Thursday, February 11, 2016

Kuala Lumpur : Chinese Year End 2015 Happy Cycling Reunion Ride

You are at - Jotaro's Blog / AhPek Biker / Cycling Malaysia / Kuala Lumpur / Chinese Year End 2015 Happy Cycling Reunion Ride
                          AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures                       
Chinese Year End 2015 Reunion Ride
Kuala Lumpur : 3rd February 2016 
Distance: 33.35 km.     |     Level: Easy
Time : 5:55pm - 11:40 pm
Time Taken : 5 hrs. 35 mins. (including stops for ice-cream, dinner, drinks and regrouping).

Route Recommendations :
1. The route is relatively flat except for some stretches at Taman Desa.
2. Traffic at Old Klang Road can be busy even at night, do ride with care there.
3. The Kuala Lumpur SW Cycling Lanes are a pleasure do cycle along. The only thing is try to avoid cycling at the stretch between the Old Kuala Lumpur Train Station and Brickfields at night; it gets a bit dodgy there as vagrants hang around below the Jalan Damansara overpass.
4. The Santan (coconut cream) Ice-cream at Kampung Baru sold from a tricycle stall is pretty good. It has options to include pulut rice or being served as a bun sandwich.
5. Restaurant Pu Yuan off Old Klang Road serves very good traditional Hokkien dishes; including their signature dish, the Fried Tapioca Noodles . 
6. Dataran Merdaka has very good picturesque and scenic photo opportunities.


PRELUDE
The weeks before Chinese New Year each year is a busy time for all; it's time to collect and pay debts so that they don't carry over to the next year. It's also a time for many companies to give a dinner to their staff and business clients, a way of thanking them for their support and a good job done.
Our cycling group, the hApPy Cycling Group has since 2013 held a ride, the sort of ride to close of the year. In a way it's our way of appreciating the many rides we had together. In another way it's a last ride for the year where we wish each other a happy coming year and part ways to our respective home-towns to be with our families.
Usually we have a short ride about ten to twenty kilometres and end with a tossing yee sang dinner. This year it was going to be different, this year's ride was a slightly longer one and with no tossing but lot's of cheers..... and did I mention ice-cream too?



THE RIDE


Medium-size Group EventKelab Golf Titiwangsa>Kampung Baru>Dataran Merdaka>KL SW Dedicated Cycling Highway>Old Klang Road>Taman Desa>Brickfields>Kelab Golf Titiwangsa.
From the Kelab Golf Titiwangsa, we headed to Dataran Merdaka via Kampung Baru and then onwards to our planned reunion dinner place - a Thai Steamboat place in Old Klang Road. The Thai eats did not panned out, fortunately Tailim (our group chief and of the hApPy HaPpY blogs) had a Plan B which turned out to be even better!

A couple of friends brought along some bottle of drinks for our later toasting; Kong with his Brompton C-bag was appointed the quiet transporter.


Starting from the golf course, we headed down Kampung Baru. Although set right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, this place has retained a rural feel and was pleasant to cycle along. It's a better alternative than cycling along the busy Jalan Tengku Abdul Rahman.


Kampung Baru holds one secret - this Pak Haji who sells very tasty Santan (coconut milk) ice-cream.


And here we are, happily enjoying a simple meal of ice-cream. The old Pak Haji may not realise it, his ice-cream does spread smiles all over.


Chris, ever the food lover, just could not have enough and went for seconds. A BIG seconds it was... four scoops into a bun sandwich!
(... read more at Santan Ice-cream blog)


While we were having a grand time at the kampong, a few of our friends who were waiting for us at Dataran Merdaka were getting bored.... and were up to some antics like lying on the field to take photos of the sky.... yup, they were really getting bored.
But they were glad to see us coming, especially as we had brought along some packed ice-cream for them too.


Though our country's currency had lately been deflated, our cycling certainly cheers us up. Even having to carry our bikes across bridges did not dampen our spirit.


We went cycling along the Kuala Lumpur's cycling lane and ended up at Old Klang Road, at a Thai steam-boat place just at the start of the road.
But then, the place did not allow us to park our bicycles inside (eventhough we showed them how compactly they can be folded). Instead they asked us to park outside; no way were we going to leave our beloved bikes unattended. So we decided to take our business elsewhere, well it's their loss not ours.


The unfortunate Thai affair was a blessing in disguise as Tailim took us to another place which was even more interesting and had even better food. It was further down busy Old Klang Road, at a quiet lane that seems to hold a few squatters houses with not eatery in sight!


The restaurant was called Pu Yuan and it was housed in one of those nondescript squatter houses, with no signboard heralding its existence. Even then, many in the know patronise this Pu Yuan as it serves excellent Hokkein dishes, including this harder to find Tapioca Noodles. Stir fried with pounded dried shrimps and garnished with spring onions and deep-fried shallots, it was indeed an excellent dish worth cycling here for.


Also good was this grass carp served with a chillied bean paste sauce...


... and this grass carp with ground ginger.
(.... read more of Hokkien food at Pu Yuan blog)


And with the food, a few round of toasts with loud "Yam Sengs". Those who could not drink liquor joined in with soft drinks.


But we were not quite done with our celebration, we rode up to Taman Desa and at the Faber Tower area sat down for another round of festivities at a Japanese barbecue place...


And of course another round of loud toasting; this time with Japanese Sapporo beer.


Happy and satisfied with our celebrations we rode back to the golf club. Wish each other a Happy Chinese Lunar New Year and saying our goodbyes as each of us will be heading back to our home-towns to celebrate with our families.
To all my readers, I wish you all:

GONG XI FA CAI!

May the Year of the Monkey bring you good health, prosperity and most of all many riding adventures!



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