Monthly Archives: August 2018

Tanjung Sepat for Congee

Posted on August 21, 2018 by alchemyrider

The last time the R@SKLs rode to Tanjung Sepat, we had drinks at the Hai Yew Hin coffeeshop. While we were there the proprietor gave us sample bowls of their congee (rice porridge). That porridge was so good that stuck in the minds of some. Jake, Mark, Martin, Simon and I rode to Tanjung Sepat last weekend just for the porridge.

Starting at 5.30am has caught on with some of the R@SKLs. Better the pain of getting out of bed at 4.15am than the pain of getting sunburnt after 1.00pm.

We had planned on parking at IJM Land’s The Arc show gallery in Bandar Rimbayu. I first parked there in June. It was just Lay and I in my car. As we were setting up our bikes a security guard came up and told us that parking at The Arc was not allowed before 7.00am. The security guard then walked away. I locked my car and we rode off.

The second time I parked there was in early August. I was with Mark. Again in my car. I parked further away from the show gallery building than I had in June. Security was nowhere to be seen.

I was back there the next day. This time there was eleven of us spread over ten vehicles. We parked away from the show gallery. The security guards were visible but they didn’t approach us.

Last Sunday I was the first to arrive at the road leading to The Arc. To discover that access to the car park was blocked by these. Tanjung Sepat Barriers

IJM Land really do not want us parking at The Arc before 7.00am.

So I went hunting for parking where the Ecoworld development is. I found a place which would fit four vehicles at the spot circled below. Hopefully, we don’t get blocked from that area as well.

Tanjung Sepat Parking

The five of us set off at about 5.45am. Once out of the Bandar Rimbayu area headlights were essential.

Photograph courtesy of Martin Low

It is just under 70km / 43.5mi to Tanjung Sepat via the back roads.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

At 8.30am we were riding through the fishing village of Tanjung Sepat.

Tanjung Sepat Fishing Boats

A few minutes later we were in the Hai Yew Hin coffeeshop.

Photograph courtesy of Jake Sow

This is what the guys came for. Salted egg, century egg and chicken congee, garnished with yew char kway (Chinese crullers).

Photograph courtesy of Simon Soo Hu

We also had some pau (steamed dumplings) delivered from the shop across the street. Apparently, the original vendor of the famous Tanjung Sepat pau is Hai Yew Hin. As demand grew, a separate pau only shop, with a slightly different name, was opened across the street.

Photograph courtesy of Simon Soo Hu

After breakfast, we checked out one of the stalls selling another product that Tanjung Sepat is famous for. Locally grown and roasted coffee.

Photograph courtesy of Jake Sow

Photographs at the Instagrammable locations were a must.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

It will be Independence Day in less than two weeks. Malaysian flags are starting to fly everywhere, including at the end of this pier.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

Our route to and from Tanjung Sepat is a bit longer than it could be. One reason is that we want to avoid riding on Route 5, which is a busy trunk road. Another reason is we have to take a detour along Jalan Kenangan Baru, Jalan Saga and Jalan Nangka, instead of riding on Jalan Kenangan Lama.

Map courtesy of Ride with GPS

This is what Jalan Kenangan Lama looks like from Jalan Kenangan Baru. Nothing wrong with the road from here.

Photograph courtesy of Google Maps

And this is what Jalan Kenangan Lama looks like from Jalan Nangka.

Photograph courtesy of Google Maps

Jalan Kenangan Lama turns into an unpaved track somewhere between Jalan Kenangan Baru and Jalan Nangka. So better to avoid Jalan Kenangan Lama completely than run the risk of having to ride over a stony, rough and muddy trail.

Throw in a cendol stop and we were back at our cars before 1.00pm. It won’t be long before we will be riding to Tanjung Sepat with other R@SKLs to wreak more damage on the local congee and pau.

Tanjung Sepat Empties

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Bandar Rimbayu, Congee, Ecoworld, Hai Yew Heng, Hai Yew Hin, Pau, Tanjung Sepat, The Arc, Yew Char Kway. Bookmark the permalink.

