Pengerang is a town in the southeast of Johore, Malaysia, about 80km from Singapore. Being near the sea, it was rather famous for its seafood. Imagine being stuffed with all the seafood that you could eat and having to pay about only $20!
A couple of weeks ago, the vesporeans announced in the forums about an outing to Pengerang for seafood. After the successful convoy to Malacca, I immediately jumped to the chance as soon as I found out about it.
Our meeting point was at the Jurong Bird Park. Prozzie was one of the first people there and we waited for the rest to arrive one by one.
Once everyone was assembled, we rode all the way to the Tuas Second Link Checkpoint. There were a number of other motorcyclists there already. I noticed a large group of scramblers with huge backpacks behind them. They looked as if they were going on a camp.
The custom check did not take very long. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that we did not need to fill up the white immigration cards anymore. That speeded up the process. In just a few minutes, we were out of the gantry and on our way across the sea.
And it was such a beautiful morning! It was just lovely to see the lovely blue sky with the fluffy white clouds and the glorious sun rays across the sea. At this point of time, I wished that I had a video camera installed on the scooter. I would have loved to show a streaming of the journey live.
We stopped at Gelang Patah for some breakfast. By the time we reached there, it was already crowded with people – people at the tables, people queuing up for food. It took us a good 15 minutes just to search for a place to sit.
After a sumptuous breakfast, (Nasi Lemak for me!) we quickly topped up our scooter with petrol at the petronas petrol station. I met with the quirkiest cat ever.
This cat was sleeping right in front of the payment counter. There were a number of people who accidentally hit it while making their payments. But the cat kept on sleeping and would not wake up! Maybe it was tired after working the night shift.
I noticed Kah Woon and Gmoh having the most interesting face covers. I’ve never seen anyone having these type of covers on the roads before. Have you?
Incidentally, Gmoh installed in a horn to his scooter. Not just any horn. But a bicycle horn!
After our fill up, we were on our way!
Riding in the Malaysian roads is much different compared to riding in the Singaporean roads. For one part, the maximum road limit is 120km/hr while in Singapore it is 90km/hr. Imagine our amazement as we see the other motorists zooming by. They were really fast!
Prozzie watching the locals zipping by
It was a very long ride. For the next couple of hours, I amused myself by listening to the radio station on my ear piece and looking at the scenery. It was nice seeing all of the vegetation and plantation around. There were loads of palm trees, as far as the eye can see, at one point.
Halfway along the journey, we stopped by for a much deserved rest to stretch our legs. Riding for two hours straight is not very comfortable!
I met a few guys manning a roasted chestnut stall and they were quite amazed to see our Vespa Convoy. All throughout our conversation they were curious and kept asking me questions, since I was the only one in the group who could speak Malay.
What nice looking scooters!
What club are you?
Where are you guys from?
Where are you all going?
After a couple of minutes later, we said our goodbyes and continued with our journey.
At length, we reached a sort of residential area. Even for being in the middle of the day, it looked kind of secluded. There were hardly anyone to be seen. We then entered a path to a village and finally saw a seafood restaurant.
We tried to park in front of the eatery, but as seeing that the parking area was rather small and there were quite a number of us, the kind lady who was working at the eatery offered to let us park in her verandah which is just a stones throw from the eatery.
By then we were very hungry! We ordered heaps of food to feed a platoon! Here are the food that we ate :
Stir fried vegetables
Sambal Cockles
Steamed baby lobsters
Fried Kang Kong
Heavenly Black Pepper Crab
Deep fried lobsters. These lobsters were really huge!
Oh I tell you, all of the food was so delicious! It was just heaven. I especially loved the black pepper crab and the lobsters. It was so juicy and succulent, that momentarily, I didn’t care about risking to having a weight gain.
We ate everything and in the end we were all stuffed! I had to sit slumped on my chair for a long time, too full to even move. I just sat there in contented bliss.
When the bill came, I was mightily impressed as when divided with the people sitting at the table, each of us only had to pay about RM45 dollars. That’s about $20 Singapore dollars.
Nothing was left when we were done as seen below :
A long ride back to the customs. Such a relaxing day. I admired the beautiful fluffy white clouds among the blue skies. It was such a beautiful day.
It was nearly 6p m and for some reason, the group headed to the Woodlands Checkpoint. The good part about this checkpoint as there was no fees to cross the gantry. The bad part was that it was usually very crowded.By the time we reached there at about 6 pm, it was already quite congested with cars. Fortunately for us, being scooter riders, we were small enough to squeeze through.
But it was when we were approaching the gantry that was the most trying. There must have been at least one hundred motorcycles(!!!) trying to get into the gantry. And the progress was so slow. It took a very long time for us to get closer.
Many of the people there were feeling hot and frustrated that they started to hit on their horns repeatedly. It was chaotic. The smoke all around, the loud horns. I kept my focus on to listening to music keep myself calm.
It was only after about 45 mins that we finally crossed over back to Singapore. I was just thankful that the entire ordeal was over. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the trip today, solely for the beautiful view and the yummy food. I would love to do it again. Thank you so much for organizing this trip, Vesporeans 🙂
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I just had dinner and all your food pictures made me hungry again.
