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Friday, January 22, 2016

Selangor : Klang to Pulau Ketam - Brompton Malaysia Crabby Ride

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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Selangor: Klang to Pulau Ketam - Brompton Malaysia Crabby Ride

Klang to Pulau Ketam : 17th January 2016

Medium Group Ride - Klang>Port Klang>Pulau Ketam (by ferry)>Port Klang>Klang (by train).

Cycling Distance : Klang to Port Klang - 8.66km / Around Pulau Ketam - 4.76km Level: Easy
Time : From Klang & back to Klang - 8:00am to 2:15pm
Time Taken : 6hrs 15mins (inclusive of breakfast, time at Pulau Ketam, lunch and photo opps).

Route Recommendations :
1. From Klang start off with the Istana Shah Alam route, it is a shady and nice route.
2. The road leading from Klang to Port Klang is along Persiaran Raja Muda Musa. It is a busy thoroughfare, fortunately there is a secondary road that runs parallel to it for most of the way. This secondary feeder road has light traffic as it serves the neighbourhood..
3. The route for most part is unshaded so do cover up in the afternoon.
4. Most lanes on Pulau Ketam are narrow concrete slabs sitting on stilt/pile. On the outlying areas the lanes are planks, do cycle with care.
5. The main streets criss-crossed at right angles. However further away they zig-zag through houses, and does get complicated. There is a possibility of getting lost; if that happens ask the friendly locals for directions back to the jetty.
6. Pulau Ketam used to be a laid back island without any motorized vehicles. Of late (these past couple of years) electric motor-cycles have been introduced. These run silently, so do watch out for them.
7. The island has a few sea-food restaurants, choose one that you are comfortable with. Other than that, the fruity ice floss stall serves good, cooling thirst quenchers for a hot day.
8. Chong Kok Kopitiam is a favourite place for breakfast in Klang, and a good place for lunch would be Yap Kee Banana Leaf Rice.

PRELUDE

The My Brompton Malaysia group regularly hold cycling events for Brompton owners in Malaysia to get together and enjoy a ride with each others company. On and off I had managed to join them; the last time I joined them was at a ride where we tried out the Cycling Lanes of Shah Alam riding from Bukit Cahaya to and around part the city centre. We even managed to view the street art at Section 2 of Shah Alam. Yup, that's us above "chasing down" a street art mini-bus during that ride in May 2014. Looks fun isn't it?
Well we are up for more fun, this time round we have an event going to Crabby Island..... no, it's not Krabi in Thailand but Pulau Ketam off the coast of Selangor. In English it is called Crab Island, so that's why the group called the event "It's Crabby Time". Some mis-read it as Crappy Time... No, we did not crap there or had a crappy time; in fact we had a wonderful time enjoying the the island with our cycling buddies.
OK... LET'S GET CRAPPY..... OOPS... I MEAN CRABBY!

THE RIDE

Cycling Route - Klang>Port Klang>Pulau Ketam (by ferry)>Port Klang>Klang (by train).
This is a mini bike-packing adventure. From Klang we rode to Port Klang then onto to a ferry to & fro Pulau Ketam. Back in Port Klang we took a train to Klang for some eats before each going our way back (some drove, some took the train home).

We met at Chong Kok Kopitiam in Klang, that's a regular meet up place for us as it served very good coffee, and quite decent Nasi Lemak. Some drove here and some took the train from their homes.

8:00am - We rolled off, riding through the shady streets near the Istana Shah Alam, and then at the Bulatan Simpang Lima we turned into Persiaran Raja Muda Musa. This road is a busy major thoroughfare, but fortunately there is a quiet residential service road running parallel to it for most of the way.
Along the way my thoughts went back to the last time I went to Pulau Ketam, it was another bike-packing trip in May 2014. Back then I had noticed that the electric motor-bikes had been introduced to the islands, prior to that the only motorised vehicle were the push-carts for transporting goods (... see 2012 World Car-free Day blog).

After a casual nine kilometre ride we reached the Port Klang-Pulau Ketam Jetty. There is a long narrow corridor from the jetty to the boarding platform; when it's not too crowded it's possible to cycle along this corridor. Cycling there we then carried our bikes down to the boarding platform which is large enough for all of us to fold our bikes.

For those interested, I append here the ferry schedule, the fare each way is RM7-00. We took the 8:45am ferry; the fare is collected while on board. Oddly, the ticket issuer charged us each an additional RM3-00 for our bikes; no receipts were issued for this (on our return trip, there was no charge for our bikes).
The ferry is air-conditioned with comfortable seats. Not wanting our bikes to be exposed to spraying sea water as the ferry moved, most of us managed to bring our folded bikes into the ferry.

