Moro Island Cycling 19-21st Sep

Happy faces amid chaos

Going by Ferry to Batam means that we had to cycle from the end of East to Harbour Front. 20km of riding at wee hours of 6am, doing the hide-n-seek with a line of morning buses, didn’t prove to be good fun! Having to pay a SGD10.00 handling fee to check in our bikes. I call this the ‘Legal Bribery’, Singapore style. As not of the end of troubles, the ferry would stop at Harbour Bay at Batam instead of Sekupang. So we took the local taxis and was conned into paying about SGD30 bucks per cab for only a mere 17km distance to Sekupang.

In the domestic ferry, having VIP seats aka aisle stool seats

When we stepped into the domestic ferry terminal, we saw a mob of crowds at the gate of ferry embarkment. Majority of them were going to Tg Balai and the minority (us) were unable to pass through the gate to take our ferry. A riot nearly broke out with the locals. After a long wait, the officers finally noticed us foreigners and somehow we managed to pass through the crowds. Since we were the last passengers to board, we were given VIP seatings aka stools on the aisle! Mich fell because the stool broke under her weight! :D

Quiet island

After about an hour of boat ride which I stood hanging on the pole sleeping (my stool given to Mich), we finally reached the island. Not as ulu as I thot. It was like the old Pengerang town except the houses were on stilts. Mich brought us to Ah Kun whose cooking was famous and we all agreed after tasting the lunch! The hotel was far above our expectations. It was clean and big.

Satisfied after a nice meal

We decided not to ride as it was raining and also to recuperate our traumatic experience (according to Mas) during our incoming trip. Dinner at Ah Kun again. We had lobsters, braised wild boar meat, kampong ayam goreng, local veggies and fresh fried fish. I think we put on 1kg for just the day’s meals.

Buying fireworks

Stepping out to the main street, we saw ambulance and lotsa motorcycles lined up along the town’s one and only street. We thot there was some major accidents, but turned out it was the local Malay’s way of celebrating Hari Raya by having a mass ride. Into the spirit of celebrating, we pooled in our cash and bought some fireworks to play. Cool, this is the first time I played with live fireworks. After all the excitement, we went to Mich’s room and watched Sammo Heung’s movie.

Exploring the island

Next morning, we tasted the most delicious fried kway tio for breakfast. I also had (for the longest time) real half boiled eggs. Kampong chicken eggs and those sold in Singapore were really big difference. The whole afternoon, we spent riding on trails and broken roads to explore the island. As usual, the hills were steep. Nothing spectacular on the island. Just as we thot we found the interesting rubber plantation trails, LCT refused to dig further.

Cycling around the sand mine

Back to town and dinner again. The lads finally had their crabs. The steamed fish was to die for, the bak kut teh made me dizzy after one sip. The herbs they used was so overwhelmed that everyone felt a little tipsy after eating. We packed the leftover bak kut and gave to our escort (a street dog who followed us around since day 1). She was so happy to see us that she jumped onto Julie! Due to lack of sleep the first night (couldn’t sleep because of the swallow’s music and noise created by another room), I didn’t join in the late night gathering with them. Finally, some shut eye.

Riding on wooden planks

Morning came soon and time for us to go. Our escort appeared again to greet us. We gave some leftover before we headed to the jetty to take the first boat. The dog seemed to know we were gonna go off. She stopped at the squeezy alley and followed no more. Going back was more systematic. At least we had a seat number and been allocated a seat. When we reached Sekupang, we cycled all the way back to Harbour Bay. It was quite a short distance with a few major climbs. Felt too cheated for the taxi to charge us SGD30 bucks for an easy 17km, Mich went to the taxi operator and made a scene to demand refund. The taxi driver refused and a tough Mich wants to teach them a lesson.

Couple shot

Back to Singapore. Riding along heavy traffic roads. Thot I could slack, but the dark clouds looming behind us forced us to cycle fast and just as I reached my block, it rained! Phew.

One of my fantastic shot. Fast bird!