AhPek Biker - Old Dog Rides Again

Friday, July 17, 2015

Cycling Sarawak Gawai 2015 Day 4 : Of Zheng Ho & A Siburan Feast

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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Cycling Sarawak Gawai 2015 Day 4 : Of Zheng Ho & A Siburan Feast

Cyclists joy jump at Padang Merdeka, Kuching.

Kuching & Siburan : 2nd June 2015

Medium-sized Group Ride - Downtown Kuching>Malaysia-China Friendship Park>Siburan.

Cycling Distance Covered: 48.89km.

Time: 5:45am to 4:00pm
Time Taken: 10hrs 15 mins. (including stops for breakfast, park visits, shopping, regrouping, refreshing and lots of photography).

Route Recommendations :
1. During the mid-year hot season, the weather can be hot. Try to start off cycling early and end early to avoid the heat. or do cover up accordingly. If going on longer rides re-hydrate frequently.
2. Sarawakian drivers are generally courteous to cyclists, but do still cycle with care.
3. At the rural areas, the traffic is light and trees provide some shade.
4. Interesting places along this route that we visited or passed by:
- The Sarawak State Legislative Building.
- The Cat Statue at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman.
- The giant Kapuk Tree at Padang Merdeka.
- The Sarawak State Museum.
- The Malaysia-China Friendship Park at Tabuan Heights.
5. Food that we tried today:
- Kueh Chap.
- Kolo Mee.
- Pork Noodles Soup with home-made noodles.

PRELUDE

In the morning of the previous day we witnessed a thanksgiving celebration and procession at the Kampong Mongkos long-house that we stayed in. We then cycled over to Kampung Mentu Pondok for a Gawai lunch feast. Later in the evening, the bus took us back to Kuching for another good meal - a Sarawak State Museum. It was a day of festivities and hearty meals.

THE RIDE

Ride Route: Downtown Kuching>Malaysia-China Friendship Park>Siburan.
In the morning, we met up with local cyclists from the Slow Loris & Brompton Sarawak groups. Our hosts took us around Kuching down-town to view some of the local sites ending at the Malaysia-China Friendship Park. In the late afternoon we cycled to Siburan for a nice Gawai dinner reception held by Freda.

5:30am - In the wee hours of the morning, we rode off from our home-stay towards the Istana Jetty. There we loaded our bikes onto sampans and crossed the Sarawak River to get to the other side, the Batu Jetty.

As we crossed the river, dawn's early morning sun was just starting to peep out from behind the Sarawak State Legislative Building. We were on the way to meet some local cyclists at 6:30am, they will take us on a tour of their city.

I was wondering why the local cyclists wanted to meet so early.
Well.... the sun rises early, this group photo of all of us was taken at 6:30am and it was quite bright already. They ride early and finish early to avoid the hot sun.

Group photo done, we rode into the older part of Kuching City and passed by this regal looking column with cat statues at the bottom and a crest with a cat emblem.
Kuching in Bahasa Malaysia stands for cat, and in this city one will see lots of cats; cat statues, emblems; there is even a Cat Museum.

There's a lot to see in this section of the city; but first thing first - satisfy the tummy!
Due to the size of our group, we split into two sub-groups eating at different coffee-shops. I followed the Brompton Sarawak cyclists to the Sin Poh Poh Cafe, hoping that they will be able to recommend me good local food. For a change, I opted out of Sarawak Laksa after having taken them a couple of times the past few days. Instead I went for the Kolo Mee, a simple dry noodle dish that came with some slices of Char Siew (barbecued pork). The mainstay of this dish were the noodles themselves; these ones here were good slightly thicker and very chewy bitey.

Our Sarawakian friends were a colourful lot too, wearing nice jerseys. The above shows one with a cycling hornbill (the state bird of Sarawak) and the other from the Slow Loris group. Don't get the wrong picture though, these slow loris are not that slow; they can pump on the pedal fast when need be.

Another friend, an older man, had this jersey that shouted out "I AM UNCLE"; it's a good way to let others know that he's an older rider and not to hurry him along to fast.
Perhaps this AhPek (Hokkien for old man) should get one of this jerseys.

We were now heading out from the city, but a few more stops before really leaving it.
First at this famous cat statue at the Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman/Jalan Pandungan intersection. This cat looks real native, with tribal head-gear, a traditional shirt and holding a native shield. It must be a wise old cat, seeing how long its whiskers are.

