Cycle Mekong Delta 2018 - Day 1 Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Penh

After much consideration as to where we should explore in Indochina with our small wheels, we decided to fly into Phnom Penh, Cambodia and fly back to Kuala Lumpur from Ho Chi Minh with a span of 11 days to spend. Malindo Air offered the best deal for the flight with less than RM400.00 in total. A return ticket inclusive of selection of seat, meal on the flight and 25kg checked in luggage. Thank you so much Malindo Air we hope to travel more with you.

I started my journey from Setiawangsa LRT Station to KL Sentral and hopped into ERL Transit with a senior citizen fare of RM38.50 to KLIA. We finally gathered at the airport and ready to see Indochina and especially Mekong Delta.

The weather was perfect. All radiant and eager to start the exploration.

We landed at Phnom Penh International Airport safely, everything was intact with all our bicycle unfolded and ready to roll into the city of Phnom Penh.

With the help of Google map and our GPS devices to set our direction towards our pre-booked hotel. It's always interesting and exciting to cycle in a new atmosphere and we has no problem blending ourselves in the traffic of Phnom Penh.

Food is always on our minds and we will stop wherever we see enticing corners for food.

The best local food is always found in the local market. We simply enjoy the local delicacies. It was our dessert after a good and yummy noodle soup.

We managed to locate the hotel and checked into Angkor International Hotel. I spent RM33.00 per night with 3 persons sharing a room. We stayed for 2 nights.

The remaining Day 1 we went sightseeing, visiting some of the places of interest like this monument known as the Peace Dove Sculpture made of old armaments such as rifles and machine guns.

We were lucky to reached FCC in time as it started to pour. FCC stands for Foreign Corespondents' Club which is a public bar and restaurant and located along Tonle Sap River, the view is spectacular indeed. FCC even have 9 hotel rooms. The rain has finally stopped we enjoyed the drinks and left FCC for Angkor International Hotel. 

It was wet at the river side as we rode back to the hotel. The pavement along Tonle sap is well built and friendly to cycle on it.

Joseph knows Phnom Penh well he brought us to see the Independence Monument which was built in 1958 to memorialize Cambodia's independence from France in 1953. 

Our dinner at a shop near our hotel which looks like fried "Lou See Fun" with luncheon meat. I like it, the luncheon meat tasted like fish cake and slightly chewy. So that was Day 1 of our Mekong Delta adventure.

Revisit Pulau Langkawi after 13 years

My last visit to Pulau Langkawi was about 13 years ago with Jo and my 2 sons Xiang and Zuyi.

We decided to visit Langkawi again which I spent sometime browsing through the internet for a trip. After much surfing I ended up at expedia.com.my for a stay of 3 nights in Kuah Town including return flight tickets for less than RM1,400 for both of us.

This time around we chose Malaysia Airlines instead of Air Asia like our previous visit. I have also pre-booked a rental car for 4 days which costed RM380.00 and was waiting at the airport when we arrived. And off we went exploring the island with a Nissan Almera.

Oh I forgot to mention we brought along our Brommies and we checked in to Adya Hotel Langkawi in Kuah Town itself. It is a 4 Star hotel, lovely and friendly Islamic hotel. It is very near to the duty free shopping area, banks and restaurants. Before arriving at Kuah we stopped by Cenang beach for a lunch.

In the evening we met up with Sandra Loh where she took us to Weng Fung Restaurant in Kuah, one of the oldest restaurants in Langkawi. We had a wonderful dinner with their signature dishes like fried fish with black sauce, fried prawns, squids and a veggie. The beer is cheap in the island and one must not miss it ... hehehe.

Day 2

We arrived to Pak Raja Villa earlier to test out our bikes before Sandra and friends turned up. We drove from Kuah to Ulu Melaka and found Pak Raja Villa (GPS : 6.358724, 99.777143) without much of a hassle in this modern day using Google Map.

By 8 plus Sandra and her two friends appeared with their mountain bikes the other two friends were Francios and Yani. The scenery of Ulu Melaka is beautiful with the sun rising from the paddy fields and amazing mountain lines at the back.

From the paddy field we began hopping from one kampong to another with continuous and interesting scenery to go through, this one with a row of shady coconut trees.

We have been riding along small kampong roads, some of them were gravel and some better ones with worn out tarmac track, suddenly we emerged at a main road and a bridge along Jalan Kuala Muda over Pulau Langkawi River. Francios had a loose pedal crank and at one time it dropped off.

All the bike shops we visited were all still closed and fortunately Sandra had other option where she contacted a friend for the rescue.

We then rode to her friend's place for the repair.

Here we were for the rescue at Seaside Guest House (GPS : 6.360795, 99.709823) to tighten the crank.

