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The Germans visit Malaysia Part 2

Posted on November 12, 2019 by alchemyrider

Day 4

There were two items on the itinerary for Monday. A road trip to Melaka and Leonard’s 3-in-1 party.

The road trip started with a bak kut teh breakfast at Restoran Ah Hei Bak Kut Teh.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

Once on the road to Melaka, it became clear that the Jalan Alor food stalls and/or alcohol had claimed one victim.
Luckily a nap and some non-alcoholic Malta drink rejuvenated Matthias.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

Pai and TH took the Germans sightseeing in Melaka.

Photograph courtesy of Hsing C Pai
Photograph courtesy of TH Lim
Photograph courtesy of TH Lim
Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

Lunch was at Restoran Seng Kee.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim
Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

I don’t think the Germans remember much about the drive back to Kuala Lumpur.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

Leonard’s 3-in-1 party was at the Grand Imperial restaurant in the Bangsar Shopping Centre. 3-in-1 because 1. the Germans were here, 2. because he recently scored a hole-in-one, and 3. it was his birthday later that week.

Photograph courtesy of Leonard Yee
Photograph courtesy of Leonard Yee
Photograph courtesy of Leonard Yee

I must say Ralf was resplendent in his lederhosen. Doing it “My Way!”

Photograph courtesy of Leonard Yee

But he sometimes runs out of steam.

Photograph courtesy of Leonard Yee

Leonard was a wonderful host. He does talk a lot though 💬💬💬.

Photograph courtesy of Leonard Yee

Day 5

The Day 5 ride was 115km from Tanjung Malim to Simpang Pulai.

Some bikes went into Amy’s truck. The other bicycles and people went into three other vehicles.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

It took about an hour to drive to Tanjung Malim. We parked beside a Shell station and got ready to roll. The entire ride would be on Federal Route 1.

Map courtesy of Ride With GPS

It was 31ºC when we got to Sungkai. We stopped for drinks and ice-cream.

Photograph courtesy of Lee Heng Keng

Zaryl had a more urgent reason to stop. Her saddle had come off her seat post. It was Patrik the mechanic to the rescue.

Photograph courtesy of Hsing C Pai

12km further up the road, we arrived at a fresh fruit stall. Iced mango tastes very good when it is 35ºC.

The heat didn’t bother Marc though.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

We made another drink stop at Tapah.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

We had lunch at Kampar. We were 85km into the ride.

Photograph courtesy of Lee Heng Keng

That is when Patrik discovered his souvenirs from the Hyatt House Hotel.

Photograph courtesy of Hsing C Pai

Pai dressed for the heat when we left Kampar.

Photograph courtesy of Dieter Fecher

At 2:30 pm we were in Gopeng. The air-conditioned KFC was closed for renovations. We had drinks in the open-air Alif Cafe instead.

I had a puncture 4km from our destination 🤬.

Photograph courtesy of Hsing C Pai

I must admit that one flat tire among twelve cyclists riding 115km each is good going.

Happy to be at the Mornington Hotel.

Photograph courtesy of Lee Heng Keng
Photograph courtesy of Lee Heng Keng

After a shower some of the group went for a massage. Starting with the feet.

Photograph courtesy of Hsing C Pai

Then it was dinner time. The restaurant TH chose for us was hosting a wedding that night. I think the wedding party was a bit worried when our scruffy group walked in the door.

We were seated upstairs, though. Out of sight of the wedding guests.

The highlight of the meal was the steamed grouper head. Which was something out of the ordinary for our German guests.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

Day 6

Our Day 5 ride had been our longest. Our Day 6 ride would have the most elevation.

We checked out of the Mornington Hotel and rode a few kilometres to breakfast at Restoran Nasi Kandar Pulai.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

The road is fairly flat until the PETRONAS station about 5km from the Mornington Hotel. Then it starts to rise. Gently for 7km, and then more sharply to the border between the states of Perak and Pahang.

Map courtesy of Ride With GPS

The road was relatively quiet, and it was cooler than it was the day before.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

It wasn’t long before we were spread out along the road.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim
Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

That sign reads “Heavy Vehicles Keep Left.”

Photograph courtesy of Hsing C Pai
Photograph courtesy of Chan Chee Leong
Photograph courtesy of Chan Chee Leong
Photograph courtesy of Chan Chee Leong
Photograph courtesy of Chan Chee Leong
Photograph courtesy of Chan Chee Leong

Thank goodness for our support vehicles. They created a buffer between us and what little traffic was on the road.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

And were on hand when there was a puncture and a floor pump was needed.

