Pos Lemoi is situated about 8km north of Pos Titom, on the
ridges of Titiwangsa range in Peninsular Malaysia. The village complex has
three villages, Lemoi, Telimau & Chenan Cherah with around 300 people. It
can be accessed through an upgraded offroad trail from Federal Route 102 about
8km from Ringlet.
The concrete based trail leading to Pos Lemoi that cost RM 14
million has shorten the travel time from three hours to 1.5hours with a few
very steep climb and descend. Pos Lemoi’s primary school, SK Lemoi is a Band 4
school, which is a remarkable feat considering 60% of orang asli schools are
rated between Band 5 to 7 under School Improvement Program (SIP).
The cool and
refreshing water with low ambient temperature has brought me back to this area
after the ride to
Pos Titom last month.
Joining me in this ride is Hashim from Banting, a vivid
reader of this blog since a year ago and Cikgu Joe whom was riding all the way
from Langkawi. Hashim and I will meet at R&R Rawang that Saturday morning
and will be joined by Cikgu Joe at Gerai Nasi Campur Mat Desa at Tapah. The
plan is to ride into Pos Lemoi slightly after lunch, camp by a nearby river and
take off the following morning.
It was a clear and hot morning with ambient temperature
around 28°C
when I took off from home that Saturday morning. I met Hashim waiting behind
Starbuck and we took off around 9.30am.
The highway leading to north was clear
with normal traffic and the road surface was fantastic. We arrived at Tapah
around 10.50am after a quick toilet break at Tanjung Malim and Cikgu Joe and his wife were already
there.
We took off around 11.30am after a light lunch, heading to
Ringlet through Federal Route 59 Jalan Pahang.
There were a little bit of
traffic heading to the same direction but traffic was smooth and no major road
repair was on scene that afternoon.
Temperature began to drop to 24°C as
we ascend to 1108m above sea level at Ringlet as the weather was cloudy.
We
stopped at Shell to refill before heading to our waypoint on Federal Route 102
heading to Sungai Koyan.
Waypoint Pos Lemoi GPS 4.40773, 101.44695
We’ve arrived at waypoint around 1.00pm and reduced our tire
pressure. This is the first time Hashim is doing offroad on his versys so I
gave him some pointers to handle the incoming terrain. The first 5km into the
trail, the roadside terrain are filled with vegetable farming and the organic
fertilizer smell filled the atmosphere.
We have a few onlookers as we passed
their area and we nodded back, as sign of respect. The trail are made of
concrete with many sharp bends.
The next 5km we started to have a lot of climb and descend
sections but the trail are concrete surface with some of the areas having worse
than average condition.
There are also a lot of water crossing zigzagging the
trail and Cikgu Joe road tires started to slip.
He slipped his rear tire and
took two falls. Hashim and I were ahead of him when this happened. I stopped to
make a u-turn to help but he managed to get back on his bike by himself.
Photo Credit to Cikgu Joe
We took a rest at one of the peak and passed two 4wd
vehicles on a recce trip.
Later we were informed that they are planning to
organize an event for 200 people from 4wd group at Pos Lemoi in September.
The last 5km into the track we started to descent and by
this time the concrete surface trail is in very bad condition. There are a few sections,
has only two tracks of concrete laid by the villagers themselves to help
vehicle tackling the descent.
The last and most difficult of all is the track
descending the spot called Bukit Batu. About 200m up to 30% descend with loose
rock and damaged tracks. However all of us managed to ride through without a
single drop.
The weather are cloudy and relatively darker than normal but no
rain.
The last section into Pos Lemoi, the concrete trail improved
and riding this section was smooth. About 4km into Pos Lemoi, we bumped with a local
teacher on his way to Tapah.
He was surprised to see us as this is the first
time he said he saw a dual-purpose bike made their way into Pos Lemoi.
I am in the process of taking this picture and I forgot to engage a gear while stopping..
..and this is the result
Picture Credit to Cikgu Joe
We arrived at Pos Lemoi around 2.45pm
Picture Credit to Cikgu Joe
The school complex is considerably big and
modern complete with teacher quarters. There is a mini-hydro project undertaken
by UTM at a small stream in-front of the school.
