AhPek Biker - Old Dog Rides Again: September 2023

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Brompton Sarawak Tribal Ride 2023

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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Brompton Sarawak Tribal Ride 2023

Sarawk, Malaysia : 15th-18th Septemper 2023

Large Group Event Ride at Kuching & Singai, Sarawak:

Kuala Lumpur>Batik Air>Kuching>bus>Singai>bus>Kuching>Air Asia>Kuala Lumpur.

After seven years we are riding in Sarawak again!

The last time we were there was during our Cycling Sarawak Gawai 2015, a private group ride organised by our buddies, Freda & Kimmiskie. This time round we are joining a public event organised by Brompton Sarawak, which will be a landmark event for Brompton riders as it will be an international event with participants coming from several countries; one which will span three days with pre-rides (including a Kuching night ride and a tough rustic ride at Singai), and the main event. It was well planned, coordinated and executed by W.G. Cycles, the distributor of Bromptons in the state. Read on to see what a great time we had cycling in Sarawak!

(Note: further below are Sarawak cycling & travel tips, and write-ups on food and places along the route)

THE RIDES

Below are the daily ride blogs, click on the respective photos to read:

Brompton Sarawak Tribal Ride 2023: Day 1 Kuching Night Ride - 15th September 2023

A pleasant night ride around Kuching passing by two beautiful pedestrian bridges.

Brompton Sarawak Tribal Ride 2023: Day 2 Singai Rustic Ride - 16th September 2023

Buses ferried us to Bau for a challenging ride along the foothills of Mount Singai.

Brompton Sarawak Tribal Ride 2023: Day 3 Official Brompton Sarawak Ride - 17th September 2023

The event official ride, with a route taking us to visit important landmarks of the city.

Sarawak Cycling Routes

Some Sarawak cycling routes; around Kuching, Siburan and also at some border towns.

(Next... a road trip of the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son loop)

Above is a combo YouTube video of the 3-day rides (credits: just2excorporates)

(Click here for photos of the rides & more)

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CYCLING & TRAVEL TIPS FOR SARAWAK

Here's, some general tips on cycling & travelling in Sarawak, more detailed tips will be included in the day to day blogs:

1. Getting to Kuching.

Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak, is served by several airlines, with direct flights from major cities in Peninsular Malaysia & East Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Jakarta. Click here for to book flights to Kuching via Sky Scanner or Expedia.

2. Traffic Directions!

Traffic in Sarawak and the rest of Malaysia, is right-hand drive, so drive/cycle on the left. Same thing applies when crossing the road, take note of the direction in which traffic is approaching from!

3. Weather

For Sarawak in September, the weather will be moderate. The average air temperature ranges from 31°C (88 °F) during the day to 22°C (72 °F) at night. September is the wet season month in Sarawak, which means that there could be frequent rains.

A useful weather forecast site is AccuWeather. For more detailed weather, including cloud cover and wind speed, use Weatherspark and Ventusky.

4. Bringing Bikes Onto Planes

We flew Batik Air from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching via KLIA1 (Kuala Lumpur International Airport - Terminal 1); 20kg of free checked-in baggage is allowed (which includes sports equipment for bicycles). We booked a couple of months earlier and the fare was MYR129. Sports equipment is considered over-sized luggage, after physically checking in, one will have to take the packed bicycle to the over-sized section (at the far right end of KLIA1)

Return from Kuching to Kuala Lumpur (KLIA2) was by Air Asia which does not provide for free check-in luggage. We had to purchase 20kg of sports equipment luggage at MYR60. Total fare was MYR165, inclusive of this sports equipment. For Air Asia, it is cheaper to buy additional luggage, sport equipment, food during the purchase of the main ticket. Buying these as add-ons later can be more costly. At Kuching International Airport, sports equipment (our packed folded bikes) can be checked in a the same counter.

A tip, simple but important. Ensure that you DO NOT carry your tool kits or any long/sharp metal objects in your hand luggage. Put your tool kit into your checked-in bike bags. I often seen friends forgetting about this, only to have their tools confiscated at the security checkpoints.

