The tight winding road down to Tapah

Continued from The lower parts of Cameron Highlands - Habu and Ringlet...

We soon reached the state of Perak...

A little further down the road we could see that the town of Tapah which is situated at the foothills leading to Cameron Highlands is still 48 km away...

One could see stalls like these selling stuffs from the jungle by the roadside... stuffs like the tasty but smelly petai picked from its wild tall trees...

Mind you with the many tight bends one have to face, the trip down from Cameron Highlands could be daunting for many...



Thank God for the greenery which offers some respite...

Hmm. This marking stone shows its 191 km to Kuala Lumpur. Luckily the tight bends only last up to a point near Tapah. By the way I also have a liking for the number 191. For me it signifies the end of a phase and the beginning of another....

As we negotiated more bends, memories of a childhood trip up Cameron Highlands through the same route crept to mind...

I remember telling myself. When I get up there I would try to catch the clouds with plastic bags so that I can bring it home...

Apparently I've watched too much cartoons. I remember seeing one where a small cloud followed a character back to his room and on to his bath. Then it started letting out rain along with a little thunder and lightning.

I thought I could have this experience myself when I finally catch those nasty little clouds I often saw lingering up the the hills from far away. Little did I realise that the minute I am actually up there, there are no such things as solid fluffy clouds which one could grab at, what more catch or drag around... just plenty of mist and fog and that is what clouds are actually made of! :]

Anyway we soon came across a decent straight...

Down the route one could also find a number of settlements like this...

Here's the first one I saw with a rather modern shophouse...

For the record, there are many Orang Asli settlements along the way go Cameron Highlands, natural homes for the Malaysian aborigines or indigenious tribes.

Another 24 km to go to Tapah...

We were getting close to a famous place called Lata Iskandar...

What makes this place famous? You think you can figure it out from this pix?

There it is, Lata Iskandar. Lata is a Perak word for waterfalls. Iskandar is the Eastern equivalent of the name Alexander. So Lata Iskandar is the Alexander Waterfalls. Which Alexander are we talking about? Well, I leave it up to your imagination...

The river which flows down Lata Iskandar...

And another view of the mountains that are part of the main range of Banjaran Titiwangsa...