Perak : Ipoh City Nite Ride

Monday, June 3, 2013

Perak : Ipoh City Nite Ride

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Ipoh, Perak : Ipoh City Nite Ride

Ipoh, Perak : 25th May 2013

Public Ride : Around the roads of Ipoh City.

Distance covered : approx. 31.00 km.
Time : 8:00 pm - 9:25 pm
Time Taken : 1:25 hrs. (including a stops for photos)
Route Recommendations :
1. Stop by Tong Siu Kai for good street fare food.
2. It will be better to ride round Ipoh in the day time, there will be much more to see.

NOTE: I always find it difficult to blog on night rides as it's hard to take good photos while riding. So this blog will cover a lot more on the pre-ride & post-ride happenings.

PRE-RIDE

When Felix (of the Outdoor Xplorer) invited me for this event, I thought "Great! I have not rode in Ipoh, it should be interesting!"

A few of us had registered for this Ipoh City Nite Ride event. It was an event organised by the Ipoh City Hall together with others to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Ipoh being conferred the city title.
Most of our other friends had gone up the previous day, so Kwan & me took a leisurely drive up from Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh, leaving at 10am. There's no hurry, the ride is at night.

Upon reaching Ipoh, we could not help but go savor it's renown Ipoh Hor Fun (...see more). It was a long weekend, and the place was crowded. The Hor Fun took one hour to come, but still it was a worthwhile wait.

L-R : Kwan, Kevin, Felix & Suit.

Felix & the gang came by at 5pm. This is the first time that I will be meeting with Kevin. From his FB profile photo, he looked quite dark and I thought he was an Indian. Turns out he is not that dark and is an Eurasian. Kevin is local to Ipoh.

(Photo by Felix)

The event starts at 7:30, but we headed out earlier so that we can try out the renown Ipoh White Coffee. For this we went to Yee Lock, a coffee-shop nearby our hotel.
Kevin did give us some coffee tips - when in Ipoh don't ask for Ipoh White Coffee if one does that, then what will be served is the 3-in-1 pre-packed instant mix coffee. Just ask for coffee.

Our drinks were quite representative of our bikes.
Mine is the brownish Ipoh White Coffee, quite a similar color to my Raw Lacquer Brompton. Felix's was carrot juice, a quite similar color his Orange Brompton.

(Photo by Felix)

See what I mean?

After that nice coffee snack, we rode over to the event start point, the City Hall Building of Ipoh.

As we were about to reach the City Hall building, there was a shout behind me.
Kwan was cursing high and low, his bicycle got a punctured tire. And this was not the first time it had happened to him!

And here we are in front of the City Hall Building, Norman (in the Union Jack Helmet) has just joined us, and Kwan is now smiling after repairing the puncture.

(Photo by Felix)

Well, the ride won't be starting soon. So I loitered around, mingled around and met this group of cyclists who had come down from the neighboring town of Taiping.

They were a group of happy cyclist, so I took some photos with them. It's heartening to see these younger people taking up cycling when so many are stuck to their smartphones, internet games, etc.

They are from the Taiping Cycling Club and can be contacted through their FaceBook Page (click here) or call Mr. CT Chuah at +6012-418 6898.

I also met this old couple with their grand-daughter. It's great that the grand-parents were bonding with their grandchild, but it's a pity that they are not wearing helmets.

Among others I also saw :

A guy wearing a heart-logo helmet, looking around I could not find a lady wearing a similar helmet.

A lockable bicycle carrier box.

Glittering lions that came out to dance and usher the start of the ride.

... and dragons too!

There was a Gangnam dance performance by some lady line dancers. With my itchy legs, I could not help joining them.

(Photo by Felix)

... and beauty contestants! I could not help (eagerly) joining them too. Heh! Heh!

Okay! Enough of the pre-event chit-chat.

It's getting late, the ride start have been delayed and the CROWD is getting impatient.

And so were we.

LET'S RI I I I IDE!

THE RIDE

Starting from the City Hall the ride will take us along Jalan Raja Dihilir towards Tambun, along Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah then making a right turn into Jalan Dr. Nazrin Shah heading for Ipoh Old Town and back to the City Hall. It will be a short ride of close to 16 km.

Roll off....

We rode on happily, but unfortunately some riders were not familiar with riding in large groups, following too close to each other. It Seems that there were some accidents. Hope they were not too serious.

At the Sultan Azlan Shah round-a-bout.

Cycling pass the Tambun Inn Hotel.

Cycling along Jalan Raja DiHilir.

At Jalan Raja DiHilir, I notice some cyclist were riding without helmets, when will they learn that accidents can happen unexpectedly and it can be fatal sometimes (... see Tragic Accident at CFAL4).

A smiling Kwan, who also stopped here to take photos.

Norman in front of the Ipoh Railway Station.

There was a rest & regroup stop at the Ipoh Railway Station. This colonial designed building has been refurbished.

The AhPek Biker stopped here too.

And it's time to continue riding.
Hey! What's that fellow doing, cycling against the flow? Doesn't he realize that he is not only endangering himself but also the lives of the other cyclists?

Cycled passed by this advertisement board for Chek Hup Ipoh White Coffee, I haven't tried this brand, it must be good for them to advertise on a large board.

And we are back into the town center.

And back at the City Hall grounds. It has been a short ride, but now at least I now have rode in Ipoh.

The gang here, trying to decide what to do next? Shall we stay on for the lucky draw or move on?
We decided to move on as our legs were still itchy and we felt like riding more. The short ride just whetted our appetite.
Read on to see where we went next.

POST RIDE

Ipoh Fun Night Ride Route Map (click for Map Link)

But before we start our next adventure, it's time to fill up... our growling stomachs - we have had only that cup of Ipoh White Coffee at Yee Lock Coffee-shop.
So we rode over to Tong Siu Kai, a favorite night haunt for the Ipohreans. "Tong Sui Kai" is Cantonese for Desserts Street; but they have more than desserts here, much more.

While eating, we were serenaded by this old man playing a Chinese Violin and singing some sad Chinese ballad - was it a story of his life?

Stomachs happy, we rode off making a quick stop at a nearby Shell petrol station to top up our water.

(Photo by Felix)

After that we headed towards the residential roads, with Kevin led the way.

Unfortunately it started to rain, and Kevin was fast to lead us to shelter at the five-foot way of some shops at Taman Ipoh Permai.
After that the gang, took us back to our hotel and then made their way home.
How I wish that it did not rain and that we did this during the day, there would have been much more to see then.