The charms of Tanjong Malim

The charms of Tanjong Malim
By Sam Cheong
Saturday May 28, 2011

There are two reasons as to why Tanjung Malim in Selangor is worth a day trip.

First, you will find some interesting eateries located around the town centre and if you love laksa kampung this would be a good place to start.

Next, there’s the high-speed electric train from Kuala Lumpur and if you have a foldable bicycle, the ride from Tanjung Malim to Kalumpang is definitely a route that might interest you.

The laksa kampung stalls in this town are located near the abandoned Rex cinema along Jalan Loke Yew.

Noodles galore: There’s a row of stalls selling curry laksa and soupy noodles along Jalan Loke Yew in Tanjung Malim.

Here, you will find a row of stalls selling noodles with stuffed vegetables, foo chuk and taufoo.

And for RM4 a bowl, they serve a generous portion and decent tasting laksa.

Speaking of riding a foldable bicycle around town, you can actually complete it within 20-minutes.

I took the opportunity to discover this town over a weekend on my bicycle when ride organiser Pauline Lee offered a slot for me and my wife Michelle.

This was also a chance to ride along with veteran folding bicycle rider Uncle Bil Choy who co-founded the folding bike club in Kuala Lumpur.

Choy rode his Brompton bike while Lee had a first try with her state-of-the art Moulton touring bike which is also a foldable bicycle.

There were 13 riders in the group who rode their Dahon, GT, Brompton and Moulton bicycles.

At Tanjung Malim, there are two sections of the town which is seperated by a railway line.

Rough terrain: Loose gravel and a high gradient proved to be too much for the folding bicycle riders.

The older part of Tanjung Malim is the most active trading areas with rows of pre-war shophouses and a wet market.

Even at the market itself, you will find some good eating places on the first floor.

But if you are over 1.8 metres in height, you might want to watch your head as the ceilings are built really low here.

From Tanjung Malim, the old trunk road leads to Kalumpang, a small town located about 15km away.

The ride from town-to-town would take about 50-minutes if you cycle non-stop in an average speed of 16km/hour.

Kalumpang is also split into two areas and the older part of town is located near the police station.

Here, there is a coffee shop called Cheong Fong that has been in existence for decades.

It specialises in char siew pau and local coffee and if you love the roasted brew, this is the place to be.

Not too far away from here, there are two jungle retreats called Kalumpang Resort and Pasir Putih Resort.

It is roughly about two kilometres from town and is a popular haunt for the picnic crowd.

Place for pau: The Cheong Fong coffee shop in Kalumpang.

I found the resorts to be quite polluted as water from a poultry farm nearby was chanelled into the stream.

During our visit, we saw two men gutting fish upstream with some children playing in the water where they were carrying out their act.

The ride back to Tanjung Malim would take another 15km which translates to about 45 minutes on the road.

And we completed the ride in four hours by taking a group photo in front of the Tanjung Malim train station.

If you plan to ride this route, be wary of oncoming vehicles as traffic is heavy along the KL-Ipoh trunk road. -- The StarMetro

Posted in: selangor,tanjung malim