Sunday Ride--Jul 3rd Pulan Bunting

To accommodate and hopefully more cranky can join us, we have decided to cut short of our long distance trip this weekend from 130km to now about 95-100km.
This allows us to have good time to spend in Pulau Bunting to enjoy all the nice and beautiful view instead of rushing back. For those that think not enough, Johnnie has a secret route design for him at the end in SP.
Hopefully more Cranky team will be able to join us. (If you have decided to join the ride with PRDM with only 40km nia, go ahead too and I promise if this is a good ride, we will be back soon, but we do hope to see u this weekend)

Route: Sungai Petani to Pulau Bunting
Meet at: Sungai Petani (take the Selatan exit, after the toll, take the first left, we will park the car in front of the shoplots on yr left)
Time: 6.45am
Flag off: 7am sharp
Road Condition: On Road mostly flat
Total Distance: ~95 – 100km
Estimate back SP: before 12pm

Sunday ride--bukit merah dam

120km total distance
Meet at oze.
Start 7am. Pls be on time.

Pengkalan Hulu Ride

We flagged off at 8am from Ah Hong’s shop in the middle of Pengkalan Hulu town, escorted by a fleet of scrambler bikes. We rode through cooling & misty tarred road with breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains.

 

Scaling the misty Gunung Paku.

Not far after passing Klian Intan, we turned into tin mine beside the main road. From there a small village road snakes through the jungle and soon we reach ‘Africa’. Yes, the orang asli we met have some similar look to African, although it is genetically proven that they are African. They are the original inhabitants of Malaysia and have chosen to keep staying in the jungle. They are the Na'vi (Avatar) of Malaysia and we were happily shown with their traditional sumpit used for hunting.

Distributing sweets to the kids

sumpit

The poison is able to kill a bear in 20 minutes

 

Group photo with the village chief

 

From ‘Africa’, we continue the winding road across jungle until we reach a remote thai village. Some villagers asked us where we were heading to. Upon hearing that we were heading to Tasik, they shook their head and said ‘susah’.

Indeed the road starting from the Thai village is susah. It is real off road trail through thick tropical rain forest. Elephants’ dumping and leopard’s footprint are found along the way. Oops, we were not suppose to say the name of animals directly, as per local pantang-larang. We would call them as big brother or Maybank instead. We climbed some hills and cross river for an hour before reaching a logging camp.

The best river crossing of the day!

Big brother’s dumping

Taking the opportunity to take a handsome photo!

We spent some time refueling ourselves at the camp as the real up hill climb would start from there. The trail was not very steep but was the distance pretty long. Eventually, after an hour of ride, with a broken chain and some bruises due to falling down, we reached Tasik. It was a small new village near to Pengkalan Hulu. We had our buffet lunch at a local temple and most of us took the opportunity to clean our bikes.

uphill all the way from the logging camp

Delicious mineral water

Even though the bike gives up, we the riders won’t

The Tasik

Delicious lunch

At 2 pm, having refuel ourselves with the delicious lunch, captain Hong lead the pack and charged towards Pengkalan Hulu, our starting and ending point. It was a ‘fun’ ride that resembled more of a full jamboree and had brought us to close encounter with the aborigines, the jungles and the big brother. All of us enjoyed the ride.

Hero of the day – captain Hong. Thanks to him for showing us the trail.

 

Welcome Back John Carnival--Sunday 12th

Venue: Kulim to Bukit Hijau Water Fall
Meet: President House in Kulim
When: June 12th (Sunday)
Time: 6.45am
Flag off: 7.00am
Estimation arrived by/b4: 12pm
Route: On road with ~80-100km+/-. (which route to use will be announced on the same day during the briefing session)
Misc: Bring enough water and light food, MTB bike prefer, you can bring roadies, but has to take lead all the way.
We will have 45 min rest in Bukit Hijau for photo shooting and breakfast.

Let Rock and Roll Again…. Crankies…..