AhPek Biker - Old Dog Rides Again

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Pahang: Taman Negara v2 Pt.1 - Riding The Dragon

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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Pahang: Taman Negara v2 Pt.1 - Riding The Dragon

Day 1 - Road Trip From Kuala Lumpur to Jerantut : 7th July 2017

Day 2- Riding the Dragon from Kuala Tembeling to Taman Negara : 8th July 2017

Drive : Petaling Jaya>Temerloh>Jerantut

Cycling: Kuala Tembeling>Labu Sentral>Felda Sungai Retang>Taman Negara.
Distance: 52.06 km. | Level: Hard
Cycling Time : 8:05 am to 1:58pm
Cycling Time Taken : 5 hrs 53 mins.

Route Recommendations :
1. The East Coast Highway is pleasant to drive on but note that there not many rest stops for toilet duties.
2. Temerloh is famous for it's Patin (river Cat fish) but for a change one could try their ikan bakar (grilled fish).
3. We stayed in Jerantut overnight as the bike ride starts early the following day. There are many hotels at Jerantut, do choose one to suit your budget and comfort level.
- Jerantut Hill Resort (GPS: 3.92161, 102.35264) where we stayed in is reasonably priced. Our room for 3-pax was at MYR90-00 which excluded breakfast.
- Presently there are no accommodations at Kuala Tembeling.. (GPS: 4.06951, 102.31568) .
4. We were fortunate that a light rain the previous evening had made the day's temperature cooler. However, it did get hot just past noon time, so do be prepared to cover up. Also since our previous ride three years ago, the place has got more developed with trees maturing to provid shade for much of the way. There was only a stretch about fifteen km. through oil palm plantations that was not shaded. More stalls have opened up, so there are no worries of getting water.
5. Food
- Dinner on the first day was at Temerloh ABC Ikan Bakar (GPS: 3.44766, 102.41354) that serves very good grilled fishes, etc.
- Breakfast was wantan noodles at a coffee-shop at Picadilly Restoran & Hotel (GPS: 3.93853, 102.36525) in Temerloh.
- Lunch along the cycling route was at Kedai Mak Teh (@Kampung Merting (GPS: 4.22447, 102.38624) near Felda Sungai Retang. Seeing that we were out of town, the operator sold us food at more expensiver prices; they did have quite good Durian Tempoyak.

This is blog comes in two parts, part one here is on our road trip from Kuala Lumpur to Jerantut followed by our cycle ride from Kuala Tembeling to Kuala Tahan (Taman Negara) on the first half of the following day . Click the following to go to the second part:
- Taman Negara v2 Pt. 2: Riding The River.

PRELUDE

Taming the dragon-backs during our 2014 ride.

How time has passed, it was three years ago that we first rode this Taman Negara route. It was an memorable expereince for us of a hard, hot ride, but one that we will always think back to and say "We did it!"
Wong KT has planned another ride to Taman Negara, his rides are always interesting as he takes the time to recce the route for interesting places.... and also good food along the way (... see his blogs at "The Great Outdoors"). This time there were fewer riders as many were occupied elsewhere. In a way this was good as it meant less re-grouping time.... but how will tackle this ride. Memories from our previous ride was of one that stretched almost the whole day, one where the sun shone strongly on us and zapped up much of our energy. So, how will we fare this time? Worst or better? Read on to find out!

In two cars, seven of us drove up from Petaling Jaya, enroute we used the DUKE Highway and were pleasantly surprised to find this new archway spanning across the road. The arch was topped with a clocktower and minarets similar to that of the Sultan Abdul Samad building in Kuala Lumpur.

At Temerloh we made a detour into the town. This town is famous for it's river catfish (Patin); but we won't be eating those (as they are easily available in the Klang Valley), instead we headed for our favourite foodie place, the Temerloh ABC Ikan Bakar stall located along Jalan Temerloh-Mentakab. The food here never fail to impress us, well seasoned in rempa and nicely grilled on a hot pan. We had grilled ray fish, chicken-fish, squid, prawns and fish cake. We also had boiled cockles that went very well with the pounded ground nuts chilli sauce. From the next stall (which is renown for their ABC and desserts), we orders some other dishes together with white rice. Their bean sprouts stir-fried with salted fish should not be missed; instead of the usual dry stir-fry, this one had more gravy full of the salted fish gravy. Also not to be missed is their tong-sui made from tofu skin.

Our stay for the night (recommended by Wong) was a much better place than the last time. This was at the Jerantut Hill Resort, situated up on a small hill. The road leading up to the hotel was rather steep and we counted our blessings that we did not have to cycle up!
The hotel comes with a nice swimming pool and at the grown floor car-park their is a shrine with a four-faced Buddha.

