Sunday, November 17, 2013
Once we did get on the right road and made it out of KL, driving was easy.
Our friend Patti put us in touch with Chris Bell (her boss way back when in Brunei) who lives in Seremban, about 70km south of KL. Chris was very keen to meet us and, being a member of the Royal Sungei Ujong Club, he could get us accommodation at the club. We gladly took him up on his offer and decided to spend 4 nights here.
Upon our arrival in Sermeban we were immediately invited to a ‘family clan meeting/bbq’ of Chris’ wife’s family. Very nice – and yummy.
After settling in at the club we headed to the bar on the premises where we met Nicola Tan, the President. We started talking about our adventure so she calls another member, Lai, who promptly comes over to meet us. Turns out Lai is a 4×4 aficionado and member of the Royal Perak Motor Club and he was very interested in our plans. We got a lot of information and some possible good contacts from him. And after talking extensively about routes and things everyone (read: Stephen) was convinced we needed a proper navigation system. iPhones are good but they are internet/wifi dependent. We ended up having dinner with Lai and his lovely wife. Interesting detail: they are about to move to New Zealand; as in: the container is packed.
Monday, November 18, 2013
We took Sterlin for a spin east of Seremban to see the Old Royal Palace at Seri Menanti, which is open to the public and free of charge. Photography inside is not permitted. In 1931 The Roayl Family moved to more modern accommodation close by; today the Old Palace is a museum. We continued driving towards Kuala Pilah, and then back to Seremban.
Upon getting back to the Club we met with Lai again who had secured us our newest gadget: a proper Garmin navigation system.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Another day trip, this time to Port Dickson (which has a brand-spanking new Starbucks with a fantastic view over the Malacca Strait from the open lounge on the 1st floor – and no, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with going to Starbucks while traveling). After our caffeine fix we continued south along the coast road towards the Cape Rachado Lighthouse. The lighthouse is reached after a 15-20minute walk from the gate on a sealed road (now car free) through the jungle. Unfortunately the lighthouse is not open to the public.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Today we set out to explore Seremban itself. The Lonely Planet doesn’t think much of it but better to see for ourselves. The place had us turned around a bit; it took us a while to get our bearings, even with our new navigation toy set to ‘pedestrian’. Which is why we didn’t find some of the temples, but we got a good sense of the place. It’s not what we’d call a pretty town but we found some interesting areas and corners: Chinatown, markets, Hindu temple, ….
