Alicia came on holiday with ambitious plans to "do" Malaysia. She had big plans to tour north to Penang, then to the East Coast and after that to tackle south, Malacca to Singapore! As I had to go to Kuala Lipis (Pahang) on official business, I invited her, Alan and my sister YK to join me and Dad to Kuala Lipis. The idea was, while I go about my official duties, they can visit some interesting places there and may be even go to Taman Negara ( the national park). So began our adventure. We loaded our luggage into Hui Min's spacious Lexus. ( Even with 3 amply endowed ladies at the back - there was plenty of breathing space!!) . After a few missed turns, and going round again and again to the same spot - while trying to navigate out of bustling Kuala Lumpur, we were off.The ride to Kuala Lipis was scenic and we stopped at Bentong for a cuppa.
Durians were plentiful and we stopped at one of the road side stalls 
Ah... the delicious smell of smelly durians. Who can resist? Even Alan was fascinated. 
We finally reached Kuala Lipis, a sleepy hollow in the middle of nowhere. The British established Kuala Lipis as the capital of Pahang and it was an important centre for collecting rubber and forest products ( mainly fragrant wood, rattan). Gold was reputed to be found in the surrounding areas but after several attempts, the gold prospecters did not find any significant amount, and they gave up.
The importance of Kuala Lipis can be seen from the many old colonial buildings. Even the calibration of milestone started from Kuala Lipis as zero mile. Railway was an important mode of transportation.
Some old colonial buildings still standing
As other townships began to be established in the west coast (Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Seremban), Kuala Lipis lost its importance. The town was abandoned and Kuantan was chosen as the new capital. Interesting note : Malaya was also called 'The Golden Cherosone' as gold was reputed to be found in the heartland. This was established to be true indeed as later prospectors found plenty of gold here and today, there are 2 huge gold mines near Kuala Lipis - all very hush, hush
2 comments:
Waaah... history lesson... sejarah tanah melayu!
navigating anywhere in the vicinity of KL is nightmare... but did dad's garmin not help?
Actually, Only a few mis-turns as there were sometimes too many left turns or right turns to choose from at a split of moment for decision. Overall, I was fully satisfied of my driving adventure !
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