At Padang Merdeka, a tall 80-year old kapok tree dwarfs Cikgu Liliana. This tree has been listed as a heritage tree. Very green-minded of them to do this.

Further along, we dropped by at the Sarawak State Museum. Unfortunately, the place was closed for the Gawai holiday; so we just cycled around the ground which is lushly landscaped and had a few other old annexe structures.

One of the annexe, the Natural History Museum has a giant replica of the Rajah Brooke Butterfly. This beautiful butterfly named after the White Rajahs of Sarawak, is much sought after by collectors.

Eventhough the museum was closed, we did have some fun. Here's Jason posing with a "Hear no evil" which was done in a tribal wooden statue instead of monkeys.

At the Fountain Park in front of the museum, we did a joy jump.
The locals must have thought we were crazy, almost jumping everywhere we went (see top-most photo of joy jump at Padang Merdeka). No, we were not crazy, just happy.
After this most of the local cyclists peeled away, heading for home.

8:45am - Although there were still many things to see in the city, it's time to head out. We cycled the ten kilometres to the Malaysia-China Friendship Park at Tabuan Heights, reaching there about an hour later. Okay, that was not a very fast pace, but we were a large group, so a few re-grouping stops were necessary. Also it was starting to get hot, so there were some stops to buy water too (now were understood why some of the locals left earler!).
I had been to the Malaysia-China Friendship Garden in Putrajaya and found it to be a nice place that showcased Northern Chinese architecture. This friendship park in Kuching is even better; at 2.8 hectare is size it was much larger and hence contained more to be seen - dotted with gardens, it also had a small lake.

At one end of the lake, standing on a stone Chinese junk, is a tall statue of Admiral Zheng He with one hand outstretched ready to set out on his voyages across the seas.

The Friendship Globe at the entrance of the park with a very appropriate message. Yes, most times friendship is all it takes to span distances, whether they be physical or mental.
(.....read more of this park at Malaysian-China Friendship Park blog)

11:45am - Woohooo.... it's lunch time, an early one; well the locals do everything earlier. We were lucky that Joon Awe did manage to find a coffee-shop that was opened on this third day of Gawai. At the Foody-Goody Cafe (I like that name), we had this pork noodles that came with thick home-made noodles, minced meat, some Japanese sea-weed and very fresh prawns. I must say that the home-made noodles in Sarawak are very nice, Q-Q bitey.

A few of my friend had this Kueh Chap. It's a Teochew dish with thick and wide flat rice noodles an came with lots of pork and pork spare parts (intestines, liver, etc.). Kuching's Kueh Chap is quite renown and from the looks of my friends satisfied faces, I can see why.

On the cards was a visit to the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre to view orangutans there, but we caught news that only a couple of orangutans were around. The hot afternoon weather was just a deterrent, it made us laggish, letargic and lazy, and not in the mood to cycle a distance just to view a couple of orangutans. So instead we opted for something that would get us away from the heat, a visit to the nearby Cityone Megamall.
Here some of us hung around for coffee, some went shopping while others took advantage of the cool air-cond interior and took a snooze.

2:45pm - We start our 25km ride to Freda's house where she would be holding a dinner for us. Just short of 3km from Freda's place it started to rain; though we had our raincoats most of us got wet. Fortunately, Freda had a lot of spare shorts and T-shirts that we could wear while we hung our wet clothes to dry.

Freda's house is in the Siburan area, nearby to secondary forests. After the rain stopped we took a walk right to the foothills.... the brief rain had brought out the fresh scent of the forest making it a cooling, comfortable walk.

Thanks to Freda's warm clothes and that nice walk, we now have a good appetite for her dinner which included curry fish, beef rendang, stir-fried prawns...

... and in the tradition of Gawai, very good tuak. I think this "Royal" brand was more like the stronger langkau. After drinking it I got a bit tipsy and when it was time to cycle back to the bus (whcih was waiting at a field about a kilometre away to send us back to Kuching), I rode in the wrong direction. I was heading for the hills instead. Realising my mistake, I turned around and rode pass Freda's house. As I passed them, I waved at them sheepishly to their astonishment!

WELL TILL TOMORROW THEN.
GOOD NIGHT.
BURP.....

