Tuesday 30 January 2018

Taiping Heritage Ride 3.0 (20-21 January 2018), Day 2 : The Ride Proper


At Matang Mangrove Reserve
At Kakak, again!
At the multilevel market
First stop, Matang Mangrove Reserves
Second stop, inside the charcoal kiln
Third stop, eagle watching
Evening ride along the Lake Gardens
War Memorial
Burmese Pool
Foot of Maxwell Hill

In the Twilight saga by Stephanie Meyer, Edward Cullen justifies his thirst for blood by only consuming animal blood, to which he likens it to tofu. As for Papa Mike, his obsession for blood curdle can only be traced back to his Asian lineage for no one can imagine him flying away as a bat! Allowing the imagination to run wild, wouldn’t he have been a flightless bat as such???



So it was decided that while the Singapore group will fill their stomachs with another round of chicken noodle soup and blood curdles, the JB group will try the market fare instead! They had thin toasts, fried carrot cake, apam, wantan mee, nasi lemak and “mum delivered Tai Chien popiah plus curry chicken with yellow rice!”.

It was indeed a “fulfilling” morning for all. Many returned to Furama, making a beeline back to their rooms for further deposits to the throne!!! ‘‘Twas a complicated job, weighing on the "gold bars" that our departure for Kuala Sepetang was delayed by a whole half hour.

Finally on the roll at 9 am, everyone were all smiles, especially Mr Lim. He had joined Susanna, Maggie, Irene and Tan for a massage the night before, to which, coupled with an herbal concoction by Maggie, had slept so well he totally missed his wake up call! Even roomie, Uncle KC had assumed he was all ready to miss out the day’s ride!



We did fairly well, taking on Aulong’s flyover in good stride but were sorely disappointed the promised kaya puff was closed for vacation. This must have “deflated” the spirits of the group for not long later, Susanna’s bike committed a hara-kiri!!!

So while some got down dirty to help with the tube change department, the rest learned to look at the brighter side of things. For what can be brighter than the sun itself as they squinted and smiled for Francis’ drone.
Monitor lizards are amongst the wild animals found in the forest reserves besides crabs and monkeys
Watching the four tiny propeller spinning at top speed really spiced up the mood, for we took flight for Kuala Sepetang, reaching the tiny fishing hamlet in a little over an hour! As the tide was still low for a boat ride, we visited the Matang mangrove reserves before proceeding to Chuah’s Charcoal Factory for an organized tour.



Disappointingly, Taiping is no longer cheap. As we found out yesterday, the Perak Museum now comes with an entrance fee; so does the forest reserve! However, we talked our way out of paying as we had not been stopped at the gates earlier but only approached for payment as we were about to leave! No, we were not very convinced!!!




Kee Yong’s tour of the charcoal factory is as usual fascinating and informative. Our University Science Malaysia’s graduate is indeed putting his knowledge to good use as we found out he has developed an anti hair loss shampoo with wood vinegar! As voiced by many of us, we will really prefer an anti greying shampoo instead!!!



As the fee for the charcoal tour comes with a complimentary charcoal baked sweet potato, the tuber tide us through our eagle watch cruise. Even though they were magnificent birds of prey, we wonder if continuous feeding will make them loose their predator instincts. 

Nonetheless, we enjoyed the boat ride which took us to the river estuary that separates Kway Kang from the mainland. As the tide was still low, the boat had to turn back right before the mangrove swamp and omit altogether the malay village on the other side.

As we stepped back to shore, the cute otters on the opposite sandbank had long disappeared. However, the image of the old man swimming by the muddy river was still fresh in our mind. We were informed by our spunky tour guide that he had gone insane when his wife left him.



Back on solid ground, we went for a simple lunch at Restoran Tepi Sungai. As Papa Mike had pre-warned, their cooking had gone downhill ever since! We found the Sotong fritters to be too salty but thankfully, they were gracious to cook a fresh portion for us. All in all, the fried rice was nice and so was the service from the smiling waitresses.

As we were almost done with lunch, fishing boats started to come in one by one. We had a good view of the jetty activities from the upstairs verandah and nobody can complain on the cool winds that kept blowing in. 

The tailwind that followed, gave us a boost on the 5 km stretch, all the way to the historical railway line. In modern day, the tracks had long disappeared but what remains is an exceptionally straight road that went all the way to Taiping.

Our ride did not went as smoothly as we thought it would. Right after the North-South Highway's underpass, Francis had a fall. The unpainted speed hump had caught him unaware!

Our group split as we reached Aulong. While the JB team prefers a cooling cendol, the Singapore group were rushing back to meet Teik Jin, Papa’s school mate from Taiping. Surprisingly, all of us managed to meet up with him as well and were treated to an afternoon tea of assorted fritters and black coffee.



Some of us ventured further to the war memorial, Burmese Pool and foot of Maxwell Hills. As the rain soon caught up with us, we subdivided further. VT and Claudine were completely drenched upon reaching home while Lim and Tan accompanied Susanna around the Lake Gardens to clock part of her 100 Days Cycling targets. The latter team were luckier as the rain had teetered off soon enough!

