Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: 13 Jan 2013, Sitiawan to Taiping

Lovely ride on quiet roads rolling from kampung to kampung.  Many birds - 
especially kingfishers - you can hear them but difficult to spot them until they 
pop out of the trees in a flash of turquoise.  As R K Narayan describes in one 
of his books, the kingfisher is mocking us with his chuckling call.  Maybe 
because we mock them with their crazy mix of colours and their large oversized 
orange beaks.  Without doubt, our favourite bird.
We arrived in Taiping in a huge downpour.  Taiping, one of the centres of early 
tin mining - long ago abandoned, has the highest rainfall of any city in 
Peninsula Malaysia.  There is a wonderful lake surrounded by 130- year old huge 
rain trees which were planted from root stock taken from Brazil.
Stayed the night at the Furama Hotel, a small family-run hotel - massive room, 
ultra clean and positioned near the lake and excellent food halls.  Bliss!
Total mileage: 90km