We packed our bikes into a Dimpa; our helmet, some clothes, & Mini-O bag into a second IKEA Dimpa Bag and checked them in a part of our sports equipment luggage. There was no necessity to release tire pressure.

5. Places of Interest

Sarawak is the largest state in Malaysia, and has many attractions, not to be missed are (Note: click on the GPS coordinates for directional map to the respective places):

- The Gunung Mulu National Park (website) (an UNESCO Heritage Site) (GPS: 4.09206, 114.89580).

- The Bako National Park (website) (GPS: 1.71666, 110.46666), the oldest national park in Sarawak, with interesting wild-life such as the proboscis monkeys and Bornean bearded pigs;

- The Malaysia-China Friendship Park (GPS: 1.51599, 110.36505).

- The New Sarawak State Legislative Assembly Building (GPS: 1.56937, 110.35005) and Kuching South City Hall (GPS: 1.54880, 110.36390), with their unique architecture,

- The Darul Hana Bridge (GPS: 1.56120, 110.34593).

6. Food

Sarawakian Food not to be missed:

- Sarawak Laksa,

- Kolo Mee, &

- Kueh Chap.

7. Accommodations

Kuching offers a range of hotels, hotel-suites from affordable to 5-starred, with prices ranging from MYR100 per pax per night onwards. Three of us stayed at a 3-bedroom suite at the newer wing of the Merdeka Palace Hotel (GPS: 1.55627, 110.34400), at about MYR103 per pax per night.

8. Communicating with Each Other

When travelling in a group it's important to be able to communicate with each other, especially if one got lost.

Pre-paid Malaysin SIM cards can be obtained at most airport or from any mobile phone shop. Click here for a guide to buying Malaysian Sim Cards.

9. Communicating with Locals

Bahasa Malaysia is the official language of Malaysia, it will be good to know some basic Bahasa Malaysia for daily conversation. Most older Malaysians speaks quite fluent English, while many of the younger ones have a good grasp of English. Many Chinese Sarawakian speaks Mandarin or Hokkien or Teochew.

Look out for the tourist information booths at airports, railway stations or bus stations, the guides manning the booths speak very good English and do give good tips on where to visit, directions, train and bus schedule.

10. Navigation

At the towns and cities, we used Google Maps to navigate to various places of interests. Do note that Google Maps does not work in Cycling Mode in Malaysia, so use Walking Mode but do be aware that sometimes recommended routes are against traffic.

11. 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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PLACES

Malaysia-China Friendship Park, Kuching

A nice elaborate park to commemorate thirty years of friendship between two countries.

Malaysia : Tua Pek Kong Temple, Kuching

A small but distinct temple sitting noticeably at the centre of the city - Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.

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RELATED BLOGS:

Cycling Sarawak

Sarawak, the largest state in Malaysia with it's diversified people & culture offers a wider range of rides. We only touch a tip of this range with a ride to celebrate Gawai, and later a Brompton event that attracted international participants.

Cycling Sarawak Gawai 2015

A trip over to Sarawak, the Land of the Hornbills, to celebrate the Gawai Harvest Festival with the locals. It's a memorable trip seeing the colours of the place and the warmth of the locals.

Cycling Sabah 2015 - To The Tip Of Borneo

Our cycling adventure to the Land Below The Wind turned out to be multi-mode and multi faceted bike-packing journey that include air-travel, boats, ferries, buses that took us on a multi-faceted itinerary that include scuba-diving too!

Brompton Accessories #15 : Bagging The Brompton For Air Travel 02

An update to bagging the Brompton for air travel using a Dimpa bag, this time using stronger plastic Impraboards and with more tips on protecting the bike.

Accessories #6 - Olympus Tough TG-2 Action Camera

A versatile compact camera that takes very good photos even while cycling. For the Korea Cycling Tour, I had used the TG-4, a better version with higher resolution photos anc Wifi connectivity.

The Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Song Loop 2024

A 12-day non-cycling tour of the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Song Loop, including stays at interesting towns along the loop and hiking at Doi Inthanon.

