Parit Buntar Food Trail

Weather was cool as it was drizzling. We were up at 7.00am and had a simple breakfast inclusive in out hotel tariffs. GPS routing went bonkers, so we just hit the road by memory. First destination was towards Nibong Tebal, crossing the Kerian River via Ampangan Jajar.

It wasn't very far from our starting point and we reached there in no time. From the bridge, we can actually view the 3 states, namely Perak which we are standing on and Kedah across the bridge and further downstream is Pulau Pinang. After some snapshots, we rode on towards Nibong Tebal passing through a paper mill.

We reached Nibong Tebal after a short ride and we headed to Chop Chuan Guan biscuits. Lilian wanted to get some snacks here as she was fascinated by the pictures in some blogs. But it was still not open yet! There is still a good hour before it opens. So we decided to go for breakfast again as the one we had was not really filling.

We headed to the parallel road where the famous Nibong Tebal's pork noodles. The place is Teik Kee's Coffee Shop. Locally the noodle is called "tu bak hoon". Alas, when we reach there, they were just unloading the stock and arranging the chairs. Gan saw a place where there were many patrons going in and out of a noodle shop when we were riding past. So, we back tracked to the place and the place in Kg. Sanglang was indeed busy.

So, we ate what the next table ate and also drank what the next table drank! The drink is actually their 'cham ping' which is a mixture of tea and coffee with cream. The noodle which is a bit bland due to the less amount of MSG used in rurals but it was greatly improved with adding pepper and soy sauce which is on the table anyway. I kind of like such foods after exposing myself to too much of heavy tasting food in the city.

By the time we finish our second breakfast of the day, Chop Chuan Guan is already opened. Ironically, this popular place is just directly opposite a casket shop. They are opened for only 2 hours today as it was a Sunday, so there's no on hand preparation of the delicacies. Lilian bought so many that both our bikes had plastic bags hanging on the front bar.

We crossed the motorcycle bridge back to the opposite and set our GPS to Sungai Udang.  There was actually another similar bridge but located elsewhere which leads directly to Kg. Berembang which is nearer but it's OK anyway. The detour was not really far anyway.

Looking at the signboard, it says Seberang Perai so we are in Penang actually. We explored till the end of this road and there was a lively fishing industry thriving  there. We are so impressed with the freshness of the seafood there and more impressive was the public can choose, and haggle directly with the fish mongers here. Right where the seafood is landed on the jetty! The freshness was so tempting but we can't buy , not today!

So tempted to buy! So cheap and so fresh! Must bring a cooler box next trip. All kinds of seafood! The atmosphere here was intense with customers haggling over the prices and rivalry among the fish mongers to sell off their seafood. Next ride will be a homestay and a seafood BBQ with all the fresh seafood bought from here!

After watching in awe at the fish trading here, we rushed back to our hotel to clean up and check out without being penalized. We made it with an hour to spare and Gan went to the maintenance officer for water to clean our bikes , all dirtied with riding in the rain. The guy allowed us to use the fire hose and washing was easy with the high pressure. I already washed all 4 bikes even before the first group was not down from cleaning themselves. When they did, another 2 went up to clean and after that we handed back the keys to the reception and said 'goodbye' to the hotel.

We drove immediately to the riverside for the famed 'assam laksa' and was there at 1.00pm. We were here yesterday and it was also closed already. So, today there was no hard searching for a stall in a discreet alley! They are only open on weekends and starts from 11.30am opens only 3 hours! Sadly! they were finished when we walked in and the lady boss told us, if we want to enjoy it , we have to be there at 11.30am!

No worries, we then drove to Fo Soo Suan Hotel for the beef noodles and...........we met the same fate there. Sold out!

Too Borr Sui

We then decided to head straight for lunch, yes the other 2 was just snacks! Our destination, Law Chang Kee in Nibong Tebal for their famous " Tu Boh Sui " , a boiled octopus appetizer!

The octopus did not disappoint us, it was crunchy and fresh! So were the other dishes, they were really good, especially the deep fried prawns and also the steamed pomfret.

Every table seems to have this towfoo dish!

Now that we done this ride, we just have to link up the dots and plan another more improved ride! Hopefully it doesn't rain then.

Kampar Sitiawan Roundabout - III  (final)

The days begins and we all know we have made a tough decision to ride back to Kampar. We decided to start as early as possible and we will stop for breakfast on the way. After leaving the key on the sewing machine of the care taker, we left, riding southwards towards Teluk Intan. we won't be riding the off - road stretch again!