That night, we were again split for dinner choices. While the Singapore team were hosted by Papa Mike’s schoolmate, the JB Lang still had one more goal to score. They returned to Golden Corner for chicken noodle soup and sat at the exact spot where VT and Claudine had their very first date!!!!


Photo Courtesy :
1. Susanna
2. Tan
3. Irene
4. KC
5. Francis 

Taiping to Kuala Sepetang


Sunday 28 January 2018

Taiping Heritage Ride 3.0 (20-21 January 2018), Day 1 : Play Catch


At Spritzer Eco Park
Bumping into each other at Siang Malam Hawker Center the day before the ride. Located at the century old markets, this remain a popular place for fresh and cooked food. Siang Malam though no longer holds the name of a 24 hour eatery; closed on Sundays and with stalls taking turns for breaks!
Pigs slaughtered at abattoir and brought to the market as early as 10.20 pm. This photo sent to the group chat was the giveaway on Claudine's location !!!
Traditional fixies with side carts fondly called "san lon che"
Morning at Furama Hotel
Arriving at Restoran Kakak
Taiping Prison, 1879
New Club, 1885
Assistant Resident's Home, 1884
Old golf course, overlooking the prison
Perak Museum,1883
A hornbill flew right into our path before settling itself on this angsana tree at King Edward VII secondary school
Aun Tong Coffee Factory
Susanna reminiscing about life during Dr Sun Yat Sen's days; at his old abode
Railway Station, 1885
Spritzer Factory, sampling water from different sources. Spritzer indeed tastes better than Cactus!

Met a roadkill after our first lunch at Pokok Assam
Second lunch at Casual Market for mee rebus and teochew fried kueh tiau
 Evening meet up before departing for Kuala Sepetang
Kuala Sepetang, view from the bridge
Supper at Siang Malam for CCF. Claudine bumped into old friend, Sam Pak Leong who queued a second round for it!



Fast forward 22 months from their last kampung ride, Claudine and VT returned to their hometown yet again to host their cycling buddies. Once on 700c wheeled bikes in December 2014 and then again on Foldies during the spring equinox of 2016, this heritage trail ride marks their third conquest! So proud were they of their hometown, they never batted an eye when the requests flow in.

The 7 hour journey from JB can be very daunting, more so when they had to pick their youngest son up from school before heading to KL to pick the older boy. In between, they had to juggle lunch and dinner on the highway, weave through the rush hour traffic in the capital city and thunderstorms throughout the way!

Back during Claudine's primary school days, CCF were delivered hot to the stall by bicycle, pedaled by the stall owner's mother. Today, he is still operating from this stall.
Even though Ah Lan Che aka Kakak to which the restaurant is named after has sold off her business due to old age, her prodigy, Ah Kau still remains. The soup is still prepared by him, a loyal staff that grew up and old with the famous name.

The ride started early for them as they had to make their way to Furama Hotel to meet the JB folks. As they were ahead of schedule, they had the opportunity to tuck in some chee cheong fun from Pusat Penjaja Taiping before proceeding to Restoran Kakak with the rest for chicken noodle soup.

Meanwhile, the Singapore folks were still stuck in a bus plagued with a missing passenger and an unwarranted detour to Sungai Siput. They only arrive at Restoran Kakak, 2 hours behind the first group. Disappointingly, by 10.30 am, there was only one bowl of blood curdle left and they had to give Spritzer tour a miss altogether!


Finally a team!
The 2 groups finally caught up during dinner time at Kuala Sepetang after a failed rendezvous at Burmese Pool, as the sky had started to pour right after lunch. So while the JB group visited the clock tower, the district office, the officer’s mess, the esplanade, the museum, the prison, the New Club, the assistant resident’s home, Aun Tong Coffee Factory and Spritzer Eco Park, the latter group managed  similar sights while dodging the intermittent rain.


Photo Courtesy : 
1. Susanna
2. Irene
3. Tan
4. Francis 

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FUN FACTS on Spritzer Factory Tour
1. It takes 15 years for rain water to travel from surface to underground before they are pumped out at Spritzer
2. Preformed bottles are blown to actual size. At Spritzer, it takes 1 minute to blow 300 bottles.
3. Bottles are blown, washed, bottled, labelled via steam process, blow dried, scanned for rejects and packaged.
4. Spritzer produces 2 million bottles a day with a profit of RM0.10 per bottled water.
5. Spritzer was established in 1994 with a land size of 330 acres and RM200 million investment.

Vincent, our guide
Preformed bottles
A working pump, pumping ground water to the factory
A file photo extracted from The Star Online.
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FUN FACTS on Aun Tong Factory
1. Aun Tong is known as the nation's oldest coffee mill. Established in 1933, it is now run by the family's third generation
2. Coffee making process takes 60 minutes from roasting to grinding. Aun Tong produces 2 tonnes of black coffee in a day
3. Aun Tong's office is housed in what was once the abode of Dr Sun Yat Sen, the father of modern China. Even though he spent his days at this home whenever he visits Taiping, it was Chen Chuifen, his wife that actually lived there for over 17 years


Coffee is still roasted with woodfire
Sugar is added to the coffee beans during roasting
Coffee beans left to cool after roasting
The abode of Dr Sun Yat Sen