Our destination on Day 2 was the Genting
Highlands, a hill resort about 35km from Kuala
Lumpur and perched on the peak of Mount Ulu
Kali 1800m above sea level comprising hotels,
malls, theme parks and casinos. But set that
aside and wonder instead at the awesome
stretch of road that winds its way up the peak,
and it’s a little slice of fried Nirvana if you’re on
a bike and good two lane tarmac with sweeping
hairpin bends and light traffic. It’s FUN.
The End.
Although we only went part way up to the peak
on arrival at Genting Highlands, as we were
running a little late and a big storm was on the
horizon, we all had huge smiles on our faces
when we checked into the hotel. The evening
meal was in town and a couple of Grabs (the
Malaysian equivalent of Uber) were arranged
to take us there and back. Again, the food was
plentiful and delicious and we were rather glad
we’d Grab’d rather than ridden into town as the
rainstorm that came through as we were leaving
the restaurant was world class. Zahed was on his
Versys and I think it took him two days to dry out.
DAY 3 – CAMERON HIGHLAND
We started with another shot at the glorious
road up the peak and this time we went all the
way to the top for a brief stop at the Buddhist
Temple that has a spectacular view of the valley
below. This was followed by another run down
that same wonderful stretch of road (if we lived
close by, we’d be doing laps all day long). As this
was Saturday a few locals were out enjoying a
sprint through the bends on modern sportsbikes
or in top end supercars, none of which were
being ridden or driven beyond their pilots’ ability
from what we saw. Mopeds are everywhere and
the throttles appear to only have ‘On’ and ‘Off’
settings because they are often ridden at close to
the speed of light but with a fair bit of skill. Given
that the protective gear that the moped riders
wear is non-existent, and helmets are optional, it’s
a fair bet that when things go wrong, it’s ugly.
After our loop of the mountain, the day took us
40 KIWI RIDER
to the Cameron Highlands. This is a stunningly
beautiful district around 200km north of KL.
The climate is generally much cooler than the
lowlands so it’s popular with tourists and farmers.
A lot of the hillsides are covered with huge
orchards and tea plantations, and there’s a fair bit
of traffic in the populated areas although nothing
that really impedes your progress. The roads
are awesome; open, well maintained tarmac
with glorious long sweepers leading into more
sweepers, tight bits, more sweepers, more fun
which, as the MMG guys say “turn your miles into
smiles”. Road markings are generally good and
it’s rare not to have a visible centreline but you
do have to pay attention to the road shoulders
as they can be a bit rough and the uncovered
gutters are often a metre, or two, deep to deal
with monsoonal rain. Dipping a wheel in one of
those would have been met with swift retribution.