The usual way of crossing from the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia to the East Coast, at least for people in the Klang Valley area, is via the East Coast Expressway from KL to Kuantan.
It’s an excellent road with nice scenery and the 250 km journey can be completed in about three and a half hours.
You could also try an alternative route, much longer and slower and hopefully even more scenic via the Cameron Highlands and Gua Musang, and from there on minor roads though palm oil plantations as far as Lake Kenyir in Terengganu.
Google Maps calculates the distance as 502 km and the travelling time as eight and a half hours though it is not recommended to attempt it all in one day. Best to take a three-day trip.
This trans-Malaysia trip started by crossing at Kampung Pasir Panjang Laut, a small village near Sitiawan, Perak on the shores of the Straits of Malacca. This was the western-most point of the route, a small patch of unhealthy mangrove forest in front of an interesting Chinese temple called Tua Pek Gong.
One of its main attractions of Tua Pek Gong temple is a bendy tunnel in the shape of a dragon which you can enter through its mouth and emerge from its tail.
The interior walls of the dragon are lined with murals depicting the Ten Chambers of Hell. Illustrated in gory detail is the gruesome forms of torture which await those who do not live a moral and respectable life in this world.
Once done here, drive inland on Highway 5 through Sitiawan and Ayer Tawar. The route road will cross the Perak River near Bota Kanan where you can visit the Conservation Centre for River Terrapins.
There were some sizeable mature terrapins in a couple of the holding ponds but they were fairly shy and only popped their heads above water to take bites from floating cabbage leaves.
Continuing on Route A15, you will pass a sign for the Tanjung Tualang Tin Dredge.
Next stop is the small town of Malim Nawar. A quirky tourist attraction here was a brick chimney built by the Japanese during World War II for the manufacture of carbide.
Next stop, still in Perak, is the town of Kampar, once a centre of tin-mining as evidenced by the large number of lakes left over from mining activity.
These days, Kampar is thriving as a university town with the campus of University Tunku Abdul Rahman located here with other universities nearby.
Military historians will know that Kampar was the site of a significant battle during World War II and one of the few Allied successes in the whole Malayan Campaign.
Most of the fighting took place on a series of ridges on the edge of town near the Chinese Cemetery.
Considering the modest size of Kampar town, it has an enormous hotel, the Grand Kampar Hotel, with 155 rooms.
This article first appeared on thriftytraveller.wordpress.com