Photograph courtesy of Chan Chee Leong

The support vehicles waited at the 43km point in case any of us wanted water, or in the case of the Germans, beer.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim
Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

The Waterfall Café is 6km further up the road. We all stopped there for a rest, a drink, and some roasted peanuts.

The state border is 4km from the Waterfall Café.

Photograph courtesy of Hsing C Pai

It is another 30km and 800 metres of climbing from the border to Brinchang. There is some relief in the form of a 9km descent from Blue Valley to Kuala Terla.

Kampung Raja is roughly halfway down that descent. We stopped for lunch at Restoran Lai Ki in Kampung Raja. Lemon chicken, batter-fried squid, fish in oyster sauce and fried greens hit the spot.

The virgin jungle between Kampung Raja and Brinchang is gone. Vegetable farms, tea plantations, and hotels and restaurants have replaced the trees.

Map courtesy of Ride With GPS

There were no more tree-lined roads like this for the last 20km to Strawberry Park Resort.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

There are potholes and patches on the road from Kampung Raja to Brinchang. We had to be careful on the fast descents.

Everyone got to Strawberry Park Resort safely. TH’s suite was the hangout room of choice.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

Patrik lit a fire.

Photograph courtesy of TH Lim

Some serious rehydration happened in front of that fire.

Kelin drove up from Kuala Lumpur to join us for barbecued steaks, lamb and chicken accompanied by sweet potatoes, sweet corn, potato salad and green salad.

And pasta. TH demonstrated his chef chops by cooking two versions of spaghetti Frutti di Mare. With marinara sauce and with alfredo sauce.

TH also provided a soundtrack via his Bluetooth speaker. Hits from the 80’s and 90’s.

The evening ended with dessert and wine. A lot of wine.

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Road and Rail Back to Kepong

Posted on July 25, 2018 by alchemyrider

Day 2 Mini Bus

We were a bit slow to get going in the morning.  There was some not-necessarily joking about taking the bus or train all the way back to Kuala Lumpur or getting a ride with someone.

We did make the walk to Hollywood at 7.30am.  Plates of prawn chee cheong fun, char kway teow, and lor bak, washed down with glasses of leng chee kang (lotus seed drink) perked everyone up.

Day 2 Breakfast 2 Danial Marzuki

Photograph courtesy of Danial Marzuki

Day 2 Breakfast Danial Marzuki

Photograph courtesy of Danial Marzuki

At 9.0am we were packed and ready to roll.  Danial’s friend Eric rode with us to Gopeng before turning around and heading back home.

Day 2 Start

Photograph courtesy of Eric

We made a quick stop at the 7-Eleven in the same row of shophouses as the Ampang Cycle House.  Our first proper stop was at a Petron station in Gopeng.  The breakfast drinks had made their way through our bodily systems by then.

The day had started out cooler than it had been the previous day.  Everyone was pleased about that.

Day 2 Road Danial Marzuki

Photograph courtesy of Danial Marzuki

37km / 23mi into our ride we were in Kampar.  A Petron station was a convenient place to stop for ten minutes.

At 12.30pm were in Tapah.  The KFC there was a lot less appealing as a lunch venue than it had been the day before.  After some scouting around, we ended up at . . .

Day 2 Pizza Hut Ozairi Othman

Photograph courtesy of Ozairi Othman

Pizza Hut!  That was an underwhelming experience.  The pizzas were smaller than we had expected, there was no ice for our drinks, and the air conditioning wasn’t working very well.  Nevertheless, between us, we polished off three regular pizzas and four 1.5 litre bottles of Pepsi Cola.

The cool of the early morning had given way to full-on heat.  It was 35° C / 95° F outside.  The plan had been to spend an hour in Pizza Hut.  The ineffective air conditioning while we were eating made that seem unlikely.  By the time we were finished eating the air conditioning had upped its game and we finally began to cool off.  And so we stayed there for seventy minutes.

We then spent fifteen minutes at the Petronas station 200 metres down the road eating ice cream for dessert.

Thirty-five minutes later we were in Bidor.  The iced mango and other fresh fruit at the Sakinah stall, where we had stopped on the way to Ipoh, were calling our names.  That was another fifteen-minute break.

