This is the summary of Tanjung Dawai Trip. 140km in total. The video will cover the full story,
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Sunday Ride Sep 6th-- Kuala Gula
After last week chick-viewing trip, this time crankies went to a Malaysian tourist site famous for its chicks- Kuala Gula. Kuala Gula is a small fishing in Perak, famous as a bird sanctuary for local and migratory birds.
A friendly Kuala Gua ah hia shoots this photo for all of us
13 Crankies started the journey at 7am from Simpang Ampat, in front of Oz Cycle shop. They were Alberto, Barrack, John, Rocco, Senyum, KY, tua chiak, Wooi & wife (let’s call her flower), Lim, Alex, Moy & Long. There were several firsts in this trip. Alex has just got his bike from Oz the night before and this would be his first long distant trip with us. It was the rare occasion where we had a lady rider with us. For the very first time, we had a support car, in the form of Alberto’s car. We later find this support car to be important and useful. The weather was nice at such early hours and we leisurely cruised at around 30 km/h. We followed the number 1 federal road, passing Sungai Bakap and Nibong Tebal. Not far from Nibong Tebal, we took a right turn into the road that would lead us all the way to Kuala Gula. The road was really nice to ride on- there were very few vehicles, very straight and flat with nearly no potholes to avoid. The only thing that we did need some maneuvers was to avoid some water trapped on the road following a downpour few hours before. Coupled with the cooling morning breeze, the crankies sped ahead, leaving behind Wooi who was on a ‘pato’ ride with Flower and Alex. After passing Tanjung Piandang, a fishing village famous for its Big Head Prawn, some fast crankies max up their speed again at 35km/h. They even speed up the majestic bridge that span the river Kurau at Kuala Kurau. We made a brief stop after the bridge, at the edge of an oil palm plantation, which made a perfect place to answer the call of nature. As soon as Wooi and Flower caught up, we continued our journey. With roughly only 10km to reach Kuala Gula, the fast crankies speed above 35 km/h again.
Crankies’ first support car, driven by Halim, a cranky on fasting.
A dirt road at Kuala Gula. No chicks in sight, only birds
Saplings of mangrove tree. Albert said he wanna plant one at home. We can chart this as his birthday gift in future
Wooi and Flower can’t stop ‘pato’. Here they are ‘mei mu chuan qing ’ – passing message using eyes sight
We reached Kuala Gula at 9am. The locals were just starting to lay out black sheet on the roadside for making dried prawns. We followed a dirt road that ran along a mangrove swamp. We didn’t manage to see any chicks, but we saw some locals catching fishes. We took some photos, and with the help from friendly local ah hia, decided that we would try to had some famous local food. The search for food was a short one, but it leaded us through the single track road town (well, single track for car). Wooden fisherman style house lined both sides of the road, with some of them providing a roof across the road, kind of special which I had never seen in other fishing village. We didn’t manage to sample the famous local food (crab mee hoon) but the place where we ate did offer some nice food (char kuey teow, kuey teow teng and fried eggs). The place doesn’t had sign board and was at the junction that leads towards the small but beautifully decorated roundabout at the village.
Ah hia giving us direction
And we cruise along the single road village with roof spanning the road, in search of food
A scene of houses that built over water in Kuala Gula. Gunung Hijau of Taiping can be seen far away
A beautifully ornated roadabout with small roadside market
Local catch
This local store serves some good Kuey Teow
yummy
Rocco: Kuey teow is good source of energy for me to lead the pack later
The sun started to shine and we quickly amass to start our journey back. We started at 25 km/h cruising speed but that didn’t last long. Soon we were on 31 km/h, leading mostly by Wooi, who has saved up lots energy during his dating ride with Flower (who decided to continue her journey on support car). Our support vehicles started to showcase its important role, picking up some riders down with cramp along the way. Somewhere after Kuala Kurau, we met Alex, whom we thought had abandoned the journey earlier. He was picked up by our support car as well. As we raced through another small township, we were amazed + relieved that our support car personnels had bought us 100-Plus and waited for us by the roadside, just like how a checkpoint in a Jamboree would be. Recharged by the isotonic drinks, we continued to speed away at 31 km/h. However, the distant started to show its effect on more of us. At 90 km , Senyum started to lag due to leg cramp, only manage to catch along at 27 km/h for the rest of the journey. At Nibong Tebal, barrack was also down with cramp and changed with some riders on the support car. John was waiting for Senyum and helped Barrack, and missed his chance to speed along with the rest of the pack, who started to speed again for the last leg of the journey. Despite these minor incidents, we eventually reached Oz cycle shop safe and sound at around 12.30pm, covering 108 km for the entire trip, with Rocco being the first to reach the finish point. The gang was indebted with the support vehicle team for their great help and was looking forward for the forthcoming long distance trip : 150 km Kulim-Tanjung Dawai
Alberto crossing the majestic bridge connects Kuala Kurau with Bagan Seberang and Kuala Kurau at the other side of the river
Yeah, we are gonna resume our journey after Tua Chiak’s tyre puncture at Tanjung Piandang
Our pit stop with free flow 100 Plus at final CP. Toast for our support crews
Total recorded distance, 104.54km
A friendly Kuala Gua ah hia shoots this photo for all of us
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
