AhPek Biker - Old Dog Rides Again: Sg Pencala

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Thursday, January 14, 2016

Selangor : Bandar Utama to Damansara Perdana - Exploring The Hinterland

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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Selangor: Bandar Utama to Damansara Perdana - Exploring The Hinterland

Bandar Utama to Damansara Perdana : 10th January 2016

Solo ride - Taman Tun Dr Ismail>Bandar Utama>Kota Damansara>Mutiara Damansara>Damansara Perdana>Kampung Sungai Pencala>Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

Distance : 12.82 km Level: Medium
Time : not tracked
Time Taken : It was a recce and exploration ride with some back-tracking.

Route Recommendations :
1. The route behind Bandar Utama is the nicest and greenest.
2. Some portion of the route is on gravel track, mud paths, etc.
3. Some section of the route cuts through narrow pathways with tall grasses, bushland, etc. It's best to bring along some mosquito repellent as there are mosquitoes there.
4. Foreign workers use the pathway from Pelangi Damansara to Mutiara Damansara as a short cut.
5. Further exploration required:
a. To find an alternative route that does not pass the Mutiara Damansara sewage treatment plant.
b. To explore the other side heading from Bandar Utama towards Kampung Chempaka.

PRELUDE

Jeffrey Lim is on unique person, starting with a small group of friends he started mapping cycling routes in Kuala Lumpur. This group got bigger and bigger as he organised more recce rides to explore as much as possible the different cycling routes (other than main, busy roads). This group is the Cycling Kuala Lumpur Mapping Project; and their efforts culminated in a comprehensive map that shows these routes (click here to download a Jpeg copy of this map). It is to his credit that he has been invited to seminars and symposium world wide where at some he was an invited speaker.
Lately, he posted a photo of an out-of-the-way area in Bandar Utama, showing a side of the township that still looked natural with a small stream running through (dare I say that he is eyeing to expand his cycle mapping area to beyond Kuala Lumpur?). This spurred a inquisitiveness within me as that area being close to my home was my neck of the woods. Also I had been involved in some development of the area a couple of decades back and was curious to see how much that locality have changed.
SO HERE WE GO!

THE RIDE

Cycling Route - Taman Tun Dr Ismail>Bandar Utama>Kota Damansara>Mutiara Damansara>Damansara Perdana>Kampung Sungai Pencala>Taman Tun Dr Ismail.
From Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) I headed towards Bandar Utama to find a road to the back of the township. Found it near The Club, and used the tracks to head towards Pelangi Damansara and then onwards to Damansara Perdana.

From TTDI, I rode towards Bandar Bandar Utama, riding below the shopping bridge that connects the old wing to the new wing. I was unsure where I would penetrate into the "hinterlands" and headed towards the BU3 area. From there I cut across the BU6 thinking that my destination would be there.
Oops.... I was wrong; I still had to cross over one main road, Persiaran Bandar Utama before I hit the backwaters.

Okay... that's was a good start... but what next?
I had two options, either go up the hill via Persiaran Bukit Utama or try some other route on more level ground. I was trying to head to Damansara Perdana, so the level route it was then.
The lowland route is via the road leading up to 9 Bukit Condo and then cutting across to The Club at Bukit Utama. At the far end of the Club Drive was a laterite road that led up a hill and a ramp on the left next to the clubhouse (this ramp can't be seen in the above photo as it is hidden by the building).

The ramp led to buggy tracks of the Bandar Utama Golf Course. These tracks skirt the greens of the golf course and would be lovely to ride on and explore further (Hah! Coming here, I found so much more for future exploration). But for today, my target destination was those tall electrical transmission towers which runs along the back boundary of Bandar Utama, after all I am exploring the hinterland of the township.
Best I get off the buggy tracks quick lest I be struck by a golf ball; people were playing there then.

But then I noticed a gravel road leading up-hill and thought to myself "Hey! There's another hill in this township other than Bukit Utama". Well since I am here might as well go up and see what's up there. Huffing and puffing I trudged my way up, hoping that up at the top I would be able to get a good panoramic view of the surrounding area. Sad to say, up there there was no view. It's overgrown with trees that blocked off any view.
So it's down again, back to the buggy track. On the way down, I noticed another fork; it led back to The Club, i.e. that gravel track I saw earlier.

Back at the golfing green, I espied a small pedestrian gate and it was not locked, so I did a quick push across the grass, through the gate and was out of Bandar Utama!
On the other side was a large Hindu shrine and to it's left another smaller shrine that caught my attention.

That smaller shrine was unique, it was actually two shrines. On the left was that of Lord Ganesh and on the right a Chinese shrine.