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Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Cycling In Sarawak Malaysia

You are at - Jotaro's Blog / AhPek Biker / Cycling Malaysia / Cycling Sarawak

AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

These are our rides in the Sarawak, the largest state in Malaysia. The Land of Hornbills with it's diversified people and culture that attracts many to visit it. Click on the relevant photos to view the respective blog.

CYCLING SARAWAK

Brompton Sarawak Tribal Ride 2023

A Brompton Sarawak event with night and day rides in & around Kuching, and also a tough rustic ride around Mount Singai.

Cycling Sarawak Gawai 2015

A trip over to Sarawak, the Land of the Hornbills, to celebrate the Gawai Harvest Festival with the locals. It's a memorable trip seeing the colours of the place and the warmth of the locals.

You are at - Jotaro's Blog / AhPek Biker / Cycling Malaysia / Cycling Sarawak

If you like this, view my other blogs at Jotaro's Blog

(comments most welcomed below. if you like this pls share via facebook or twitter)

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Indonesia Bali-Sumba Discovery 2023 D6: Savana-Tanggedu-Tanau Hills

You are at - Jotaro's Blog / AhPek Biker / Indonesia / Bali-Sumba 2023 / Day 6 | Go to D1/D2/D3/D4/D5/D7/D8-9

AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Indonesia Bali-Sumba Discovery 2023

Day D6: Savana-Tanggedu-Tanau Hills

Sumba, Indonesia : Saturday, 3rd June 2023

This is part of a non-cycling road-trip recce tour of Bali & Sumba, Indonesia:

Waingapu>Puru Kambera Beach>Savana Kambera>Tanggedu Waterfall>Kota Waingapu>Tenau Hills>Waingapu.

Time: 8:00 am to 8:10 pm

Time Taken: 12 hrs. (road-trip from Waingapu to/fro Tanggedu Waterfall & Tenau Hills (including breakfast, tea-time, dinner, and stops at a scenic areas, & many photo opps).

This is page 6 of a 8-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.

< D5: Waingapu | Go to Other Days | D7: Walakiri >

Route Recommendations, here're some tips on travelling in Bali & Sumba:

1. Traffic Directions!

Traffic in Indonesia, is right-hand drive, so drive/cycle on the left. Same thing applies when crossing the road, take note of the direction in which traffic is approaching from!

2. Getting from Bali to Sumba.

From Bali to Sumba we flew Lion Wings Air, departing from Ngurah Rai Airport and arriving at Tambolaka's Lede Kalumbang Airport. We stayed a night at Tambolaka before going by local hired vans to get to Waingapu and the surrounding area. The basic return air-fare from Denpasar to Tambolaka was around IDR2,300,000 (MYR710 or USD155) per pax without checked in luggage. Online bookings can be done via the Lion Air Website.

There are direct flights from Denpasar to Waingapu, but oddly the fares are more expensive, almost double. So it did make sense that for a big group like ours, the first option of flight-vans was cheaper.

3. Covid-19 & Customs Requirments

We applied for Covid-19 clearance through the e-forms submitted to the SatuSehat mobile app, which required uploading of vaccination details & PDF copies of vaccination certificates, and got on-line approval. Upon arrival at Bali Airport, there was a small counter for SatuSehat, but it was not manned, so perhaps this is not required for Bali.

Submission for customs e-clearance is advised for getting past the airport customs without a fuss. E-submission can be done prior to leaving for Indonesia, Click here for to access and fill up the Indonesian E-CD (Electronic Customs Declaration) forms for approval. Upon successful application, a QR Code is given, save this to your phone and show it to the customs officer upon arrival. With a quick scan, and one is cleared to enjoy one's holiday.

4. Clearing Immigration for Senior Citizens and families with infants, etc.

Prior to the pandemic, there were special counters at the Malaysian & Indonesian immigration exit points for senior citizens above 60 years old, but these are not there anymore. No worries though, if there are long queues, just asked any helpful officer for help for senior citizens, and one will be directed to a fast-track counter.