While on board Sin (of the hApPy HaPpY blogs) and Chew were fiddling with their new Xiaomi YI Action Camera. Sin having got it a few days earlier was teaching Chew the finer points of video-graphing.
(... see Sin's blog on this)
(... see Chew's video presentation on our ride)

9:15am - We arrive at the island, disembarked and quickly carried our bikes up to the jetty's top platform. After unfolding our bikes, we were ready to ride. But first let's have a look at life on the island:

This is one happy tourist who had rented a bike, stock himself with some food and was ready to explore the island. Bicycles are available for rental at the jetty.

Further, in front of one of the shop-lots at main street, this group of old men had cycled to meet each other. Seems to be their regular routine, meeting up, chatting and catching up with each other. One fine day we will just be like them, meeting up and talking of our past - this trip to the island included.

Nearer the village centre, colourful houses sitting on stilts lined the elevated concrete lanes. The whole island's infrastructure sits atop the mangrove swamp of which this island is mainly compose off. The lanes nearer the village centre are more regulated, running parallel and perpendicular to each other.

At the outlying areas the concrete slab make way for timber board-walk that zig-zagged in between and in front of houses. At some areas this zig-zagging does get a bit confusing, especially if one runs into a dead-end. Either trace one's steps back or as some helpful local for directions back to the jetty.

Pulau Ketam is predominantly occupied by Chinese, there are lots of temples dedicated to different gods. The difference is that many of this temples are to sea gods, hence on the roof often there will be statues of fishes, prawns. There is even one temple with just crabs!
Other than the temples, there is a mosque, a couple of schools, a post-office and even a bank with an ATM machine.

The older locals cycle around, like this man who is probably on the way to meet the group of old men shown in one of the earlier photos. He looks old but is still sprightly and hale, probably the slow pace and idyllist life here helps.

Others, like this lady, used electrical motor-cycles to get around - sending their children to school, delivering goods or doing some shopping. The only thing is that these electric machines are quite so one have to be on the look out for them.

A moped parked at the front of a sundry shop. The lady rider having gone in to do some shopping. Most of these machines are from China.

A couple making "kueh kapit' (love letters) in preparation for the coming Chinese New Year. They are selling it to the locals and also to tourists. The islanders try to be as self sufficient as possible; but being a mangrove island, Pulau Ketam can't sustain much planting. We also did not see any large farms; so other than seafood, most of the vegetables and meat are brought in from the mainland. Probably the economics of scale makes it cheaper to import.

Foreign workers relaxing and having lunch. These workers assist in the fishing industry here.

At many of the coves and inlets, trawler boats are parked or could be seen sailing in. This photo show how the houses and lanes sit on concrete or bakau piles.

Okay, back to our ride now:

We rode a loop around the inner section of the island, visiting a few temples, dropped by the bank (it's a Maybank), just to see it.

But most of all we rode to view the colourful houses; Jason here seems to have adapted to life here, making himself look like he was coming home.

... and stopped by the water's edge just to relax.

We even rode out to a more remote area where lanes have been constructed but on both sides were just mangrove trees. These are new areas waiting to be populated or developed.

At the busier areas, we walked out on the planked jetties to take beautiful photos of the houses, the boats, etc.

Here's a shot of us at one of the wooden bridges. Things are so colourful here, even the bridges!

Back at the village centre, some of us saw this barber shop. The barber here provides ear-cleaning services and a few of us lined up for a good and relaxing cleaning. There's only one barber at this shop, so together with us the locals formed a quiet queue to wait their turn.

Back at main street, we stopped for some cooling desserts at a stall in front of one of the sundry shops. It sells fruity ice floss, i.e. fruit flavoured, slightly creamy ice shaved into fine ice floss and topped up with yummy ingredients.

Here's a mango flavoured one. Looks good doesn't it? It was, especially on a hot day.
(... see more at Fruity Ice Flog blog)

12:15pm - It's lunch time, but wanting to try something else than the seafood at Pulau Ketam, we left earlier. Here's a memorable photo of us in the ferry for keepsake.

From Port Klang, most of us could have just taken the train straight back home; but we made a stop at Klang again... just to try out the renown Yap Kee Banana Leaf Rice. It was a satisfactory close to a good ride day.

(... see more at Yap Kee Banana Leaf Rice blog).

We did have a mighty good time at Crab Island, it was a memorable ride for many of us.

NEXT: My Brompton Malaysia will be having another back-packing adventure up to Ipoh, stay tuned for my field report :)

(For more photos of the ride, Click Here)

Related Blogs :

Fruity Ice Floss @ Pulau Ketam

A good cooling quencher for a hot day while visiting this island off the coast of Selangor, Malaysia.

Banana Leaf Rice @ Yap Kee Klang
Even with a limited menu, this place is packed to the brim. Find out why. - Klang, Selangor Malaysia.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Kuala Lumpur : Lost Again! - Even More Lost

You are at - Jotaro's Blog / AhPek Biker / Cycling Malaysia / Kuala Lumpur / Lost Again! - Even More Lost
AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures
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.