From the shrines a narrow path led down to a gravel road, to the left it led back to the hills behind Bandar Utama and to the right onwards to Kota Damansara. I wanted to try going back up the hills but there was a locked gate and the monsoon drain in front of it acted like a moat making the whole area inaccessible. Nevermind, I will just go to the gate and have a look.

Peeking through the gate, I saw deers! Cool!
An "enterprising" fellow had cordoned off a large tract of the land and had turned it to his own private property, there's even notices on the gate stating this. Guess he must me the one who had reared the deer.

On the bridge I had a look at the stream that was there ages ago, now it has been turned into a storm drain. This view is towards Bandar Utama side, a metal bridge connects a condo car park annexe to The Club.

The view on the other side shows tall flats far away, those are in Kota Damansara. On the left were the walls of houses in Tropicana. Development has brought its toll on natural streams, many has disappeared and those remaining has been turned into storm drains to cater for the increase in water flow volume.

I made a U-turn and headed the other direction towards Kota Damansara riding below the tall electrical transmission towers that looked like giants standing there, making me feel puny indeed. In front is a busy main road, is this the end of the road for my exploration, will it be back onto normal roads?

At Persiaran Surian I espied that some tracks continued on the other side. Now for the tricky part, crossing the main road that seems to have non-stop traffic. Well, this old man was surprisingly still nifty and managed to waltz across.... that was just me daydreaming; actually I was more like a crab, trying to zig-zag clumsily over.

WARNING! Across the road is this unpaved road, there is nursery and they have guard dogs. Four dogs came rushing out wanting to attack me; I quickly came down carried up my bicycle and use it as a defensive weapon, swinging it in arcs to keep the ferocious barking dogs at bay until the lady caretaker came out to rein in her dogs.
I was surprised I could do that, perhaps fear pumps up one's adrenaline and give that extra power. So fear could be a good thing.

Beyond the nursery, the path narrowed downs and petered away until it was no more; on the left were Rain Trees bearing yellow flowers, these trees were at Sunway Damansara (Note: to self to explore there next round). Was this the end of the road for my exploration?

Fortunately I espied this make-shift work-shop with some slope exit on it's left. I carried my bike and trudged over the tall grass heading for that slope. Behind this was the Pelangi Damansara Apartments.

I was rather dismayed when reaching there; the whole place was just a big rubbish dump created by the irresponsible workshop operator. There were some sheets of plywood over the rubbish on the left and I slowly climbed up.

I rode round the car-parking compound of the apartments, at one far corner at the back was a red shrine and next to it a pathway!
Just for note, Pelangi Damansara is in Kota Damansara; the wall behind the shrine marks the boundary, over on the other side is Mutiara Damansara.

That path way ran behind a fence of a gated housing area in Mutiara Damansara. It was hardly possible to ride along here as at most stretches it was very narrow and on the one side was a steep slope that went about two metres down.
As I rode/pushed along this path, I noticed quite a number of foreign workers using it as a short cut between Mutiara Damansara to Kota Damansara.

The narrow pathway widened up and led to a park at PJU7. Lucky me again, the gate was opened.

Happiness! I am on the road again, no tall grasses, no pushing and most important of all NO MOSQUITOES!

My happiness was short lived. Riding further along, I tried to look for a way to get over to Damansara Perdana. The entrance to some areas like the Desa Mutiara Apartments and Surian Residences were all gated with guard posts. Back-tracking, I went into a road that led to the central sewage treatment plant that serves Mutiara Damansara, but this road was a dead-end.

Some where along that rode was a small hoarding with a small doorway leading to a path running beside the treatment plant. So in I went, and it was back to pushing again as the path narrowed down.

Ahead on the left was the large 132kVa electrical substation that serves this township. Slightly ahead were some roads.
Hurrah!

With that I had crossed over to Damansara Perdana, happily cycling along the road and passed this place. It's the MBPJ car pound, illegally parked cars a towed here.

I ended my exploration with a visit to a cycling buddy, SY. Through Warmshowers she was hosting a couple of cyclists from the Netherlands.
We adjourned for a nice dinner at May Chixuan and I rode back home using the more familiar route that cuts through Kampung Sungai Pencala.

CONCLUSION
The route I used was great for exploration, but it was not a suitable route to commute between the townships as there were stretches were it was not cycle-able.

Related Blogs :

Sumptuous Seafood @ May Chixuan Restaurant

Beautifully done, unique, sumptuous seafood in a simple place - Damansara Perdana, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Monday, July 15, 2013

Kuala Lumpur : Durian Treks

You are at - Jotaro's Blog / AhPek Biker / Cycling Malaysia / Kuala Lumpur-Selangor / Durian Treks
AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Kuala Lumpur : Durian Treks

Yummy Durians!

