AhPek Biker - Old Dog Rides Again: Port Klang

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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.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Selangor : Pulau Ketam Bike-packing

You are at - Jotaro's Blog / AhPek Biker / Cycling Malaysia / Selangor / Pulau Ketam Bike-packing

AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Selangor : Pulau Ketam Bike-packing

Subang Jaya to Pulau Ketam : 27th July 2014

Medium-sized Group Ride: Subang Jaya SS15>Klang>Port Klang>Pulau Ketam>Port Klang>Subang Jaya SS15

Distance Covered : 110.09 km. (including cycling, train & boat rides).
Time : 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
Time Taken : 10 hrs. (including stops for breakfast, lunch, boat & train rides, regrouping & time touring island etc.)

Route Recommendations :
1. The ride route is fairly flat, with slight slopes between near Shah Alam.
2. Bagging your bike is a must for travelling by train. For more tips see "Bringing Your Foldies Onto Trains".
3. You can either take the regular air-conditioned ferry or the speed-boat to Pulau Ketam. The fares are RM7-00 & RM10-00 respectively. For speed-boats, do agree on the price with the operator first.
4. Food-wise, there are good outlets at Klang for breakfast. On Pulau Ketam, there are many restaurants serving seafood. As a general rule of thumb, the eateries further away from the jetty charge slightly cheaper.
5. It's best to avoid visiting during holiday weekends as it will be crowded and getting a place to eat will be a hassle.

PRELUDE

Cyclist group at Port Klang Jetty during World Car-free Day 2012, getting ready to board the ferry over to Pulau Ketam.

Imagine, even staying in the Klang Valley for decades, I had never visited Pulau Ketam once. It took my interest in cycling to get me there! It was World Car Free Day 2012, and Sam had organized a ride from Brickfields to the island. Back then the local authorities had not embraced the concept of car-free days; and in that ride we got to know more about that concept (... see World Car-free Day 2012 blog).

That ride was an eye-opener for a newbie like me. Since then I have bike-packed to the island a couple of times. Now, Jason had called for an adhoc ride to the island again, and I gladly joined, eager to enjoy the island again with friends.

THE RIDE!

View Pulau Ketam Ride (110.09 km) in a larger map

Ride Route: Subang Jaya SS15>Klang>Port Klang>Pulau Ketam>Port Klang>Subang Jaya SS15

The ride includes cycling from Subang Jaya to Port Klang, a speed-boat ride to & from Pulau Ketam and finished with a train ride back.

7:30 am - Thirteen of us met up at SS15 Subang Jaya, unloaded and unfolded our bikes and went for breakfast at a nearby mamak coffee-shop facing the Subang Avenue condos.

It was the Hari Raya long week-end and the boss of the shop had left the running of the place to his employees. The staff were uncertain of the prices of the food of drinks, with one quoting one price and another quoting another. Of course, we did question them as some of the prices they quoted were pretty high, eg. RM2.50 for two half-boiled eggs. After we had paid, the staff began to argue among themselves and suddenly they came to blows at the kitchen. Worried that the scuffle would escalate into something more, we quickly left hoping that our absence would reduce their tension.

Leaving that nasty situation behind us we rode off, taking the road beside Subang Parade which will lead us to the motor-cycle lanes. Our good friends, Larry & Winnie had come down from Penang to join us.

8:20 am - Arriving at the Shell Petrol Station next to the Batu Tiga Toll, we were surprised to see the group of six of our friends already there. They had started off from Dataran Merdeka targeting to meet us here at 8:30 am; they must have cycled pretty fast to reach this place before us.

We are using the motorcycle lane, this being a Sunday, traffic was light and it was a good day to cycle. We rode through tunnels...

... over bridges ...

... and next to giant girders under construction.

9:15 am - Just into Klang, we stopped for a good dose of Klang Bak Kut Teh at Yeoh Bak Kut Teh.

What? Eat again? Our friends who had started from Dataran Merdeka had burnt off much and need to replenish. The rest of us joined in with small nips of the food.

Larry was in a jovial mood, smoking on a chilli!

We were suppose to have coffee at Chong Kok Kopitiam and then take the train from Klang to Port Klang. But as most of us had already eaten we decided to cycle the extra 12 km. to Port Klang, part of which was via Little India. This place is always colourful and gay with loud Indian music coming out from the shops. In the mood, I felt like doing some Indian dance swig on my bike.