The riders! 

Looking fresh in the morning. We were hitting 23km/h to 28km/h for the first few hours to take advantage of the cool crisp air. We also decided to do a pit stop and regroup after every 10 kilometers.

The ride was getting hotter and hotter, passing through paddy fields.

A fellow cyclist from Felcra saw us and wave us to stop. He wanted to have a chat with us and also take some photo of us. We obliged and also we made some new friends. Irene also took the opportunity to hitch a ride to the sugar cane stop that we planned.

Our stop! Fresh sugar cane juice. We also chatted with the stall owner whom we had chatted before on our way to Sitiawan the previous day. Our new friend also accompanied Irene while waiting for us to arrive. We rode in shortly.

We then took a longer but with more shade route through the plantations and kampongs. The stall owner gave us the directions. He was right, the route was much more pleasing and relaxing. Fruits were in season again. Seems the kampong here grows a lot of lime trees.

We then reach the bridge spanning the Kinta river. While we were here, Lilian's bike fell over and broke the rear derailleur hanger. A quick fix was needed and the only solution was to shorten the chain and choose a ratio to run on single speed.

For the next 40 kilometers, Lilian has to ride on single speed but thank goodness, there are only a few hills. After repairing we carried on, passing Kampong Gajah without stopping. The sun was getting higher and it is already hitting our backs.

Somewhere along Kampong Timah, I had a gastric bout and we stopped at a small village hiding under some shade while Lilian went into the local village store to get me some milk. The rest was discussing about short cuts which I don't think existed, unless you cut a new route! Hahaahaa. A few kilometers further , we finally had to stop for lunch as hunger is setting in. We can't wait to find a better eatery. Anyway the eatery was good. Gan says the mee rebus was nice and the chicken rice that I had was quite OK.

How far more ???

We arrived at a small village called Tronoh Mines and this is a symbolic signal that our destination is near. Hooray! The small village is so peaceful, can hardly see anyone. Are they having their siesta at this hour?

KookKeong having a photo taken at the sign. He even saw a RM100 note on the grass. who might have left it there? After picking it up, he was riding with his eyes set to the ground, hoping for more, hahahahaa!

Our last pit stop before hitting Kampar again. We are still in a jovial mood, especially after chatting about KK's treasure bounty. Still some distance to go but shouold be OK, we have done so far already.

Finally, we rode into Kampar and we have clocked 214 kilometers in all. The first day we done 100 kilometers and today it was 95 kilometers. The rest were all done in Sitiawan itself. we must pat ourselves for being able to do this and especially to Gan CG who was riding a 16 inches folding bikes and also Pakkong for which this is his maiden major ride out of town. It was mentally tough, especially on the 25 kilometers off-road stretch.

Finally, after taking our bath and rest, ice kacang

AND

what else, Kampar's famous clay pot chicken rice!

Kampar Sitiawan Roundabout -  II

For our second day, we have decided last night that everyone sleeps in. No waking up call. Sleep as long as you want!

Me, on the other can't sleep late. As much as I wanted to, I can't. So, me and Lilian went out riding. I wanted to take Lilian to Yee Si Restaurant in Kg. Koh but.............as luck wants it, it was closed for 10 days. The boss must be clearing his leave! hahahahaa...

So, I decided to take Lilian to another famous Sitiawan food, the "lorr mee" near the wet market. Managed to find it, quite easy to spot actually, we see continous flow of locals going there. Verdict, not my kind of food!

When I rode back to the villa, most of them are up and I joined them again for another round of breakfast. This time it was near the main Sitiawan junction where Alex swears that the curry noodle was fantastic. I was full already so I did not try but looking at it, it seems very good, seconded by Alex and Pakkong.

We were not going to do anything today except going to the "Tai Pak Koong" temple. But that we will ride out in the evening. So, we just laze around the villa, plucking rambutans to eat. It was ripening already and there were many trees in the villa's compound. We also cleaned and lubed our bikes.

Later, we rode to Pasir Panjang where the temple is situated. Hang around there for quite a bit too. The temple was beautiful. 

"Tai Pak Koong" or Grand Uncle which the temple is dedicated to.

Other deities found in the temple. The main temple grounds were actually behind and we took our time strolling around. There were also new additions to this nice temple but it was not ready yet. Must make a point to visit it again , maybe after another 6 months. By then, it should be ready.

We rode into a small stretch of trail that leads into the mangrove. The feeling ws relaxed and so we decided to wait for the sunset shot before going for dinner.

