This trip was mooted back in early December 2023 and after some interests, withdrawals, revision of itineraries, we finally met up at KL Sentral on Friday morning, 1 March. The bus left at 08:00 and we drove to pick a few more members at Sungai Buloh R&R. This was the first I joined any trip with my schoolmates.
We drove to Batu Gajah where Galeri Lat is and browsed his history. Suddenly, we turned and saw the man himself! He hardly grants interviews to anybody and yet that morning, he was sporting enough to give us an animated brief background and told us of his life and career journey. Then we took some group photos with him and he also signed our Lat comic books, notebooks, bucket hat, hand phone covers. After that, we drove to Kellie’s Castle and walked in and up the hill to the mansion. We spent some time exploring the mansion and even went up to the rooftop in the hot sun and took pictures. A few mates opted to stay behind though.
After that, we drove to visit a friend. She stayed with her mum and there was also a caregiver for her mum and some fifty cats (including kittens). It was an old bungalow filled with beautiful furniture and I remembered thinking how high the maintenance cost would be.
We then had our very late lunch at Red Brick Kitchen, enjoying the Bukit Rapat views with our meal. After lunch, we had the usual inevitable phototaking session before leaving for Mirror Lake. We boarded the inflatable boats, about seven to a boat, and went into a tunnel and emerged to this peaceful lake. We were told the ideal time to come was 10:00 thereabouts and then one could really see the lake being mirrored, hence the name.
After that, we drove to Impiana Hotel and checked in. I lingered at the front desk as I wanted to get the first room card. Aha!
We assembled at the lobby at 20:15 and drove for dinner at Hainan Chicken Rice, stopping en route at a mall for some to purchase some toiletries. Our Ipoh mate had reserved the upper floor of the restaurant and we had it all to ourselves. There was even a birthday cake for one of our mates whose celebrated her birthday that day.
On Saturday, we left after 08:30 and drove to Taiping. We picked up our tour guide who gave us a brief background of the town which is celebrating its 150th year this year, a shout out to Taiping! We drove to the Lake Garden and admired the 1000-plus year old rain trees with their sprawling branches. We then drove around town and I was so glad I had taken the train before and visited the town properly because the town has many beautiful colonial buildings. We then bade goodbye to the tour guide and drove back to the Lake Garden for photo sessions.
We finally dragged ourselves away and drove to Sajian Panorama for lunch. It is located by the Perak River and if it wasn't so swelteringly hot, I would have walked abit around the grounds. We had lunch indoors and a good thing too. There was a choice of fish head curry and fish cooked in tempoyak, along with other dishes.
After lunch, we drove to Victoria Bridge. We had to make a turn and took another route due to a detour as our bus couldn't clear the barrier. The bridge is one of the oldest railway bridges in the country and it was built as a crossing over the Perak River to serve the local tin mining industry. I crossed it with my mates and with my heart in my mouth. Yes, I walked along the track on the adjoining footbridge and walked the 1,000 feet length of the bridge and back again! We had more photo sessions after that and some of us treated ourselves to some Malaysian ice cream too.
Next up, we drove to Istana Kenangan and spent some time there before driving to Masjid Ubudiah for prayers. After prayers, we drove to Gerai MPKK by the Perak River and had some laksa and drinks. Some then proceeded to the nearby shops to browse and spend. I was interested in the labu sayong water containers but knew I wiuld have problems carrying them back so I didn't buy anything and walked back to the bus. And in time too for it started raining shortly after. We drove back to the hotel and reached it just before Maghrib. Dinner was had at the hotel restaurant where we had breakfast.
On Sunday, we drove to Concubine Lane after breakfast. Most of my friends went shopping but I didn't really find anything much to tempt me. We then had some drinks at Plan B before boarding the bus. Lunch was had at Nasi Vanggey Greentown. We then drove back to the hotel to pack and perform prayers. My Ipoh mate had requested for a late check-out and the hotel was kind enough to oblige us. Ipoh mate also packed some soya drinks and taufofa (soyabean pudding) for us to enjoy on the bus, and a mini tepak sirih container as souvenirs. What a generous and thoughtful host!!!
We left at 15:00 but stopped at a pump station to fill up before joining the queue to enter the highway. Traffic was expectedly pretty heavy seeing it was school holidays and Sunday. We stopped at Tapah R&R to use the facilities and my, there was a loooonnggg queue to enter the washroom. Some shopped for fruits so we were further delayed. We finally reached KL Sentral after dropping off a couple of mates at Sungai Buloh R&R (and another brief washroom break) at 20:10. I went to perform prayers first before taking the train back.
And that was my weekend and trip with my schoolmates. I'm satisfied that I finally managed to visit Kellie's Castle and Victoria Bridge, Alhamdulillah. May our friendship last, insyaAllah.
