I used the AGL3080 GPS to record where I went. I had a few problems. A memory error on one day. When this happens I have to wait until I can down load the files before resetting the unit or the files I already have are lost. Also on more than a few occasions I forgot to turn it on. And well, on a few days I did not bother turning it on. Still it provides handy data to geotag the photos and I was able to send the files to the nice Germans I spent a day with in Taman Nagara so that they can also tag their photos and see where we walked and boated. Here are all my maps from the trip with some notes.
I’d like to stick a map of the whole trip here by my software cannot cope with the number of points in almost three weeks of files.
7 May 2010: We fly on D72723 Melbourne To Kuala Lumpur. I am off to a bad start. I did not remember to turn the GPS on for the bus trip from LCCT to our hotel or the walk from our hotel to KLCC. We have lunch in KLCC Suria. It is in the evening that I start using the GPS when we went to the Hakka Restaurant and Jalan Alor for meals. These are cab rides.
8 May 2010: Still I forget to turn on the GPS. But in Middle Valley where we pick up the car I remember and we have a good trace from there. Cab – Hotel to Middle Valley and then car to Klang, Batu Caves and back to the hotel. You can see we took a longer way back from the caves because we missed a turn. The Tom Tom GPS navigation unit was very hard to follow when there are fly overs and the like on the motorways making the problem three dimensional. We stop at the Luna Bar for drinks after dinner.
9 May 2010: We did a day trip to Malaca. At one of the toll booths where we stopped to get a swipe card for the toll-roads I forgot to turn the GPS back on. Then in Malaca the memory fault the GPS occasionally gets happened. So no more traces for the return trip. When I get the GPS home I can off load the files and do a full reset.
10 May 2010: We drive the long way to the Cameron Highlands. Billy insisted that the direct road was too terrible to consider. Near Ipoh we take a wrong turn and end up in Ipoh itself. Out hotel is at about 1800 meters. Nearly the same altitude as Mount Kosciusko.
11 May 2010: Back down to Ipoh.
12 May 2010: We just stay in Ipoh and visit some of the temples in the caves.
13 May 2010: We drive from Ipoh to Penang over the giant bridge. They are talking of building a second one.
14 May 2010: We wander the streets of Georgetown and drive around Penang Island in search of Durien and Laksa.
15 May 2010: The others drive back to KL and then fly to Thailand. I catch the ferry over to Butterworth to organise my travels for the next few days and visit the Yap Temple.
16 May 2010: Catch the Ferry to Butterworth, then the bus to Kota Bharu. After some wandering around town I decide on a Business Class hotel and then spend over an hour wandering the streets. I book my ticket for the next day.
17 May 2010: I catch the local bus from Kota Bharu to Gua Masang. I did this becuase of the options with the train from Kota Bharu were not to my liking, but I still wanted to go on the Jungle Railway. Gua Masang seemed like a good place to start, but with the benefit of hindsight I might have better chosen Kuala Krai.
18 May 2010: The busiest day of travelling. The Local Train for the Jungle Railway from Gua Masang to Jerantut. Lunch at NKS Coffee Shop and then a bus and boat trip organised through NKS up the river to the Kuala Tahan. I forgot to turn on my GPS for the first part of the boat leg.
19 May 2010: Not feeling so well. I put my laundry in to be done at the Travellers Lodge. Around lunch I head into the national park Taman Negara, crossing the river by ferry. And I do a short walk. The Canopy Walk is closed because of the amount of rain the night before.
20 May 2010: I do a guided walk through the forest with a lovely German couple who have just finished their studies in Aachen. It is perhaps the hardest walk I have ever done, even though it was only 7km. I think my weakened state and the mud and constant going up and down all contributed to this. But I made it and was glad for the boat trip back to where we started. GPS worked all the way and I gave a copy of the trace file to Daniel to use with his own photos.
21 May 2010: Catch the local bus back to Jerantut. I forgot the turn the GPS on again at the start. Then an intercity bus to KL. After one of the stops I again forgot to turn on the GPS for a while.
22 May 2010: Picked up from KL in the afternoon and taken to Ipoh. Check into the hotel and have dinner with the family. No GPS trace for today becuase I could not be bothered.
23 May 2010: Travel with some of the family around Ipoh to visit the sites, where my grandfather and family lived and where the tin mine was located. Also where the my father went to school.
24 May 2010: I decided to spend the second to last day in Ipoh. We had breakfast in the old town, visited some temples and also the graveyard. Bought a train ticket and visit the museum.
25 May 2010: Headed off to the grave yard. This time the uncle had mowed a path to the grave and around it. So I got some better photos. I then caught the train to KL and the monorail back to my hotel.
26 May 2010: caught the monorail to sentral, then the bus to LCCT and the plane to Melbourne. Kirsten picked me up and we went up into the Dandenongs.
2 comments