13 Crankies started the journey at 7am from Simpang Ampat, in front of Oz Cycle shop. They were Alberto, Barrack, John, Rocco, Senyum, KY, tua chiak, Wooi & wife (let’s call her flower), Lim, Alex, Moy & Long. There were several firsts in this trip. Alex has just got his bike from Oz the night before and this would be his first long distant trip with us. It was the rare occasion where we had a lady rider with us. For the very first time, we had a support car, in the form of Alberto’s car. We later find this support car to be important and useful. The weather was nice at such early hours and we leisurely cruised at around 30 km/h. We followed the number 1 federal road, passing Sungai Bakap and Nibong Tebal. Not far from Nibong Tebal, we took a right turn into the road that would lead us all the way to Kuala Gula. The road was really nice to ride on- there were very few vehicles, very straight and flat with nearly no potholes to avoid. The only thing that we did need some maneuvers was to avoid some water trapped on the road following a downpour few hours before. Coupled with the cooling morning breeze, the crankies sped ahead, leaving behind Wooi who was on a ‘pato’ ride with Flower and Alex. After passing Tanjung Piandang, a fishing village famous for its Big Head Prawn, some fast crankies max up their speed again at 35km/h. They even speed up the majestic bridge that span the river Kurau at Kuala Kurau. We made a brief stop after the bridge, at the edge of an oil palm plantation, which made a perfect place to answer the call of nature. As soon as Wooi and Flower caught up, we continued our journey. With roughly only 10km to reach Kuala Gula, the fast crankies speed above 35 km/h again.
Crankies’ first support car, driven by Halim, a cranky on fasting.
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
Saplings of mangrove tree. Albert said he wanna plant one at home. We can chart this as his birthday gift in future
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
Wooi and Flower can’t stop ‘pato’. Here they are ‘mei mu chuan qing ’ – passing message using eyes sight
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
We reached Kuala Gula at 9am. The locals were just starting to lay out black sheet on the roadside for making dried prawns. We followed a dirt road that ran along a mangrove swamp. We didn’t manage to see any chicks, but we saw some locals catching fishes. We took some photos, and with the help from friendly local ah hia, decided that we would try to had some famous local food. The search for food was a short one, but it leaded us through the single track road town (well, single track for car). Wooden fisherman style house lined both sides of the road, with some of them providing a roof across the road, kind of special which I had never seen in other fishing village. We didn’t manage to sample the famous local food (crab mee hoon) but the place where we ate did offer some nice food (char kuey teow, kuey teow teng and fried eggs). The place doesn’t had sign board and was at the junction that leads towards the small but beautifully decorated roundabout at the village.
Ah hia giving us direction
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
And we cruise along the single road village with roof spanning the road, in search of food
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
A scene of houses that built over water in Kuala Gula. Gunung Hijau of Taiping can be seen far away
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
A beautifully ornated roadabout with small roadside market
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
Local catch
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
This local store serves some good Kuey Teow
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
yummy
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
Rocco: Kuey teow is good source of energy for me to lead the pack later
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
The sun started to shine and we quickly amass to start our journey back. We started at 25 km/h cruising speed but that didn’t last long. Soon we were on 31 km/h, leading mostly by Wooi, who has saved up lots energy during his dating ride with Flower (who decided to continue her journey on support car). Our support vehicles started to showcase its important role, picking up some riders down with cramp along the way. Somewhere after Kuala Kurau, we met Alex, whom we thought had abandoned the journey earlier. He was picked up by our support car as well. As we raced through another small township, we were amazed + relieved that our support car personnels had bought us 100-Plus and waited for us by the roadside, just like how a checkpoint in a Jamboree would be. Recharged by the isotonic drinks, we continued to speed away at 31 km/h. However, the distant started to show its effect on more of us. At 90 km , Senyum started to lag due to leg cramp, only manage to catch along at 27 km/h for the rest of the journey. At Nibong Tebal, barrack was also down with cramp and changed with some riders on the support car. John was waiting for Senyum and helped Barrack, and missed his chance to speed along with the rest of the pack, who started to speed again for the last leg of the journey. Despite these minor incidents, we eventually reached Oz cycle shop safe and sound at around 12.30pm, covering 108 km for the entire trip, with Rocco being the first to reach the finish point. The gang was indebted with the support vehicle team for their great help and was looking forward for the forthcoming long distance trip : 150 km Kulim-Tanjung Dawai
Alberto crossing the majestic bridge connects Kuala Kurau with Bagan Seberang and Kuala Kurau at the other side of the river
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
Yeah, we are gonna resume our journey after Tua Chiak’s tyre puncture at Tanjung Piandang
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
Our pit stop with free flow 100 Plus at final CP. Toast for our support crews
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
Total recorded distance, 104.54km
 |
| From Kuala Gula |
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Trip report - Betong Aug 31st
It was Malaysia National Day and 6 crankies celebrated by cycling to Betong.
