Bukit Larut

Nov 20th, 2006... 30 years after I last set foot on Bukit Larut I finally managed to get 2 tickets for a ride up.

It was not without drama though. I managed to persuade my mom to come with me on this trip after performing the 49th day rites for ah por. We went to the ticketing office and asked for tickets. The ticket attendant told me, " sori encik, ada pokok tumbang. Jip tak boleh lalu. Tak tau bila boleh clear." My heart sank. Not again! I have been here so many time and every time i can't get tickets cos it's fully booked. Now ada ticket but tree tumbang. I was very disappointed. So close yet so far. Fuck! I muttered under my breath. I so wanted to go up. I was about to go but something told me to wait. Hang on...and i did. 15mins later the all clear came...i thanked my grandparents...my ah kung & ah poh. At 1300 hours the jeep starts up Bukit Larut.

You see.. you can't drive up Bukit Larut cos the road is very steep, narrow and winding. Only the Land Rovers are allowed up driven by experienced drivers which we use to call 'pilots'. The width of the road is only meant for one vehicle so no private cars allowed. The other way up was of course by foot which was how my ah kung and ah poh went up in the early days. These 'pilots' are experts of these roads. There are many blind corners as the road winds up the hill. Many turnings are practically 360 degree turns and they traverse it with ease.

One cautionary advise though. If you decide to go up via the Land Rovers just make sure you are NOT fully filled up with kai si meen or any of Taiping's goodies and DON'T look back. You don't wanna be responsible for messing up the guy sitting next to you