Day 2 Bidor Fruit Stall Ozairi Othman

Photograph courtesy of Ozairi Othman

It was past 2.30pm.  The temperature would stay in the mid to low 30s° C / low 90s° F for the next three hours.  We would be stopping a lot.  So no change from the MO of the day before.

Day 2 It Is Hot Danial Marzuki

Photograph courtesy of Danial Marzuki

One of the benefits of riding on what used to be the main trunk road linking Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh is that you pass through lots of small towns.  Towns which have at least one petrol station with an air-conditioned convenience store where we could stop and rest.

Sungkai was the next of these towns.  We spent twenty minutes in the BHP station there.  We were not in a rush.  The first non-peak train leaves Tanjung Malim at 7.00pm on weekends.  We had about 45km / 28mi to go, and more than four hours to cover that distance.

It is 22km / 14mi from Sungkai to Slim River.  Just a bit too far to do all in one go, given the temperature and the rolling terrain.  There isn’t much between Sungkai and Slim River, so we stopped in some shade beside the road at the junction to Trolak.

We spent forty minutes at the Petronas station in Slim River.  More ice cream and cold drinks.  That was the good news.

Day 2 Cursing

The bad news was that I dropped my mobile phone and broke the screen.

25km / 16mi to Tanjung Malim.  It was 5.30pm when we left Slim River.  The temperature had dropped to 29° C / 84° F.  Enough of the cutting edge had been taken off the heat that we were able to cover those last kilometres to Tanjung Malim in one go.  We stopped at a Petronas station a couple of kilometres from the Komuter station to regroup and get a drink.

Day 2 Last Petronas Halim Zin

Photograph courtesy of Halim Zin

We then rode to the KTM station to get tickets for the 8.00pm train to Kepong.  We planned to have dinner during the hour or so before that train departed.  We got to the KTM station at 6.50pm and were told that we could board the 7.00pm train with our bikes.  The train was already at the station.  We quickly hauled our bikes up and across the overpass to the platform on the other side of the tracks and hopped onto the train.

Day 2 Train Danial Marzuki

Photograph courtesy of Danial Martzuki

Once again we had the entire carriage to ourselves.

It was dark when we pulled into the KTM Kepong station.  There had been talk about getting dinner before riding home, but by the time we wheeled our bikes off the train at 8.30pm the gloss had worn off that idea.  It had been a long and hot weekend, and everyone just wanted to get home.  Which we all accomplished safely.

This was my first ride to Ipoh.  It was a lot of fun (double pinch flats and broken phone screen aside).  I would do it again.  Any town with its own Hollywood-style sign is worth another visit.

 

Day 2 Ipoh Sign

Photograph courtesy of The Malaysian Times

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Rail and Road to Ipoh

Posted on July 25, 2018 by alchemyrider

Ipoh Banner

Vegas and Hollywood were two of the highlights of our weekend trip to Ipoh.  More on that later.

Canning Garden in Ipoh, where we spent the night, is just over 200km / 124mi from Kuala Lumpur.  Which is just a bit further than we wanted to cycle.

So we went by train for part of the way.  Tanjung Malim is as far as you can go northwards on the KTM Komuter train.  The KTM Electric Train Service (ETS) goes beyond Tanjung Malim to Ipoh and onwards to the Thai border, but full-sized bicycles are not allowed on board the ETS trains.

Early on Saturday morning six of us met up at various points along the way to the Kepong Komuter station.  We would normally have boarded the train in Kuala Lumpur.  Track upgrading work means that there is temporarily no service between Kuala Lumpur and Kepong.

Day 1 Kepong Station Danial Marzuki

Photograph courtesy of Danial Marzuki

Danial, Halim, Choo Chian, Safwan, Ozzy and I caught the 7.10am train ride from Kepong to Tanjung Malim.  That was the last weekend non-peak hours train until 8.00pm.  Bicycles are allowed on Komuter trains during non-peak hours only.  The train ride took about 75 minutes.  We had the last carriage almost entirely to ourselves.  At 9.00am we were scouting the area around the Tanjung Malim station for a place to have breakfast.

The stop at Restoran Hijas was the first of many.

By 9.45am we were on the road northwards to Ipoh.  We cycled along Federal Route 1, which as the name implies is the first and oldest federal road in Malaysia.  Federal Route 1 was the backbone of the road system in the western states of Peninsular Malaysia before being supplanted by the North–South Expressway (E1 and E2).