CFAL 2018: Round Island Ride

Posted on August 14, 2018 by alchemyrider

Photograph courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org

Sunday morning, woke up yawning; did my alarm really ring?
Pulled on my bibs and sprayed that sun screen all over my skin.
Went down the stairs and kissed my bike to make it come alive.
‘Cause with 22 gears and the R@SKLs all in pink,
I got to go for a Round Island ride.

With apologies to The Bee Gees

The half dozen or so R@SKLs who needed breakfast before the Round Island Ride met in front of the Tien Hotel at 6.00am. Lebuh Chulia and the surrounding streets were becoming filled with blinking bike lights as cyclists emptied out of the many hostels, backpacker inns and boutique hotels which have opened in old Georgetown since it was accorded UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site status in 2008.

Old Georgetown is now even more of a tourist draw. Most tourists don’t look for breakfast at 6.00am on a Sunday morning. So we were greeted with rows of dark shop fronts as we rode around looking for breakfast.

The first open place we found was the Restoran Liyaqatali Nasi Kandar Beratur. Open from 10.00pm to 8.30am. As its name suggests, you queue (beratur) for your food, and then try to find somewhere to sit on the sidewalk outside.

We wanted roti canai. We were directed to Restoran Dalcha Kassim Mustafa. That was open, but the roti man only starts doing his thing at 7.00am. So we settled for rice and curry and hard-boiled eggs.

We were back in front of Tien Hotel at 6.30am where a cloud of pink was already gathering.

Photograph courtesy of Billy

There were more than twenty-five of us. As is always the case, the larger the group, the more likely that at least one rider will have a flat tire. Mark, who seems to have become our designated mechanic whenever Danial or CK is not around, was called into action to help Kieren with his flat. Which ultimately required a change of tire to fix. Henry, thank goodness, had a spare tire to loan to Kieren.

Kevin also had a flat tire outside the Tien Hotel. He took it as a sign that he should skip the ride. A decision no doubt helped by the after-effects of the beach party.

The Penang City Hall on the Esplanade is a little more than 1km away from the Tien Hotel. We took up our customary position right at the back of the estimated 3,500 participants in this, the 10^th edition of CFAL.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

We were flagged off a bit after 7.00am by Malaysia’s Finance Minister Mr Lim Guan Eng. Mr Lim has a long-standing relationship with CFAL, having served as the Chief Minister of Penang between 2008 and 2018.

CFAL 2018 Day 2 Lim Guan Eng Cycling Plus Mag

Photograph courtesy of Cycling Plus Magazine

The start was slow as the exit from the Esplanade is narrow. That gave us the opportunity to enjoy the sunrise.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

We made a short photo stop opposite Pulau Jerejak, where you have a view of both bridges between the island and the mainland.

CFAL 2018 Day 2 2nd Bridge

The next stop was at Teluk Kumbar. We were 28km / 17mi into the ride and 1km from the first of the two climbs on the route.

CFAL 2018 Day 2 Route Map event howei com

Map courtesy of event.howei.com

Nasi lemak, teh tarik and a restroom. This place ticked all the boxes.

Photograph courtesy of Marco Lai

Up, up and away.

CFAL 2018 Day 2 Climb 1 Cycling Plus Mag

Photograph courtesy of Cycling Plus Magazine

Working.

Photograph courtesy of Marvin Tan

Photograph courtesy of Marvin Tan

Photograph courtesy of Marvin Tan

Photograph courtesy of Marvin Tan

Photograph courtesy of Marvin Tan

Resting.

Photograph courtesy of Marvin Tan

Photograph courtesy of Marvin Tan

In past years the CFAL route took a sharp left turn at the bottom of the rapid descent from Bukit Genting. I was behind a group of a dozen riders as we approached that corner at speed. All of us were looking at the RELA man at the junction for directions.

CFAL 2018 Day 2 Rela Cycling Plus Mag

Except our man was not indicating anything. He wasn’t even looking our way. So everyone ahead of me continued straight down the road.

4km /2.5mi later I started thinking “This can’t be right.” I looked back and saw Martin Lee and Ralf. They had followed me. Oops!

