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Saturday, November 4, 2023

Brompton Sarawak Tribal Ride 2023 Day 2 : Singai Rustic Ride

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                                     AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures                                   
Brompton Sarawak Tribal Ride 2023
Day 2 : Singai Rustic Ride
Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia Day 2: Saturday, 16th Septemper 2023
Distance: 26 km.              |               Level: Hard
Time: 8:00am to 11:00pm            
Time Taken: 3hrs (including stops for regroup & rest, start & end gathering at Redeem Centre, and lots of photo opps).

This is page 1 of a 3-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.
<D1: Kuching Night Ride     |      Go to Other Days        |       D3: Kuching City Ride>

Route Recommendations, here're some tips on cycling in Kuching, Sarawak:
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. Route & Traffic Conditions  
    The ride route goes around the rustic foothill of Mount Singai at Bau. It goes along undulating terrain with some sections of steep dragon-back climbs. It is a fairly shady route, with some un-shaded sections along the main roads.

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. Places of Interest
    En route 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):
    - Kuching South City Hall (GPS: 1.54880, 110.36390), with it's unique architecture.
    - Redeem Centre (GPS: 1.47569, 110.14832) in Singai, Bau.
    - Borneo Tribal Village (GPS: 1.48624, 110.1327) at Kampung Apar, Bau.
    - Carpenter Street (GPS: 1.55826, 110.34568).
    - Malaysia-China Friendship Park (GPS: 1.51599, 110.36505).
     
5. Food
    Breakfast: Self-made coffee at apartment in Merdeka Palace Hotel (GPS: 1.55627, 110.34400).
    Brunch: Buffet rice set together with sticky rice and tuak at Redeem Centre (GPS: 1.47569, 110.14832) in Singai, Bau.
    Lunch: Broiled chicken, roast pork & roast duck with rice, & Century egg pork congee at 38 Food Street (GPS: 1.49797, 110.37265), Stutong Baru.
    Tea: Pork satay at Lao Ya Keng Foodcourt (阳春台茶室), Carpenter Street (GPS: 1.55851, 110.34568).
    Dinner: Event buffet at Gana Garden Bistro (GPS: 1.55113, 110.36919).

6. 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.

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.
    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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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
The previous day we had arrived at Kuching, collected our goodies at W.G. Cycle.
 Later in the evening Brompton Sarawak took us on a very nice ride that introduced us to several of the beautiful sights of Kuching city.
Today we are in for another exciting day. The organisers have arranged for busses to take us out of the city to Bau, for a rustic ride around the foothills of Mount Singai.
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The ride route goes around the rustic foothill of Mount Singai at Bau. It goes along undulating terrain with some sections of steep dragon-back climbs. It is a fairly shady route, although there were un-shaded sections along the main roads.
Distance: 26 km.              |               Level: Hard
(Click here for Singai Rustic Cycling Ride Route Map)

6:00am: In the early morning, together with our friends from Penang we cycled over to Kuching South City Hall building, the meeting place from where buses will ferry us over to Mount Singai. It's easily recognisable, with it's unique tall blue roof that reach up to the sky, it looks like a tribal hat of one of the indigenous people of Sarawak. It's also a good place to meet, with ample parking and several green adjacent parks.

And here comes there rest of the participants, happily cycling in from nearby hotels that they are staying at.

The early birds at the nearby parks for photo opps!

7:00 am: B-riders happily folded their bikes to be loaded onto awaiting buses to take them on the 45-minutes drive to Singai, Bau - the starting point of today's ride. A few friends and me followed Larry in van which he had rented.

7:45 am - We arrived at the Redeem Centre, it's a NGO centre to promote local activities. I like the roof of the main building, a sharp conical one along the lines of Sarawakian Baruk Tribal Architecture of the Bidayuh people.

With time to spare after unloading and unfolding our bikes, we mixed around - meeting up with new friends and catching up with old ones .....

..... and an old friend from the People's Republic of China whom we got to know during the Bali 2018 event organised by the Brompton Owners Bali group.

Interesting & nice characters like Kuya Kliff with his macho tribal helmet; and Leonard with the cute poodles he brought along to keep us company!

8:30am: Eagerly heading off from the REDEEMS Centre and riding along the main road (Jln Tondong - Apar - Segong).

Roll off was at a leisurely pace, we could even chat with each other while riding. Soon we turned off onto the quieter Jalan Kg. Sudoh - Kg. Apar. Ahead we could see the sharp peak of Mount Singai.

Here, riding on gentle slopes, we rode past small villages such as Kg. Apar, Kg. Atas Singai, etc.

And then onto even quieter roads passing by green secondary forest.

A short stint along busier Jalan Singai-Matang and the marshals directed us to turn right to Kampung Badul.

This is way things got interesting, the roads are narrower and our large group occupied almost the whole width.
Suddenly there was a bottle-neck, ahead was a slightly steeper slope. It's manageable for veteran riders; but for newbies and those used to flat routes it was a bit difficult to climb - many came down to push.

This is where the organisers had made sure that we will remember this ride! This section took us through several tough dragon-backs!

Some of the slopes were very steep and for the inexperience these were downright scary. Many made the mistake of braking to slow down, and lost their momentum at the following up-slope - having to come down to push.

Soon, they got they hang of it and rode on confidently!

Exiting onto Route AH150 (Jalan Batu Kawa-Bau), a four-lane highway.

It's a highway, but not overly busy. We could even stop to buy fruits at road-side stalls along the way.

After three kilometer, we turned off left onto rustic roads again, this time heading for Kampung Senibong.

Fortunately, here the route were friendlily flat 😅.

And with bonus of riding through a durian plantation! Feeling like kings now riding through this patch of king of fruits!

Ahead, Johnny urging riders on to the rest stop ahead!
There's good food and drinks there!

In front was Wilson's Family Cafe, the designated rest break for food and drinks!

8-kilometre Home-Run..... yahoo.... some wayside dogs on the way. But they aren't going to deter us.... Whooosh... WHOOSH! ...... whoooooosh!

Back at the REDEEMS Centre, a finishing medal and a cheers of tuak, served by pretty Kadazan ladies in their traditional costume!

And of course there were other delicious eats of curry rice, bananas and wonderful leaf-wrapped sticky rice that went very well with the chicken rendang!
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POST RIDE
Enroute back, yummy lunch of broiled chicken (pak-cham kai), roast pork & roast duck with rice, & Century egg pork congee at 38 Food Street, Stutong Baru.


Event buffet dinner at Gana Garden Bistro, food was good and the company of friends even better! 

Beautiful get together, yah?

And cheers with uncle KC ... two old dogs meet again 😉.

Cowabunga!
Above is a YouTube video that includes our Singai Ride (credits: just2excorporates)

Click here for a Face Book Reel of our Kuching Rustic Ride.
(Click Speaker Icon to unmute!)
(For more photos of Day 2 Ride, Click Here)
This is page 1 of a 3-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.
<D1: Kuching Night Ride     |      Go to Other Days        |       D3: Kuching City Ride>

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