My solo bicycle tour to Betong (Thailand)-Day 2 : Sekincan-Sri Iskandar

Harbor View Hotel-Back from dinner

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Sg Bernam-Border between Selangor and Perak

Friday, November 26, 2010. The second day of my tour started at Harbor View hotel Sekincan at 8.00 am. I headed north on the coastal road towards Sungai Besar and Sabak Bernam.The feeling was good probably because I had enough rest and mentally I was in high spirit. Since it was still morning and on flat road, it was a smooth riding and cruising at 23 km/hr was not a problem. I passes Sg Besar town without even stopped for breather. For information, Sg Besar are inhabits by mainly people of Java, Banjar and Bugis origin, they are mainly farmers and live on rice fields, the chinese are traders and fishemongers. There are some malay immigrants from Kedah who settled as rice growers too. The first time I came to know about this town was in 1980. I stopped for lunch with my late brother, father and mother while traveling to Kuala Lumpur as I was pursuing my engineering course at UTM. Back to my cycling affair, I passes two traffic lights junction before heading to Sabak Bernam, the sun starts burning my arms and my legs, it was burning 'like' pain though I applied sun block all over bare skin. It reminds me the song by the Beatles 'Here comes the sun', the song is about how grateful the people in Europe to see the sun when gloomy winter season was over. But for me the sun means I have a harsh and hot ride and counting hours to predict how long I can carry on cycling. I kept pedaling till I reached Sabak Bernam town and decided to recharge my energy. I cycled to  the downtown and stopped at malay restaurant. The town have not change much since I was there for the first time 30 years ago. Same goes to Sg Besar, nothing was really developed. I was greeted by two young guys and was invited to join their table. One of the guy was eagerly telling me that he owns a 'giant' bicycle and has been to few jamborees. He was kind of impressed with the marque that I took for tour and talked about some local offroad trails. Again he came up with standard questions, ...where, when , how and so on and so forth. He even ask my age, I proudly told him my age and deep inside me was saying 'you young guys not even have half ball to do like what I did'. After paying the bill, I continued pedaling to Hutan Melintang.

Bridge-Sg Bernam

I stopped by the bridge after about twenty minutes of cycling to take few shots.It is Sg Bernam, the other side is Perak, my home state.Getting into my home state was really a boost to my moral, my mood and my spirit seems to be recharged. BTW, my late dad told me that before they built the bridge, the commuters that went across the river were taken on ferry and towed by tugboat,the bridge was built in the early 70s. Even a 2 tonne truck was towed on the ferry. After the bridge, I kept cycling till I hit a signboard showing 500m to Hutan Melintang and Bagan Datoh junction. Actually, the town of Hutan Melintang sits on this T-junction, one is going to Telok Intan, the other is Bagan Datoh and another is to the village. I took a right turn to Telok Intan, I used to pass through this junction 34 years ago during my first bike touring, read my previous post. Not far from the town, I saw a stall selling coconut, I stopped and quenched my thirst with young 'pandan' coconut juice. After chilling my body, I pedaled north till I hit a signboard showing direction to Manjung. I took Manjung direction and again I went across the bridge and this time was crossing Perak river and the length is nothing less than 1km and the sun was exactly straight on top of my head. It used to have ferry services operated by Sime Darby before the bridge was built, read my earlier post ' My first bicycle tour'.

Sungai Perak

About 4 km after the bridge I stopped again at a stall that sells 'Nira'.For those who have not heard about 'nira' its a wine tapped from wild palm tree (nipah) . This palm only grew in brackish water environment. Alcohol content is more than 5% in fresh. If kept tighten for a week, it may get nasty than champagne, as the alcohol content can be as high as 60%. In fresh condition it taste so sweet and when chilled, its marvelous. I had 2 glasses and almost felt asleep at the stall. I continued my journey though it was at 1.00 in the afternoon, I took the road heading to Ulu Dedap, it was a small road. The area are surrounded by rice field. I hardly saw a car passes by, probably it was time of Friday prayer. I cycled until I saw a junction that led me to a village road which is along the river. It was  very nice ride as the route is covered by tall trees and the place was surrounded by malay village and fruit orchard. I seldom met anyone passes by though at that time the prayer was over.

Rice field at Ulu Dedap

I cycled against the river flow and I hit a signboard showing 'Pasir Salak Historical Complex'. I have been here before. I saw nice chalet too, but it was too early for me to put up a night here. This complex was built exactly at the bank of the river where JWW Birch was killed about 120 years ago. Birch was the British Resident who upset the local warlords for many reasons and at the same time having an affair with malay woman. It is an untold offence for foreigner to have an affair with malay woman in this village. The rules carries until today. He was killed by a guy named Puntong with a long spear pierced through his tummy while taking a bath. The killing of Birch marks the first revolt against the British colonial since Pangkor Treaty ( signed in 1874 by Sir Andrew Clarke and Perak Ruler, Raja Abdullah). He was buried  not far from there. Naturally, the people in this area are brave and short tempered, just like their ancestors. In the 50s and 60s most disputes were resolved by dueled. It may not be safe for outsider or stranger to show machoness or disturb local woman or accidently ran over chicken or goat by car, it would be wise to run  away from the scene if the animal get killed. For information, they are my tribe. Back to Birch, 30 years after his death his grandson came to Kuala Kangsar (120km north) and set up a school called Malay College (MCKK). The school produces many prominent leaders, statesman, corporate players, professionals and nevertherless many assholes too (knew a few personally).