5. Route & Traffic Conditions

At Sumba, traffic is slightly heavy at the urban areas of Tambolaka and Waingapu, but there were not much jams. Roads are narrower but still pleasant to drive on. At some stretches leading to the waterfalls, some hiking was required (more details on this at the day to day blogs).
It's our second full day in Sumba, and with Waingapu as our base we explore more of the eastern part of the island and are amazed by the diversity of the sceneries. Starting with the beautiful beaches & blue-blue sea at Puru Kambera Beach, and then onwards to the brown savanna of Savana Kambera, followed by the clear blue waters of Tanggedu Waterfall, and ending the day with a beautiful sunset & moon rise at Tenau Hills.

6. Weather

In Sumba day temperature averaged 30°C, while night ones were 22°C.

The best time to visit Sumba is April-June and September, just before and just after high season. It's still dry season, it's slightly less humid, and room prices and villa rentals can be 30-50% cheaper than during high season. It's a cooler season.

Useful weather forecast sites for the Indonesia is AccuWeather. For more detailed weather, including cloud cover and wind speed, use Weatherspark and Ventusky.

7. Communicating with Each Other

When travelling in a group it's important to be able to communicate with each other, especially if one got lost from the rest. Compared to the our previous trip 5-years ago, this time round it was more difficult to get the Indonesian pre-paid phone sim card. For security reasons, there is a need to register ones's passport and phone's IMEI #1 and IMEI #2. One cannot just go to any local shops to buy the sim card as they are reluctant or not equiped to provide such a service. As such, most local phone shops sells only to locals.

It is EASIEST to get the sim cards at the airport. There are booth selling these just after getting past customs and into the arrival hall of Bali (Ngurah Rai) Airport, the local staff there are at hand to help register one's passport and IMEIs. We opted for Telkomsel's as it provides the best coverage at Bali, and even at some of the remote areas of Sumba, and got their Tourist prepaid simcard with 16+8 GB of data valid for 30 days at IRD250K (MYR77 or USD17). 3G internet is available in the more populated areas but can drop to the slower GPRS or even Edge in remote areas. Failing to get a sim card at the airport one can try to get it at some of the Telkomsel's shop, click here for Bali shops locations and click here for Sumba shop locations.

It is possible to get these Tourist prepaid simcard on-line, but registration of passport & IMEIs are still required and one will have to select an official pick-up point, which are only available in the Bali and Mandalika Lombok areas.

Most hotels, motels, home-stays, restaurants, and airports have free Wifi; but do note that public free wifi may not be secure and registration could be required. But one can safe on one's mobile data by using these especially for uploading or downloading videos.

8. Communicating with Locals

As Bali, is a favorite tourist destinations, many locals speak fairly good English. At the smaller towns, locals speak some rudimentary English. The older generation speak very little English, so knowing some basic Bahasa Indonesia (or even better - Balinese language) will come in handy and also warm one up to the locals.

At Sumba, except at hotels and up-market restaurant, very few locals speak English, so some basic Bahasa Indonesia will come in handy. The older Sumbese speak Sumba languages which are a subgroup of the Austronesian language family, that is closely related to the Hawu–Dhao languages.

9. Getting Around

We were on a recce tour group and paid MYR1,700 per pax for ground arrangements that include hotels, breakfast and van transportation, other meals & tips for guide and drivers were not include - all in cost came to around MYR4,000 including some minimum shopping. They were 13 of us including the two tour guides. At Bali, a large 15-seater van with driver took us around. In Sumba, 3 smaller Toyota Avanza took us from Tambolaka to Waingapu and around these cities.

Those interested in joining the guided tour can contact Nik at +6017-4881917. Those who are keen in having their own free and easy tour, contact Bali van driver Made at +6281-5580-02922 or Sumba van drivers Rian Djara at +6281-2387-26367 & Lih Man at +62 82-3398-64280 Sumba Driver.

In Sumba 3-4 star hotels can be found at around MYR150 (USD35) per room per night even for those beach hotels; click here for range of hotels in Sumba.