The road to Port Klang is quite safe to cycle on; along Persiaran Raja Muda Musa we cycled along the quiet parallel residential road. It is only when one gets nearer the port that extra care have to be taken as large container trucks continuously ply these roads.

The system at the jetty at port seems to have changed. Previously, one can buy tickets at the entrance building near the main road. Now we were advised to buy go in and board the boats as tickets will be sold on board. To make matters worst, the corridor leading to the jetty is a long narrow one, with only one fenced corridor for both entry and exit. I dread to think of what will happen if some mishap happen and there is a stampede like what happened at a Phnom Penh bridge.

Down below at the embarking platform the situation was chaotic with boat operators canvassing for passengers, and passengers rushing to board the regular ferry.

We wanted to use the air-conditioned regularferry berthed at one end of the platform, hoping that all twenty of us could board together together with our bicycles. But there were too many other tourists squeezing to board; and the operators were not to keen to let us in seeing that they will have to waste time loading up our bicycles to the top of the ferry.

Fortunately for us, a speedboat came over to berth at the other end of the platform and we quickly boarded with other passengers without even asking how much the fare was.

The fare was for speedboat was RM10-00 per pax whilst that for the ferry was RM7-00 per pax. No complaints here though, as long as all of us were together, and most importantly, they allowed our bikes in too.

(Click on photo to see a YouTube video of our speed boat ride)

Happily, we were soon speeding towards the island. It was quite an adrenaline pumping experience, with the roar of the engines and the splashing of the water as the boat skimmed over the choppy waters.

Approaching the Pulau Ketam Jetty, I noticed that it was low tide and the barnacled stilts are exposed. A regular ferry can be seen on the right and a speedboat, like the one we are taking, is on the left.

Low tide disadvantage - more steps to climb while carrying our bikes but only small matter for us bikers.

A relevant shot of Harry at the Jalan Merdeka road sign. To him "Merdeka" (Malay for Indepndence, Freedom) means having the freedom to ride. I believe that applies to many of us.

While the rest went off to have a cyclo-adventure of the island, a few of us were just contented to sit and chat for a while at the Restoran Kuai Lok Hian. There were just too many people around and most of the eateries were packed and we quickly grabbed the first available table. Here we had lunch too; some of the nice dishes we had were the Har Lok Prawn which were very fresh. (seen above) ...

This one dish I found to be very nice - Bitter Kai Choy vegetables fried with fish maw, fish paste and some prawns. A good balance of tastes, and the Kai Choy have good cleansing properties too.

Ok.... time to stop lazing around, time to cycle! We pedalled around the narrow streets and across several bridges. Larry was most happy to go cycling up and down the hump bridges. These are quite steep but cycleable, but we had to be careful when coming down as due to their steepness our pedals may hit the ground. We had to make sure that our pedal arms were in horizontal positions to avoid this from happening.

Pulau Ketam from outside still look like that idyllic fishing village; but I lament that it is slowly losing it's quiet charm. It's not the same place that I visited a couple of years ago; back then the locals used to cycle around. Now there are electric motorcycles zooming around.

Perhaps, we should have not have come to the place during a long holiday weekend, crowd is just maddening during the holidays.

2:45 pm - At the jetty there are young boys canvassing for passengers. We negotiated with one and booked a speedboat for RM200/-. It worked out to be the same RM10-00 per head for the twenty of us, and we had the added privacy of the boat all to ourselves.

The boatman was however a stern jerky fellow. He kept on scolding the young boat boy (the one who had canvassed us), grumbling that should the charge should have been more as there were bicycles.

Hey! We did agree to charter the whole boat, did we not?

We put the incident behind us, just too tired to be bothered. Reaching Port Klang we split up into several groups. A smaller group cycled all the way back to Dataran Merdeka, one larger group decided to cycle for ice-kacang and then head to Klang to take the train.
I joined another smaller group who took the train straight from Port Klang to Subang Jaya.

POST-SCRIPT

Our friends who wanted to take the train from Klang Station faced an adamant station-master who refused to let them board the trains with their bicycles stating that folding bikes are not allowed onto trains during peak hours. He wanted to charge them RM20-00 per bike.

That was until Anne, pointing to a notice on KTM's notice board, politely told him that it was a Sunday and thus not peak hours.

(For more information about bringing your folding bikes onto trains, click here).