Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels: July 2022

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Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels

Kuala Kubu Bharu Street Murals

Kuala Kubu Bharu, Selangor, Malaysia - June 2022

Kuala Kubu Bharu (KKB) is a favourite day-trip holiday spot for those in the Klang Valley. It's a quaint town that still retains it's colonial feel, and the drive to the town though short will transport one back to a quiet past. Being at the foothills of Fraser's Hill, it's cool weather has been a draw for holiday-makers since the colonial days. En-route up to the hill is the Sungai Chiling Fish Sanctuary is a lovey spot for picnics and camping, with a pleasant surprise (we will come to that later).

And the nearby Sungai Selangor is a favourite spot for white-water rafting as can be seen in the above mural. Starting from a spot just after the Sungai Selangor Dam, the Class 4 rafting gives a big boost to ones adrenaline!

With the surge in local tourism after lock-downs arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, local towns have been spruced themselves up to attract the tourists. Some, colorful murals have popped up at the KKB, at the older part of town still looking colonial with it's few streets of colonial shop-houses. Kuala Kubu Bharu means "New Kuala Kubu" but it is by no means new. The old Kuala Kubu faced several floods, with a major one in 1926. It is from then that the "New Kuala Kubu" was rebuilt making it almost a hundred years old!

A landmark to locate the street murals is the Sun Sun Nam Cheong Restaurant, one that is 101 years old and still being run by the same family - now by the second generation, by a spritely 70+ years old Mr. Tan Siew Wan.

The murals are at the back-lane of Sun Sun Nam Cheong Restaurant, and we accessed it through the back-door of the shop.

Most of the shop-houses here hails from the colonial era and have a rear compound. From the back lane, we can see that much of their character have been retained - i.e with their louvered window and concrete roof gratings.

A couple of statues behind the Ree Chin Enterprise shop-house.

The character on the right looks like Vincent van Gogh. But more likely he's one of those White Rajahs from Sarawak, then known as the Raj of Sarawak - seeing that the statue on the left looks like an Iban native., with his characteristic Beatles hairstyle and large Iban ear-piercing.

Some of the first-floor of the shop-houses have been left with black moldy walls and vines growing from them. Great! It just gives them more character!

These murals are in a way a travel guide for the locality, as can be seen below:

A mural showing the abundance of flora, like this pitcher plant, that can be seen at this locality and Fraser's Hill. Some of these can grow quite big, like the carnivorous Nepenthes Rajah.

Some way up, heading to Fraser's Hill and before the Sungai Chiling Fish Sanctuary, is the Sungai Selangor Dam; here too can be seen nice flowers as seen above.

If time permits, do stop at the Sungai Selangor Dam (GPS & Directions: 3.57199, 101.70546), its huge circular outlet with white effervescence water rushing down in a loud roar is a site to behold. Click here for a great satellite vies of this outlet.

Slightly beyond the dam is the Sungai Chiling Fish Sanctuary (GPS & Directions: 3.59425, 101.73548), take a 15 minutes walk from the main road and along laterite trails to reach.

This mural is that of a visitor to the Sungai Chiling Fish Sanctuary, where the protected, friendly Mahseer fishes swim unharmed amongst human wading there.

A GoPro part underwater photo, shows how beautiful and tame the Mahseer fishes at the sanctuary are.

From the Sungai Chiling Fish Sanctuary many will hike across streams and jungle treks to reach .....

..... the Chiling Waterfalls (GPS & Directions: 3.59530, 101.75086), which is much further in and one will have to cross six streams to reach it - it's about an hour hike, so do wear proper trekking shoes.

For those keen in hiking, their are several great hiking trails near Kuala Kubu Bharu up to the hills near the town.

The surrounding forests are teeming with exotic flora.

Other than hiking, some go trekking and exploring onto less know paths, do get experience guides as one can easily get lost in the unfamiliar jungle.

For bird-watchers, surprisingly Kuala Kubu Bharu have good bird-sighting spots. Do look out for Hornbills, Black Crested Bulbul, Little Cuckoo Dove, Red-naped Trogon, White-crowned Forktail, Whiskered Tree-swift, Greater Racquet-tailed Drongo, Greater Green Leaf Bird, Black-winged Flycatcher-Shrike, Gold-whiskered Barbet, and many more!

Not many know, but one can do paragliding at KKB, it's operated by a company called CLOUD BASS. Participants meet at starts from the Taman Millenium Mini Stadium, and take a 4-wheel drive up to Bukit Batu Pahat where the paragliding launches off. Click here to view a video of paragliding in KKB.

Click here to buy tickets for the paragliding, which presently costs RM280 & RM330 for Malaysians & foreigners respectively, terms & conditions applies.

Kuala Kubu Bharu has become a launch pad for day cycling rides up to Sungai Chiling, or even an overnight bike-packing tour up to Fraser's Hill.

Location Map of Kuala Kubu Bharu Street Art Murals

(Click here for a link to this map)

Click on GPS coordinates for Google Direction Map: 3.56333, 101.65978.

(Click here for Google Street View [street view not available yet])

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