8. Places & Things of Interests

There were many scenic and interesting places of interest; but one should not miss the following (Note: click on the GPS coordinates for directional map to the respective places):

- Pantai Puru Kambera (Puru Kambera Beach) (GPS: -9.48365, 120.13679) at Maoedoeloeng.

- Kampung Adat Prainatang (GPS: -9.50944, 120.11063) at Kanatang.

- Savana Puru Kambera (GPS: -9.55008, 120.11427) at Kanatang.

- Tanggedu Bridge (GPS: -9.57332, 120.09967) at Ndapayami.

- Tanggedu Waterfall (GPS: -9.57483, 120.09056) at Ndapayami.

- Taman Kota Waingapu (Waingapu City Park) (GPS: -9.65321, 120.26666) at Waingapu.

- Tenau Hills (GPS: -9.70452, 120.30040) at Mauliru.

- Sumba Ikat Weaving - a manually weaved cotton-fabric Sumbanese textile art form that uses natural dyes.

9. Food

Breakfast: Inclusive buffet breakfast at Tanto Hotel Waingapu (GPS: -9.65819, 120.27023) in Waingapu.

Lunch: at Tanggedu Waterfall, pre-packed lunch boxes from Mr. Cafe (GPS: -9.65427, 120.26675) in Ndapayami.

Tea: Roasted corn from road-side stalls at Taman Kota Waingapu (Waingapu City Park) (GPS: -9.65321, 120.26666) at Waingapu.

Dinner: Grilled fish at Rumah Makan Pantai Losari (GPS: -9.64092, 120.25449) in Waingapu.

10. Accommodations

Our stay for the night was at Tanto Hotel Waingapu (GPS: -9.65819, 120.27023) in Waingapu, Sumba. (Tip: request for rooms further away from the reception as it's quite near the main road and can be noisy). Cost was included in our tour package, online booking shows cost as MYR90 / USD19 per double/twin room per night.

11. Navigation

I used MapMyRide to track our routes and stops. Geo-tagging of places of interest was via FaceBook or Google Maps.

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PRELUDE

The day before was our first full day at the Waingapu vicinity and it was a adventure filled day of visits to a beautiful waterfall set amidst sawah (padi fields), scenic hills (as enchanting as the hills of Scotland and which also brought back memories of cycling in the Batanes islands at the Philippines, & even a visit to a Sumbanese traditional native village!
Oh yah.... we also did some "horse-riding"!

Today is a day of beaches with scenic blue seas, beautiful skies, savanna-like grasslands, canyon waterfalls, sunset/moonrise at rolling green, corrugated hills AND being swarmed by thousands of crickets too! Yup CRICKETS!

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THE TRIP

Small Group (Non-cycling) Recce Tour of Sumba, Indonesia:

Waingapu>Puru Kambera Beach>Savana Kambera>Tanggedu Waterfall>Kota Waingapu>Tenau Hills>Waingapu.

From the city we head to the nearby Puru Kambera Beach, to admire a layered blue sea and then headed inland to the dry grasslands of Savana Kambera. And after that for some swimming a clear the Tanggedu Waterfall, with its grand canyon-like walls. Ended the day with sunset at green rolling Tenau Hills. It's amazing that a island like Sumba can have such diversified scenes.

(Click here for D6: Savana-Tanggedu-Tenau Hills route map)

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A BEAUTIFUL BLUE SEA - KAMBERA BEACH

After a satisfactory hotel breakfast we headed off to our first destination. The winding road there took us through the local villages.

It took us pass churches, some elaborate and some just simple ones like the above. It doesn't matter though, more important it's a place for the congregation to gather and prayer. This building is unique as it doesn't follow the traditional Sumbanese architecture, as it has a gable wall that looks Dutch.

The scenery blended into dry grasslands.... and then ahead the BLUE SEA curving into a large bay!

Nik wasn't bluffing, when she mentioned that Sumba has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world! Here at Puru Kambera Beach, from a white sandy beach the Savu Sea casted itself outwards in layers of blues from light blue till a dark blue where it met the blue sky at the horizon!

