Since the incident of a deadly landslide in Batang Kali, I am still sceptical to camp in any local campsite plus there was a gag order to close campsites until further notice. A brief voting in the group yielded Betong as our destination.
A small group of riders - 4 riders from Klang Valley; Yusuf, Fred, Azam with his spouse and me started from R&R Rawang while Joe will start from Dungun. All of us will converge at a restaurant called Pitstop Gerik Route 76.
It was a bright and sunny Saturday morning when I started from Rawang with ambient temperature around 25°C at 8.00am. Azam with his wife Nor was waiting for me at Petronas and we made a move towards Sg Perak R&R around 8.35am. Fred and Yusuf were already on the road, and we plan to meet at the pitstop restaurant. Traffic on the highway heading north was relatively clear and it started to drizzle around Ipoh area. As we passed Menora Tunnel, the entire area was foggy and temperature dropped to 22°C. My wife was really excited and mentioned it feels like riding overseas.
When we arrived at the restaurant around 11.45am, they was still preparing and not ready to take order, as it was their first day to operate after a three-days break. Fred was already there and Yusuf with Joe arrived slightly later.
Pitstop Gerik Route 76 Claypot Asam Pedas, Route 76 claypot Asam Pedas, Kampung Kerunai, Gerik, Perak
GPS 5.516077, 101.127112
After lunch we continue to ride towards Pengkalan Hulu through Route 76 and after refilling at Petronas Pengkalan Hulu we continued to Route 77 towards Bukit Berapit CIQ. Just before the complex entrance there are a few shops selling Thai’s insurances, forms & sim cards. We stopped to buy the necessaries and proceeded to Betong’s CIQ.
Weather at this point was hot and humid with temperature around 30°C but the line at the counters was short, about 4 to 5 people at a time. We then proceeded to Betong’s town to purchase their currency and some food for dinner & breakfast. It took us about 20minutes to arrive at the campsite’s parking and Yusuf went ahead to recce the trail condition.
Shortly after, the owner; Pak Sueh arrived on a small cub and said his sons are running the business. Yusuf returned to report there were unmarked junctions and he was unsure which one to take so he followed him to the campsite while we wait for his sons to arrive. After about 15minutes, his son arrived and we boarded a Hilux, together with another group of visitors from Pattani. Since there were more girls than men, the four of us were told to sit in the cab while the girls were on the back.
The trail towards the campsite is made of concrete for the first section. It is one car wide road with sharp corners and exciting elevation. After about 2km, it turned into plantation road with some of the sections have potholes filled with water and mud but he said towards the end of this year, this too will be on concrete. The last climb that stretch about 200 meters into the campsite was the most challenging, made of loose boulders, red laterite with some crusher run.
Since we were the first group that arrived at the campsite, we were offered to select any tents available, including one big dome tent at the same price. While the visitors from Pattani – about 8 girls who rode small scooters had chosen the top side of the campsite, we have selected two rows of tent below the main gazebo area. Towards the end of the day, more visitors had arrived and I have estimated that the total number of visitors during that weekend were around 40 people.
Numerous attempts to capture the aerial view before sunset were unsuccessful as my control app wasn’t updated and wifi internet was only available too late towards the day. That night we have dinner from packed food bought earlier, but cooking is allowed and you can even order bbq set from the operators.
We returned to our tents around 10pm and comforter with pillow was provided. I brought sleeping bags as an added comfort for the night. One point to highlight is this campsite was relatively quiet as compared to other campsites we have experienced so far through our rides. Aside from occasional dog barks, no other fauna sounds was heard.
When I woke up the following morning around 5.00am, the surrounding was clear with visible lower clouds at the valley below, but it was too dark to capture the moment. As the sun started raising the entire area was foggy and visibility reduced to about 50m.
We had instant noodles for breakfast and enjoyed the scenery as it started to clear after 9.00am. We were not blessed with the formation of clouds atop the valley but the foggy surrounding was magnificent.
On the second day, we were the last group to leave the campsite. We rode the same Hilux down but this time since we were the only group on it, we share the back space with used linens due for cleaning and the men finally have the chance to sit at the back. Azam planned to continue to ride to the dam, so we said goodbye and the rest followed me to visit a boundary stone between Siam and Perak before having lunch at the market.
About 2.15pm, we made it across the border and we said goodbye to each other right after the CIQ complex.
I continued to ride through Gerik, Lenggong and entered the highway at Kuala Kangsar. It was very hot from Gerik but as we passed Tasik Raban, it started to get cloudy. I have safely arrived home around 6.20pm.
More photos & videos on this trip are available on Instagram & TikTok @myridinguniverse
Ride Snippets:
1. Rashidin & Wife - Triumph Tiger 800 XCX
2. Azam & Wife - Suzuki Vstrom 650 XT
3. Yusuf - KTM 690 Enduro R
4. Joe Dungun Yamaha Xmax 250
5. Fred WMoto RT3
Date: 14-15 Jan 2023
Lowest temperature: 18°C (Campsite)
Highest temperature: 36°C (Gerik)
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