My solo bicycle tour to Betong (Thailand)-Day 1 : Gombak-Sekincan

Kuala Selangor Bridge

Masjid Kg Permatang

Tg Karang rice field

Thursday, November 25,2010, 6.30 am. My journey started at my house and accompanied by Leman (my nephew) who was riding on motorcycle to MRR2 and heading north towards Gombak. Leman tailed me for 2 km and later waved me goodbye. I pedaled my S-Works to McDonald@Petronas Taman Melati for breakfast. I had pancake and tea as I was avoiding heavy meal. After breakfast at 7.25am I continued to cycle along MRR2, until I reached FRIM junction  then I realized that I should cover my nose and mouth as the fumes from the heavy traffic almost made me drowsy. I pass Sg Buloh and  Paya Jaras and had my first stop at an abandoned motorcycle mechanic shop located just after Kuang traffic light junction.The sun starts showing her breast and I was getting hot and I felt so exhausted and my mental fitness starts deteriorating. It was critical at that time as my mind was contemplating whether or not to continue the journey. It was really a tough decision to make, I was worrying about my health and on the other side I was thinking about not to jeopardize my pride and dignity.If I turned back home, I was sure those guys in Pujmac would pretend like nothing happen in front of me but behind me they laughed their heart out, especially the one with the name starts with  I. I could take the option of hiding at my sister's place near Sg Buloh, for at least 2 weeks then reappeared, but knowing my sister 'codenamed' in the family as 'whistling robin' (mulut murai), I would be lucky to survive two hours before she met my other sister (double murai) and I was sure the news would spread like epidemic.  It took more than 20 minutes to clear my mind and determined to continue the journey to the next town, to Ijok and Kuala Selangor. The traffic was horrible, the road was busy with mostly trucks and heavy vehicles. I continued to Ijok and later was chased by mama dog with four puppies. It was only when she gets too close to my left limb then I decided to stop and gave her a chased instead. She ran to her owner. Later I had another meal at Ijok as the pancake that I had during breakfast was not full filling enough. I was interviewed by the lady owner of restaurant, standard questions such as where,when, why and so on and so forth. I continued and reached Kuala Selangor at 11.30 am. The day was so hot that I decided to hang at Ani Sup Utara Restaurants, my distance as displayed on trip meter was about 80km, not a bad achievement. After paying the bill, I cycled across the bridge and went into a malay village called kampong Permatang located just after the bridge looking for mosque. I performed my pray and later locked my bicycle and found a nice corner to sleep. I woke up at 3.15 pm and continued my journey and passes through  Tg Karang town. It was not so monotonous anymore as this time I pass through rice field, previously it was almost all palm oil plantations. It was very green, and the sun seems to offer some complementary. I stopped at the fruit stall and had some sweet corn sold by an Indonesian lady. All of a sudden the weather gave a sign of oncoming heavy rain and thunder.I ask the lady for rest house, she told me to cycle for another 3km to Sekincan and I will find hotel there. I reached Sekinchan and immediately checked in into Harbour View Hotel. It cost me RM 58 per nite and it was a clean hotel. I did not recorded my trip meter on camera but it was about 110 km. During dinner, I received calls from Shahid and Ikmal, really appreciate their call, I was telling myself that at least I got somebody to ferry me home if I decided to pull over.