HOLY SEAFOOD!
the baby lobsters looks tempting..urgh.
btw, no need white card eh? Cool yo!
Mintea
It really is that good :D~
Woo … I still dream about the crabs and the lobsters every now and then.
Malique
Poor baby lobsters yeah? They didnt have a chance to grow up when someone plucked them, and steam them. But they are delicious! :D~
Yep, no need to fill up the white card anymore. Thats great right?
Yay! Another post of Marina on her Vespa ela, ela, ela, eh eh! 😀
I echo Malique’s sentiment on the lobsters. Oh why did I have to read this in the morning. I hear my tummy growling!
What an adventure!The seafood is yummy,i miss going to JB for good seafood.So does my husband…seafood here is not as good.You lucky thing!
Looks so fun!!!
I was actually taking my class2b prac but I had to go for prac 1 for like 4 times and in the end I gave up. I actually do wanna ride so much!
Any tips?
hey rina! aw man! how did you reach there?is it possible to get to the seafood area on a bicycle?
Moby
If only there were a device to teleport food whenever one wants it. You put your hand in a device and out comes the food. Unlimited lobsters … That would be so cool! 😀
Frauneimeyer
Where are you ats? Eating in Malaysia is so satisfying, so much wonderful food everywhere.
A slow ride to getting to these food makes it all the more worthwhile 🙂
Ida
I think the only tip I can give you is to look front and to look far. A lot of new riders tend to look at the floor, and thats what makes the motorcycle wobble alot.
When it wobbles, thats when the instructor will instantly minus marks :
Just dont give up! I’m sure you can do it!
Ah Wei
If you used our route, I think that will take you guys a very very long time because we took about 2 hours to get there on scooters.
However, there have been Singaporean cyclists who took the Bumboat from Changi Jetty and then they cycled to Pengerang. Maybe you could use that route instead? 🙂
hey rina,im in the states.i miss local food like crazy.think about it day and night but not too bad since i cook alot of local food at home but looking at pics like that just made me feel like moving back all overa again 🙂
ah I got more excited at checking out vespas than the food. 🙂
Woah!! Got vespa club in s’pore!!! Over here only got big bike club! I am sure it is quite an adventure! BTW how many time did u fill up the petrol??
BTW tq for dropping on my new site! Have a nice day & enjoy CNY holiday!
Freuneimeyer
The states?They have their own awesome food there, don’t they? 😀 Of course, when it comes to local food, nothing can beat the home country, yeah?
Its like the time when I was in Thailand, all these while I thought our Tom Yam was good, but eating it in Thailand itself was a mind blowing experience. It was *that* good.
I keep thinking of where I could get my Nasi Lemak fix when I will be in Italy. Where on earth am I going to find pandan leaves there? 😐
How do you ever cope with that?
Shaun
Then you should join us in one of our outings. You’re most welcome to 🙂
HAM
Yes there is 🙂 Its been established for several years now. And we’ve definitely been scootering around 😀
I think we filled up about 2 – 3 times? Just to be on the safe side, so that we don’t get stranded in the middle of the expressway. Hehehehehe.
And have a lovely Chinese New Year 🙂
Hi again rina,american food is okie once in while lah but if i dont eat my curries and local food as in home cooking i will go into withdrawals esp when we are travelling…i think the key to coping with missing the food is to try to cook as much asian as possible and besides my husband loves malay and indian food especially.i am in miami and its easy to get most asian ingredients but sometimes i do have to substitute and do without certain ingredients i cant get fresh…did you try cooking the nasi lemak when you were in italy then?
!Riding in the Malaysian roads is much different compared to riding in the Singaporean roads. For one part, the maximum road limit is 120km/hr while in Singapore it is 90km/hr. Imagine our amazement as we see the other motorists zooming by. They were really fast!!
only highways have 110 to 120 kmh speed max. normal roads are 70 to 90 ONLY…if not kena saman. next time kenot enter malasie.
Frauneimeyer
I can get coconut milk no problem in Italy. Cart brought me to go to this international shop where it sells a lot of goods from other countries. But there isnt any pandan leaves which I think is crucial for making nasi lemak. If I omit it, it will taste quite different.
Maybe I could try fusion food instead. Nasi Lemak with rosemary … hehehehe
Matmotor
Ok, my mistake, I meant the expressway not the main roads.
But none of us went up to 120km/hr anyway. We were all cruising at about 80km/hr 🙂
Thanks for dropping in!
True I guess,but I don’t use any pandan leaves too when I make any nasi lemak.Instead I use fenufreek(halba),taste quite ok lah :=P Guess we should just try to substitute with whatever ingredients we have on hand.
Hey try that,nasi lemak with rosemary and tell me if turns out good,i shall want to try too.
Does cart likes malay food?
Cart loves our local food here 🙂
He especially loves vegetarian Indian food. He’s hoping that there is a fast food Indian restaurant like what we have here, over in Rome … hehehe.
I can get Halba 😀 Hmm … I think its a great time to start experimenting 🙂 Except that its so easy to just buy food here, that sometimes its just more convenient to eat at hawker centers … Hehe!
hell yea ! you are right 😉