We departed 5.30am from white house. At Pengkalan Hulu, we were joint by some cyclists (Hong, Liang and brother, and two other cyclists) who were to become our tour guide of the day. It was a smooth ride from the border town to the immigration, the only hiccup being that some of us were asked to pay a RM2 'tribute' to the Siamese immigration officer for entering Thailand. Hong turned back at this point as he was still recovering from accident. Betong was only 4km away from the border and we had wantan mee as breakfast with some added strength- a Betong bicyle shop owner, whom Liang called as 'Siam Lo', and his friend. It is interesting to note that Cantonese was widely spoken at Betong and RM could be used as with the thai baht.
Starting to depart
Leaving Malaysia. There were not as many cars as in Bkt. Kayu Hitam checkpoint
Entering thailand
The first thai chick that greets us in Betong: a calendar girl at breakfast place. Use your imagination for the covered portion
Betong wantan mee looks the same as the Malaysian version
After some 30 minutes of rest, all of us resumed our journey, without actually knowing where we were heading to. After some 15km and some mild hilly road, we reach a small town with a hot spring. Some local folks were bathing there and we even spotted an uncle brushing his teeth and soaping his body. Of course, there were some chicks too, but HK Lau's iphone couldn't zoom in to catch the scene without being noticed. Wooi told us that the ride ahead would be on very steep road-a 7km uphill.
Hot spring with smoke on the surface: imagine how hot it is.
Forget about Wooi, he is not the model here, see the chick behind
The crankies are as strong as the dragon!
Indeed, the road ahead soon snaking up, with rubber trees along the road and hundreds of butterflies flying around. After some climb, we reached the Communist Hideout -> tunnel dug during the war time and converted into a tourist spot. None of us pay to visit it though and we continued the journey.
The ‘fake’ uphill before the ‘real’ uphill and already pretty steep.
After some uphill, we reached here.
Some fast cyclist raced up using the road on the right (which looked very steep) while rest of us used the one on the left. Eventually the riders who used the right lane had to turn back as the road was closed due to landslide. Cheer for their spirit!
Only the bike is left, where is HK Lau the ownder? In the tunnel?
President’s tyre punctured after working too hard
Uphill ahead, let me change to my superman suit, oh shit, forget to wear it. Wow "Lu Lian Dian"
Steep road ahead?
We get to sample free guava enroute the uphill track. Part of the hill were orchards
The next place we reached was Winter Flower Garden. We had to go through a section of offroad led by a scrambler bike before reaching it, as the thais are reparing the road following a landslide. The place was like a little Cameron Highlands, the weather was cool and flowers were every where.
The Garden
A durian opener tool
The entry point for The garden. It cost 20 baht, and we didn’t enter
Group photo again
On the way back to Betong, we stopped for the famous 'leong fan'. Mr. Senyum took some time to his worsening cramp leg to rest. The mild hilly road we passed through in the morning began to feel like a more challenging hill. At Betong, we tried to have the famous Beef Noodle but had to settle for beef ball noodle as the shop had run out of stock (it was 120pm by then). After that, all of us head to Siam Lo's shop. Some of us had the bike serviced and some were shopping for parts, which were cheaper in Thailand. Mr. Senyum successfully shop for a Doraemon doll and HK Lau got some coffee canned drink which were not available in Malaysia.
famous leong fan. The lady ownder cuts the leong fan only when customer came
Beef ball, so many of them in one bowl. It cost roughly RM3 per bowl
On the way back, we had to make a 5km uphill towards the immigration checkpoint. We were lucky that just after we reached Pengkalan Hulu, rain started to pour mercilessly. Wooi treated us with a popular and delicious local food with Siamese style. We had also just discovered Wooi was the 'land head snake' of Pengkalan Hulu. No wonder he knew so many friends from the town and could navigate the town like a local. We were already eager to have another trip departing from Pengkalan Hulu towards Banting island
Delicious tomyan dong fan and chendooi.
Songtam, the thai style salad
A really great trip and you think that is just about it. Hang on, what is better than a good shower after a long hot ride.
