Amoi rides in the kampungs: Malaysian Outback TTR (trail, track, road); July 31- Aug 2, 2020, Day 2 : Labis to Paloh via Sungai Bantang

Back to Bekok !

Team KL

Team JB

Team Paloh

While Kelvin had suffered a brake pad issue yesterday, Jasmine has decided to "couple" their bike troubles with a broken chain today !

Bekok's old world charm

Bekok's mural street

This building is said to be the back of the old cinema in Bekok

Our bikes parked outside the shady stall at Jalan Sultan

Real grape vines

Another breakie before heading for Sg Bantang

Having wantan mee brought over from across the street

This durian opener makes prying open a durian so much easier !

Trying out the stingless bee's honey

Frog reared for its meat!

Durian loving dog !

Besides being treated to free durians, we were also given pulasan to try out

The family home

The workshop

Rustic !

Stingless bee or kelulut nest not far away from the swiftlet nest

After the gateway, it is still a distance to the river

Climbs ahead

In search of the giant tree...

...with fallen tree, streams and leeches in tow !

You will not realise the tree is that huge...

...unless you look up !

Instead of taking the same railway route home, Chuan Soon guided us through palm oil estates and dirt tracks

We knew the end is near when we came back to the same railway route. This time though, we were riding on the parallel road.

A little mud is required...

...to catch a glimpse of Paloh's Angkor Wat

"Escorted" by the south bound train

Picking up Chooi, Lili and Malcolm upon our return to Paloh, we went on to visit a Dragon Fruit Farm

At the Valley of the Dragons

Strangely the flower is yellow but the flesh of the fruit is red

The flower has to be removed to allow the fruit to grow

Riding back to Rolan Homestay on Jalan Kluang-Paloh

Appreciation dinner at Restoran Jinnee, famous for their "exotic meat" menu. Of course, we ordered none of those delicacies. Not to be missed are their steamed cat fish and fried pork ribs

Appreciation dinner. Missing in photos are VT, Claudine, Malcolm, Lili, Derrick and Hong Laotze.

Caryn pouring out cold drip coffee from The Big Bean for everyone to share

It was drizzling in Labis this morning. Luckily for us, the sun came out like an egg yolk against a white mist of clouds when we were about to roll. Up on a hill at Labis Sunrise Farm, the sunrise couldn’t be prettier. Poor Ivy, holed up at her friend’s home had to wait and wait again as we kept deferring the meet up time in favour of photography.

Sunrise view at Labis Sunrise Farm

West side of Labis Sunrise Farm for sunset views

Welcoming center

Reception

The extremely steep hill to the farm stay. Most of us had to push our bikes up in the dark last night!

Rendezvousing at Kedai Makan Ah Tee, we had an out of this world kueh chap breakfast. It was so good, many of us had second helpings even though we were already stuffed by the chui kueh desserts that Ivy had so graciously bought for everyone. Indeed this lady should be appointed our CFO aka Chief Food Officer!

Kedai Makan Ah Tee serves the best kueh tiau kia in the world!

Extremely yummy

Biscuit dough churning in the mixer at Hock Hoe Seng Confectionary

Traditional biscuits wrapped in paper

Bekok's Jalan Sultan corner wantan mee stall

One of a kind dry wantans

Stopping by Labis’ famous confectionery, we bought traditional biscuits baked in wood fire oven before proceeding to Bekok for brunch. Under Chuan Soon’s recommendations, many of us ordered dry wantan ie soft wantan in brown gravy sauce besides the standard wantan noodles. Sold at RM2 for 6 dry wantans, they are truly, a special dish only available in Bekok!

We were indeed very lucky to have Chuan Soon with us for he pointed out a milestone dating to before Malaysia's independence. Located at a parking lot, next to a coffee shop, the historical piece of rock would have gone unnoticed as there were no signage pointing to its significance. Besides the rock, Chuan Soon eagerly showed us a statue clad in Carlsberg bottle caps!

Turkey

Guinea fowls

Geese

Ducks

This 2 year old wild boar is a family pet. It was sold to the family when it was a baby and badly wounded by a trap.

Goats and sheep

Terrapin

These snails were brought to the family by a restaurant owner who asked them to cultivate them as exotic meat. However, the restaurant is in receivership hence the snails are now used as animal feed !

On our way to Sungai Bantang, we made a detour to visit a durian farm belonging to Chuan Soon’s friend. Hoping to make some purchase, we were instead treated to free durians! We were also given a walkabout on the entire estate.

Sungai Bantang was extremely crowded on a Saturday. However as the river was wide and split into 2 before confluencing back again, the crowd is spread out. We visited the tallest and widest tree in the area and at the same time transported a few leeches downhill with us. Chuan Soon, on a blood donation campaign had at least 5 leeches hiding between his toes and socks!

After removing a few leeches from his socks at Sungai Bantang, Chuan Soon found another blood sucker in between his toes when we arrived in Bekok!

Picnicking by the river side without venturing into the jungle is not risk free either. Mr Lim found 2 blood suckers in his shoe as we were about to leave while Jessica found out too late she was the Grab driver for 1 blood infused fatty who found its way into her buttocks!

Back in Bekok, we had another meal before making our way back to Paloh. Instead of taking the railway route, Chuan Soon guided us through palm oil estates, often on gravel trails.

Approaching Paloh town, we made a short detour to visit Paloh’s “Angkor Wat”. Merely an abandoned Indian temple; no creatures akin to the movie Tomb Raider accosted us. Instead, we were escorted home by the south bound train …a perfect way to end our ride!!!

Photo credit : Derrick

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Rolan Homestay, Paloh