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Historical Complex

River banks

Produce many asses too

Old village road

I cycled north on the village road till  I get back to the main road at a place called Pasir Garam. The main road was also peaceful to cycle, the traffic was really low. I kept north passes through malay villages, Pulau Tiga Kiri, Pasir Kubu, Selat Pulau, Telok Sena, Lambor Kiri, Kuchai till I stop at surau in Kg Telok Kepayang, a hometown of our PujMac Chief. After performing my prayer I had chat with the local folks at the surau, I felt no stranger as I spoke local dialect fluently. I took few shots of their photos on my Cannon, I was amazed with their comment when I show them the shots ' Uuualloh jelahhhnye' which means 'oh my god its so clear'. I left the surau after shaking hand with everyone and continued heading north passes through kg Serikaya (Ekor Bota) and approaching Bota Kiri. I am very familiar with this area as I spent there 4 years during high school. I stopped at a goreng pisang stall in Kg Aji Bota Kiri, since it was raining and I talked to a lady who runs the stall (the local term for stall by the roadside is 'Jumbo'), asking about the chalet in Bota Kanan, she wasnt sure and asked the old guy with 'kopiah' who sat next to me about the chalet. They guy told us the chalet was not operating anymore, immediately after that the guy left. I was telling the lady that I used to live in this village 30 years ago, among my friends were a guy name Hamzah as his father work in the same office with my sister. She responded by saying, the guy who just left was Hamzah. I was stunt because he looks old and very holy. I was still thinking where to stay for the night and later I called up my friend Kema Bako better known as Fakaruzi from SIT team, he live in Sri Iskandar. I need to find chalet or hotel to put up a night. He called another friend,Wan, who was currently at Kg Aji to pick me up and load my S- Works in his car and drive me 10km away to Sri Iskandar to check in the hotel. The total mileage from Sekincan to Bota Kiri is 135 km.No wonder I felt so tired.

                                              

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.

PujMAC Solo Tour- Bike setup and preparation

I decided to go on tour after casual chat with Burn (Bakar) during one of our Pujmac routine ride. We were talking about going on tour. Initially, I was thinking of using my roadie Bianchi to Langkawi but then I switched to S-Works(Specialized) hardtail MTB once I firmed Betong (Thailand) as my destination. I was anticipating of riding along the hilly and mountainous region in the north of Perak, therefore using hardtail MTB with 26" diameter wheels and 9 speed cassette with 3 chain rings crank would be most forgiven.  I was also considering some offroad trails along the way. With the help of Bob (Due Roda), he managed to get me a Deuter pannier bags that hooked to Topeak removable alloy carrier, the carrier which I purchased at Rodalink long before I decided to go on this tour. The metal carrier is also equipped with sliding box. The panniers and the box gave adequate space for clothing, spare tubes, tools, foods, laptop, chargers and other bicycle spares and appurtenances. I bought another bag that was bracketed on the handlebar also Topeak from Rodalink Hartamas, this bag stored modest items like vitamin, camera, supplement, sunglasses, passport and cash. Another small panniers were tied to the frame where I kept knife and handphones. Shahrin Amir(Due Roda) was generous enough to loan me his Continental Sportcontact slick tires, as rated by me to be 'very effective', also donated his Tranz-X long bar ends and fixed my pedal with a pair of stopper, which practically designed for touring. He helps setting up my bike. I installed carbon riser bar with side mirrors fixed to the bar ends. The stem is ABR with 'height adjustable type', bought at Fook Sang. BTW the mirrors were donated by Burn. The saddle was cannibalized from Mini Cooper folding bike that belongs to my niece Laila Zuraida, in exchanged with my Fizik saddle as collateral (not really, she needs replacement saddle to ride) hehehe. Fizik on folding bike :D, looks cool. Extra bottle cage 'Jet black' that I won as lucky draw during ECC Melaka was also attached. Other stuffs such as raincovers, small lantern and sleeping bag were purchased at uptown market. The nite before my departure, Pujmac team ie Cif, David, Arash, Fid, Iyan, Ikmal, Nik Mar,Poey, Jakiko and my nephew and nieces ie Laila Zuraida, Fazly and Jaja came to my house to help with my final preparation, the guys were busy fixing my bike whilst Fid helps with packing my clothes. I felt so fortunate as being surrounded by many honest,good and cheerful peoples in my cycling fraternity, and that was really contradicts the real life that I had experienced through my corporate affairs which were mere 'dogs eat dogs'.