Where's the guys? Private and Confidential
We departed 5.30am from white house. At Pengkalan Hulu, we were joint by some cyclists (Hong, Liang and brother, and two other cyclists) who were to become our tour guide of the day. It was a smooth ride from the border town to the immigration, the only hiccup being that some of us were asked to pay a RM2 'tribute' to the Siamese immigration officer for entering Thailand. Hong turned back at this point as he was still recovering from accident. Betong was only 4km away from the border and we had wantan mee as breakfast with some added strength- a Betong bicyle shop owner, whom Liang called as 'Siam Lo', and his friend. It is interesting to note that Cantonese was widely spoken at Betong and RM could be used as with the thai baht.
Starting to depart
 |
| From Betong |
Leaving Malaysia. There were not as many cars as in Bkt. Kayu Hitam checkpoint
 |
| From Betong |
Entering thailand
The first thai chick that greets us in Betong: a calendar girl at breakfast place. Use your imagination for the covered portion
 |
| From Betong |
Betong wantan mee looks the same as the Malaysian version
 |
| From Betong |
After some 30 minutes of rest, all of us resumed our journey, without actually knowing where we were heading to. After some 15km and some mild hilly road, we reach a small town with a hot spring. Some local folks were bathing there and we even spotted an uncle brushing his teeth and soaping his body. Of course, there were some chicks too, but HK Lau's iphone couldn't zoom in to catch the scene without being noticed. Wooi told us that the ride ahead would be on very steep road-a 7km uphill.
Hot spring with smoke on the surface: imagine how hot it is.
 |
| From Betong |
 |
| From Betong |
Forget about Wooi, he is not the model here, see the chick behind
 |
| From Betong |
The crankies are as strong as the dragon!
 |
| From Betong |
Indeed, the road ahead soon snaking up, with rubber trees along the road and hundreds of butterflies flying around. After some climb, we reached the Communist Hideout -> tunnel dug during the war time and converted into a tourist spot. None of us pay to visit it though and we continued the journey.
The ‘fake’ uphill before the ‘real’ uphill and already pretty steep.
 |
| From Betong |
After some uphill, we reached here.
 |
| From Betong |
Some fast cyclist raced up using the road on the right (which looked very steep) while rest of us used the one on the left. Eventually the riders who used the right lane had to turn back as the road was closed due to landslide. Cheer for their spirit!
 |
| From Betong |
Only the bike is left, where is HK Lau the ownder? In the tunnel?
 |
| From Betong |
 |
| From Betong |
 |
| From Betong |
President’s tyre punctured after working too hard
 |
| From Betong |
Uphill ahead, let me change to my superman suit, oh shit, forget to wear it. Wow "Lu Lian Dian"
 |
| From Betong |
Steep road ahead?
 |
| From Betong |
We get to sample free guava enroute the uphill track. Part of the hill were orchards
 |
| From Betong |
The next place we reached was Winter Flower Garden. We had to go through a section of offroad led by a scrambler bike before reaching it, as the thais are reparing the road following a landslide. The place was like a little Cameron Highlands, the weather was cool and flowers were every where.
The Garden
 |
| From Betong |
A durian opener tool
 |
| From Betong |
The entry point for The garden. It cost 20 baht, and we didn’t enter
 |
| From Betong |
Group photo again
 |
| From Betong |
On the way back to Betong, we stopped for the famous 'leong fan'. Mr. Senyum took some time to his worsening cramp leg to rest. The mild hilly road we passed through in the morning began to feel like a more challenging hill. At Betong, we tried to have the famous Beef Noodle but had to settle for beef ball noodle as the shop had run out of stock (it was 120pm by then). After that, all of us head to Siam Lo's shop. Some of us had the bike serviced and some were shopping for parts, which were cheaper in Thailand. Mr. Senyum successfully shop for a Doraemon doll and HK Lau got some coffee canned drink which were not available in Malaysia.
famous leong fan. The lady ownder cuts the leong fan only when customer came
 |
| From Betong |
Beef ball, so many of them in one bowl. It cost roughly RM3 per bowl
 |
| From Betong |
On the way back, we had to make a 5km uphill towards the immigration checkpoint. We were lucky that just after we reached Pengkalan Hulu, rain started to pour mercilessly. Wooi treated us with a popular and delicious local food with Siamese style. We had also just discovered Wooi was the 'land head snake' of Pengkalan Hulu. No wonder he knew so many friends from the town and could navigate the town like a local. We were already eager to have another trip departing from Pengkalan Hulu towards Banting island
Delicious tomyan dong fan and chendooi.
 |
| From Betong |
Songtam, the thai style salad
 |
| From Betong |
A really great trip and you think that is just about it. Hang on, what is better than a good shower after a long hot ride.
Where's the guys? Private and Confidential
 |
| From Betong |
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