Our group were invited to a durian orchard near Batu Kurau, about 300km north of Kuala Lumpur. A well-known place that produces high grade durian always has its charm and has been the place for durian lovers every season. On the plus side, this orchard has a cool refreshing clear river (Sungai Ara), that form one of the tributaries of Sungai Kurau constantly flowing crystal clear cool water from the middle of Titiwangsa range.
That Saturday morning the weather was clear with ambient temperature around 25°C and I rode to Tanjung Malim alone. I was the first to arrive at our first rendezvous point.. Zaidi, Fred, Man and Joe Dungun arrived shortly after. Riding from Dungun, Joe had spent one night at Tanjung Malim to join us, a commendable effort for our short ride and camp trip. I was informed later that one rider, Ikhwan whom was riding Versys X250 from Shah Alam had a punctured rear wheel a few kilometres short of our rendezvous location. He had to call for backup to get it fix at Tanjung Malim and will ride direct to the campsite.
We turned to Behrang Exit towards Jalan Sungai Panjang heading to Sabak Bernam before making a right turn to Jalan Parit 13. This is a shortcut through the paddy field to Bagan Nakhoda Omar and we rode to Sungai Ayer Tawar jetty.
GPS 3.866292, 100.933469
It was high tide when we arrived and Jezz with his team already boarded the boat to cross Bernam River. The waterway was busy with passing fishing boats from nearby jetty and our flat board boat sways passed waves created by them. Man with his helmet on, stayed on the bike guarding from possible collapse while Joe and Zaidi were recording the event on their phones.
We continued riding from Hutan Melintang towards Kampung Parit Jerman on FT5 before making a right turn to A266 Lebuh Permaisuri through Felcra Changkat Lada. We then turned left to Jalan Teluk Sena – Selat Pulau riding along Sungai Timah, with vast overgrown grass in its bank, a perfect habitat for monitor lizard, snakes and tortoises. An adult, relatively large male tried to cross the road but double back when our convoy passed the area. My helmet camera was pointing backward and missed the event on otherwise should be an otherwise interesting collection of wild animal picture.
We have arrived at Restoran Wan Lebo around 11am to meet up with Cikgu Joe but found Suhail instead. Cikgu Joe joined us around 15minutes later and we continued on Jalan Tanjung Belanja – Bota Kiri towards Taiping. The winding road along Gunung Bubu was busy with vehicles heading to Terong and on this stretch Fred was struggling to maintain his rhythm and pace. Traffic increased when we entered Taiping and there was an overcast above Titiwangsa range, a beautiful scene but a bitter sign of what would come towards the end of the day.
Arriving at Batu Kurau we saw many fruit stalls on the road side selling cempedak dan durian. Almost at the end of the season, this place is well-known to durian lovers because of its quality. We have arrived at the marked trailhead on schedule and ahead of the incoming forecasted downpour. However we have entered a wrong turn and spent some time circling the village looking for the orchard. Many unmarked turn with similar surrounding confused us, first timer to the area.
After about 30 minutes we managed to find the right trail and found Ikhwan was already on the scene. A short chuckles later, we were shown to the camp ground and we started to set up our equipment. At the same time the weather started to change and it started to rain.. heavily.
The 2nd group from Banting arrived around 5.30pm and settled on the upper section of the campsite, near the durian trees. Among the riders are Wak Din, Hashim, Sani and Kak Shida set up their tents swiftly. They have also informed that they went to the same wrong spot and took some time to get to the right trail. The last group led by Jezz arrived around 6.30pm and by this time the rain has subsided. Sungai Ara, the river right next to our campsite was swollen from the rain and we didn’t manage test the river during the first day of our arrival.
Jezz met with the land owner Pak Hamid with wholesaler and we bought around 100kg of durian for our group of around 20 people. We were given extra around 20kg more and we spent the night and next morning consuming it.
That night it started to drizzle around 10pm and we retreated to our beds soon after. The temperature dropped to 20°C that night and I escaped the night breeze in a sleeping bag.
The next day I woke up around 6am and it felt a bit warmer. I saw Cikgu Joe has awaken earlier and was enjoying his coffee. Last night a few of us skipped dinner after a heavy durian intake and with the receded water level, it was a good time to jump into the river. Water quality has also much improved and it didn’t feel as cold as Pos Titom.
All of us jumped into the river and the water is crystal clear and very refreshing. There is a rope hanging from a tree and that added as fun factor when almost everyone took turn to sway ala-tarzan into the deepest section of the stream. The sun had risen from surrounding peaks and we started to pack. One of the biggest challenge was to load the balance of durian we had into individual motorcycles. Even after letting everyone pick and choose their load, I’d still managed to fit 18 pcs of fruits under the scooter seat.
By 10.30am we were gathered in front of the orchard to say goodbye to each other. We were separated into three main groups that will go back in three different routes. I led one group through Tebing Tinggi A6 towards Kuala Kangsar.
The weather was hot and humid, by the time we arrived at Dataran Sungai Perak, Kuala Kangsar for lunch it was midday. The area was packed with visitors with stalls taking up half of the parking area adding to the congestion.
After lunch we went back through Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah bridge towards Sayong and we made entrance to R&R Sungai Perak Northbound. Traffic on the highway was lighter than expected and the weather was hot & humid, I arrived home safely around 3.30pm.
Date: 11 - 12 July 2020
