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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures
Ipoh Cycling Sojourn 2022: Day 2-2- Cycling The Kinta Riverside & Ipoh Art Street
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia Day 2-2: Wednesday 13th April 2022
This is part of a road/cycling trip from Kuala Lumpur to & around Ipoh.
The second part of today's adventure is a easy and casual ride along the riverside of the Kinta River within Ipoh Old Town:
Masjid Panglima Kinta>Ipoh Mural Art Lane>Kinta Riverfront>D R Seenivasagam Park>Ipoh Love Bridge>Happy Cycling Tree>Masjid Panglima Kinta.
Distance: 5.88 km. | Level: Easy
Time: Not applicable | Time Taken: Not applicable
This is page 3 of a 4-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.
Route Recommendations:
1. Traffic Directions!
Malaysia's traffic is right-hand drive, so drive or cycle on the left. Same thing applies when crossing the road, be careful and take note of the direction in which traffic is approaching from!
2. Route & Traffic Conditions
The Kinta Riverfront in Ipoh Old Town is an easy place to ride in, mostly flat with some parts having to carry the bikes up some steps. A major part of the route are along pathways at the riverside, but a short section goes on public roads. Most parts are shady, but some sections are not, so do cover up or apply sun-block lotion. Some section have much mosquitoes, so it's best to apply some mosquito repellent.
3. Places of Interest
Enroute were several places of interests, some of which we visited and others we did not for lack of time (Note: click on GPS coordinates for directional map to respective places):
- Masjid Panglima Kinta (GPS: 4.59335, 101.08110),
- Shui Yue Gong Temple Ipoh (GPS: 4.59851, 101.07943),
- Kinta Riverwalk (GPS: 4.60318, 101.08003),
- Kinta Riverbank (GPS: 4.59389, 101.07990),
4. Food
Their signature char siew (barbecued pork belly), Wat Tan Hor
(stir-fried flat noodles), Shrimp Omelet, Deep Fried Tofu garnished with fried shallots
& fresh spring onions.
5. Weather
April is within the inter-monsoon period, although there could be short showers, weather can still be hot. The saving grace is the overcast skies do give some shade. At Ipoh, mid-afternoon temperatures were 32°C and night temperature averaged 27°C. There was some light drizzle in the late afternoon and evening.
A useful weather forecast site is AccuWeather. For more detailed weather, including cloud cover and wind speed, use Weatherspark and Ventusky.
6. Communicating with Locals
For the uninitiated cycling in foreign lands can be a daunting experience, especially when one can only speak a smattering of the local language or if there is no common language to speak to each other (like English). Most Malaysians can speak fairly good English; but in the rural areas the locals speak only some rudimentary English, so learning some basic phrases in Bahasa Malaysia will be helpful.
This could be partly overcome by using translation apps like Google Translate. Do install this app into your phone and before you leave on your tour do some basic translation as it will be saved onto a list of recent translations.
And do install memory-resident translation apps into your mobile phone.
7. Staying in Touch
When travelling in a group it's important to be able to communicate with each other, especially if one got lost or just to share photos and moments. Pre-paid phone sim-cards are easily available from most phone shops in the main towns.
8. Service Your Bicycles & Carry Tools and Spares
Before leaving on your tour, it will be good to service your bike and bring along some spares like tubes, puncture patches, brake pads and the relevant tools.
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PRELUDE
This morning our local buddy, Eugene, had taken us on a tough but memorable ride from Tanjung Rambutan up the foothills of Bukit Batu Suluh to the KOA (Kampung Orang Asli) Tonggang. After lunch, we said our goodbyes to him. But the day was still young and surprisingly Lynne had recovered from her bad cramps suffered up in the hills. So we decided to scratch our itchy cycling legs some more with a ride at the Kinta Riverside in Ipoh Old Town.
This riverside holds so much memories for us as we have cycled here often since our first time during a quick Jaunting Ipoh Ride in 2014; it was then that Sin, Kookkeong & me "discovered" our "Happy Cycling Tree" at the Kinta Riverfront. Since then, this quiet riverside has grown to be a major tourist attraction, and has been extended all the way to the D R Seenivasagam Park and perhaps beyond. Even our "Happy Cycling Tree" has now earned a mighty name and is now known as the Happy Cycling Tree (Sleeping Dragon Tree) 😎.
Okay enough of the memory trip. LET'S RIDE!
