave is huge!


I think this was one of the Hindu priests in the temple

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Shenanigans inside Batu Cave


Lighting the votive candles in the temple


To celebrate our visit to the Batu Caves, we go off in search of the best satay in Kuala Lumpur


Satay is marinated skewers of meat grilled and served with peanut sauce

I discovered what makes this place the best in KL - they hide pieces of marinated pork fat in the skewers that when grilled become crispy, juicy bites of pure flavour. Gaaaaah, so good....! The sauce they provide on the side is made from ground roasted peanuts mixed with spices and it can make or break the meal. Weak or watery peanut sauce = bad satay experience.

Satay is also my most favorite dish in Malaysia. I can have more than one, right? (I am saying this a lot in Kuala Lumpur)

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com