Night Ride with Joho Foldies (29 September 2017)

Joho Foldies

MBJB

Compact Foldies

This evening, the Joho Foldies started their ride from the Crown Istana. As usual, their roll out time was way off schedule which is the rightful laid back attitude of most Foldies group.

While we were all sharing small talk and waiting patiently for the whistle to blow, the first pack starting rolling out without warning. Following herd mentality as cows would, everyone tailed after the leaders.

As the group scaled up the slope next to the palace grounds, Niki and her husband were still in the process of setting up their bikes!!! Seeing the group leave must have given them a boost for they soon caught up at the junction to Jalan Mahmoodiah.

Once, we left the high gates of the palace grounds, the downhill cruise began all the way to Gerai Tepian Tebrau, a popular food court made famous by their Assam Pedas. Circling the Dataran, we made a regrouping point by the bus stop.

While the group moved on, Desmond stayed in wait for Niki and her other half. As mentioned earlier, they soon caught up at the junction to Jalan Mahmoodiah.

The climb past the royal mausoleum left us panting. Breathing hard, it was difficult not to miss the sweet scent of frangipani which sent chills down Claudine's spine!

Thankfully, we whizzed past the resting grounds of past royals soon enough! Halloween is still a month away and meeting a keris wielding Lord in baju melayu will be the last thing on everyone’s wish list!

Rolling quickly past the school for spastic children, we came by the walls of the prison grounds. Here on, a sudden peace unfolds as we touched the fringes of the Istana Gardens, turned into the quiet roads of Swiss Gardens hotel and finally screeched to a stop outside JB's City Council.

The pit stop took longer than necessary but considering this was the first ever Brompton meet involving 9 riders from JB, the cameras continued to click even though the other Foldies have left!!! Nobody was particularly worried as remaining behind with the rest were Lucas and Irene. They were familiar with the route.

Spinning past the central post office, the bright red, pigeon holed letter boxes from the 1960's still stood the test of time. There were no signs of rust even though it stood, facing the Straits of Tebrau which of course has moved considerably outwards due to land reclamation works!

We heaved up Bukit Timbalan, past the night market at Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, rolled past Persada and St Joseph's Instituition before catching up with the waiting group at SIGS. Regrouped again, we rolled past Hutan Bandar, turned left at Foon Yew school, past Johor Specialist Hospital and came upon a Birthday celebration at Onn's Kitchen!!!

This could very well be the tipping point, for the following conversation after that revolves around food!!! Taking the cue from the riders en masse, we stopped for supper at a roadside stall.

El Mie introduced everyone to lemping, a traditional pan cake made from flour, sugar and salt. Served with either sambal, condensed milk or coconut, it is a plain, yet appealing snack!

All boosted up, we made our way through the webbed roads of Nong Chik. Not for the faint hearted, the roads here curve around the hill slopes with many intersections built along homes that had mushroomed according to the whims and fancies of land owners. Back then, during the early days of Malaya, town planning was unheard of resulting in a mapping nightmare!

Not tempting fate again, YL left us after supper, getting home on more familiar routes. As for Claudine, she preened all her 5 senses in anticipation of any accidental hiccups for this was exactly where her dear friend had fell and fractured his arm.

Back at the Crown Istana, Susanna was one of the first riders to return to base. She paid tribute to her new XDS folding bike, weighing at 10 kg only. But really, her improvements can only be attributed to diligent training as we saw in Soo and Niki's performances as well!!!

 

Photo Credits :

1. YL

2. Andy