Map courtesy of Ride With GPS

Now I know we could have turned left at Jalan Sungai ‘Pinang and rejoined the official route about 4km from the second climb. Oh well. An extra 8km / 5mi never hurt anyone. Ha ha ha!

The rest of the R@SKLs had no such problems. Except for Kieren, who suffered a second cut tire and had to Grab Car it back to town.

CFAL 2018 Day 2 Riders 1 Cycling Plus Mag

Photograph courtesy of Cycling Plus Magazine

The second climb up Jalan Teluk Bahang is more than twice as long as the Bukit Genting climb, but the average gradient is the same.

CFAL 2018 Day 2 Riders 3 Cycling Plus Mag

Photograph courtesy of Cycling Plus Magazine

CFAL 2018 Day 2 Riders 2 Cycling Plus Mag

Photograph courtesy of Cycling Plus Magazine

Our next regrouping point was at the Teluk Bahang Dam.

CFAL 2018 Day 2 Reservoir

While we were larking and monkeying about (SOP for the R@SKLs at rest stops) this young man, Danial Asyraf, pulled up. He was riding with his grandfather, Bakar Noordin. Bakar Noordin is one of six friends who in 2012 rode from Lebuh Downing in Penang to Downing Street in London.

CFAL 2018 Day 2 Six year old and Grandfather Mark Lim

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

His six-year-old grandson is no slouch on a bicycle either. If it took you more than four hours to complete the Round Island Ride, please do not look the next photograph.

Photograph courtesy of Penang Mountain Bike Association

You looked! Repeat after me . . .

Emoji courtesy of Bitmoji

We let Danial and his grandfather ride off ahead of us. I for one had no need to be embarrassed by a six-year-old spinning past me on the slopes of Jalan Batu Ferringhi.

A final water and restroom stop at the Caltex station at the bottom of the descent from the Teluk Bahang Dam, and we were on the last 22km / 13.5mi to the finish. The traffic on Jalan Batu Ferringhi was challenging, but we all got through that section okay.

Plain sailing from then on, until . . . . This time Mark had a flat of his own to fix.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

With lots of onlookers. Who knew changing an inner tube could be a spectator sport?

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

In less than 10km / 6mi we were collecting our medals at the finish line.

Photograph courtesy of Marco Lai

Posing for selfies.

Photograph courtesy of Cycling Plus Magazine

CFAL 2018 Day 2 Finish 2 Cycling Plus Mag

Photograph courtesy of Cycling Plus Magazine

And sprawling on the grass.

Photograph courtesy of Marco Lai

Where TH started yelping in pain. We all thought he had a cramp. Turns out having your hand stood on by someone wearing cycling cleats hurts just as much as a cramp.

Another fantastic weekend trip with the R@SKLs. Thank you, everyone, for making it so enjoyable.

Photograph courtesy of Lee Heng Keng

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Batu Ferringhi, Bukit Genting, CFAL, Teluk Bahang, Tien Hotel Residence. Bookmark the permalink.

CFAL 2018: Beach Party

Posted on August 13, 2018 by alchemyrider

CFAL 2018 Day 1 Beach

TH exceeded his reputation as the host with the most by putting together a beach party for more than fifty people on Saturday evening.

The ball started rolling with a coach ride from the Tien Hotel to Tanjung Tokong.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

The back of the coach was reserved for Millenials. One uncle didn’t get the message.

Photograph courtesy of Leonard Yee

This uncle is lucky he was at the beach party at all.

Photograph courtesy of Leonard Yee

Ralf slept through the 4.15pm coach departure time. Which was bad enough. Worse was that none of us realized that Ralf wasn’t in the coach until we were almost at Tanjung Tokong. Serrena saved Ralf’s evening by getting him from the hotel and driving him to the party.

When we got to the beach the whole roast lamb still needed a few more turns on the spit. So we took group photographs. and got stuck into the beers and soft drinks.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

Some of us couldn’t resist pinching food that was already on the buffet table before the dinner bell rang. Which we got told off for. Oh well. We were starving!