My third bicycle touring.....

I  am in the midst of planning my third touring on bike. BTW, I will write on my second touring on other post, it was nothing fancy, we toured Bagan Lalang from Kota Warisan with pujMAC group.

Back to my solo ride, my propose route is from my house thru MMR2 to Sg Buloh then cycle along  the state road to Kuala Selangor, Tg Karang, Sabak Bernam and ride thru the coastal road till it crosses Perak river to reach Kota Setia. From there I cycle north through Ulu Dedap, Selat Pulau, Pasir Garam heading to Telok Kepayang and Bota Kiri. I will make an attempt to ride on the offroad track along Perak river from Pasir Garam to Bota Kiri, This track has been in existence for more than 60 years. I used to ride on my dad's kapcai on this so called laterite road in the 70s. Bota Kiri, my old stepping ground, spent few years of my schooling days, and have bunch of childhood friends and few heartthrobs in this tiny village that sits along the banks of Perak river. Some of my heartthrobs probably a grandma by now hehehe..me always 21 inside.I love this place and thinking of spending my retirement and the rest of my life here. From Bota Kiri, I plan to cycle on the left(kiri) banks of the river toward Tg Blanja and heading to Manong and Kuala Kangsar. Again, I may look for internal road along the river while cycling to Kuala Kangsar. 

My first bike touring.

It happened in 1976, when I was in form 2 at a school shortnamed by  SMDARY in Bota located in central Perak. I was 14 then. It wasnt really planned, I was going to  attend my cousin's wedding in a town called Bagan Datoh, located in the southern tip of Perak State. The distance was about 60km away from my sister's house, which is the medical staff quarters located in Bota Kiri. I lived with my elder sister since I was 13  and left the house when I enrolled to college 4 years later.

I was riding on a second hand Raleigh, which I turned it to fixie. I bought it for RM 20 from a friend. RM20 was hefty, the money that I received from the education grant program by the Ministry of Education to support the poor in the rural.The value was about RM 150 a year. BTW, I grew up in poverty and barely afford even for basic necessities. It was kind of hard for my dad, a farmer with 11 dependents to  make ends meet in small farmland. I had to live with my sister(a nurse) to secure proper education. The bike was then completely stripped, left only with basic stuffs to be pedaled. Bike those days were fully equipped with carrier, mud guards and chain cover, all made of wrought iron. I dismantle the parts as to make the bike look cool according to those days standard. I then packed my stuff in the small homemade backpack and wheeled down the road with less than 15 bucks in my pocket and with a pair of jeans, t-shirt and cowboy hat. Such outfits looks great at that time, everything was hippies.

Those days a ringgit and fifty can buy premium meal.  I had my breakfast with only fifty cent, 20 cts for nasi lemak and 20 cts for teh tarik and 10cts for 2 pieces of 555 cigarettes, it was sold in loose pieces and kept in the cylindrical can, one was lighted another was kept in my hat. By the way, I was in the learning stage. I quit 15 years later. Smoking was really cool that time.

The journey was cool, passing through mostly fruit orchard before I reached Kg Gajah and cycled through rice field till I reached Teluk Anson (now is Telok Intan). Along the the way there were not many houses like today. At some stretched, it wasnt even have anyone passes by for hours, all I heard were only the sound of wild birds sings. It took me about 4 hrs to reach Teluk Intan with a few stops off course. I put a night at relative house in Teluk Intan and continue my journey the next morning.

From Teluk Intan to Bagan Datoh, I passed through Hutan Melintang and Kg Selekoh. It used to have a private ferry crossing the Perak river, which was operated by Sime Darby as they owned the surrounding rubber estate on both sides of the river. Now the ferry has been replaced by bridge with a new road connecting Teluk Intan to Manjung and Lumut.

After Hutan Melintang, I pedaled through mostly cocoa and coconut plantation. Whenever I stopped for a rest, I noticed that people speaks java, I couldnt understand a word. When they cracked joke I just laugh for the sake of respecting their joke. Anyway, they are nice people and they instantly switched to BM once they noticed that I was kind of blur. I reached my auntie's house just before lunch time. It was kind fun to have such ride. I return back to Bota Kiri on the same route a week after the wedding.

Air Tapai=Rice wine taste good, thanks Knyght

We had our fellow rider fell off the bike last nite at the"fear of the dark" ride, fortunately she was not fatal, in future nite ride we shall be more cautious, equipped, supervised, organized and spiritual on our riding party. Our practice of reciting 'doa' before the start of the ride shall be mandated to all our future ride. "We skipped that last nite" by the way. May god protect, help and bless us, InsyaAllah