Summary of Weekend's Activities...

Steve, a neutralised Canadian which were more local than the local locals, summed up last weekend's activities the best...herewith is his report, minus any pictures.

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by Steve Lee

Busy weekend 23-24 July

From Saturday a.m. To Sunday we had the longest weekend yet.Friday night we played badminton, from 11pm to past 1am Saturday. I got to sleep at 2:30am only, pretty knackered from the matches the 9 of us played. They had to turn off the lights at SRGC to make us go home.

First thing Saturday was rock climbing at Batu Caves. About 7:32 four cars rapidly swooped into the car park at the 7 Star Mamak near the BP at Batu Caves and we hopped out for breakfast. Doc, Steve, Azmar, followed by Bean and Bandit pedaling up on his MTB. Stupe came by and Adilah SMSed that she was already at the rock face.


We have 3 ropes to use today but had to swap harnesses to climb. We set up the ropes on 'The Vines', and The Bridge routes. I should say Doc and Adilah set up the ropes doing the lead climbing. First timer Azmar and Bean made it up, without climbing shoes either. We did the longer and harder route up and over the ledge on the left and the higher route to the right of Monsoon. Doc set up the rope on a route below the cave, which is short but difficult.


Today was the day Jusco was selling off bikes for RM49, and Man and Ainul and I went over. But there was already a queue of 100 in front of us. We inspected the bikes again and chatted with Wong Ah Thiam of LeRun. Stupe and Aileen also showed up, but after waiting 1 hour the biker were snapped up. We decided to go to ABC instead, as Ainul is ready to finally get a bike. She got a Montana with low-end (but upgradeable) and clone-real components. The guy is pretty flexible and upgraded it to a 34 tooth cassette. Now no excuse to not ride.

Sunday started out with the 10km PowerRun. Glad everyone claimed their numbers and got to the start line. I myself was running late, so no chance to do anything else, not even piss. The route was similar to the old Tuesday KL ride through Kenny Hills, Jalan Duta and Jalan Parliament.

The hills aren't so steep that any walking was required and the end line came around soon enough, below 1 hours for many of us. The front pack came in at 56-57 minutes and Azman got a medal for being 97th place. Doc, Bean, Zabil and I following past the 100th position. Stupe ran with Adilah, which not only can help for next weekend's team event, but also gave him a good reason for being slow this week. Bjorn then Azmar arrived, pony tail bouncing in tune. Karoline, then Ainul arrived at about 1:30, but also got a medal. Zabil jogged out eventually to bring in Azah. We skipped the lucky draw as usual and decided to reconvene at PutraJaya.


About 10:15 I arrived at PutraJaya mosque circle. Zabil was there and immediately proposed we eat first instead of kayaking. A few phone calls later and Man and Doc and Amar and Karoline were all there ready to convoy to the BBQ site. This is the super secret VIP BBQ site, built by the government, then privatized to Shango Vic S/B to collect money for nothing. We figured we'd sneak in the back door, with only Doc paying for entry sand taking the boat across if needed. The same two cleaning ladies
were at the site, and polished the counter and used and air gun to blow away a couple of leaves on the ground. A so-called “BBQ Engineer” came by to start up the heat and Doc arrived with 5 tokens to cook, which Doc had to pay RM30 for. We ate sausages, chicken wings, bee hoon, choco cake, watermelon. Stupe & Aileen came with Potato Salad, and Amir showed up, but only have his smokes with him. Then the manager of Shango Vic came and informed us that they rent out the place on a 'packaged deal', meaning you pay for things you don't need, and the right to be there. It's RM100
he tells us, to hang out there for 3 hours, for 6 people. We got 11 people and we are ½-way done with the food, so have no choice but to pay the extortion. Evidently this BBQ spot is not for the rakyat, but probably for Pak Lah to make John Howard feel at home. By right we should be paying RM100 for 'the package', which doesn't include RM10 for cooking tokens, RM5/pax for the boat ride across, plus extra for 5 people or kids over 6. Maybe they charge for the parking at the boathouse too. So the BBQ was 'busted', but it was really nice and we'll try to repeat it, including sneaking in the extra chompers when PowerMan race happens.

Now on to the Kayaking, the 11 of use relocated to the Boathouse and waltzed into the store room, as though we are members. We picked out several kayaks, with Stupe & Aileen taking a double boat. Zabil and kid shared too, but the front kept raising out of the water as not balanced.

We paddled down to the Selangor Sultan house and then under the Jambatan Putra where the tourist jetty is. They directed us farther down the bridge. It was shady here and we dumped Karoline's boat, but the commotion awakened the tourist boat company to radio the lake club company to come retrieve these nuisance kayakers. So we paddled back to the lake club and under the Perdana Bridge to escape the sun. Also but Karoline were tired by now, but no one said anything.

Back at the Lake Club Boathouse Doc and Zabil thought about joining as members. Then the boat rental is ½ off, but we'd have to use it regularly to get the money back. Instead I slipped into the members-only swimming pool to cool off. Someone remembers that today is the Fruit Fest at Warisan Pertanian so we relocated to Section 16 next. Doc and Amir decided not to join in the buffet, just smoke from outside and enjoy the sight of us sitting on piles of durian skins. Entry was reduced to RM5, then RM4, as the fruit dwindled. Four us up entered and ate several
durians, duku, rambutan, pulasan, but didn't find any mangosteens or mangos or durian belanda to eat. We all got sleepy from the full day of fun and too much fruit and went home to sleep it off.