WAKE boarding, Puchong, KL

With KL being somewhat inland, finding locations for water sports pursuits is a bit of a challenge. I came across this one via word-of-mouth (typical) and just proves it's not what you know, just who you know. I love wakeboarding and although I'm not great at it, I do like hitting the water... in more ways than one!

Taman Tasik Prima in Puchong is a dis-used old tin mine, as are most of the 'puddles' around KL. Aaron Chin has 2 Ski Nautiques and a great beach set-up. Once you've found his hideaway, you're in for bit of a treat. It's a sort of Bali set-up with good wooden furniture and, most importantly, a beach bar!

The old tin mines that lie scattered around KL are not small affairs. In this case, it's about 20m deep. The water's clean and fresh so it's a welcome treat hoping out of the water and not being all sticky. The other good bit about boardin' on lakes is that the water's just about always as smooth as butter! The Puchong Lake only gets "un-rideable" when a Sumatra is passing through. But as with most storms in this area, they don't last long and generally 45 minutes is all it takes for the storms to blow over.

Aaron's also got a trampoline in place so you can warm up on that before you hit the water. I used his set-up to try out my Liquid Force Watson pro '08...what a board! While it's well beyond my capabilities, what I really like about it is that it does everything with consumate ease. Aerials are easy, landings are soft unless you bungle it up and slides are infinitely controllable. Whatever changes they made between '07 and '08 really made a difference because I've ridden that board too. My only other board is the original Wake Tech Flite 69...which is still a really kool board to ride, in a retro sort of way. A few boards are available in KL and if you need to know where, drop me a note.

Riding at Aaron's joint, it's really neat to be able to cut out and make it through the reeds that line some of the shores of the lake. Like most water sports venues in Malaysia, you'll have the whole lake to yourself. On the water there are only two boats - both Aaron's, so it's hardly going to be the traffic-jammed clutter that I've experienced in some locations in other parts of the world! Malaysia is a treat like that. Whether you board, bike or boat...you're going to have mother nature pretty much to yourself.

GETTING THERE: That's a good one and you're better off calling Aaron for directions (+6012 324 6677). Basically, it's about 25 minutes south from KL centre through an area called Puchong. Taman Tasik Prima is a pretty new development so it's not that well sign-posted and the lake is not really that visible until you trip over it. The Lake is in the midst of being surrounded by developments and there are some really nice places right next to Aaron's place.

It took me about an hour to find it the first time. Subsequently I locked in his location on my GPS and that was MUCH easier to find!

You can check out Aaron's website here