This blog comes in a several parts. To go to other parts click on the following link to return to the summary page:

- Cycling Sarawak Gawai 2015.

(To see more photos for the day, Click here).

Related Blogs :

Cycling Sarawak Gawai 2015 Day 1 : Getting To Know Sarawak 30th May 2015
Our introduction to cycling in Sarawak; to it's warm people and some of it's delicious food.

Cycling Sarawak Gawai 2015 Day 2 : Of Gawai Procession & Night Festivities 31st May 2015
A bit of cycling and then we went into full Gawai mode. We joined locals at one village for a cheerful procession round their "kampong". Then later at the longhouse we stayed in, it was another round of evening Gawai festivities.

Cycling Sarawak Gawai 2015

A trip over to Sarawak, the Land of the Hornbills, to celebrate the Gawai Harvest Festival with the locals. It's a memorable trip seeing the colours of the place and the warmth of the locals.

Malaysia-China Friendship Park, Kuching

A nice & elaborate park to commemorate thirty years of friendship between two countries.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Let's Cycle 2015 Day 3: Around Penang Island

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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Let's Cycle 2015 Day 3: Around Penang Island

Penang: 21st June 2015

Let's Cycle is Malaysia's 8TV program about two cyclists (Baki & Rickman) taking on Peninsular Malaysia in 2014, cycling around the peninsular within a month. They not just cycled but went on to meet the people at the places that they stopped at, learnt and participated in the distinct local culture. Wherever they went there was always a warm welcome for them, with the locals proud to show them the local culture.

This year, in 2015 8TV is doing another TV program but this time with a unique twist. They have invited three other cyclist to join them in their cycling adventures. These will be senior people whom many may think old but who are young at heart (and perhaps physically they are too). The objective is to demonstrate that older people can take on tough physical tasks like cycling and at the same time enjoy life even in their later years. The three who will join them are Uncle Lim (a septuagenarian); and my friends Sin (of the hApPy HaPpY blogs) and Fenn, both of whom are in their fifties.

Together they will cycle from Kuala Lumpur to Penang Island in a week. Along the way they will pass the night at Kuala Kubu Baru, Bidor, Ipoh, Sauk, Kuala Sepetang, Bukit Mertajam. Their route will take them pass towns and villages where there will get to see and experience the distinctiveness of each place and their people. What an adventure it will be for them!

___________________________________________________________________________________

PRELUDE

At the Tanjong Piandang Chinese temple (Photo by Shang Long).

Some of us had thought of joining our TV friends (to give them some moral support) along part of their journey. The previous day we had had a challenging ride of almost 120km cycling from Kuala Sepetang to Butterworth. Though legs and body were tired, we were still in a cheery mood when we reached Butterworth. In the evening, we went for a good Lok-lok dinner at Chai Leng Park's Hawker Street. This was topped up with some fabulous Penang hawker food.

After a good night's sleep, today we ride over to Penang Island, the Pearl of the Orient.

___________________________________________________________________________________

THE RIDE

The group at our Butterworth accomodations, ready to roll off.

Ride route: Butterworth>George Town>Straits Quay

Oops.... sorry no ride map here as I did not do any tracking. Basically we rode from the Raja Uda to the Butterworth ferry terminal, crossed over to Penang Island and rode around the UNESCO Heritage Core area and ending at Straits Quay. Sharon & Jin took some time off to join us.

Route Recommendations :
1. The route is relatively flat. The road from Raja Uda to the ferry terminal has heavy traffic do cycle with care.
2. Although drivers in Penang tend to be cyclists-friendly, do still be alert.
3. Penang Island has many interesting places to visit/see, these are some of the places we visited:
- Fort Cornwallis (GPS: 5.42041, 100.34454) (we just dropped by at the entrance as time too short to go in).
- Northam Road Christian Cemetery (GPS: 5.42310, 100.33298), this is one of the oldest cemetery in Malaysia. Sir Francis Light's (the founder of Penang) tomb is there.

From Raja Uda we rode to the Butterworth ferry terminal. The TV riders will be coming in from Bukit Mertajam (where they stayed for the night), and we will be meeting them at the terminal.

