Amoi rides in the kampungs: 4321 Up Up and Away, Part 2 (August 5 - 14, 2022) : Day 1 and 2

Tuanku Syed Putra Bridge aka "rainbow bridge" is a pedestrian bridge connecting the town to Kampung Hujung Tanjung

The Southern Gang at the first highway stop

18 seater van

First breakfast of the day just before Tommy arrived to join us

Mindy finally arrived at 8.30 am. Note the 3 ladies in the background. They were in the same bus with Mindy and we had bumped into them at Rawang R&R sometime past 1 am! This means, Mindy could have hopped into our van and arrived so much earlier !!!

The complete team

Tuanku Syed Putra Bridge

Midway up the bridge. Despite the ram, it was difficult to push our bikes up the bridge as it was steep with little traction

View of the ferry terminal from the bridge. Kuala Perlis is the nearest point to Langkawi

View of Kampung Hujung Tanjung from the bridge

Kampung Hujung Tanjung's colourful deco

Single carriageway

Traditional fish traps

On our way to Bukit Kubu Forest Reserve

The hill has many trails made accessible by such concrete stairs

Gorgeous lotus flower by the lake

A man cleaning up the dried lotus by the lake

Pengkalan Assam's hanging bridge

Gorgeous views on Route R121

On the way to Timah Tasoh Dam

At the dam area

Mindy posing next to one of the fossil rock excavated from the dam. The area was once submerged under the sea between 480 - 270 million years ago. Galeri Paleo Tethys Timah Tasoh is just a small open area with several exhibits.

Dataran Santuary Ikan Air Tawar Timah Tasoh offers picnic and camping grounds by the lake

Cempedak season @ Goreng Pisang Air Kelapa Simpang 3, Jalan Sahabat stall located at the junction between R123 and 7

Pekan Kaki Bukit, just before the bridge

Arriving at Kaki Bukit

Arriving at Gua Kelam Guesthouse

Our van was nothing close to luxurious but it got us from JB to Kuala Perlis in one piece. The engine screamed the whole 831 km, up north ! Throughout the noise and rattling, we managed to catch a few hours of sleep.

Last row of seat is removed to accommodate luggage

Raymond's Alex Moulton had to be placed at the walkway

Van rental @ RM4000, JB to Kuala Perlis and Padang Besar to JB

Somewhere after Jitra, the road conditions worsened and we were often catapulted off our seats, waking up in a jolt ! But it meant we were off the tolled North South Highway and closer to destination.

We finally arrived in Kuala Perlis at 6.30 am. Still dark, we requested our driver to drop us off at a row of shops, right opposite SJKC Choon Siew. The shops' brightly lit and clean 5 foot way meant we could set up our bikes in comfort.

At 7 am, cleaners were beginning to arrive at the school. Upon request, they allowed us to use the school's toilet to change and freshen up. So as the southerners "play school", Tommy, Kelvin and Jasmine who had arrived a day earlier, cleaned up in the comfort of their hotel toilets.

Meanwhile, Mindy was still stuck in the bus ! Her 11.45 pm bus had departed half hour late, turned off the highway and rumbled through small towns, dropping passengers one by one along the way. By the time it arrived at Kuala Perlis, there were only 4 passengers left on the bus!

Our ride started at Tuanku Syed Putra bridge, a pedestrian bridge which traversed the Perlis River. Kampung Hujung Tanjung lies on the other side of the riverbank, a colourful village worth visiting. Putting aside the brightly painted village homes and traditional decorations meant to attract tourists, it is worth to note many of the village homes still keep to its original malay architectures.

Leaving Bukit Kubu

The caves by the lake

Limestones

Trails

We crossed the river for the second time at R103's Jalan Bukit Kubu. This time Bukit Kubu Forest Reserve beckons. Unfortunately, we did not have time to hit the jungle trails but only the Caves and lotus lake.

The third time we crossed the river, Pengkalan Asam's suspension bridge caught our eye. By then, we were in the fringes of Kangar town and the hanging bridge was only part of the attraction in a park that comes with a lakeside floating market.

Lunch came at 11.30 am. Abang Wan Nasi Kerabu Kampung Pondok was already sporting a long queue of customers when we arrived. Thankfully, they had enough to feed our group before closing for the day!

The internal road to Dataran Empangan Timah Tasoh

The view from Dataran Empangan Timah Tasoh

Possible camping ground at Dataran Empangan Timah Tasoh

Boat cruises at Dataran Empangan Timah Tasoh

Water sports available at Dataran Santuary Ikan Air Tawar Timah Tasoh

View from Dataran Santuary Ikan Air Tawar Timah Tasoh

Next came Timah Tasoh Dam, a man made water catchment area built between 1987 to 1992. Its name is derived from the 2 rivers, namely Sungai Timah and Sungai Tasoh which flows into it.

There are several scenic stops around the lake. Terinai Lakeview Resort is just by Route 7 while Dataran Empangan Timah Tasoh and Dataran Santuary Ikan Air Tawar Timah Tasoh detours from the main road and offers different attractions.

Soon it was time to make our way to Kaki Bukit. Riding along Route R123 and 7, one is amazed by the exceptionally quiet countryside which inadvertently leads to Wang Kelian and subsequently, Thailand.

Kaki Bukit, a small predominantly Chinese Town at the foot of the Nakawan Mountain Range seems trapped in a time warp despite its pulling attraction of Gua Kelam. The town's epicenter consists of a row of single storey wooden shoplots along Route R13 with another 2 short rows which runs diagonally. The volunteer fire brigade, the post office and the police station could possibly be the later addition to the town, sporting brick facades and double storey structures !!!

Arriving at Gua Kelam Guesthouse, our stay for the night, our plans were to dump our bags and meet again for a Cave visit but it started pouring almost immediately. The rain continued on until evening by which time, we had to don our rain jackets to go out for dinner.

Thanks to Tommy and Raymond's recce, we enjoyed a good dinner at a restaurant next to a basketball court near SRJKC Kong Hwa. On google maps, the place is tagged as Bao Zi Dim Sum 包子坊 but they were surely not serving dim sum at dinner time!

Photo credits :

Mindy

Kelvin

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Gua Kelam Guesthouse, Kaki Bukit