AhPek Biker - Old Dog Rides Again: Kuala Lumpur: Cycling From Kepong To KLCC

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Kuala Lumpur: From Kepong To KLCC - The Christmas & Comic-Con Ride

Kepong Baru to Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre via Jalan Ipoh : Sunday 23rd December 2018

Kepong Baru>Segambut>Jalan Ipoh>Kampung Baru>Pavilion Mall>Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre>Malasian Tourism Information Centre (MATIC)>Jalan IpohSegambut>Kepong Baru.

Cycling Distance - 30 km. Level: Medium
Time : 8:30am to 3:30pm
Time Taken : 7hrs (inclusive of stops for breakfast, lunch, tea, and long visits to view Christmas decorations at malls & casual participation at the Comic Fiesta 2018, rests & regrouping, some reorientation, and photo opps).

Route Recommendations :
1. The route is fairly flat and takes us from Kepong Baru to the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) to casually take part in the Comic Fiesta 2018. For ease of reference I call it the Comicon (Comic Convention)
2. Weather can get rather hot from late morning to mid-afternoon, so do cover up or use sun-block lotions.
3. Places of Interest:
Along the route were several places of interests, some of which we visited others we did not for lack of time. (Note: click on the GPS coordinates for the directional map to the respective places):
- Rumah Penghulu Abu Seman (GPS: 3.15049, 101.7166), traditional Malay stilt house at Jalan Stonor.
- Kampung Baru (GPS: 3.16305, 101.70618), a Malay village reserve right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur where kampong village houses and life can still be seen.
- Christmas decorations at the shopping malls, notably at Lot 10 and Pavilion.
- KLCC Park (GPS: 3.15560, 101.71465).
- The Comicon convention at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (GPS: 3.15388, 101.71341).
4. Food
- Breakfast: Char Keow Teow and other noodles at Kedai Makanan Sing Kong (GPS: 3.19691, 101.65526) in Kepong Baru.
- Lunch: Nasi Melayu at Cafeteria Matic (GPS: 3.15636, 101.70738).
- Tea; Sugarcane water at roadside stall (GPS: 3.20171, 101.64594) in Kepong Baru.

Other good food along the route:
- Pork Lard Rice at Zheng Kee Chicken Rice roadside stall (Website Link) (GPS: 3.19575, 101.66555) in Segambut.
- Seafood Curry Mee at Restoran Yu Ai (海鮮ミー) (Website Link) (GPS: 3.18468, 101.67638) in Segambut.
- Best Apam Hopper In Kuala Lumpur at KR Mani Curry House (GPS: 3.17425, 101.69071) next to St. James' Church in Sentul.
- Cendol Durian Kg. Baru at Cendol Durian Kampung Baru (GPS: 3.16365, 101.70173) at Kampung Baru.
- Nasi Lemak Wanjo (Facebook Link) (GPS: 3.16235, 101.70441) at Kampung Baru.

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PRELUDE

Often we ride to explore a new route to a destination, like our recent ride from Bandar Sunway to Batu Caves on a route that took us mainly on quieter roads. Or we could just ride a short route to attend a festival, like when we rode to Ampang to witness the 9-Emperor Gods festival.
This time round, we are going of a regular route which will tickle the little boy in me. See, we have a few destinations that will make merry and brighten up the ride. So, let's go see.
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THE RIDE

Cycling Route: Kepong Baru>Segambut>Jalan Ipoh>Kampung Baru>Pavilion Mall>Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre>Malasian Tourism Information Centre (MATIC)>Jalan Ipoh>Segambut>Kepong Baru.

This is a straight forward route from Kepong Baru to KLCC. It is fairly flat and goes along residential roads, bike paths, and partway on busy main roads (very minimum of that).
Cycling Distance - 34.82 km. Level: Medium

(Click Here for Google route map link)

Today's ride was more about the destinations, so I will just run through quickly the route. Surprisingly it is a short and easy way 10 km. to get from Kepong to the city centre. Starting from Kepong Baru it cut through some of the main roads which were surprisingly light in traffic on a Sunday.

From there it through the slightly busier Segambut industrial area passing by several factories including the Tan Chong Motorworks where they had one of their Nissan cars put high on the entrance guard-house roof.
Cutting in from Jalan Segambut Utara into Jalan Ipoh (now called Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah) is quite tricky as the island at the Petron 3 1/2 Miles Jalan Ipoh is very busy. Instead of risking swinging across the bend to the petrol station, we went slightly further ahead and used the pedestrian crossing at leads over from Jalan Murai 1 to Jalan Pipit.

Instead of going straight for KLCC, we took a loop through Kampung Baru to Jalan Sultan Ismail, where we drop by at a couple of shopping complexes to view their Christmas decorations, and then cutting to through Jalan Conlay to use the quieter residential roads there. Here, a surprise awaited us - an old colonial bungalow that housed the Badan Warisan Malaysia (Malaysia Heritage Board), next to it was an interesting old Malay house called the Rumah Penghulu Abu Seman. This is one of the oldest surviving traditional Malay houses. Built in stages between 1910 and the early 1930s, it was owned by the penghulu (local village headman) of Bagan Samak, Kedah. Originally located in Kampung Sungai Kechil, a small village in the northern part of Peninsula Malaysia, it was rescued, relocated and restored (around 1996-1997) by Badan Warisan Malaysia.

