Tour De Peninsular Malaysia – The Adventure Rides (2015) – First Leg – SG to Hatyai, Thailand

Bismillah….

More than 15 years ago, after my epic road bike trip to Kuala Lumpur with Bro Rasidi Ahmad aka Unker Buzz, we decided to plan a trip to bike around Peninsular Malaysia. It was just a dream. In 2010, I was introduced to bike touring by my buddy, Rasidi. In 2013, we embarked to our epic bike short tour from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Singapore with Abdul Rahim Kassim and Zyzy Zack together with our Malaysian brothers, Nor Muzammil, Azizan Zolkipli, Mbro Muhammad Illaham Ishak, Epai Ganaz and Haris Fadzilah Hassan.

1st February 2015, a dream that has been playing on my mind was finally carried out and accomplished in 26 days; together with the Legend Kaiser Mors, Rasidi, Rahim, Musa Haron and a Malaysian friend, Kamarul Azian, who joined us from Renggit, Johor to Selangor. We completed the loop on 26 February 2015. To our families, thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to realize our dream; Allah is the Best of Planner!!

During these epic trip, these bicycles were used.

• Kaiser Moors – Surly Ice Cream Truck – The first cyclist/tourer to loop Peninsular Malaysia using a fat bike.
• Che Rahim Kassim – Surly Long Haul Trucker
• Rasidi aka Uncle Buzz – OnOne Inbred
• Musa Haron – Surly Troll
• Kamarul Azian
• Me – Surly Troll

Here are the diary of events if you want to venture and explore the beauty of Malaysia!

Day 1 – 1 February 2015 (102 km) – Singapore to Johor

Alhamdulillah, we reached our destination as scheduled. We were welcomed by Bro Mohd Azrai Ahmad (an FB friend whom we have never met) and his friends at Rengit, Batu Pahat. With his help, we were given permission to camp at Punggur Recreational Beach before changing out location for the night at a nearby mosque – Surau Kg. Sungai Punggor Laut Timur – as it was a little bit noisy at the beach due to a nearby karaoke cafe. There are foodstalls available with local delicacies at the beach. You need to ask permission from the mosque’s caretaker to camp overnight.

Currently, Bro Azrai had setup at stopover cafe, resthouse and camping area for bike travellers/tourers at Belahan Tampok Extreme Park. So if you’re around the area, do contact him, an approachable and friendly sports guy. He’s now a bike tourer too.

Day 2 – 2 February 2015 (84 km) – Renggit, Batu Pahat to Muar, Johor

We left Kg Punggur, Rengit at 8 am after breakfast. It was a smooth ride until we reaches Batu Pahat.. After that we encountered a very strong headwinds between 25 to 30 km per hour.. It slowed us down until we reached our destination. We were welcomed by Bro Acid Mustafa at Parit Jawa. After quenching our thirst, we continued to Muar Town to stay at Regent Guest House (Hongleng Village Enterprise) courtesy of Bro Acid. We reached at 3 pm. We had dinner besides the Muar River too.

Day 3 – 3 February 2015 (120 km) – Jalan Kemang, Negeri Sembilan

It was a long ride covering 120km. We did a kampong route from Muar to Umbai led by Bro Acid Mustafa and gang. We loved the route as we did some off-road. After lunch at Umbai, we separated and continued our journey to Port Dickson. We did not stayed in Melaka but made a number of stops. We encountered many hills.. Surprisingly, the headwinds was not as strong as yesterday.. Bro Jaa Suzali Othman and wife Rj Merida and Bro Wahab n wife welcomed us at Linggi. We continued the journey to our pre-booked campsite at Pantai Sri Purnama, Zaini Lin Cafeteria, Port Dickson; reaching our destination at 7.15pm. At night we were visited by Bro Nor Muzammil and family…We would like to express our appreciation to Bro Acid for our dinner and breakfast expenses and Bro Jaa Suzali and RJ Merida for dinner expenses.. Thank you so much, our friendship become ever so stronger.

PS. We had an unexpected interview from journalists from Harian Metro and Sinar Harian.

