Travel Note 10th November 2019 I arrived into Singapore on Saturday afternoon following my usual seventeen hour slog through Dubai. I'd hoped to get some sleep on the overnight flight, but it wasn't to be; steady low level turbulence caused something in the depths of my seat to rattle, and the regulation earplugs had virtually no impact on the noise. Worse yet, an incipient head cold that had been bothering me for a few days took a distinct turn for the worse in transit, leaving me with a throat like sandpaper and a continuously running nose. There was nothing to be done other than drug up and attempt some sleep. I generally prefer not to go to bed until after nightfall in whatever time zone I happen to be in, but that would have required more will power than I had available to me; as it was I turned the light off just after 6:00pm. I got around three hours of sleep on my first attempt, followed after an interval by three more, but that was apparently the limit; from 1:00am onwards I was staring at the ceiling and sneezing explosively every few minutes. I thought very seriously about aborting my planned day trip to Ipoh, but the bookings I had were non-refundable and on reflection it seemed better to feel miserable in a theme park than in a hotel room. At 4:45am I got up, took a quick shower, and caught a cab to Changi Airport. I was probably the only person in the entire place (if not in south-east Asia) wearing a coat. My flight was my second experience with Scoot, a low fare airline that confiscated my bottle of water at the gate in Tokyo Narita a few years ago because outside food and drink was not allowed on board. There were no searches today, though I was quite miffed to discover that the airline precludes the use of headphones of any kind during taxi, take-off, and landing – effectively forbidding me from listening to my audiobook for virtually all of the short flight. I asked a member of cabin crew about the reason for this policy given that in-ear headphones are allowed at all times on many (if not all) European airlines, and was told that it was for safety reasons. Why things are deemed safe in one part of the world and not others is anyone's guess. No western car hire brands operate in Ipoh, but I was able to arrange a one day rental from a local operator using Argus. I'd expected the paperwork to take some time given the lack of a preferred agreement, but things were remarakably efficient, taking less than five minutes including a quick damage check on the local equivalent of a Fiat Uno. This may have been in part because the car was almost entirely worthless; it had six figures on the odometer, and any suspension that it may have come with had long since worn out. That said, it was more than adequate for the short distances involved. Refuelling on the way back to the airport cost me RM11 (~€2.41). Those retracing my steps should ensure that they have local cash to pay the RM2 (~€0.43) charge to enter the airport car park; this charge is not waived for rental vehicles. As things turned out I had over an hour to burn before my first park, which I used to visit the Ling Sen Tong and Nam Tian Tong cave temples adjacent to the airport. A third temple nearby was also open, but I decided to pass on it in order to get to the Lost World of Tambun in time for opening.

Lost World of Tambun 10th November 2019 The Lost World of Tambun is the centerpiece of a tourist complex operated by Sunway Berhad, a Malaysian conglomerate that also operates Sunway Lagoon in Kuala Lumpur. The web page rather generously describes it as ten theme parks in one, which is marketing taken to breaking point; a more honest description would be a theme park and zoo with ten distinct areas. The main draw for the majority of visitors is a water park that features a wave pool, a lazy river, and a collection of slides; virtually all of the guests today were concentrated in that area. My visit started off on a distinctly sour note with the discovery that foreigners pay roughly twenty percent more than locals for gate admission. While the amount involved was not large it set the stage for what turned into a bit of a Six Flags day. Nowhere was this more evident than at the food and beverage counters, which did not open with the park despite the fact that many had staff present. I tried to buy a bottle of water from three different locations, but was unable to do so. One cashier told me to come back after 11:00am while standing within three feet of a fridge full of beverages; a somewhat irriated enquiry as to why he couldn't just take my money was met with a blank stare. This asinine policy might have been easier to forgive if there had been water fountains available, but I didn't see any – a major failing in a park located in an equatorial climate. Given the temperatures I thought it might be good to start my visit in the air conditioned comfort of the Haunted Chambers walkthrough, a RM20 (~€4.39) upcharge, but this turned out to be impossible as it was not due to open until noon. Instead I made my way to Lupe's Adventure, a Zamperla powered coaster with a train themed to resemble a white tiger. I knew almost nothing about this ride ahead of time, which is probably because there's almost nothing to say; the layout is unimaginative, consisting of two helices connected by long angled straights that are just crying out for airtime hills. The one moment of interest is a tunnel with a waterfall, though even this is understated as the top speed achieved in this area is well below what the hardware ought to be capable of. The train did pick up some speed, putting it well ahead of the embarrassment at GrinPa, but it wasn't fast enough to be thrilling; at the risk of being a little grumpy I've had better rides on off-the-shelf powered dragons. I did the obligatory pair of laps in front and back, and that was ample. I spent some time exploring the remainder of the park, taking in the truly spectacular landscaping and a few of the animal exhibits. Unfortunately it was quickly apparent that there really wasn't a whole lot else for me to do since I'd already decided against the water park. After brief contemplation I decided to cut my planned two hour stay to just forty minutes, figuring that I could use the reclaimed time more profitably elsewhere.