Once that dinner bell did ring, the food kept coming and coming. The aforementioned spit-roasted lamb, fried meehoon, battered squid, fried fish, steamed prawns, crabs, salad, wedge-cut fries, a variety of local cakes, curry puffs and fruit skewers. We weren’t starving anymore.

Some of the R@SKLs passed the time waiting for dinner by opening up a gambling table. The action was serious enough that some of the players didn’t bother with dinner. The fewer distractions the better apparently.

Photograph courtesy of Annie Lim

The PKKT crew were invited. It was nice to see them enjoying themselves after working so hard for us on the roads.

Photograph courtesy of Annie Lim

Good times!

Photograph courtesy of Annie Lim

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

Photograph courtesy of Annie Lim

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

After dinner, the karaoke started.

Photograph courtesy of Lai Vook Kiat

Only one of these guys can sing.

Bring on the music at any party and the dancing starts.

CFAL 2018 Day 1 Beach Party 3 Leonard Yee

Photograph courtesy of Leonard Yee

By the time the sun dipped below the horizon the beach party was rocking.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

Thank you TH and Serrena for putting together a wonderful evening. I wonder how you will top this next year? Hint hint!!

The beach party wound down at 9.00pm or so. Some R@SKLs went to bed. And some R@SKLs went out for durians.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

Guess which R@SKL didn’t wake up in time for the CFAL Round Island ride?

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CFAL 2018: Food Hunt

Posted on August 13, 2018 by alchemyrider

CFAL 2018 Day 1 Hawker Food www misstamchiak com

Photographs courtesy of http://www.misstamchiak.com

Penang is noted for its street food. Forget the air-conditioned restaurants with slow service. Food in Penang is all about hawker centres and roadside stalls, with dirt-cheap dishes packed with flavour.

The R@SKLs were in Penang for the CFAL ride. That was the story anyway. I think the Saturday food hunt is really the main event for the R@SKLs.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

We were guided by these young men from PKKT Pulau Pinang. They provided escort service for us last year. This time they rode scooters upgraded with blue and red flashing lights and what sounded like an ambulance siren and an emergency vehicle horn. The first time I heard the siren I thought there was an ambulance behind me.

Photograph courtesy of Leonard Yee

We didn’t have to ride far for breakfast. Cecil Street Market is 2km / 1.2mi from the Tien Hotel.

Photograph courtesy of Jake Sow

We were joined on the ride by friends who live in Penang.

Photograph courtesy of Dennis HS Tan

We each put RM50 / USD12 into a communal pot to pay for food and drinks during the ride. Marvin was in charge of doling out money when required. He figured no one would suspect he was carrying RM1,500 / USD365 around with him in that orange plastic bag.

Photograph courtesy of Lai Voon Kiat

Our next stop was at the recently completed Spiral Bridge which allows cyclists to cross the Bayan Lepas Expressway.

Photograph courtesy of Billy

The spiral bridge is opposite the Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah Bridge which is one of two bridges joining the island to the mainland.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

We did two climbs. The first was the same one we would do during the CFAL ride. Along Jalan Teluk Kumbar from the PUSPAKOM centre to the top of Bukit Genting.

All smiles so far! We particularly enjoyed the PKKT guys bossing the traffic with their siren, horn and whistle so that we could ride through intersections and roundabouts unimpeded.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

We regrouped at the top of Bukit Genting before the rapid descent toward Balik Pulau.

CFAL 2018 Day 1 Top of Climb 1 Lai Voon Kiat

Photograph courtesy of Lai Voon Kiat

We stopped at the Balik Pulau Food Court for drinks. Including amra juice. Amra is a contraction of ambarella, which is this fruit’s English name. The Malay name for this fruit is buah kedondong.

CFAL 2018 Day 1 Ambarella Juice Dilmah Conservation

Photograph courtesy of Dilmah Conservation

CFAL 2018 Day 1 Balik Pulau Stop Martin Lee

Photograph courtesy of Martin Lee

Immediately after exiting the Balik Pulau Food Court car park we started the second climb of the day, rising up Jalan Tun Sardon. 325 metres / 1,066 feet of elevation over 4.5km / 2.8mi, at an average grade of 7.4% with a maximum grade of 17.5%.