Sunset!

DINNER TIME !

We departed the temple grounds and went searching for Jit Yue Hiong Seafood. Took us a while but we managed.

Very good seafood! Very fairly priced too!

Alex drooling over the toddy! I never tried before but according to our experts, it was fresh and good. Cheap too , it seems. I took a glass but really don't fancy it. I loved the food though.

After the dinner, we ronda ronda around Sitiawan and then back to the villa. We have decided over dinner that we will ride back to Kampar !




For the final part.

Kampar Sitiawan Roundabout !

The journey has just begun after our breakfast in Kampar's 36 stalls as the locals called it. This is just after the off-roadish route that Alexander leaded us through. Everyone was still in a jovial mood. We will be taking a left for a famous " Pan Mee " that Alexander mentioned.

We finally reached the "pan mee" place and it was just an hour before noon and the place was not open for business yet! So, we took a breather from the sun and rested here. Clement even took off his socks for drying after passing through the watery route on the outskirts of Kampar.

Pan Mee is served. Not bad actually, the texture of the noodle was good. A funny addition to the locals here is, you can have cockles added to the "pan mee". YES! cockles or " See hum ".

After the meal, we had to ride in the hot afternoon sun. It's going to be a long....long....long ride. The sun was scorching. Next destination, Kampong Gajah.

Look at the blue skies and everything nice! Drawback, it's going to burn our backs! Riders was disciplined and was riding in a single file.

Almost reaching Kampong Gajah. Waiting for the group to regroup. Yes! we regroup after every half an hour.

It was a long hot ride! Resting on the banks of an irrigation canal. We have passed Kg. Gajah and crossed the Kinta River a few kilometers back. Now taking a rest here before we move on.

A kaleidoscope of our ride on the off-road section. This was the toughest part of our ride, a whole 25 kilometers of riding on gravel roads. We were lucky as there was no technical faults or punctures. Took us more than 3 hours to complete the 25 kilometers. It was not supposed to be this far but nowadays, selfish plantation owners barricades their plantations and we were cut off from the actual route.

Finally reached the villa at almost 9.00pm. This picture was taken the next morning. Was not in the mood to take pictures when we reached Sitiawan. We were riding from morning till nightfall and todays total mileage was 100 kilometers. OK, it was actually 99.97 kilometers, hahahaa! I had a puncture just after coming out to tarmac roads.

Gan bought cold beers from the mini mart was was very conveniently located just opposite the villa. That was the best beer I had for a long time.

We took our bath, rested and then walked out to a food court which was walking distance away. Had more beers and some food before we rested for the night.

For the next part.

HABU LOOP aka Thompson Graveyard Trail

The happy riders before the hiking starts!

I was a the Boh Plantations a few weeks earlier in Habu, Cameron HIghlands and I rode up and I knew beyond there was more interesting places as I did a ride there many, many years ago but with just the two of us, I did not venture far from the tea house. So, I created an event to venture further beyond and invited many but only a few took up the offer to ride and those who did agree to ride was the few more adventurous riders.

Baru mau start!

The day arrived and I was surprised to see Chris and WK! This will make Alexander's day more interesting. We were a bit late and Alex was already there waiting at a coffee shop nearby. Quickly we set our bikes and moved out. Actually, one of the toughest climbs is the beginning as we have to ascend 500 meters in a span of 6 kilometers. To make it worse, it is the start of the start, no warming up! The greenery actually did make situation more calmer.

The fact that I like this ride is the tightly knitted group and who were in no hurry and regrouped often. Little did I know that this is a trait that will be much needed later ! We reached the tea house and made a 'pee-pee' stop and later ride up our bikes straight into the factory compound and had tea and cakes. We lounge a while before we started off again. 

Riding in the tea plantation was really nice!

Up and up!

We were just starting to descend into the valley and the scenery was mesmerizing. It really soothe all our tiredness we are feeling in our legs. Like the pages of a book, the beautiful scenery kept revealing by itself. We came to a small settlement of plantation workers and there was this big...... enormous bougainvillea plant. Actually "bougainvillea tree" is a much better description. And it was in full bloom too. There were a few of them there. Life is so unhurried and nobody bothers the tree for so many years and I think we human should treat a plant like that. After all, it's a life form too.

Taking shelter in a shack!

A few moments later, it started drizzling but we kept no heed of it until it became a heavy shower. We took refuge in a storage shack for a while and we even crawled into the shack via a small opening on the side. We even had a group photo inside....hahahaha!

