Kellie's CASTLE. 2 Day Ride

Depending where you depart from - Singapore, make it a 3 Dat Ride minimum, KL well up and back with an overnight will be just nice! This was an amazing find while digging around the backroads surrounding Ipoh... You'll see why Ipoh has become my favourite Malaysian town!

Take one Scottish Castle and mix it with inspiration from the Taj Mahal and plonk it on a hill south of Ipoh... It's an interesting beginning. Over 100 years ago a young Scotsman found his way into Malaysia and by way of hard work and good luck became a member of the rubber plantation elite. He built a beautiful homestead which was a bit ravaged and occupied by the Japanese in WWII.

Inspired by a trip to India, he returned full of good ideas, one being to build his own 'Taj' for his wife. Construction of Kellie's castle was well underway when he succumbed to disease while back in Europe so he never had his dream completed... It's an incredible shame!

Today the Castle still sits proud on a poromotory overlooking his estate. For the princely sum of RM4 you can venture into and all over the Castle. To do so is a real treat and to think that it was one man's dream. Indian labourers toiled away to build the castle and I would imagine many artisans were imported just to get the job done.

There's a structure that would have been Malaysia's first lift had it been completed, although I would not have liked to be the man who had to hand crank the lift up and down! The castle is a true castle with escape tunnels and alleyways everywhere.

From the roof, you can survey the estate and thankfully they haven't installed guard rails as that would surely spoil the architecture. In fact, there are only a few restricted areas in the whole building. Perhaps it is the fact that Kellie's spirit is still seen gliding down these harrowed hallways that keeps it safe!

Architecturally, when you have a closer look, you'll notice an eclectic mix of Scot and Indian design that seems to work well perched on a hill near Ipoh!

For more than 10 years I've past the Kellie's Castle sign on the highway but never ventured in as I had always thought it would just be some guy's KTV Pub! But one day recently while passing through and with a bit of time on my side, I ventured in and what I found absolutely amazed me. I'll go back for sure and catalogue Kellie's dream.

To find Kellie's Castle you need to be on the old KL - Ipoh highway, not the North-South Ekspressway! It's about 20 minutes south. You'll pick up a signboard and just follow the trail! When I can, I hop off the NS Ekspressway and choose to use the old backroads as it's far more interesting and see, you'll find stuff like this.

What has become real handy is my new Altina GPS - why, it even has Kellie's Castle preloaded! I bought the GPS for RM 1400 and it's become a real handy tool. At first I was a bit skeptical that the roads wouldn't be accurate - WRONG! It's really good and, with it, I've discovered even more great paths through Malaysia.

Kellie's Castle is worth the visit and you can stay in Clearwater which incidentally is only 15 minutes by road from Kellie's. Plus, you can savour some good Ipoh food while you're there...more coming.

Clearwater Sanctuary, Ipoh. 2 Day Ride

This was a choice 'find' - stumbled over it while heading south out of Ipoh! It makes for a great overnight stop that's for sure. You'll appreciate the silence here just so that you can can listen to your ears ring after all the engine and wind noise!

Seemingly I do like my peace and quiet and this place has to be one of the best I have so far encountered. Drive in and you won't feel like leaving! It's about 20 minutes south of Ipoh on the old No. 1 highway to KL. Its well sign-posted so fairly easy to find. It is a little hike off the main road but persist as it's really worth it!

Clearwater makes use of three small lakes - all ex-tin mining pools. It's also the site where Anna and the King was filmed - and you thought it was filmed in Thailand! (well, some bits were) But on the Clearwater Lake, you'll see Anna's summer palace!

The Sanctuary is in reality a golf resort with a well-known golf course strung out between the lakes. I've already inquired, but no boats are allowed on the lakes as they fear pollution, which is fair enough. A stroll around Clearwater will give you an idea how fresh the air is.

There are villas right on the water's edge and you can even fish from your balcony. I've seen some of the catches there and a 5 or 6 kg fish is not out of the question! Instead of molesting the inhabitants of the lake, I can just see myself motoring out into the middle of the lake in total silence and reading a book!

There are still some old dredging machines lying around and they are really massive iron structures that now make impressive art pieces! I'm surprised they haven't been knocked-off and melted down in the scrap yards! Mind you, it would take quite a piece of machinery just to pick up a small piece!!

The Villas at Clearwater follow a Bali theme, but thankfully they've been rendered in a way which blends in nicely with the local surrounds. I've seen other places in Malaysia where Bali Villas have been transplanted lock, stock and barrel and to me, that's an odd thing to do! In this case, the terrace style with the balconies overhanging the lake is clean, tidy and tranquil - perfect!