Photograph courtesy of Dennis HS Tan

This blog has young readers, so I can’t repeat what the fellow below and on the left said when he got to the top of the climb. It was something like this . . .

CFAL 2018 Day 1 Swearing

Photograph courtesy of Dennis HS Tan

Photograph courtesy of Billy

Marvin won the Star R@SKL Of The Day award for riding his Brompton up Jalan Tun Sardon and wearing a pair of Crocs while doing it.

Photograph courtesy of Dennis HS Tan

How tough was the climb? Leonard’s “during” and “just about to die” faces tell the story.

Photograph courtesy of Dennis HS Tan

CFAL 2018 Day 1 Tough Climb up Tun Sardon Dennis HS Tan

Photograph courtesy of Dennis HS Tan

Wake me up before you go go!

CFAL 2018 Day 1 Tough Climb up Tun Sardon TH Lim

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

You can’t keep a smile of Kelin’s and Kevin’s faces for long.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

After everyone but Leonard’s heart rates had returned to near-normal levels, we unrolled our R@SKLs banner.

CFAL 2018 Day 1 Top of Tun Sardon Climb TH Lim

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

Jalan Tun Sardon is steep going up, and just as steep going down. 60kph / 37mph plus where the traffic allowed.

We regrouped at the PETRONAS station at the bottom of the hill before the PKKT boys shepherded us across a busy Jalan Paya Terubong to Serrena’s business premises in Taman Seri Rambai. She had laid on a much-appreciated supply of Carlsberg, 100 Plus and fresh fruit.

Thank you Serrena!

Anyone else getting the impression that Thomas needed some rest?

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

It was noon when we left Serrena’s. Time for lunch. We went to Sin Yong Wah Coffee Shop in Air Itam. The same place where we spent more than an hour during last year’s CFAL Food Hunt, waiting in vain for the torrential rain to stop.

This time it was pushing 36° C / 97° F with not a drop of rain in sight.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

Photograph courtesy of Jake Sow

Last year we rode up to the Kek Lok Si Temple before lunch. This time we just took pictures from the coffee shop.

CFAL 2018 Day 1 Kek Lok Si Temple Kenix Chiang

Photograph courtesy of Kenix Chiang

It was about 9km / 5.5mi from Air Itam to the Penang Town Hall. We went there to collect our CFAL ride packs. We would be there again first thing in the morning to start the CFAL round island ride.

In the meantime, it was back to the Tien for a shower and a rest before the evening beach party.

It’s a good thing the hotel rules do not bar hanging cycling kit out to dry on the roof.

CFAL 2018 Day 1 Bespoiling the View Eugene Lee

Photograph courtesy of Eugene Lee

Or was the rule just ignored?

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Air Itam, Balik Pulau, Bukit Genting, Cecil Street, CFAL, Jalan Tun Sardon, Tien Hotel Residence. Bookmark the permalink.

CFAL 2018: Prelude

Posted on August 13, 2018 by alchemyrider

Graphic courtesy of event.howei.com

The annual Campaign for a Lane (CFAL) ride is the most anticipated event on the R@SKL calendar. Planning starts in March, as soon as registration for CFAL opens.

The early birds get the best accommodation in Penang. A room at the Tien Hotel. Those who were slower off the mark get the next best thing. Shared accommodation at Tien Residences. Both locations are courtesy of TH Lim, who once again outdid himself as host extraordinaire.

Graphic courtesy of TH Lim

TH took care of all the arrangments in Penang. Dehydration would not be a problem.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

He went to Penang a few days early to make sure the hawker food was up to scratch.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

He even provided custom-made caps for us.

CFAL 2018 Cap TH Lim

All the rest of us had to do was arrange our travel and get our bikes to Pegasus in time to catch the transporter van.

R@SKLs started travelling early on Friday.

Photograph courtesy of Kenix Chiang

Including some from Hong Kong.