We finally met with Tok Batin Zainal at his house and he has
8 children with one wife.
Picture Credit to Hashim
We chatted with him for a while and signed the guest
book.
He had echoed what the teacher said earlier about being the first
dual-purpose bike group making our way into Pos Lemoi.
Picture Credit to Cikgu Joe
Later we passed our
condiments and I passed donated head-scarf to Tok Batin Zainal and the village
children.
Picture Credit to Cikgu Joe
Picture Credit to Cikgu Joe
Picture Credit to Cikgu Joe
Picture Credit to Cikgu Joe
Picture Credit to Cikgu Joe
We asked his permission to camp by the bridge and by 4pm, we began
setting up our tent by Lemoi River.
Campsite Lemoi
GPS 4.35662, 101.51893
Picture Credit to Hashim
Picture Credit to Hashim
Tok Batin Zainal came to chat around 5.30pm and he told
Hashim to light up campfire as there are wild animals such as leopard and cheetah
in the surrounding jungle. As we began to dip in the icy cold river, he
continued chatting with Hashim.
The river water was icy cold, crystal clear and
fresh when we bathed and by 6pm the ambient temperature began to drop to 19°C
and it was cold.
I began to prepare dinner and the menu tonight is marinated
beef slice grill and vegetable soup with white rice. We ate dinner around
6.30pm and sunset was around 7.28pm.
We continued chatting by the campfire and
the sky was clear that night.
Around 9pm, Cikgu Joe began to fry hotdog and
prepare instant noodle with coffee.
We retrieved to our tent around 10.30pm and
the ambient temperature was around 18°C and continue to drop.
I slept soundly in a sleeping bag and was awaken around
6.15am. It was a very cold morning around 15°C and everyone else woke up
shortly after.
It was Hashim’s turn to prepare breakfast and we have instant
noodle and bread with coffee.
Sunrise over Pos Lemoi
our campsite
Cikgu Joe needed to catch the last ferry into
Langkawi and we have agreed to make an early exit and by 8.30am, we departed
from the campsite.
The morning was clear and there are a lot of morning dew on
the trail. We began ascending Bukit Batu slowly and Cikgu Joe was struggling
with his road tires.
Hashim came to the rescue and both of them pushed the bike
on foot to the top of Bukit Batu. Later it was Hashim’s turn to ascend and at
the middle of the section, he lost his footing and dropped to the side and broke his handguard in the process.
Photo Credit to Cikgu Joe
We took time and catch a break before helping him to his bike to finish
the section. We helped him to reach the peak of Bukit Batu.
The remaining journey was smooth and we arrived at the
waypoint around 10.20am.
We continued to Shell Ringlet and refill our tire
pressure there.
We headed to Tanah Rata for lunch and the ambient temperature
was around 24°C.
After lunch we descend to Ringlet and later to Tapah through
the same route we took yesterday.
We said goodbye to Cikgu Joe at Tapah Exit,
and continued to Klang Valley around 12.15pm.
The traffic heading to city center was light and the weather
was very hot. We made another stop at Tapah R&R for petrol and later
stopped at Rawang. I said goodbye to Hashim here and made it safely home around
2pm after a quick motor wash.
The ride to Pos Lemoi was smooth despite a few falls along
the way and the trail condition was exactly as I have expected. This place
deserve more attention from rider communities and when I learnt from Tok Batin that
we are the first group of dual-purpose riders to camp here, I am awed. I hope
more riders will make more trips into this area and bring the gap between this areas
to outside community closer. In the process, keep the campsite clean and bring
souvenirs and activities to the local people.
Ride snippets
Riders:
1. Rashidin Kawasaki Versys 650
2. Hashim Omar Kawasaki Versys 650
3. Cikgu Joe Kawasaki Versys 650
Distance: 415km
Duration: 2 days
Petrol: RM60
Date: 19 – 20th August 2017
Average moving speed: 53km/h
Lowest temperature: 15.5°C (Campsite Pos Lemoi)
Highest temperature: 36°C (Shell R&R Tapah)