I've always liked Ipoh town. I know the whole of Malaysia raves about the food in Ipoh and I have to say...it is good, but you do have to know where to go and don't go late or it'll be all gone. Yes, I have friends who drive to Ipoh (3 hours) with the excuse of playing golf but we know it's just cover for eating!

I'm due to take my electric punt to Clearwater and introduce them to the modern delights of silent, clean electric power...going to need a long extension cord - kidding! The little aluminium punt has a MotorGuide car-battery driven motor. It's an uncanny feeling to move effortlessly along and have no noise. More on that next month!

Kuantan Inflatable CLUB

With so many good places to go boating in Malaysia, I'm going to base a lot of activity on the east coast, beginning with Kuantan, mainly because it has good access to KL. It's also because there's a lot to see and do there, especially in the water.

To get the program rolling, the first Inflatable is already at 'Leo Village', Duta Village Resort, right next to the Swiss Garden Kuantan. I've got 2 bigger trailerable boats moving into Kuantan but these will be kept in the confines of LBC, Kuantan's only boatel. For the action set and beach-launched brigade, well, we've got an activity base on the beach.

Leo Village Watersports makes for a great venue for all beach-launched boats!

An Inflatable boat is such a handy thing - keep it in the boot of your car and just take it to wherever you want to go. The Rhino Rider is a QuickSilver product and quite a handy piece of kit. Leo purchased the boat as an assistance to his kiteboarding school. By the end of the month we'll have another 2 QuickSilvers on the beach there and then we're really ready to explore the bay and beaches around Kuantan.

Once we've done that and made sure everyone is pretty adept at having fun, we'll move the Inflatables by road up to Marang and then head to Gem Island for a weekend rendezvous. Have a look at their website and you'll see what the fuss is about!

I've got the 'dream' of booking the island for a huge weekend of boating in June. Larger trailerable boats can easily make the Kuantan - Gem Island trip while the smaller beach-launched boats will easily make the 5nm from Marang to Gem.

The Rhino Rider has been pottering around the beaches near Cherating fishing, snorkeling and even pulling a small boarder - not bad for a 15hp motor. The boat is kept under Leo's careful guard at his beach hut and will soon be joined by a few more.

It seems like we are just managing to get the Inflatable 'Club" inflated slowly but surely. If there are any other souls who'd like to take part, please let me know.

Kuantan River Adventure

Kuantan has long been the home of Club Med in Malaysia. Well, Cherating really, but since that's only about 20 minutes north of Kuantan Town, it'll do. Cherating has a really nice beach hence why the Club has been there for the last 20 years or so.

Kuantan lies directly east of Kuala Lumpur and it's a nice 3 hour drive via the Karak Highway. I've made the trip numerous times on the Ducati and the first 60km out of KL is a biker's dream - fast sweeping, undulating strips of wide bitumen. Okay, so on the Ducati it doesn't take 3 hours but who's counting!

The Karak Highway has been cut through a pass over the southern end of the Cameron Highlands. It's a pretty amazing highway with 3-lane switchbacks and mountain passes. Right at the turn off to the Camerons has to be the best MacDonalds Restaurant in all of Southeast Asia - and it's not for the food, just the setting.

It does require some caution especially in the wet as some of the corners are a bit off-camber and always seems to catch a car out. Every time I've made the road in the wet there is always a car parked in a ditch at the top of the pass!

Once you hit the flatlands the road straightens up and it will lead you straight into Kuantan town. I've 'found' a little boatel that is nicely located upstream where there is no boat traffic. The Kuantan River is a treat for natural life. In a 40 minute period on my last trip there, I counted no less than 7 sea eagles soaring over the river. The time before that, I spotted prawns as big as my forearm! So the River is alive and well. 

Heading upstream from LBC (boatel), you'll come to a dam in about 30 minutes at a good pace. Although relatively short, the trip is a treat as it winds its way through the countryside. There's even an Orang Asli village a wee way up. But it's the natural splendour, the peace and tranquility that I love!

If you head downstream from LBC, you'll pass under 2 bridges - a small one near the Boatel and a big one on the edge of town. The trip from LBC out into the South China Sea takes about 20 minutes and is easy as there are really no hidden dangers. The nice aspect of Kuantan City is that it is based around the River so you get a good view of the city.

Once out in the South China Sea, your range is the limit. Head north and you'll come across all the nice beaches in the Cherating area. Leo Watersports is on Balok Beach and, just north of that, you'll find the Kuantan Port. There are countless fish here. Just offshore are 2 reefs and a couple of wrecks so diving/fishing is good but you will need local knowledge onboard. More clearly visible are the small islands close to shore.

