By popular demand

The Kelong Acheh pictures distributed to friends and colleagues drew some popular responses.
Many are asking for another trip there to be planned. We are happy to announce that efforts to make the second trip to Kelong Acheh a reality are already in progress.

The best time to fish in the vicinity of Penyabung, including Kelong Acheh, is between mid-June and mid-August. So, initial proposals are for the trip to be in mid July. We will check with the operators for the most suitable time.
Updates will be posted from time to time. For a more detailed idea of what we're talking about, go to www.kelongacheh.com
Kelong Acheh is situated off the Northern tip of the East Coast of Johor near Penyabung. To get there, we drove to Kuantan on the East Coast highway, then down South via the coastal road through Pekan, Rompin, Endau and Mersing. In all the drive takes about five hours, if you include a couple of stops for RnR. But when you arrive at Penyabung, the view itself will take away your breath and the fatigue with it.
Meet us at the club to contribute to the plan.

Kelong Acheh and beautiful Penyabung

The trip to Kelong Acheh (pic, left) came a day after our fun outing to Kelong Paradise in Sabak Bernam.
After the barren spell in Kelong Paradise, two of us were determined not to return empty handed from the Kelong Acheh trip (April 21).
Overall, its about a five hour journey if you head straight to the Penyabung jetty (pic, above right) from KL and you arrive in one of the most beautiful places in Malaysia.
It isn't the big fish season yet in the Penyabung area, but still the scenery and setting was really a relief if you had a lot of things on your mind and needed a serious break away from it all. The kelong is visible from the mainland, nestled among a small group of islands and overlooking its namesake Pulau Acheh.
Once you reach the kelong, all you need is your fishing tackle as your every meal, delicious fresh variety of seafood, is included in the package. You don't need to worry about cash. What a relief.
It's a nice cosy kelong for those who don't mind the really simple lifestyle.At this time of the year, the big game such as the giant trevally (GT), really big cobia (aruan tasek) or sharks aren't really in the vicinity yet, but you can still amuse yourself with barracuda, swordfish and some medium-sized groupers and stingrays that hang around near the kelong. There are also a variety of coral fish that can be hunted on medium tackle.
The months of June and July till mid-August are the best times to go hunting the monsters in the Penyabung area, but it is still worth going there even if not just for the catch.
Our total catch: Includes 1 nice aruan tasek, 4 groupers, 4 bayan...etc...

Partners flying high

The NPC's cycling programme partners Le Tua Cycling Team have just released their programme for the months of May, June and July in the UCI Asia Tour. The team is currently ranked third in the UCI Asia Tour team rankings. In their last race, the Tour of East Java earlier this month, Le Tua rider Tonton Susanto won the first stage, while Anuar Manan grabbed the green jersey as the best sprinter for the second time.

Following is an excerpt of the email as notification from team manager Shukor Yassin:

The L2A Team will be taking part for the following tours
9-13 May 08 - Tour of Iran's President - Tickets fully sponsored by organiser
20-28 May 08 - Tour of Azerbaijan Iran ( 1 week after tour of Iran Prsident. The team will extended stay in Iran after the President Race
20, June 08 - 4 July 08 - Tour of Japan/Korea 2008 ( Prolog and stage 1 in Japan and stage 2-9 in Korea ) - also air tickets sponsored by oganiser.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At NPC, we've done our small part to stop the team from folding due to lack of finances last year and they've paid us back with some really impressive results this year. We hope others can step forward and help Malaysia's best ever cycling team progress further.

Go Ah Keong!

Our local born-and-bred Loh Sea Keong, the fearless 22-year old from Kuala Krai, Kelantan, this week became the first ever Malaysian to ride in America's biggest cycling race - the Tour of Georgia. He's also the first Malaysian to compete in a UCI-sanctioned international stage race on the American continent. He may not be the biggest name in cycling yet, but we sure are proud of Ah Keong. He's one of those on his way to becoming the greatest ever Malaysian cyclist.

Here's the take from his GE-Marco Polo cycling Team presented by Trek website..

"

The GE – Marco Polo Cycling Team presented by Trek will be taking part in the USA’s premier cycling event: the Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T. It is the first time ever, a Chinese cycling team is taking part in an UCI sanctioned road race in North America.
Marco Polo riders Fuyu Li, Xing Yan Dong, Liu Yilin (all China), Leon van Bon (Netherlands), Rhys Pollock, Jai Crawford (both Australia), Loh Sea Keong (Malaysia) and Sergey Kudentsov (Russia) will line up for the start on Tybee Island on the 21st of April and hope to finish successfully in Atlanta on the 27th of April.
After media company Discovery Channel and bicycle manufacturer Trek Bikes, GE is the third premium American company in a row, supporting the team as a name sponsor. "

For the latest on Ah Keong's performances in the Tour of Georgia, go to http://www.cyclingnews.com/

And the winner was...

