We leave the Highlands today - we have all had enough of the almost non stop rain and the cold which we have become unaccustomed to in the last two and a half months. We board the bus to Ipoh - the fourth largest city in Malaysia and the sixth most populous urban centre. It is also where we are able to join the west coast railway which will take us on to Kuala Lumpur.
We are welcomed by the heat of the day as we get off the bus in Ipoh and locate our hotel- The Shangg - owned by a lovely Indian gentleman named Velu who kindly offers to drive us around the main city centre sites and into the centre so we dont have to get a taxi. The name Ipoh is derived from a local tree, Pohon Epu or now more commonly known as Pokok Ipoh. The sap of this plant is poisonous and was used by indigenous Malays to coat the tips of the darts of their blowpipes for hunting.
Ipoh developed into one of Malaysia's main cities around the turn of the 19th century due to the booming tin mining industry and several notable buildings from the British Colonial era such as the town hall, St Michaels institution and the railway station (known locally as the Taj Mahal) remain.
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