Kuala Lumpur & Petaling Jaya : 6th July 2013

Small Group Ride : Titiwangsa Golf Club>Jalan Ipoh>Jinjang>Kepong>Sg Pencala>Taman Tun Dr Ismail>Bandar Utama>SS2>Section 17>University Malaya>Federal Highway>Brickfields>Dataran Merdeka>Titiwangsa Golf Club

Distance covered : approx. 63.06 km.
Time : 7:45 am - 3:30 pm
Time Taken : 7:45 hrs. (including stops for photos, breakfast, durian feast, rests, etc).
Route Recommendations :
1. Try the curry mee @ Ming Sing Coffee Shop, Jalan Ipoh.
2. Do be careful when riding the short stretches at the main roads in Kepong, Jinjang & Jalan Raja Laut, etc. Traffic could be heavy here.
3. This is a great route as it shows how different parts of Kuala Lumpur is connected, through some roads you will find yourselves in busy middle-class residential areas, then into elite housing gardens, rustic kampongs, etc.
4. Watch out for dogs at the Sungai Baru riverside, they are of the chasing type.
5. The durians sold in SS2 must be good, judging from the expressions of my friends while they were eating.
6. Good photo opportunity at the Titiwangsa Golf Club.

PRE-RIDE

We bikers will just find some reason to cycle - conquer some hills, go to waterfalls, visit some interesting tourist spots, find good eats, etc. Always just itching to ride.

Rivern taking a large mouthful of durian. YummY!

This time round we are riding to eat durians but it was not going to be just a direct ride to eat the durians, it was going to be a big loop around Kuala Lumpur up to Petaling Jaya and back. There is not much fun in just riding out to the nearest stall to eat durians - we have to do more than that; stretch our legs more, explore more, etc. In the end we rode 60+ km.

I am a banana (... see Jotaro's Twisty Tales), the odd Malaysian who does not eat durian; so when Rivern initiated a durians eats ride I was a bit apprehensive, but keen to join my friends to ride. Then Tailim (of the hApPy HaPpY blogs) suggested a super loop route, that got my attention, I have to GO!

THE RIDE

Durian Ride Route Map 01 (click for Map Link)

I call it a super loop as Google Maps just could not handle the detailed route that we took, and had automatically split the route map into two pages. The above is page 1, showing the route from the Titiwangsa Golf Club to the start of our return trip via Section 17 -
Small Group Ride : Titiwangsa Golf Club>Jalan Ipoh>Jinjang>Kepong>Sg Pencala>Taman Tun Dr Ismail>Bandar Utama>SS2>Section 17>University Malaya>Federal Highway>Brickfields>Dataran Merdeka>Titiwangsa Golf Club

Durian Ride Route Map 02 (click for Map Link - click on Next to go to this)

Page 2 -
Section 17>University Malaya>Federal Highway>Brickfields>Dataran Merdeka>Titiwangsa Golf Club

L-R : AhPek, Shereen, Rivern, Tailim, Dhruv (Photo by Rivern)

Five of us turned up for this ride, and took a group photo before we started.

Leaving the golf club via the quiet roads of Tasik Titiwangsa, we were soon on to the busy roads - taking the underpass that connects Jalan Pahang to Jalan Pekeliling.

... and from there onto Jalan Ipoh.

About twenty minutes into the ride, we stopped at Ming Sing Coffee Shop at Jalan Ipoh for breakfast; we have to fill up early as we have a long ride ahead.

OR rather my friends wanted to burn of breakfast before we reach the durian place; sort of clear the stomach space for more durians.

Here they serve very good Curry Laksa (curry noodles), served with crunchy boiled bean sprouts and freshly boiled cockles.

During breakfast Tailim asked whether we wanted to take the main roads or the Sungai Baru riverside route; warning us that there were dogs which chased him when he rode there last time.

Being very brave, we opted for the riverside. Dogs don't scare us, do they.....?

The riverside was shady, and almost devoid of motorized traffic - it's so nice to ride here.

We were lucky, there were dogs around but they did not chase us - perhaps Tailim had given them a pep talk earlier. "No chasing cyclists. Cats ok. Cyclists, no!"

Took a group photo here too.

Exiting back to Jalan Ipoh we are now at the Jalan Kuching interchange. On the other side is the Jinjang/Kepong area.

Across on the other side, with a couple of turns, we were riding on safer residential roads.

Riding below the electrical transmission lines.

And with a few more turns, we are in Segambut, riding pass the Taman Sri Segamut Mosque.

With some more turns, here & there, we are at the street market in Kepong Baru. For those who wants to follow this route, do take care at the Jinjang & Kepong area; one wrong turn and one may find oneself in Holland.