In the early morning, we checked out and drove over to the Picadilly Restoran & Hotel to meet up with the rest of the gang - Wong, Lilian, Ian, Thomas and Donald. Together we would later form a good team that clicked well with each other and were full of laughter.
At this early hour of the morning not many shops were opened, so we made do with the average tasting wantan noodles sold here... and also our booster of two soft-boiled eggs!

THE RIDE

Cycling route: Kuala Tembeling>Labu Sentral>Felda Sungai Retang>Taman Negara.

The route starts from from Kampung Tanjung Jelai after a short boat ride across the Pahang River from Kuala Tembeling. It will take us on a road that has numerous dragon-backs.

7:15am - After a half-hour drive from Jerantut we reached the jetty at Kuala Tembeling, all excited to start off on another mini-adventure....
But hold on to your horses! Poor Donald discovered that his bike had a puncture. He's a cheerful fellow and took this in stride, and was ever-smiling while repairing the puncture.

And here we are, on the long boat crossing the river. Surprisingly the weather was rather cooling for this time of the year (it had been raining the previous night) and it was a misty crossing... It's a short five-minute boat ride but I do hope we don't bump into another boat though!
It's here that the Pahang River officialy starts, being formed by the Tembeling River and another unnamed river.

Even though the rive water level was higher than previously, on reaching the other side, we still had to get our trudge our bikes across a sandy/pebblish river bank that was about twenty-five metres wide. After a while we found that it was less tiresome to carry our bikes than push them on the sandy bank.

And off we went riding... straight off there were already some slopes to climb!
For a change, it was still misty on the roads; as we rode on we felt the mist coming down on us like a light drizzle and forming droplets on us and on our bikes. Interesting.

Soon we were getting into the mood of the place, getting used to some kids lieing at the centre of the road unbothered and not budgeing by us cycling pass ... they are goat kids and not the kampong kids.

It's so green here, wild plants line the road and every once in a while we stop take photos of the flora.

Donald was taking photos of this bunch of red flowers that looked like blooms of the Flame of the Forest tree. But this was not definitely from that tree, it was from a shrub with different looking leaves.

Another interesting plant, a palm with seeds hanging down, looking like braided hair. The sees were round and had a pulpy inside.
I have tried to identify these two (the flower and the seeds) through searches on the net, but was unsuccesful, perhaps some kind soul can help.

Onwards we cycled, the route has become harder with mini-dragonbacks; but the cool weather helped and we were able to take these slopes quite well.

9:30am - We reached the Labu Sentral R&R station. This is a fairly large place with a park and large statues of labu (labu is the Malay word for gourd).
We stopped here for quite a while to rest and take photos of ourselves and the serene place. Besides the statues, there were small replicas of Malay timber hut architecture designed and built by Kayuma (... see bottom for more photos to view these). Kayuma can be contacted via their mobile +6019-9890468.

Their is a nice extension to this park, a souvenir shop which sold nice rattan (not real rattan but plastic rattan) hats for a cheap price of MYR2-00. Here we are wearing these hats, looking like a gang going to attend a Sunday Derby.

We passed by several kampongs (villages), some with interesting names such as:
1. Kampung Gemuruh: Gemuruh means rumble or nervous, so we wonder what had happened here to cause the place to rumble or the denizens to be nervous.
2. Kampung Pasir Durian: pasir durian translates durian sand, probably this place has sandy soil suitable for planting durian trees.
3. Kampun Hulu Retang: Google translates "retang" as retard. But I think it should mean "slow".
Whatever the name of the places, life was at a slow pace. There was no rat-race rush here and more importantly, the locals were very friendly waving or calling our to us without hesitation.

An unique annex to a house, a smaller house on floats made of blue plastic drums; this area must be subject to floods and this is a great idea - a refuge when the nearby river overflows.

A sign of the remoteness of the place, a excavator just left at the roadside to be overgrown with weeds.

10:30am - Brunch time at the row of roadside stalls near to the Felda Sungai Retang. Jui Li is scooping up some Tempoyak (an unique a Malay condiment made from fermented durian) to add to her plate. Tempoyak is made by taking the flesh of durian and mixing it with some salt and kept in room temperature for three or five days for fermentation. It is thus seasonal dish depending on the availability of the King of Fruits.
We were making good pace, and a couple of short cuts before and after Labu Sentral had shorten our route by about ten kilometres. More importantly, the detour has also avoided a series of steep dragon backs after Labu Sentral.

The roads were still fairly shady, AND GREEN as we passed by secondary jungles and also this slope overgrown with bright green ferns.

Passed by this "Elephant Crossing" sign... but unfortunately did not see any elephants stomping across the road.