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THE RIDE
Route: Masjid Panglima Kinta>Ipoh Mural Art Lane>Kinta Riverfront>D R Seenivasagam Park>Ipoh Love Bridge>Happy Cycling Tree>Masjid Panglima Kinta.
This is an easy five-plus kilometer route that goes on a loop around the Kinta Riverfront in straddling between Ipoh Old Town and Ipoh New Town.
A major part of the route are along pathways at the riverside, but a short section goes on public roads.
A major part of the route are along pathways at the riverside, but a short section goes on public roads.
(Click here for cycling the Kinta River Google Route Map Link)
For those keen to cycle along the Kinta Riverside, and driving there, a good place to park will be along Jalan Masjid, as the riverside paths are easily accessible from here. There are many car-parks near the Masjid Panglima Kinta. It's also an opportunity to admire this mosque with its unique, easily recognizable, bright blue domes. Built by Datuk Panglima Kinta Mohamed Yusof in 1898 to commemorate his wife who died that year, this mosque is over a hundred years old and is of combined Mughal and Neoclassical architecture.
And just round the corner is the Ipoh Mural Art Lane, which runs parallel to Jalan Masjid and stretches form Jalan Datuk Onn Jaafar to Jalan Laxamana.
Aiks! Anne seems to be cycling backwards in the above animation photo, there seems to be a glitch when preparing animated photos with Google Photos, or perhaps this old man using it wrongly 😂.
Too bad that some of the older murals have faded and peeled off.
These older murals have been around since 2014; to see these murals in their prime condition view the Ipoh Street Art 2014 blog.
Fortunately, new, vibrant ones have been painted, like this cheerful on of the Ipoh Circus with a new year greeting; let's hope that these will be better maintained, and also that the older ones will be refurbished.
Others showcase Perak as a tin capital with tin-mining ladies playfully splashing water with their dulangs onto the circus animals. Aiks! These animals have happily taken leave from the circus and encroached onto this mural!
(click here to view the latest Ipoh Street Art Mural 2022)
The riverside paths are just round the corner from the mosque; and soon we were cycling along shady trails along the river banks!
But this section is lined with paver-bricks and settlement has set in, causing puddles to form. So this section has much mosquitoes too, so it'll be good to apply some mosquito repellent; otherwise one may be scratching more than one's cycling itch!
But here, slightly away from the river are nice old houses, although dilapidated and overgrown!
But these add to the greenery of the place and make it more cooling too.
Unfortunately, this house is slated to be re-developed into a 1-1/2 storey bungalow. Let's hope future development will not reduce the greenery of the place; otherwise it will lose it's charm!
This area is known as Kampung Kuchai.
Among all this lush greenery are hidden other more interesting houses like the one above. This one seems to be a timber Malay kampung house, perhaps it could be a Rumah Kampung Perak.
The riverside paths run on both sides of the river, and one can criss-cross via several bridges, like the Kinta River Arch Bridge and the Ipoh Love Bridge. But do look down into the river, sometimes there are activities there, like this man doing cast-net fishing.
Unfortunately, the large horizontal branch is this photo no more, as it has been cut off.
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| (photo from Google Maps; credits: Lee Shirley & Omar Shaldan) |
Further north, nearer D R Seenivasagam Park, the lanes seems to be wider and have been upgraded and trees line them boulevard-style.
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| (photo from Google Maps; credits: Lee Shirley) |
D R Seenivasagam Park shouldn't be missed as it's a beautiful place; on a bright day, the pond there reflects the skies and trees stunningly!
It's so named as the owner is a collector of artifacts; and inside one can find a few on display!
1. Deep Fried Tofu garnished with spring onions and deep fried shallots; 2. Prawn Omelet, and 3. Wat Tan Hor.
till tomorrow then .....
BURP!!!
(For more photos of the ride Click Here)
This is page 3 of a 4-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.
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Related / Similar Blogs:
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| Perak Ipoh Art Street Murals 2022 : April 2022 A revisit to the art street in Ipoh; some old murals are faded but are replaced by new colourful ones. |
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| Perak Street Art of Ipoh: May 2014 Street art is slowing but surely blooming in Ipoh. |
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Those who are into the "old town" feel, have a look at this one-of-a-kind house.
ReplyDeletehttps://maps.app.goo.gl/qdzT6o8qPjNttD7o7