Day 93 - We didn't get started early but had breakfast at our outside restaurant at 9:00 AM. We ate too many appam in anticipation of a bit of activity. We clicked for a Grab car as soon as we finished.
First, we went to the well-known Perak Cave Temple.
Although the main cave is near ground level, this cave system offered a hike up through the inside to the outside of the hill.
This area is surrounded by limestone hills and small ponds and lakes. The city was a boomtown during tin mining days. Then, the price of tin crashed during the 1970s as did the city of Ipoh. It sort of stayed in suspended animation for decades, slowing sinking into dilapidation. Nowadays, it is having a resurgence mainly due to tourism and the many universities located here.
After climbing the mountain and descending, it was early. The hills are dotted with caves. Many of them have Chinese temples. Jay had read about a Tibetan Temple in Tambun, a bit off the normal tourist path. As it would only cost $3 in a Grab to go into a rural valley, we called for one. Mr. Singh was helpful and friendly. We went way into from a road through lands growing fruits.
We encountered a rather fantastic building, with an enormous Buddhist statue on the eighth level. We did lots of climbing today. The experience was most definitely worth it.
Our Grab driver may have wanted us to ask him to stay, but we didn't. After our time at Tambun, we found that no Grab driver wanted to come out to pick us up. Fortunately, a Dutch / UK tourist couple had come to visit. They were the only others at the entire site. We begged a ride closer to town. They were older and we talked a bit about how travel has changed over the decades due to GPS and Internet reservations. We decided that we were 'experiences' in each others' days. They let us off near the major highway between Kuala Lumpur and Penang. They were going north. It was easy to grab a Grab from there.