12:00pm - Finally we reached the stretch that most of us feared, a continuing series of dragonbacks with oilpalm plantations on both sides, totally devoid of any shade.AND with hardly any strong phone signal strength. This was the stretch that a friend had cramps and had to push his bike for kilometres, and we could not contact him.

Hot! HOT! HOT!So hot that Kimmi had to take a shower while On-The-Go!

When the heat start zapping one to the core, Taman Negara is so near yet so far...

One final series of dragon-backs that seem unending!

One final rest/regroup at a coffee-shop that we had stop by during the previous event. It was then just a timber shanty,
As Donald arrived, his legs suddenly gave way... CRAMP!
This seems repeat of events of three years back when we waited for our cramped friend, couldn't contact him and had to borrow a motor-bike from the operator of this shop to go look for him.

Here, a wasped landed on my Keens sandal and stayed there for a couple of minutes, giving me time to get this macro photo of it. Must be my lucky day... shall I go buy some lottery?

2:00pm - WE MADE IT!!
And at a faster pace too, compared to the previous time when we took two and a half hours longer. I guess the cooler weather and the short cuts did help. Still the last fifteen kilometres was zappping hot!

We checked into the Han Rainforest Resort our stay for the night.
Time to stretch back our riding muscles, a friendly tug was most helpful.

Arriving early, we had time to spare. So what shall we do?
Find out in the next part!

This is blog comes in two parts, part one here is on our road trip from Kuala Lumpur to Jerantut followed by our cycle ride from Kuala Tembeling to Kuala Tahan (Taman Negara) on the first half of the following day . Click the following to go to the second part:
- Taman Negara v2 Pt. 2: Riding The River.

(For more photos of Day 1, click here)
(For more photos of the cycle ride on Day 2, click here)
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Related Blogs:

Taman Negara Day 2 - Dragonslayers! 21st June 2014

The ride from Kuala Tembeling to Kuala Tahan was like taking on a fire-breathing dragon by its tail.

Ikan Bakar Abc @ Temerloh

Good & fresh grilled seafood from a town famous for its fish - Temerloh, Pahang, Malaysia.

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Sunday, July 2, 2017

Kuala Lumpur-Selangor : Titiwangsa to Cheras Mini Loop

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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Kuala Lumpur-Selangor : Titiwangsa to Cheras Mini Loop

USJ19 to Bukit Lanchong & Taman Alam Meganh : 21st June 2017

Medium Size Group Ride - Titiwangsa>South Korean Embassy>Tim Mei>Chuan Kee>Bodhi Cheras>Loke Yew Round-a-bout>Kampong Bharu>Titiwangsa.

Cycling Distance - 40.63 km. Level: Medium
Time : 7:00pm to 11:15pm
Time Taken : 4hrs 15mins (inclusive of stops for rests, dinner, visit to Bodhi Cheras, and photo opps).

Route Recommendations :
1. This route (scouted ahead by Tai Lim of the hApPy HaPpY blogs). It takes us to Cheras via Ampang, Kampung Pandan and returning via Pudu, Bukit Bintang & Kampong Bharu. The route avoids busy main road as much as possible, cuts through pedestrian bridges, and even undegroung round-about.
2. As we were cycing at night, traffic was generally light even at the usually busy industrial area of Sungai Besi. There were several hard climbs at the Ampang & Pandan Perdana vincinities, but these were short and manageable. Some short stretches of off-road riding included.
3. Points of Interest:
- the pedestrian bridges running below the AKLEH Highway, with the huge overhead beams almost touching our heads.
- the Bodhi Homecare Centre (GPS: 3.11836, 101.71876) in Cheras.
4. Food
- Dinner was at Chuan Kee Hakka Restarant (泉記客家釀豆腐) (GPS: 3.12044, 101.72990) which serves pretty good Hakka dishes.

- an alternative dinner place is Tim Mei (GPS: 3.14481, 101.76764) in Bandar Baru Ampang. It serves good Penang street food and desserts.

PRELUDE

Entrance of the Nine Emperor Gods temple in Ampang.

Our Happy Cycling Group holds regular Wednesday evening rides. Sin (of the hApPy HaPpY blogs), our group leader will takes us on interesting routes either around the Kuala Lumpur or Petaling Jaya locality. We had rode to interesting places and at times even to join cultural processions, like the ride above celebrating the Nine Emperor Gods Festival.
Of late the Chief (as he is affectionately called) has been doing cycle scouting for more routes. This ride here is a result of one of his scouting missions.

THE RIDE

Cycling Route - Titiwangsa>South Korean Embassy>Tim Mei>Chuan Kee>Bodhi Cheras>Loke Yew Round-a-bout>Kampong Bharu>Titiwangsa.