Day 1 Traffic Light Ozzy

Photograph courtesy of Ozairi Othman

Our next stop was at the Shell station in Slim River.  So named for a Captain Slim, who in the nineteenth century sailed up the river, mistaking it for the larger Perak River, which was the main waterway at that time.

We were trundling along at a relatively relaxed pace.  We were all carrying clothes, toiletries etc. in our saddle packs.  Some of us had handlebar bags as well.  Danial was on a Marin touring bike.  We weren’t set up for speed.

So it was two and a half hours before we got to Restoran Shakir in Sungkai, where we had drinks and topped up our bottles with ice.

A word about the state of the road is appropriate here.  The entire length of the ride was about 125km / 78mi.  There were some badly rutted and patched sections, but in the main, the road surface was reasonable to good.  However, there was enough debris on the road that you had to keep your eyes glued to the road ahead.

3km after leaving Restoran Shakir I got distracted by a motorcyclist pulling off the road to my left and clanged straight over a substantial lump of stone.  The noise that made was loud enough to make me think that I had damaged a rim.  Not the case as it turned out, but I had pinch-flatted both my tires.

Thank goodness for riding with friends whom I could borrow an inner tube from.

Day 1 Flat Ozzy

Photograph courtesy of Ozairi Othman

Danial and Ozzy rode on while my three assistants and I fixed two flat tires.  We caught up with them about 10km / 6mi later at a row of fresh fruit stalls in Bidor.  It was 1.00pm and 33° C / 91° F by then.  Iced mango slices hit the spot.

We got to Tapah about thirty minutes later.  A good time to stop for lunch.

Day 1 KFC Safwan Siddiq

Photograph courtesy of Safwan Siddiq

The KFC in Tapah was packed but we went in any way.  The air conditioning was the main attraction.

My lunch was pretty good too.

638E96DD-2E04-4D40-83E4-DA088D7F99BD.png

70km / 43mi done.  55km / 31mi to go.

After forty-five minutes in the cool of the KFC, we headed out into the sun again.  Not for long though.  It was 35° C / 95° F.  Twenty minutes later we stopped at the Shell station in Temoh for ice cream and drinks.

Thirty minutes after that we were inside a Petron station at Kampar.  I told you we stopped a lot.

The next ice cream and drinks stop was at a Shell station in Gopeng.  It was 4.30pm, and we had 18km / 11mi to go.  But we had two more stops to make before w got to Canning Garden.

All the Way from Tanjung Malim we had ridden past a multitude of roadside stalls, some quite makeshift, selling durians.  Durians are regarded by many in Southeast Asia as the “king of fruits.”

Day 1 Durian

Photograph courtesy of The Star Online

Durians are a seasonal fruit, and prices have soared in recent years as more and more of the local crop is exported to places like China.  But this year, a combination of unusually hot weather and heavy rainfall resulted in a long durian season.  This has produced an oversupply that has pushed down prices.

Danial could not resist the temptation.  We stopped in Simpang Pulai for a mini durian feast.  While the others were delving into durians, I noticed, set back from the road, the ruins of this mansion.

Day 1 Ruin Closeup

In its heyday in the 1920s and 1930s, Ipoh was the epicentre of a tin mining boom.  Newly minted millionaires built mansions like this one.  Following the depletion of its tin deposits and the collapse of tin prices in the 1970s, Ipoh suffered decades of decline and neglect.  Epitomised by these remains of what was once a stately home.

Our last stop was at the Ampang Cycle House, where I bought inner tubes and CO2 cartridges to replace what I had borrowed.

4km / 2.5mi away from the bike shop is this terraced house which was our home for the night.  Choo Chian booked it online for us.  Very comfortable and well-equipped it was too.

Day 1 Home Stay

So why Vegas and Hollywood?  They are the names of famous eating places in Canning Garden.  Both are coffee shops housing a collection of food stalls, so there is a variety of dishes on offer.

It was 6.30pm when we arrived at Canning Garden.  After storing our bikes in the house, we walked, in our cycling kits, to dinner at Vegas.  Vegas is open at night but not in the morning.  Hollywood, 100 metres away in the next block of shophouses, is closed at night and open in the morning. We would be at Hollywood for breakfast.

There are no dinner food photographs to show, but I assure you the food was good.

Day 1 Dinner Danial Marzuki

Photograph courtesy of Danial Marzuki

After dinner, we washed ourselves and our cycling kits, and lounged in the sitting room for a while.  Some of the guys went back out at about 10.00pm for a teh tarik.  It was lights out time for Halim and I.

 

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