Local cyclists friends were keen to join us in the ride; HS Tan drove down from Sungai Petani to meet us on the Butterworth side. Also there was Rickee Lee, a cyclist tourer. Larry met us at Raja Uda and guided us to the terminal; instead of cycling up and down the approaching road ramps, he took us on a short-cut that crossed railway tracks right into the side of the terminal.

Our TV friends came and then the ferry came, and we cycled in.

Hurray! We were into the ferry.

I always like riding the ferry; it moves slowly and with the cool sea breeze blowing in, it gives time for some reflections as we see the approaching old buildings on the island.
Riding the ferry with a bicycle is even more appealing; as we rode out from the ferry, that "wind-in-the face freedom" feeling continues...

On disembarking, we were in for a pleasant and warm surprise. Cyclists from the Trailblazer and Brompton Penang groups were there to greet us. Having done their Sunday morning cycling, they had decided to ride down to the ferry terminal to greet meet us, they were keen to meet up with Baki, Rickman and their KL friends.
I myself was keen to meet them. Some, like Kuan Pin and Chin Huat, had through reading my blogs become virtual friends, and this was a good time to really meet face to face. While the TV crew where doing some shoot at the Chew Jetty, I joined my friends for breakfast at the Tan Jetty, chatted, laughed and caught up with each other.

With Larry in the lead, we did a short cyclo-tour of the Unesco Inner Core Zone, stopping at some of the cute wall murals of George Town. Many new ones have sprouted up, like this one of children calling out to a tricycle street vendor.

During a quick stop at Fort Cornwallis, I was "apprehended" by one of the guards for trying to enter without an entry ticket (No worries, there is no need to bail me out. It was just some play-acting). These Gurkha guards really take their duties seriously.
For those interested to view the fort, entry tickets are priced at RM20/- & RM10/- for adults and children respectively. For Malaysians it's at half the price, just show them your MyCard.

11:45am- At the Northam Road Christian Cemetery. Though having often passed this place for decades, I had never gone in. Found the shady place to be quite, serene even though it's right smack in the city. Sitting below the shady Franggipanni trees looking at the calming place I was just drawn to reflect on my thoughts; and no it wasn't about death, it was more on life and how well to live it.

This cemetery is one of the oldest in Malaysia, dating back to the 17th Century when the British came to Penang.

The tomb of Sir Francis Light, the founder of Penang can be seen here too.

We continued on riding along Gurney Drive. Seeing the above posts brought back memories of younger days. These post use to hold spot lights at the two arms and had a dragon head sculpture at the centre. Dragon boat races were then held here annually.

At the Gurney Paragon mall, we were in for a nasty surprise. Stopping to have coffee there, we were most welcomed by a coffee joint at the ground floor. But soon a guard came scampering over telling us that bicycles are not allowed into the mall (no signage indicated that). Eventhough we showed him that when folded our bicycles did not take up much space or cause any obstruction, he was rather adamant that we should leave our bicycles out on the public roads. Leave our precious bicycles in the open, unguarded? Now way were we going to do that! It was only after we suggested that we will take our business over to Gurney Plaza (where cycling is allowed) that he relented.
P.S. (14/07/2015): The management at Gurney Paragon has replied to our complains and are now allowing bicycles onto their al-fresco area (... see FB post)

I left my friends to continue enjoying their coffee, I had some filial duties to carry out. I would rejoin them later.
It was Fathers' Day, so firstly I cycled over to the Kelawai Road Cemetery to says some prayers for my dad. Then it was to my mother's place to visit her, to keep her company during this important day.

5:30pm - I rejoined my friends and together we cycled along Jalan Tanjong Tokong, heading for Straits Quay. As we rode into the Straits Quay Marina Mall, camera flashes went off and an audience clapped and cheered us in - this was the closing finale for Let's Cycle Kuala Lumpur to Penang event.

Up on stage, my friends were requested to give a talk to recounting their experience during the trip. A couple of them, nervous with stage-fright, stuttered a bit.... Hah! We are better at cycling than public talking.
Nevertheless, the crowd gave them a big applause as they received mementos for their efforts.

The closing event was like a concert too, an old man performed a good harmonica presentation. Then a Tai Chi group did some dance that based Tai Chi moves. We would have thought the dance would be a very slow one, but no, it was fast paced and the lively. The performers even invited the audience to participate, we cyclists joined in, dancing quite well.
See.... we cyclists may not be good at public speaking but WE SURE CAN DANCE!