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| Durian Fiesta |
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| Some of the riders at Pan Kobo Cafe |
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| Twisting and twirling clouds |
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| Bikes swapped for cars instead |
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| The Men |
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| The Ladies |
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| Inside a kiln |
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| Furnace |
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| Steam |
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| At Hafiz's |
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| Fancy some earrings? |
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| River view |
Something must have happened on Mount Olympus this morning! A family feud, a betrayal, a treason or an attack??? Unless flown up by Pegasus, we will never know what actually transpired in the cloud palace above us.
A strange weather display beginning with clear skies, the sun was quickly eclipsed within minutes after rollout time. Westwards and beyond the golf course, rain had already touched base!
Facing West, Zephyros was blowing his might! Thick, dark clouds were closing in at rapid speed. Almost like a tank filled with charged up eels, the clouds were twisting and twirling as they came in, casting a doomsday gloom overland.
Stopping on her tracks after a mere 3 km distance, Claudine turned to ask the others’ opinion. Most were indecisive except for VT who suggested pushing on as we were already committed.
Hence, based on the green light given, Claudine charged forward. Little did she realized, everyone did not budge! Nor called after her!! Some 300 m later, she turned around to see the others still at the same spot but in smaller perspectives!!!
It was then that we came to a consensus to drive to Gelang Patah instead. Turning back with the storm at our heels, all of us were given morning showers regardless light or heavy. While the strong legged ones did not get terribly drenched, some did not make it back to base at all but had to take cover under Gateway’s guard post.
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Congregating at Restoran Xing Ho in Gelang Patah later, it was heart warming to know TH and YL had gone looking for stranded riders whilst Frankie had offered help as well! Meanwhile, Desmond and Hong Yun had decided to abandon the ride/drive altogether!
Coming from different directions, the larger team consisted of riders who had flagged off from Pan Kobo. And whilst Alvin had a hard time driving his flock through the Causeway jams, Frankie had the cushiest journey given his stay at Hotel Holmes was just a stone’s throw away from the coffee shop.
After our choice of pork and seafood noodles, we made the short drive into Kampung Simpang Arang. Passing Hafiz’s farm, we made a brief stop to check on him before venturing to the charcoal kilns.
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| Stoking the fire |
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| Collecting tree bark to be burned into ashes and used as fertilizer |
After Ramadan and late Syawal, activities at the kilns were at its height! Logs were being debarked, to be filled into one of the empty kilns while another two were going through the smoking and cooling down processes.
In the adjacent factory, we met a family of orang Seletar who were willing to take us on a 20 minutes river cruise for RM50. A small boat which only sits 5 passengers, they explained the ride will only cover the river estuaries as it was not seaworthy to take on the waves at Tanjung Pelepas! Promising to return for the boat ride after our durian feast, we ran out of luck when it started to rain again!
Raziff was already waiting for us when we arrived at Hafiz’s. Being one of the only 3 riders who actually rode today, he was coated in mud after taking the trail along the railway tracks!
Meanwhile, Hafiz was all welcoming when we arrived. He greeted everyone with a handshake and even made tea for us! Sadly, due to weather constraints, we only stayed long enough to eat one round of durians before scurrying back to our cars for cover! As for Raziff, he probably had a good wash down on his ride back!!!
The durians marked the end of our get together. Some others though went on to Gelang Patah to purchase more durians before taking a short tea break at Claudine’s.
Leaving for the Little Red Dot, some of the Singapore group enjoyed the luxury of Alvin’s Nissan Latio. It managed to fit 4 Bromptons and 1 Dahon Dove. As for KC and Eugene, they had to endure a few more hours of leg work under the sun before they finally reached home!
Photo Credits :
1. TH
2. KC
3. YL
4. Eugene
1. TH
2. KC
3. YL
4. Eugene
For more information about charcoal making, scroll to the bottom of this link :
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