And the water was super clear too!

To another side, fishing boats lazed on a calm sea.

The waves washed in and marooned a jelly fish in the shallow breakers. Goh giving a helping hand (or rather a helping stick so as not to be stung by the jelly fish) to push it back out to sea.

A memorable looking back at this picturesque scene before saying good bye.

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GRASSLANDS OF SAVANNA KAMBERA

Heading inland, the scenery changed to brownish scrubland, with the hills covered by brownish green reed grass with just a few trees interspaced in between.

And there are wild horses too, sometimes they will run over to the nearby sea to form a natural yet glorious sight.

And we are into the savanna of Indonesia!

It brings to mind images of the African Savanna.

Anne just taking in the scenery and the sun. While Yong peering out afar, Sorry but here there are no elephants, giraffes - just the wild horses AND .....

.... swarms of crickets. We were lucky to catch a giant swarm of thousands of these insects buzzing around us for half an hour!

Here's a YouTube video to show the swarms of crickets in Slo-Mo action.

Ahead the savanna tapered off so did the crickets, ahead were surrealistic views of green hills with hardly any trees.

Into the flats, suddenly we saw some horse and I went into comic mode in this video with my silly rendition of a cowboy song.

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INTO THE BLUES OF TANGGEDU CANYON WATERFALLS

We reached Tanggedu Village.... and that's the end of the road for the vans. From here it's another two km. to the Tanggedu Waterfall. One can take a hike in OR for weak-kneed people like this AhPek, the locals can ferry one to to a spot where it's just a short hike.... heh heh...

But these motorcyclist were cowboys in a way as they go zooming off, can see Lynne here holding on for dear life 😂.

But we did regret a bit, as friends who hiked in said it was an easy hike with bonus of great views like the above!

Tanggedu Waterfall is on place not to be missed when in Sumba. If flows down form a white splash into a clear blue pool .....

To one side, the blue water had cut into the rocks and had formed a mini Grand Canyon!

Here's a nice combo view.

To the left just above the waterfall are nice spaces for picnics and a swim.

There a no food sold here, so we had pre-packed lunch boxes from Mr. Cafe
at Waingapu (it will be good to order these lunches from the cafe the day before). But the locals here do sell coconuts; and they kept the place clean by clearing away the shells afterwards.

Ok..... to cut a long story short, that's me basking in the sun, being cooled by the nice flow of water!

The local kids were more brave, having fun jumping into the water!

Time to say Goodbye to Tanggedu, to the blue waterfalls, the green hills and the horses.

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CORNY TIME @ WAINGAPU CITY PARK

4:30pm - With time to spare before our next destination, we mad a stop at the Taman Kota Waingapu (Waingapu City Park). It's a small park a the centre of the city, they sell some nice kites here to fly at the beaches .....

..... but for us these grilled corns were the attraction. Something to bite into before our next destination, and dinner will be later after that.

Here are the girls..... having a CORNY TIME!

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SUNSET & MOON-RISE AT TENAU HILLS

Getting to Tenau Hills would be through some off road tracks, luckily our vans had high clearance to manage this.

Tenau Hills, beautifully rolling away.

We watched as the sun set, turning the sky form a light blue to a glorious orange.

Too bad some clouds were blocking Mr. Sun.

Aiks! What's Milly doing? No, she's not tasking a crap, she was trying to get a good photo of the moon as it started rising!

Here's the Mr. Moon, just captured with my phone camera. The clear and almost cloudless sky helped make this photo great.

We took a slow ride out while admiring the beautiful sunset & moonrise.

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6:30 pm - We're back at the city, at the seaside section of Kamalputi, where there are several shops selling freshly grilled fish. Yong, proudly showing the range of fish that we are having 😋😋😋.

Out fishy dinner taken with white rice.
These were nice, but still can't beat those we had for lunch a few days ago at Ikan Bakar PPI Sangsit at Sangsit at Bali.

The cucumber & local leafy salad were very good, this went down very well with the chilli and dark soy sauce condiment that were served with the fishes. Simple yet good, and we kept asking for more!