Kuala Lumpur – Ipoh – Crazy Old Horse

28th December, 2018

Kuala Lumpur – Kerling (71km)

Decided to do an year end ride to say good bye to 2018 and welcome 2019.

The sun was glare and warm in the morning, pushed out bike and off at 8:45am. There was supposed a bicycle lane that lead to town centre, but was closed for constructions. So I diverted to Brickfield, tried to chose a least traffic route, that is via Sentul Road headed to Batu Cave. Traffic wasn’t busy as usual but constant.

The bicycle lane that lead to town centre

Closed bicycle lane

The bicycle lane that lead to town centre was closed for construction.

20181228_085631 — Brickfield, The Little India in Kuala Lumpur.

20181228_090558 — Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, a hundred years old building, completed 1910.

20181228_090856 — Another part of the railway station but now is Majestic Hotel.

20181228_091843 — The Old High Court Kuala Lumpur, Sultan Abdul Samad Building. Built 1912 and completed 1915. Located at the Merdeka Square,

Shortly after Batu Cave, I encountered rather steep hills. I didn’t expect that I was to height 1100m up the hills and for the length of 16 kilometres, it was a hard ride. Though I was pedalled like a crazy old horse but the kilometres didn’t seemed advancing. For a moment I thought I’d breath my lungs out as the spirit is preparing to exit my body, sometimes I thought I’d die at the next sharp steep turn; or the pearly gate just at the next turning, St Peter or whoever is there with arms open wide to welcome me…

The ascending…

20181228_125136 — A small waterfall along the way.

The sun was scorching hot, I was sandwiched in between the heat from the sun and the tarmac, wave of heat could be seen on the path ahead, my 2 water bottles was soon dried, I was out of drinking water. But God have mercy on this little old man, at the end of the steepest climb, I saw few pipes extruded out from the wall of a cliff with water flowing out, that is the spring water from the belly of the mountain, then… joy burst out like fountain from my belly…. The pipes were thrusted by the locals to direct the water out from it, a life saving water.

After the miracle water station, it was a fun descending for few kilometres. I found the first restaurant for lunch at 15 kilometres away, a place called Batang Kali. There was 2:35pm, and I have only done about 40km.

After lunch, follow the same route, I’d reached Ulu Yam Baru, passed by Kuala Kubu Baru, then I came to this beautiful Kerling Hot Spring. A place with cold stream for cold bath and a hot spring pool on top for hot bath, toilets are clean, decided to set tent here and rest for a night.

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The 1st lunch, salted fish and pork belly fried with red dried chilli and a salted vegetable soup.

Ulu Yam Baru, a small little village surrounding by mountains.

Wild camping at Kerling Hot Spring, I was the only camper at night.

29th December, 2018

Kerling – Tapah (87km)

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Woke up in the morning with slight stress on my quadriceps, the campsite was strangely quiet, not even a chirp of bird.

After my “Must have” morning local coffee, I had a slow start this morning after 9:00am. Soon came out from the small village, I continued from yesterday’s route 1. There was not much interest in today’s ride, same road, same scene. Except for some beautiful traditional Malay houses, and endless durian and rambutan stalls(The local fruits), it is durian and rambutan season.

The Traditional Malay house.

The tradition Malay houses

The sun was aggressively spreading its heat, it was blazing hot, worse than yesterday. But as I was passing by villages, there are always shades from trees, I stopped numerous time to hid from the heat. The terrain wasn’t pleasant too, it was endless ups and downs, I was told by a motorcyclist that the road was flat all the way to Ipoh (Ya… I know, when you’re on a motorbike, but not when your “motor” is actually the 2 legs). The fluctuating was all the way from the beginning till the end, 87km!!! Arrrggghhhhh!!!!….

I was slow due to the heat and the endless; not that high; but rather long ascend and short descend continuos; restless pedalling, It was about 5:15pm when I reached Tapah. Decided to forget about camping ground, just need a comfy bed and cold shower, just checked in to a hostel and park a night.

20181229_172939 — Small comfy room only Rm62.00 per night.

30th December, 2018

Tapah – Ipoh (57km)

A short distance to Ipoh according to google map, so I lingered in my comfy bed till 9:00am, pushed my bike out of hostel at 10:30am. Aren’t like the last 2 days, the terrain was surprisingly good for today, continued from route 1, scenery was monochromic.

20181230_100038 — Out of no where, a fishing net stall beside the road, but there are no river; lake or sea nearby.

Not far from Tapah, I came upon a recreation farm, some sort of a mini zoo. I thought to visit this farm but found out that an entrance fee of Rm15.00 is charged, then decided to just rode off.