Taiping - 2nd Ride
I slept early and also woke up early! Maybe I was not really that tired and I usually don't sleep well unless it's my own bed and room. At 4.30am, I was already glancing at the FB page. We were supposed to group at 7.00am and then take breakfast before starting the ride at 8.00am. Anyway, I took a shower and then waited for Lilian to also get ready.
At 6.45am, I was unfolding my bike and Lilian's bike. KK, Kenny and Rivern emerged from the hotel a short while later Alex and Julie arrived later. We prepared the bikes and then started off. There were 2 coffee shops that I wanted to visit, one was Wan Li restaurant and another Yut San restaurant. I checked the blogs and it mentioned Wan Li opens at 8.00am so that's out! Yut San on the other hand says it's open at 7.00am. Ideal! So, I rode to Jalan Pasar and hunt from the start till the end of the street and finally located Yut San. It was still not open and it's 7.20am already. So, blogs cannot be relied for info.
Really nice local pancake.
We went to Larut Matang food court, also where I had breakfast yesterday morning as it's the only place I noticed opened at 5.30am yesterday. But today, I went for the 'wanton mee'. Quite acceptable lah! Still, with the coffee??? I still miss my daily caffeine in Imbi Road. The 'ban chang kueh' or local pancake was good though. Very much better than the one in Petaling St. or the one in Jalan Pasar in KL. After breakfast, we rode back to the hotel to wait for Irene and Freda. They took breakfast at their hotel.
Early morning misty ride.
When we arrived, both of them were already there and after getting their bikes ready, we moved out. I leaded the way guided by the map, routed the other day. Today's ride will be further than yesterday's and also more traffic. We took the main road to Simpang and straight on via the Jalan Kuala Sepetang road. This was also the same route that the Taiping ride organizers planned. The ride was uneventful, just riding in the cooling mist.
KK still isn't awake yet!
Arriving at Ngah Ibrahim museum.
We arrived at the Ngah Ibrahim museum far too early. I think we rode quite fast and I checked it was averagely 25 km/h. The museum was not open yet! We have to wait another 20 minutes for it to open and even that if they open on time as stated! So, we decided to skip it and took a group photo and left.
Lilian at the charcoal factory.
We rode on, followed the road to where it lead us and we arrived at the charcoal factory. We went inside and spent quite some time there. KK and Rivern were the most inquisitive ones and they went till the end of the factory while a few of us lingered around the main complex. There was a worker there who was sealing a kiln and one of us enquired from him. It seems the mangrove stumps were place inside the burning kiln for a month before it turns into coal! Suprisingly, the worker also told us that to know whether they are ready or not, they take a whiff of the coal and by smelling they can gauge the readiness of the charcoal. Also 50 tonnes (the amount loaded into one kiln) of mangrove stumps can only produce 10 tonnes, a reduction of 80 percent weight after processing.
The canal where the mangrove logs are brought in at low tide.
Rows of kilns each capable of holding 50 tonnes!
A worker sealing the kiln. The logs are left smouldering for a month!
Later, KK and Rivern came out and said that there was also a liquid distilled while the mangrove are kiln heated up. They are diverted into containers and sold to Japanese companies dealing with pharmaceutical products. Seems it is good for skin diseases. Kenny was a bit curious and so was I. We questioned KK for info and he got a bit flustered and rebuked us, " Why don't we walk into the factory and see for ourselves. " I quickly walked away, hahaha. We then saw a group of ladies packing the charcoal into 10 kilograms packing, like those we see in sundry shops.
We left after we were satisfied and then went to the mangrove forest reserve. We asked permission from the park rangers and they warned us not to ride on the boardwalks! " Can we push our bikes on the boardwalks?", we asked. " No ", was the answer. So, we just rode and park by the side and walked onto the boardwalk and ventured as far as we want to and then back out to the bikes. What a pity that they don't allow us to ride.........sigh!
The mangrove are really nice.
We decided to have the famous 'Mak Jah Mee Udang' now. Sadly, when we arrive, we found out that it opens at 12.00 noon. So, we tried to pass the time by riding into Kuala Sepetang village. Maybe we can have a curry noodle but it was also closed that day! So, we just rode around the place and took photos of the only remaining part of the old railway station. It was the only reminder that there was a railway line from Taiping those days!
The only remnants of the train service!
While riding we spotted a 'soya bean curd' seller and decided to quenched our thirst on it. Everyone tried it and I was aslo quite suprised that the bean curd is superior to many that I have tried. It was silky smooth and at one ringgit a bowl, it was cheap too!
Nice silky smooth soya bean curd!
Now to head back to 'Mak Jah'. Sigh......................still not open yet. I asked the kueh seller if it will be opened today and the kueh seller said, "Yes". Then the kueh seller recommended us to try the one further inside the side road. It's a place called , " Warisan Mee Udang ". We parked our bikes and sat and we have locals staring at us and so did the two policemen who was having their meal there.
Mee Udang.
We ordered 'biasa' or normal ones while Irene had their 'Kuey Teow Goreng'. The orders came and the prawns were aplenty! It cost RM10 per bowl and it consist of averagely 7 to 8 numbers of prawns in it. The prawns were really fresh though, very bouncy but the soup was a letdown. It was not the 'thickish' gravy like Mak Jah's. But we paid for good prawns though so it's quite OK. At least we tried "Mee Udang" although not 'Mak Jah's'.
With a full stomach, we left Kuala Sepetang and headed back to Taiping. At the bend, we turned left using a kampong road which pass a Malay village and also an Indian village and went under the North South highway. We arrived back in Taiping a short while later and headed straight back to hotel. We took a bath and checked out and parted.
Till Melaka then...........................
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