Photograph courtesy of Lai Voon Kiat

By lunchtime on Friday bikes were in a van and on the road from Kuala Lumpur to Penang.

Photograph courtesy of Marco Lai

Th’s host duties started early on Friday evening as the first wave of R@SKLs arrived at the Tien Hotel.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

The festivities were interrupted by the arrival of the van carrying our bicycles.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

Unloading expended a lot of calories, which of course had to be immediately replaced. So festivities recommenced at a hawker stall down the road from the Tien Hotel.

Photograph courtesy of Lai Voon Kiat

A sign of things to come . . . .

CFAL 2018 Sign of things to come Simon Su Hoo

Photograph courtesy of Simon Soo Hu

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Road and Rail to Tanjung Malim

Posted on August 7, 2018 by alchemyrider

Once in a while work schedules allow some of us to do weekday morning rides. Which means that the KTM Komuter train service can be a part of the route plan.

Tanjung Malim Route

The Komuter service to the north terminates at Tanjung Malim. So we rode to Tanjung Malim and took the train back to the Kepong KTM station. Ongoing track upgrading work means that Kepong is still the closest we can get to the Kuala Lumpur city centre.

We parked at the Kepong KTM station for RM4.00 / USD1.00 per day. Annie, Kieren, Mark and I rolled out of the car park at about 6.00am, heading for Federal Route 1 toward Ipoh.

By the time it was light we had completed the climb of the day, 100 metres / 330 feet over 1.3km / 0.8mi from Templer Hills to Taman Amansiara, and were rolling through Rawang toward Serendah. Serendah was a good place to stop for breakfast. Nasi lemak, char koay teow, meehoon soup, half-boiled eggs, iced Milo and coffee teed us up for the rest of the ride.

Photograph courtesy of Annie Lim

We were blessed with overcast skies for the entire ride.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

And once we were north of Rawang, we had relatively quiet roads. Most traffic heading north uses the North-South Expressway, which provided a faster alternative to Federal Route 1.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

We were aiming to catch the 10.15am train from Tanjung Malim. We had a few delays caused by mechanicals early in the ride. It was 8.40am when we got to this signboard. We had covered 39km / 24mi. We still had 34km / to ride to the Tanjung Malim station.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

We would have to up our pace to make the 10.15am train. Otherwise, it would be a long wait for the next train, which was not until 11.54am. We were at the Tanjung Malim station with 10 minutes to spare.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

If you look closely, you can see the train on the platform behind us. Unfortunately, it was the platform across the tracks from us. So we had to do a quick cyclocross-style scramble up a flight of stairs, across a walkway, and down another flight of stairs.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

With minutes to spare!

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

Definitely a ride to repeat, especially in weather like this.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

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Kudos for Silca

Posted on August 7, 2018 by alchemyrider

I own a number of Silca products.

T-Ratchet + Ti-Torque Kit
Phone Wallet
Seat Roll Premio
Tire Levers Premio
EOLO III CO² Regulator

The quality of the Silca items I own reflects the brand’s commitment to its customers:

Our commitment to you, our fellow cyclist, that we will continually strive to design and build the most perfect products possible.

https://silca.cc/pages/about

That commitment extends to customer support.

One of the reasons Silca calls their CO² inflator head a regulator is because the spool valve seals the pierced canister. No CO² escapes until you depress the SilEOLO IIIspring-loaded valve. Which means that any unused CO² stays in the canister.

The spool valve on my EOLO III started leaking CO². I emailed Silca customer support to ask if there was a way I could stop the leak. The response was perfect.

This showed up on my doorstep yesterday.

D31A5565-9E82-4F34-B474-C98082B67709

A free replacement for my defective EOLO III.

Silca items are not the cheapest of their kind. However the design and build quality of their products, coupled with outstanding customner support, make Silca products true value for money.

Tanjung Sepat x 2

Posted on August 5, 2018 by alchemyrider

Tanjung Sepat View 1

Rides from Kota Kemuning to Morib and back have formed the basis for a number of my posts.