With a decent boat, it is possible to go from Kuantan up to Gem and Kapas Islands. These are well...real Gems! Gem Island has a nice little resort and really good snorkeling. An anchorage is possible between the two islands. An easy fetch is from Gem Island directly inshore to Marang. In all my rides up and down the East Coast, I've found Marang to have the best beaches. Marang to Gem Island is only 5nm so any boat can make that!

Living in KL and being a boating enthusiast, I can tell you I'd prefer to drive the 3 hours to Kuantan and have plenty of boating activity than to drive 1 hour to Port Dickson where I'll be bored out of my brain. You see, Kuantan does have some nice restaurants, you can buy a cold beer and there is a personable boatel that can take care of a boat. But better than that, you can get out fish/dive/explore plus the water is clean with good visibility!

WAKE boarding, Puchong, KL

With KL being somewhat inland, finding locations for water sports pursuits is a bit of a challenge. I came across this one via word-of-mouth (typical) and just proves it's not what you know, just who you know. I love wakeboarding and although I'm not great at it, I do like hitting the water... in more ways than one!

Taman Tasik Prima in Puchong is a dis-used old tin mine, as are most of the 'puddles' around KL. Aaron Chin has 2 Ski Nautiques and a great beach set-up. Once you've found his hideaway, you're in for bit of a treat. It's a sort of Bali set-up with good wooden furniture and, most importantly, a beach bar!

The old tin mines that lie scattered around KL are not small affairs. In this case, it's about 20m deep. The water's clean and fresh so it's a welcome treat hoping out of the water and not being all sticky. The other good bit about boardin' on lakes is that the water's just about always as smooth as butter! The Puchong Lake only gets "un-rideable" when a Sumatra is passing through. But as with most storms in this area, they don't last long and generally 45 minutes is all it takes for the storms to blow over.

Aaron's also got a trampoline in place so you can warm up on that before you hit the water. I used his set-up to try out my Liquid Force Watson pro '08...what a board! While it's well beyond my capabilities, what I really like about it is that it does everything with consumate ease. Aerials are easy, landings are soft unless you bungle it up and slides are infinitely controllable. Whatever changes they made between '07 and '08 really made a difference because I've ridden that board too. My only other board is the original Wake Tech Flite 69...which is still a really kool board to ride, in a retro sort of way. A few boards are available in KL and if you need to know where, drop me a note.

Riding at Aaron's joint, it's really neat to be able to cut out and make it through the reeds that line some of the shores of the lake. Like most water sports venues in Malaysia, you'll have the whole lake to yourself. On the water there are only two boats - both Aaron's, so it's hardly going to be the traffic-jammed clutter that I've experienced in some locations in other parts of the world! Malaysia is a treat like that. Whether you board, bike or boat...you're going to have mother nature pretty much to yourself.

GETTING THERE: That's a good one and you're better off calling Aaron for directions (+6012 324 6677). Basically, it's about 25 minutes south from KL centre through an area called Puchong. Taman Tasik Prima is a pretty new development so it's not that well sign-posted and the lake is not really that visible until you trip over it. The Lake is in the midst of being surrounded by developments and there are some really nice places right next to Aaron's place.

It took me about an hour to find it the first time. Subsequently I locked in his location on my GPS and that was MUCH easier to find!

You can check out Aaron's website here

Kiteboarding in Kuantan

The Malaysian East Coast hides many 'secrets' and, by a twist of fate, I've come across a great stretch of beach and Leo Watersports Village. Tucked away nicely under some pine trees is Leo's Kiteboarding School. Chances are when you show up there, you'll have 20km of prime beach and water all to yourself!

Getting there is easy and can be entertaining...

The Karak Highway that leads from Kuala Lumpur to Kuantan is a great stretch of road. The first 60km of the Ekspresway are a fabulous set of interlinked corners. For my Ducati, it's just awesome! For my Ford Ranger, well, not quite as rewarding.

You can polish off KL - Kuantan in an easy 3hrs, less if you're on a superbike! Take the Karak Highway all the way to the end. Then follow the signs to Kuantan. When you come to a T-intersection, turn right and follow the signs to the Swiss Garden Resort.

Right next to the Swiss Garden is Duta Village Resort. Swiss Garden is very nice, but if you want a pleasant chalet on the beach, try Duta Village.

On the beach of Duta Village you'll find Leo Village Watersports. And you've found the Kuantan Kiteboarding School. Leo is well-known and there is a KL crowd which ventures there on weekends. During the NE Monsoon, kiteboarders are known to make the drive up from Singapore and it is worth the drive!