Cycling Distance - 40.63 km. Level: Medium
The route goes along residential road, pedestrian walkways, river-side pathway and avoids main roads as much as possible.

7:00pm - Eager faces, all smiles as we get ready to set off.
To avoid the busier main roads, we rode out through Titiwangsa and cut through Jalan Fletcher exiting to Jalan Tun Razak via the Petronas petrol station.

After a short stint at Jalan Tun Razak, we turned left into Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra (formely Jalan Gurney) and then into Jalan Maktab.
Yes! We are away from the maddening evening traffic rush, and onto quieter roads, lined with tall shady trees; dusk is already setting in.

Somewhere near the South Korean Embassy, we were suddenly onto off-tack gravel roads that led to a sandy patch. There was supposed to be a road here, but ongoing development had filled up the land and covered up the road.
AND this is way our real adventure began...

Beyond the sandy stretch, we had to push our bikes down some slopes and then onto a pedestrian bridge which ran below the AKLEH Highway. The huge beams of the higway ran so low that we could almost touch them.

I was admiring this view of the Klang River from the bridge with the highway running above both sides of its banks when a shout rang out "turn back, U-turn... wrong way"....

..... and it was back across the sandy patch and carrying our bikes back up the slippy laterite slope.
But I think we did not make a wrong turn, I think Sin just wanted to show us that interesting bridge, it was interesting indeed. By the way, the bridge does lead to somewhere; it leads across to the Wangsa Maju & Setiawangsa locality.

Ahead more pushing of our bikes across muddy stretches of roads; a late afternoon shower had made our ride cooler BUT had also made it a little bit muddier 😆.
Riding through some beautiful roads at the Taman TAR area and across some hard slopes, we reached Tin Mei in Bandar Baru Ampang, where we were suppose to have dinner... Hah! It was closed!
Sin asked whether we would like to try some Hakka food in Cheras about another ten kilometres away. Although it was slightly passed eight, all just answered a hearty YES; we trust his tastes.

9:00pm - After taking on some hard climbs at the Taman Bukit Teratai area we arrived at Chuan Kee Hakka Restarant, famished we are eager to savour their Hakka dishes.

Our favourite dish was this Claypot Vinegar Pork Trotters. It's a stew of pork trotters cooked with Chinese black vinegar and old ginger; a strong tasty good dish to keep us warm during this cool evening.

Take a close look at this pork trotter cut... !YummY!

Another nice dish was this large cut of Tilapia cooked in a soy-ginger sauce.
Other nice dishes we had were: Claypot Lamb Stew, Yong Tau Foo, Broiled Free-range Chicken, Stir-fried Thick Long Beans with Eggplant.

A short distance away was our next destination, an interesting place called Bodhi Homecare Centre. Within this centre is a beautiful shrine with orangish-red roof that steps up like a pyramid.

This is a Buddhist shrine and withing it is an altar for praying to Buddha.

Another altar is dedicated to Kwan Yin.

This shrine seems to have some Thai influence, a couple of Apsara guard the statue of Buddha.

The centre provides care and education for orphans and elderly of this locality. Adjacent to the shrine is the quarters for the orphans and displaced elderly.

So taken in by this centre, we later rode there again on another day for a better view of it during the day time.

On one side are niches, within which are altars with statues of Buddha from various Asian countries.

The orphans are very disciplined and often visitors are offered drinks by them. They also tend to the vegetable plots within the centre.
Those who are interested to give donations and provide voluntary support for this centre can contact Ms Ng Ching Yuet at 016-2774076.
Their website is http://bodhihomecarecheras.blogspot.my/, and Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bodhi-Homecare-Centre/652009134901113.

Our adventure is not at end yet; we rode out of the centre through gravel tracks...

.... which got rougher, narrower and darker. No, wonder Sin reminded us to make sure we had our bicycles lights along!

Oops.... more jerky photos, this is of us cycling along the banks of the Sungai Kerayong.

We crossed another bridge and were suddenly within the Chan Sow Lin industrial area of Sungai Besi. And further on, Sin led us into a dark tunnel...

... which opened out into a nicely landscaped area with some trees.
Hey! We are inside the Jalan Loke Yew-Jalan Sungai Besi round-a-bout! There are even trees growing here. This is a safe way to traverse this busy intersection where eight roads meet.

Running above this round-a-bout is the flyover of Jalan Loke Yew; and at its centre, Jalan Sungai Besi bisects and run below it. Interesting yah?

Further on, after cutting through the Kenanga Wholesale area and Jalan Pudu, we were riding below the tall ceiling at the driveway of Berjaya Times Square...