We stopped by a cherry tree, yes a Malaysian cherry tree and it is different from other abroad. Jo tried a fruit from the tree.

A close up of Malaysian cherry soft and juicy with lots of tiny seeds in it.

Let's move on as Sandra took the lead for another destination for the day.

Francios was good and back in action. I was impressed with his knowledge of the these interesting trails, he surely cycle a lot in Langkawi.

I was glad that Sandra took us to this water break as I wanted to visit after seeing her posting at Facebook before I came to this island. I bet not many visitors have visited this place in Langkawi.

We followed Francios & Sandra back to our meeting place which was generally along the periphery of the mountain sides.

At times it could be steep on and dismounting was necessary for non mountain bikes like ours.

It was nice to meet Yani from Lahad Datu and enjoying the ride with us. 

I remember passing by a buffalo park before riding along this stream back.

Yes we did see some big buffalo along the way and the heat is getting hot as we were about to finish the ride.

It was a relief seeing the paddy field again and sign of getting closer to Pak Raja Villa. Sandra & friends had to continue their ride back until Kuah while we were lucky to end the ride. Thanks Sandra for a lovely exploration of inner Langkawi and arranging with the Manager of Pak Raja Villa to park the car.

My lunch was a nice nasi campur at a warong near Pak Raja Villa before we headed back to the hotel. The "kuah" or "gulai" was delicious from fish curry.

Happy Chinese New Year 2018 - Year of the Dog

It was the ushering of the year of the dog and it going to be the 5th dog year for me. As usual it's time to go back Penang for the celebration. This year it was only Xiang & Zu Yi following me as Jo had to stay back together with her sisters & brother while Shou has a project to be done.

Nothing like mum's cooking and the boys truly missed Ah Mah's food. It has been a eating spree since we landed on the island as expected.

Lunch at my mum's place with all my brothers and sister back home with a reunion dinner another 3 hours away. We went to check into our regular homestay near to my mum's place.

Heng ah, Ong ah, Huat ah as we lousang-ed together at Restoran Elite House.

What a great Chinese New Year eve and wishing everyone a good dog year ahead.

The young ones are slowly learning, the tradition continues and wishing them good health and wealth in the coming years.

One for the annual family album and a wonderful Dog Year awaiting for everyone.

Each year passes by so fast and time really flies, my mum is 18+my age which is 78 years old this year.

On the first of Chinese New Year I decided to visit Penang Hill and I think the last time I went up there was in 1973 with my friends from Padang Serai. I cycled from from Farlim, stopped by at this Oversea Chinese Anti-War Memorial at Air Itam for a shot of the monument.

The funicular train have changed several times, maybe at least twice since the last I was here. My folded bicycle placed in front of the train in a carriage box. I enjoyed the senior citizen fare of only RM5.00 for a return ride. For your information the normal fare is RM10.00 for MyKad holder where RM30.00 for foreign visitor.

The ride was pretty fast it took slightly more than 5 minutes to reach the top with a mid stop in between. I took the first train up so that I could see the early sun rise and Georgetown from Penang Hill.

The response was good it was packed on the first trip up and I reckon more were still queuing to visit Penang Hill. The sun rise was awesome I zipped to several corners of the hill for different spectacular views.

Checking out the places like the old Balai Polis, Bellevue Hotel and enjoying the beauty of this cool atmosphere.

I was happy to be able to bring my Brompton up to the top of Penang Hill and enjoy the cool morning ride. The last trip to Penang I tried it but it was closed for maintenance due to some slope erosion.

The cannon with the letters inscribed "GR" for King George III found at the park between a mosque and an Indian temple. Ironically two of the similar cannons were recently found at Fort Cornwallis by archaeologists from Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Penang Hill Hindu Temple also known as Sri Aruloli Thirumurugan has been in existence since the 1800's.

Penang Hill Mosque is sited just next to the Indian Temple and was built in 1966.

One of the several old colonial bungalows around the vicinity. I felt like being in a country side of England.

Have fun catching the sun rise from several spots.

The monkey cup garden was still closed so no coffee for me.

I had my coffee at last in a food court before taking a train back to the foot.

On the second day of Chinese New Year I was out hunting food for the boys. Some of the kopitiams have opened but not all. I managed to buy some local street food back to the apartment.

Later in the day we went out to the heritage area of Georgetown hunting for more foods. At the kopitiam once the home of their mum.

One more photo at Ah Mah's house.

We left Penang around 9.00 in the morning and it took us about 5 hours to reach Kuala Lumpur. Our lunch at Lieong Kee Bak Kut Teh at Jalan Development, Kepong, the boys were excited with this delicious KL food and mentioned that it was the best CNY food so far.

The celebration continues ..... and more eating and drinking awaiting...........