Day 4 – 4 February 2015 (45 km) – Selangor

Today we only did 45 km from Pantai Seri Purnama, Port Dickson to Sungei Pelek, Selangor. Though it was a short distance, we encountered hilly routes to our destination. We decided to cross Selangor border via a boat across Sungei Sepang Besar and skipped Bukit Pelandok that saved us 12 km via Kg Chuah. We were welcomed by Pak Ngah Ishak, Pak Mazwir Bin Anuar and Bro Mat Rashid. We were hosted by Pak Ngah at his “Bike Kitchen”. We went for sightseeing around Pekan Sungei Pelek and the beautiful beach of Bagan Lalang. Later, we are going to have dinner with Bro Akmal of Basikal Akmal at one of the Beach Restaurants at Pantai Bagan Lalang Sepang.

Day 5 – 5 February 2015 (80 km) – Selangor

It was a historical ride from Sungei Pelek to Teluk Panglima Garang. The headwind was not as strong as we predicted. It was all flat road until we were humbled by Jugra Hill. We were then met by Tun Teja to tour historical places of Kuala Langat and hosted us at her humble home for the night at Telok Panglima Garang, Selangor at about 6 pm. We were later welcomed by Bro Raja Hassan aka King. Believed me, we met many awesome people with a big-heart during these trips.

On the way to Tun Teja’s house, we visited Bukit Jugra (Jugra Hill), a 146 meters hill above sea-level. Jugra is a historical town in Banting, Kuala Langat that comprises of old-charmed buildings, bridges and roads. Back in the late 1800s, Jugra was the royal capital of Selangor; its well-preserved buildings are good examples of the artistry and grandeur of its glamorous past. The ascending road leading to the viewpoint was a little bit tougher than we’d expected. Anyway, the destination matters. An old-light house stand tall overlooking the Straits of Malacca and it surroundings at the Viewing Point. The peak of Jugra Hill was not accessible during our visit (2015). To date, I have visited Jugra Hill 3 times with my family members.

Day 6 – 6 February 2015 ( 100 km ) – Selangor

We were escorted by Raja Hassan til we reached Klang Town; and were later joined by Bro Irwan Jamingan and few other brothers when we stopped for a short break. (Almost all the people we met were either an FB friends whom we never met before physically and strangers). Irwan Jamingan took over from King to escort us to the residence of Wak Rahim Mahmudin & his wife, Ijah Zahri, another friendly and awesome couple; who resided at Kampung Perepat, Klang, Selangor. From Wak Rahim’s residence, we were personally escorted by him to Bandar Melawati, where we were greeted by Cikgu Nasir KSCC and Bro Hylim. We were then escorted by them to the summit of Melawati Hill. We were escorted by a few more cyclists and retired at Pantai Redang, where we we welcomed by another husband & wife team, Bro Nazari and wife, Sister Zai Kona Lisa and Bro Saa’ban. We camped for the night with them and had a home cooked dinner prepared by Zai.

Day 7 – 7 February 2015 (117 km) – Perak

It was our last day in Selangor as we planned to enter Perak. Together with Nazari, Zai and Wak Saaban, they led the way to the border between Selangor and Perak. Little that we knew, we were joined by another group of cyclist out of nowhere. The paleton grew bigger. They were from Sungai Besar Cycling Club. We parted ways with Nazari & Wak Saaban at Sabak Bernam Waterfront. It was near the border of Selangor and Perak. The rest of the cyclist escorted us acrossed the border bridge. We parted at a local roadside drink stall exactly after crossing the bridge into Perak. It was at that moment that we were introduced to a “special” nila drink. It was supposed to make us more “powerful”, but fret not, we were “cheated”.. hahaha… We felt so sleepy that we decided to “sleep” when we find a good place to rest! Oh yes, we knocked off at a petrol station without anyone looking after our bikes. It was a “well-deserved dozed-off”, for more than 30 minutes! All flat roads except for climb on two bridges. We encountered strong headwinds once we entered Perak. We reached Sitiawan and decided to stay a night at SK Hotel, Sri Manjung – A bike friendly budget hotel. During the ride we were unexpectedly again being interviewed and filmed with video by Raja Abdullah of Sungai Besar.

