...Jack's Tour of Pain 2010...: Day 2: Cameron Highlands – Tapah

A peek out of the window revealed that the skies have more or less cleared up from yesterday’s shower. We had a hearty breakfast at the hotel (provided) and set off on full gear towards Tapah. The town right at the foot of Cameron Highlands. From there, Ben’s buddy from Teluk Intan will pick us up and send us to KKB, about 80km away from Tapah. The initial plan was to cycle all the way to KKB but upon insights from a contact in Singapore who does these hills quite regularly (Thanks, Cliff!), advised me to try to avoid highway 1 as it tends to be quite busy with trucks and very limited shoulder to cycle on. Again thank goodness for friends and family!

The weather was perfect for Cameron Descent, I was a little cautious of course and but by the 15km mark from Brinchang, my hands were already aching from the constant modulation of the brakes! This road is the old Cameron road and its pretty twisty but in sad state on some sections. Still, the view was amazing; going down with a grand view of the ‘Tea Valley’ of Camerons, passing by Orang Asli stalls with kids waving and cheering us on along the way. The total descent to Tapah is about 60km. So it’s a relatively short day ride for us.

We had lunch in Tapah and proceeded to the bus station where we met with our friend. We loaded up both our bikes into his Toyota Prado (a humongous SUV!) and reached KKB at around 3pm. After a good couple of minutes trying locate a decent place to story we ended up at The Golden Goose, a newish lodging facility with 5-6 rooms only. We were to be the only tenants for the next 2 days! RM80 per night, basic, clean rooms where both of us and our bikes can have a good nights rest for the challenges to come.

Sent out jerseys, shorts and T-shirts to a Kedai Dobi (laundry) downstairs and it cost only like RM3. Goodness, that’s like cheaper than the price of laundering one underwear in Singapore. This is one of those rare instances where if it’s too good to be true, it’s TRUE! We had Ramly burger nearby, and at night we parked ourselves at the al fresco eatery opposite the post office where the famed KKB Nasi Lemak kukus resides. Best Nasi Lemak I’ve had. Period. The owner drives a 3-series and kindly setup a projector for his patrons so that they can enjoy their Nasi Lemak watching world cup last-16 matches!