September 2016
March 2017
June 2017
July 2017
March 2018

Rides to Morib and back are about 100km / 62mi long. Long enough that we don’t venture further down the coast unless the destination is Port Dickson or Melaka.

Tanjung Sepat is a fishing town about 18km / 11mi down the coast from Morib. Tanjung means cape, and Sepat is a type of fish. This is one of the towns that we ride through on those longer rides.

March 2014
August 2016
December 2017

Lately, Tanjung Sepat has become a destination in its own right. I first rode inner roads to Tanjung Sepat with Lay in June. We returned via the coastal road through Morib. In July Mark led a group of R@SKLs on a Morib ride extension to Tanjung Sepat. Last Saturday Mark and I rode to Tanjung Sepat entirely on inner roads, bypassing Morib completely.

The photographs Mark posted led to some R@SKLs asking if Mark and I would lead a duplicate ride the next day. Which we did. Hence Tanjung Sepat x 2 for Mark and I.

The long-standing start point for rides to the coast has been Restoran BR Maju in Kota Kemuning. Since that ride with Lay, I have started from the Bandar Rimbayu Show Gallery instead. That cuts out 8km / 5mi of road made dusty and sandy, or muddy, depending upon the weather, by legions of earth-moving lorries.

The other R@SKLs have bought into the new starting point too.

Tanjung Sepat Route

These are the photographs that prompted other R@SKLs to want to do this ride also. Lovely quiet country roads.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

So eleven of us fired up our lights and rolled out of the Bandar Rimbayu Show Gallery carpark at 6am on Sunday.

The run to the bridge over the Langat River is the same one we always use. The only mechanical issue o the day came at the apex of the bridge, where Annie dropped her chain.

Photograph courtesy of Annie Lim

The new route I plotted kicks in about 1.5km / 1mi from the river, where we turned right off Jalan Pusara onto the much quieter Jalan Kampung Sawah.

Different day, same conditions.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

Happy faces!

Photograph courtesy of Chew Wee Giap

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

Photograph courtesy of Chew Wee Giap

Tanjung Sepat via these inner rural roads is 65km / 40mi from Bandar Rimbayu. Everyone was hungry when we got there. The first stop was for breakfast.

Photograph courtesy of Alfred Chan

By some accounts, Tanjung Sepat’s fishing fortunes are in decline as the sea in that part of the Straits of Melaka gets increasingly polluted. It retains its reputation for good seafood restaurants, of which there are many. It is also developing other attractions.

A wooden jetty known as Lover’s Bridge collapsed some years ago and has been replaced by a concrete pier. It is not a particularly romantic structure, but it is worth going out to the end for a photograph.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

You also get a ride track 350 metres / 1,150 feet out into the Straits of Melaka.

Map courtesy of Ride With GPS

Some enterprising locals have also built a series of Instagrammable structures out of old wine barrels. Quite a tourist pull on weekends. This dragon, for instance.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

And this bridge between two towers of wine barrels.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

There is something for all ages!

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

A longer-standing attraction is the Hai Yew Heng pau (stuffed buns) shop. Famous for over forty years for its traditional home-made Hainanese steamed buns. The buns sell like hot cakes (pardon the mixed metaphor). I’ve been through Tanjung Sepat three or four times, and this was the first time the shop was open. There is no seating in the pau shop, so we sat in the coffee shop across the road

Photograph courtesy of Annie Lim

We rode back to Bandar Rimbayu was under mostly overcast skies.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

We made our customary cendol stop after we re-crossed the Langat River. It made a difference having 8km / 5mi less to ride to get from the cendol stall to the carpark. I think the Bandar Rimbayu starts are here to stay.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Bandar Rimbayu, Hai Yew Heng, Langat River, Morib, Tanjung Sepat. Bookmark the permalink.

Old Roots, New Routes

Monthly Archives: August 2018

Tanjung Sepat for Congee

CFAL 2018: Round Island Ride

With apologies to The Bee Gees

CFAL 2018: Beach Party

CFAL 2018: Food Hunt

CFAL 2018: Prelude

Road and Rail to Tanjung Malim

Kudos for Silca

Tanjung Sepat x 2

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