AhPek Biker - Old Dog Rides Again: February 2013

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Kuala Lumpur : Lost Again! - Even More Lost

Even More Lost Bikers @ Dataran Merdeka

Kuala Lumpur : 24th February 2013

Medium Group Ride : Dataran Merdeka KL>Maha Vihara Temple, Brickfields>Thean Hou Temple>RMAF Museum>Taman Dusun Bellamy>Old Istana Negara>Federal Highway>

Thai Chetawan Temple, Petaling Jaya>Raju Banana Leaf Rice>Federal Highway>Brickfields>Dataran Merdeka KL

Distance covered : approx. 31.60 km.
Time : 8:00 am - 3:30 pm
Time Taken : 7:30 hrs. (including stops for visits & photos)
Reccomendations : Nice ride with many interesting places to visit.

PRELUDE

WE ARE LOST!!!

Sin, Kookkeong, Jason & me had rode "lost" before - i.e. riding without a clear route and with some destination in mind (see Lost Riders - Lost In The City!). Because it was the 9th day of the Chinese New Year, many were working and only the four of us made it for the ride.

Afterwards, we posted pictures of the ride on FB.
Many were envious of how interesting and enjoyable that ride was.

"Lost Again! - Even More Lost" Ride Map (click for Map Link)

So Sin, being the generous fellow, organized another "Lost" ride and posted it on FaceBook calling it "Another Lost Ride In The City"; holding it on a Sunday so that more can attend.
We were most surprised by good respond, seems like more people have an adventurous spirit. Based on some feedback, Sin increased the destinations to visit.
The title "Even More Lost" has a dual meaning - more lost because of more riders, and more lost because of more places we will visit.

More people, more places and more characters! This will definitely be another interesting fun adventure.

THE RIDE

This time we started from the Dataran Merdeka.

It was a Sunday, a the road in front of Dataran Merdeka were closed to traffic.
We felt like we owned the road.

"Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!"

Nash, our fun guy, took on a more serious role here - emulating our Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman in his proclamation of the Independence of Malaya back in 1957.

We left the Dataran Merdeka and rode off towards Petaling Street for breakfast.
Nothing like some food to fuel us up for a good ride.

SK Wong all smiles to be back "home"

Petaling Street is the Chinatown of Kuala Lumpur - the red lanterns for Chinese New Year were still hanging high up, adding a festive mood to the atmosphere.
This place is also our buddy, SK Wong's home-ground - he was born and brought up here and was most happy to be back "home".

Petaling Street or locally called Chee Cheong Kai is a busy place, most of the stalls are on the streets with hardly any place for tables.
Here we are having our breakfast on tables placed onto five-foot ways of shops.

The famous Chee Cheong Fun here is delicious and well patronize. Heard that they have even set up branches in Petaling Jaya.

Pak Wee brought some roast pork from Serdang.
It's very good with the skin crispy and not to salty.
Sinful food, but no worries, we will be burning all these when we cycle.

In the meantime, our Muslim friends were having some delicious Nasi Lemak.

Meals over! Time for serious riding and start our adventure.
Leaving Petaling Street we headed for our first destination.

The Maha Vihara Buddhist Temple in Brickfields. It's odd to find a Buddhist temple here as Brickfields is more well known as an Indian enclave.

But then it's not so odd, as this temple was founded by the Sinhalese community and there are Sinhalese monks resident there too.

This temple is quite old, more than 100 years old as it was established in 1894.

Although set up by the Sinhalese, Buddhists of other races do come here daily to pray and chant for their goodwill.

Next up - the Thean Hou Temple.
Cycling up was a bit difficult as the road leading up to the temple was quite steep.
While some pushed their bikes up, LYee, ever the fighter, pushed herself; cycling up slowly one pedal at a time.

But it was worth it as Thean Hou Temple is a beautiful piece of architecture.
Opened in 1989, it is also a Buddhist Temple, built not by the Sinhalese but by the Hainanese.

While I was busy riding a horse at the Chinese Horoscope Park .....

..... others hijacked the Lion Dance!

Leaving Thean Hou, we rode along Lorong Syed Putra Kiri through a Chinese Cemetery.
This is a faster and safer way to our next destination, the RMAF Museum in Sungei Besi.
Hah! Riding at a cemetery is safe?
It is as there is hardly any traffic there, so it is safe as long a one say some prayers!

The Royal Malaysian Air Force Museum in Sungei Besi.

On the outside compound and field, there were display of actual aircraft.
One can even sit inside these to get a feel of how it's really like flying one of these military aircraft.

In one of the aerodromes, planes that were used by the RMAF were on display; as shown by Lea Keng... er I mean Lea Kengs

LYee posing in front of a F-5e TigerII - practicing for her role as a model for the LIMA Aerospace Exhibition?

Some of us tried our hands on the anti-aircraft guns ...

... they hit their target!

A casualty of war or too much biking?

There's even a flight simulator with a real pilot's chair for some of us to try out (.... see more).

The museum is an interesting place to visit, and we would have stayed longer, but our cycling called us. There are other places to visit and a major part of our route is still ahead, so we rode back through the cemetery again and headed for ...

... the Taman Dusun Jalan Bellamy.

Having rode here before, while my fellow bikers were riding in the park...

... I went over to the adjacent food stalls for a rest.

This place is well known for it's barbecued fish, squid, cockles, etc. It was too early for lunch, so we skipped this.

Instead, we had this Ice-blended Coconut Milk Shake. It is really a nice, refreshing drink and one should not miss this when there. It's made by blending coconut flesh in coconut water with a scoop of Vanilla ice-cream, another scoop is added on top as a floater.

Four of our buddies had to leave early, the rest of us continued on riding along the shady road to the old Istana Negara.

The old Istana Negara entrance.

Some fun inside the museum, being conferred a Batukship.

Heading towards Petaling Jaya we would be using the motor-cycling lanes. But there is no cycle lane for part of the route from the Istana, luckily there's this fairly wide pavement that we could ride on safely.

Our destination, the Wat Chetawan Thai Buddhist temple in Petaling Jaya.

Guardian Angel at the Wat Chetawan

Definitely not a guardian angel holding up this Naga.

Ouch! Nash is getting hungry.

Cycling hard, we had burnt up our Petaling Street breakfast already - better go for lunch before something nasty happens!

Fortunately, lunch was at the nearby Raju's Banana Leaf Rice in Section 5.

YummY! Banana Leaf Rice.

Dark clouds were filling the sky, so best we hurry back before getting caught in the rain.

Quickly we cycled along the biking lane, passing the Kota Darul Ehsan arch.

And via the Ang Seng area leading to Brickfields.

We almost made it back, but at Brickfields it started to rain and we took shelter squeezing into this narrow corridor. But the rain was a drizzle, so we braved it and decided to continue on.

Back at the Royal Selangor Club!

More of us got even more lost, but more means more enjoyable fun.

Thanks again, Sin.
It was a really good ride.

Related Blogs :

Lost Riders Lost In The City 18th February 2013

On the 9th day of Chinese New Year we rode to be lost in the city. With no clear routes and some destinations in mind, the ride turned out to be adventurous and fruitful.