Day 8 – 7 February 2015 (85 km) – Perak

We left Seri Manjung at about 8 am after topping up our water ration and met a group of cyclists from Seri Manjung. We had our breakfast at Pantai Remis, after 28km. Had some snacks and abc 30km to Taiping. Overall, it was a smooth ride and again the weather was very hot. Encountered some undulating hills towards Taiping. We arrived at 3 pm and decided to stay at Cherry Inn, a bike-friendly Chinese Style small hotel. We had a surprised visit by Wak Jan. He was one of the tourers that cycled with us from Selangor to Johor in 2014. He actually stayed at the same hotel after following our FB updates. Bro Halim Yatim also made a surprised visit! Another FB friend we have never met. We had dinner together, roaming the city centre before retiring to bed.

Day 9 – 9 February 2015 (135 km) – Kedah

Today was the longest journey so far, as we covered 135km from Taiping to Sungai Petani. It was a smooth ride in the morning. We met Naim from KL who was riding with his friend to Penang. But we separated at Parit Buntar. The roads leading to Butterworth was led by bro Rickee Lee who guided us to the Second Link Bridge to Penang Island to take some photos as memories. He escorted us out of Penang til we reached the State border of Kedah Darul Aman. We took a very scenic road to Sungai Petani. Padi fields were “all over” Kedah. The afternoon weather was killing but that didn’t dampened our sprit. WE retired in Sg Petani and sleep in a huge and nice D’Sri putra homestay with a nice cool bed. The owner even prepared for us Kopi O. It’s laundry day too!

Ps. We would like to thanks Bro Rickee Lee for showing us around in Penang.

Day 10 – 10 February 2015 (118 km) – Perlis

Before leaving Sungai Petani to Kuala Perlis, we were hosted for breakfast by Bro Abdul Rahman, a traveler himself who has been following our rides since day 1.

Our ride from Sungai Petani to Kuala Perlis was not without its own unique challenges. We took the coastal routes via Air Merbok and Yan to avoid the highway and faced head on an undulating slopes. At the same time we were presented with a majestic view. The sub-tropical weather was a killer – it was super hot and the strong headwind only allowed us to crank-up less than 15km/hour. The coastal view was awe inspiring that we had to stop and took several beautiful pictures. We was welcomed by bro Ronn Rahmani at Seaview Hotel. Another pleasantly surprise awaited us later at night. We were treated to a sumptuous dinner by YB Datok Ahmadbakri Ali at Anjung Tasek. The night was filled with lots of laughter and sharing of knowledge and sweet plume of cigar.

Day 11 – 11 February 2015 (101 km) – Kuala Perlis to Thailand

Riding to Hat Yai was to pamper ourselves after completed all the States located at the West Coast of Malaysia. We were honored to have the late Bro Ronn Rahmani to guide us there; even agreed to stay 2 nights with us. Bro Ronn led the pack, using the kampong routes in Perlis and Thailand via Padang Besar, instead of the major roads to avoid strong headwinds. We also encountered undulating hills. The views were breath-taking! The hot weather was burning us down but our spirits were high. We visited Bike Cafe before checking into Lee Garden Hotel at the heart of Hat Yai. Halal foods were easy to find. We also tried the Pulut Mangga and Durian. For the record, we left Kuala Perlis at 9am and reached destination at around 5.40pm. Ps. We have surpassed the 1000km so far – Exactly 1090km in 11 days.

Entering Thailand for the first time. Stayed at Lee Hotel, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand.

Day 12 – 12 February 2015 (Rest Day) – Thailand

Decided to have an “off day”. So we Eat, Sleep, Eat, visited bike shops, eat, meeting friends, eat, sleep. Thank you so much bro C Halim Mala and wife Raya Mala for driving all the way from Pattani to Hat Yai – abt 150km to meet us and even paid for our late nite snacks. We really appreciate it. As what Pak Tasman Jen said, “One bicycle, thousands of friends”. May our friendship last forever, In Shaa Allah…

It will be our last night in Thailand before entering Malaysia tomorrow to complete the second leg of our Tour De Peninsular Malaysia.

See you on the write up of the second leg soon…..