Soon we were up this flyover, it will lead us to Desa Park City.

Desa Park City, one of the key checkpoint of our ride, is close by!

But we only skirted Desa Park City. It would have been nice to cycle in that township. With wide landscaped five-foot ways, it's very green and cyclists friendly,

Seems like my co-riders were eager to eat their durians, so we went straight and hit the dirt road that connects Desa Park City to Kampong Sg Pencala. We discovered this dirt road connection during an earlier recce ride (... see more)

This is one of my favorite photo spots - here huge pillars holds up the Jalan Duta Link to the NKVE, it's giant pillars dwarfing us.

NOTE: The road situation here is temporary and change from time to time. Presently they have red-striped "HAZARD" tap drawn across with large boulders blocking the way. But bicycles can still pass through the gaps between the boulders.

Crossing that point, we are into Kampong Sg Pencala - a sudden transition from a up-market residential area into a rustic kampong. And the difference is not physical only, the temperature dropped too. Really, the air in the kampong is much cooler. It's like crossing over to another dimension.

A photo of us with kampong houses on a hillside.

Passed that kampong, and we are into another nice residential area - Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

And then across into Bandar Utama stopping here at the traffic light in front of the 1-Utama shopping complex.

We wanted to surprise our friend Johnny of My Bicycle Shop at his shop in the Oasis Complex in Bandar Utama but we were in for a surprise ourselves instead. Our friend had closed his shop for that day, having to attend to some personal matters. So we went to the corner coffee shop to have some drinks.

Having to cross back to Taman Tun Dr Ismail to continue our journey, we met this group of young boys. They were playing a sort of hand-ball game while wearing roller blades. See the similarities between them and us? Yes. It's the helmets.

At the other end of Taman Tun Dr Ismail in order to avoid the heavy traffic along the LDP Damansara-Puchong Highway), we used a pedestrian bridge to cross over to Damansara Kim.

Further along, it was up another ramp (leading to the Tropicana City Mall) to avoid the traffic of the SPRINT Highway below.

And then riding down the ramps through two basement car-parks of the Tropicana City Mall.

(Photo by Rivern)

Just like that, we are into SS2; the durians are near!

DURIAN TIME!!

Who did we meet there but Fenn & Ann. Both had taken the trouble to meet us here, probably waiting for us to arrive from our long cycling trek. Ann had cycled all the way from Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam.

The names of the durians (Jiu Ji, D24, Musang King, Red Prawns, etc.) sounded like Greek to me, a non-durian eater. But my friends were comfortable with the durian speak and ordered exactly what they wanted.

The durians here were huge! Ann was impatient to dig in, can't seem to take her eyes off the large thorny fruit in front of her.

The girls, trying hard to fit in the large fruit into their mouths.

Rivern was thoroughly enjoying himself; like a pro, he took small nips from the edges of the fruit.

This was the first time Dhruv was eating durians, he seems to like the fruit.

DURIAN'S TIME'S OVER!

Time to head back, but first one last destination - University Malaya.

We rode back to the SS2 Mall, using the ramp there to ride down to cut through to Section 17 and then then Section 16 ...

... and we are at University Malaya!

We rode round the grounds of the university a bit and then decided to tackle Lover's hill - it's a steep climb up to the pinnacle of the university grounds. For some it was a cinch, for a couple of others it was a struggle.

Easy or harrrrddd, we were all glad to reach the top.

We made a short detour to the adjacent University Hospital, where Tailim did a bit of play acting. "Hey... emergency, some one's in the Trauma Ward! Too much durians!"

Stopped by at Brickfields This being an Indian enclave of Kuala Lumpur, we did some Bollywood dancing here.

Back in KL City, we cut through this nice shaded pathway adjacent to the Dayabumi Complex and running beside the Klang River.

Somewhere here, Shereen developed cramps (well, it has been a long ride). I was quick to help her, from the smile of her face she must have been very satisfied with the AhPek's "service".

Perhaps I should become a part-time masseuse, could earn some money there and buy another new bicycle, Heh! heh!

At Dataran Merdeka, we took another group photo.

Riding via Jalan Raja Laut, then into Jalan Pahang ....

... and we are back at the Titiwangsa Golf Club!

A newly-addicted cyclist, Harry, joined us for a group photo.

It has been a ride that had us circling a good part of Kuala Lumpur and up to Petaling Jaya. One of contrasting areas busy townships & rustic villages; one off cutting through bridges and malls.

Many thanks to Rivern & Tailim.

Pages

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Selangor : Bandar Utama to Damansara Perdana - Exploring The Hinterland

Monday, July 15, 2013

Kuala Lumpur : Durian Treks