Today, it stands as one of the finest remaining examples of Malay vernacular architecture. Located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur with its many high rise buildings, it is surrounded by a traditional herb & heritage garden which has over 50 species of trees & plants of environmental, cultural & historic interest to Malaysians.

At Kedai Makanan Sing Kong in Kepong Baru, we stopped for a quick breakfast. A stall here sells pretty good Penang Char Keow Teow; and there several stalls selling other noodle dishes.

At Kampung Baru is a renown stall that sells cendul durian, a wonderful mix of cendul, one of Malaysia's favourite dessert, combined with durian, the King of Fruits. This well preserved Malay village situated right in the heart of the city has a plethora of good food, among them nasi lemak sold at Wanjo. Click on this blog for other culinary offerings at this kampung.
Other renown food along the route includes:

- Pork Lard Rice at Zheng Kee Chicken Rice roadside stall in Segambut.

- Seafood Curry Mee at Restoran Yu Ai (海鮮ミー) in Segambut.

- Best Apam Hopper In Kuala Lumpur at roadside stall next to St. James' Church in Sentul.

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🎅🎄MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM KUALA LUMPUR 🎅🎄

It's a festive time at malls in the city: in front of Lot 10, a Iced Polar Bear stands tall amidst lilac coloured snow Christmas trees.

Over at Pavilion, the entrance were lined with Christmas trees, but inside the mood was even more gay with bright tassels, ribbons and big boxes of Christmas presents hanging down from the tall ceiling.

Stepping down to a lower level, a giant Mickey Mouse in his classic howdy pose greeted us.

Next to it was a HUGE pseudo-Christmas Tree with many tiers, each displaying small statues of Mickey Mouse.

A close up look at the Mickey Mouses, each dressed distinctly in colourful costumes and some having different colour bodies or ears.

Around the tree were larger figurines of Mickey, these about a foot tall each - again they were in different bright colours and uniquely coloured costumes.

A set showing Mickey and Minnie Mouse dressed in Baba-Nyonya wedding costumes.

Mickey with a lush plume of peacock feathers.
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👺👻👮COMICON👾👼👻

Before going on, let's detract a bit. I have just bought on of those Spin foldable helmets from Taiwan. Hopefully, with this colourful helmet I would blend in with the comic characters.

The helmet really folds compactly to about 3 inches wide by 2 inches tall. Although they may not be as strong as standard helmets, their compact fold make them suitable for touring.
I got it from the online https://www.facebook.com/lovevelo/, click on the link to see the full range of their helmets. Price ranges from 990-1290 Thai Bahts depending on the model.

This Comic-Con was actually the 2018 Malaysia Comic Fiesta. It was held over the weekend of 22nd-23rd December at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Hall. But there was no need to enter the hall; just outside along the pathways next to the KLCC Park many participants were mingling around. They took they participation seriously as most of them were dressed to the nines in their favourite comic/manga/anime characters.

This character is Retro of the Dead Leaves anime series.... I think it is as I am not really into anime and manga... although I like the colourful characters outstandingly portrayed by the comic artists.

I am more old school, more into the Marvel and DC-dom universe; so most happy to meet this familiar Flash character.

This scary looking fella is Admiral Perry of the Space Dandy series.....
er, I think it is; I will try to identify some of the characters I met, if I get it wrong I do hope someone will correct me.

Another scary one, a red-robed black masked fella who looked like he just stepped out from on of the many Chinese hells.

I mingled around, taking photos with the participants and at the same time trying to stay in character and immerse myself into their universe.

With a French Au Pair, trying to act young with this jeune fille.

Cozying up to some hilly-billy characters... Hmmm... they remind me of those patchwork dolls.

Fists up with the Sailor Moon heroine.

Ok... I am stumped by this one; perhaps she is one of the Witches of the East.

Dead-pan look with this samurai looking fella.... oops... perhaps he's a she, sometimes one can't really tell.

This one should be one of my favourite, a link to an alternate world. He's Jotaro Kujo, and in FB-verse I am known as Jotaro Zen!

Looking up with scary awe at Lancer of the Fate series.

Let's see who's stronger Mr. Samurai!

Chow Sing Chi kungfu pose with Onimaru Kunitsuna; she's really in character, maintaining her serious look without flinching, despite being agitated with my comical stance.

Spidey stance with my favourite cartoon character Spiderman. At my sides are Venom and the Storm.
As Mary Jane Watson would say "Go get them, Tiger!"

With a Transformer character, this time my bike came into play as I showed them how a six-foot Brompton bicycle can transform into a package of two by two feet.