The rain slowed down and we continued and then reached the edge of the tea plantation. Here the picturesque scenery is replaced by virgin jungles. The trail has become from tarmac to concrete laid path but it was still wide enough for a car or lorry. We kept riding and riding until we reached an 'orang asli' settlement called Pos Mensun. The place is called such because it lies beside the Mensun river. 

Wild boar as a pet, anyone?

We even spotted a wild boar here and suprisingly, the wild boar is domesticated and reared by the locals here. Lilian snapped her chain and I joined it back under an orang asli's home with the locals peering out at us from their windows.

Once done, we continued and it was pouring by now. We can hear the roar of the Mensun river beyond us. The trail has now dwindled into a single track now. It is shown in Google map because it used to be wide too but nature has took control on part of it with the locals here using only a small motorcycle most of the time.

Hiking or riding or both?

It was steep and slippery. Most of the time we have to come down and push the bike. So much pushing that most of us decided to push it all the way instead of mounting and dismounting. We were practically hiking now. We kept on to the trail and most of the concrete can't be seen already but the trail was obvious. We are hiking along the banks of Mensun river and even cross the river a few times, there was bridges , off course. When we reached the next 'orang asli' settlement, it was already 3.00pm. Little did we realized that, we have been pushing our bikes for almost 8 kilometers ! If it was not raining heavily, the trail can be ridden and only WK rode because he was using a mountain bike. I also noted that there was many markers on the trail and later I found out that this trail is known as " Thompson Graveyard Trail " to the mountain bikers.

Muscleman under the tree.

We spotted a small shack selling local cakes and immediately we headed there and ate as much as we wanted. We did not have any food since this morning's breakfast. It was still raining but after a while we decided to continue and the trail now is clean and wide but was very steep on both going up and down. Most of our brake pads were worn off already. 

We connected to the Sg.Koyan /Bertam highway finally and it was almost 4.00pm already. Alexander had to rush off since he needs to take advantage of the remaining daylight to ride back to Kampar. We wished our goodbyes and greetings and he headed off first leaving a few still hungry and tired riders behind. Before Alex rode off, WK had already shot off to the car with a mission in hand! He was to bring a car back and ferry the car drivers back to fetch our cars while the remaining riders will ride as far as we possibly can towards Ringlet. Most of us have swelling calf muscles after pushing our bikes for 8 kilometers in the jungle trail.

Tired, hungry but relieved!

While we were resting on the side, 2 caucasians bike tourers came to us and chatted. They rode from Kuala Lipis and were trying to find a place to spend the night before heading to Ringlet. They were tired and they seem to know that the remaining part of road to Ringlet is steep! So, they adamantly stayed put even when I coaxed them to finish the last 15 kilometers. 

The rest of us, 8 in all started off towards Bertam valley. Maybe we can find a food shop in Bertam to wait for WK to return. When we wanted rain, the sun came out and hit our backs! It was actually hard to pedal and the road from here onward is all uphill, in some instances a 9 percent climb. We stopped a few times to regroup because we broke into two packs of 4 each. We managed to do about 6 kilometers and was resting under a shade because Irene has started to get cramps already. Here WK showed up and then took me, Clement and Irene back to Habu to get the rest of the cars.

We retrieved our cars and headed back as fast as we could to the rest as it was already raining very heavily in Habu and the rain was fast approaching Bertam Valley. The rest was out in the open with no shelter for miles. When we reached them, they were smart enough to fold the bikes first and this was the factor that we all avoided the rain , just in the nick of time. Plan now was to get ourselves cleaned and I told them to head to Brinchang and take our baths first at the public toilet before we plan the rest.

After the bath, we wanted to eat but parking was scarce and we even had to take turns to shower. One to stay in the car while the other take their bath. When all are clean and refreshed, there was still no parking space. So, I suggested 'Jin2' for steam boat in Kea Farm. When we reached there, the situation there was the same and the jam heading towards Brinchang is still there. In fact the cars were jammed till Tringkap. I am sure we will not head back to Brinchang or Tanah Rata now with the jam.

All this makes the hardship worthy!

So, we headed to Kampar, maybe to invite Alex out for dinner. After regrouping in Pulai, we got no answer on Alex's phone so not to disturb Alex's sleep, we headed to the nearest and good food, IPOH!  We choose Wooley as the food there has more choices and parking was easier. We had a feast there and food never tasted so good before and this is because we had no food since 6.00am this morning.

We decided not to convoy and said goodbye to each other and headed straight back to KL!