As you can see... It wasn't a marlin as Stephen Francis had anticipated, neither was it a shark, nor a sailfish. All it took to win the first ever edition of the NPC Kelong Attack at the Kelong Paradise off Bagan Nakhoda Omar in Sabak Bernam on April 19-20, was a 100gm semilang. It was caught at 9pm on Saturday night by a man who would normally be doing another kind of fishing at that time of the week - Dino Herrera (pic), NPC's own Minister of Affairs.

Eight enthusiastic anglers headed for the kelong that Saturday, all for the first time ever in their lives. After some hours of serious and dedicated, but fruitless fishing, most retreated to the comfort of the top tier of the kelong for some chit-chat, snacks and games, while some tuned into the football on TV.

Yes, there was TV with Astro on the Kelong Paradise. There was also a pool table, a karaoke set and a lot of rubbish in the sea. But bait was not as readily available as advertised by the company on their website, so fishing was kinda getting out of the question. One of our friends, Norman Shamsuddin, Le Tour de Langkawi's travel supremo, did land the most number of catches. He took in three poisonous kerapu pasir and a smaller semilang. So, by 5am that Sunday morning, he too retreated to the comfort of his bed in the dorm.

The food was simple and tasty, the retreat to a place where no car had passed forever a real relief. The weekend getaway to a place none of us had been before was fun. Even without fish, none of us, apart from one (Zack Wee), was complaining. We'd say this wasn't really a fishing trip as we'd imagined.

Hours to go and the prizes are ready

The group that will be up in the kelong for Round One of the NPC Kelong Attack 2008 have been briefed and are eager to have a go, plus it was announced today that everybody will likely go home with something apart from the fishes.
The organising committee today swiftly gathered the bonuses to be received by participants of the event. Not too much, but surely worth the trip. Following is the list.

NPC Kelong Attack (Round 1), Kelong Paradise, Sabak Bernam, Selangor. April 19-20, 2008.
1) Grand Prize - 1 Coleman cooler box, 1 Coleman travel expandable water carrier (big) and a voucher for 2 days and 1 night stay at the Palm Garden Hotel, IOI Resort. Criteria: 1 single biggest catch of the weekend by weight in accordance to regulations. Fishing method by rod and line only.
2) Super Premier prize - 1 Coleman camping desk lamp, a 2 days and 1 night stay at the Palm Garden Hotel, IOI Resort. Criteria: Most number of catches in accordance to regulations. Bait fish excluded. Fishing method by rod and line only.
3) Premier prize - 1 Coleman camping desk lamp, hi-tea voucher for 2 persons at Palm Garden Hotel, IOI Resort. Criteria: Second largest catch of the weekend in accordance to regulations. fishing method by rod and line only.
4) Top consolation prize (x2) - 1 Coleman travel expandable water dispenser (big) and 1 NPC-Le Tua Cycling Team official cap. Criteria: Second and third highest number of catches for the weekend in accordance to regulations. Bait fish excluded. Fishing method by rod and line only.
5) Consolation prize (x3) - 1 Coleman travel expandable water dispenser (small) and 1 NPC-Le Tua Cycling Team official cap. Criteria: third, fourth and fifth largest catches for the weekend in accordance to regulations. Fishing method by rod and line only.

Prizes are courtesy of UFL, Palm Garden Resort and Le Tua Cycling Team. Many thanks to them and Mr. Lazarus Rokk for his assistance.

Off to the kelongs

The excitement can be sensed just as you walk into the NPC premises at 84, Jalan Tangsi.


After months of so much tension, confusion and debate before during and after the general elections on March 8, some of us decided to do something about some of our pals as they were turning into grumpy old men with sour faces all the time.


This Saturday, 10 of us are off to the Kelong Paradise off Bagan Nakhoda Omar, near Sabak Bernam, Selangor. We're spending the night there to do some fishing and relax.


There were initially almost 30 interested parties, but the media being the media, most failed to gain the freedom from their regular lives. Thus a small group of 10 will be heading for the sea this Saturday.


But of those that are finally going, the kelong is all they talk about. Not all are regular anglers, but once they confirmed their participation, you could just sense those fun chilhood memories around fishing just creeping back into their minds.
Just to make it a bit competitive, we threw open a challenge and called it the Kelong Attack. Thanks to UFL, the biggest catches go home with some prizes.


If you're interested, just check out http://www.kelongparadise.com/


Give them a call and ask for Mr. Teh Ewe Leng, a former pressman, who will be more than happy to assist you.


Next post will be about this trip and another on our trip to Kelong Acheh (pic above)on the East Coast, the following Monday, where some of us will be spending three days and two nights. (http://www.kelongacheh.com/)