West Malaysia loop ride

The third leg of the West Malaysia loop ride turned out to be the most eventful and trying time for the gang. One objective of the loop ride was to give the gang a taste of the diversity that can be found in the peninsular. We have already seen how different things are in Johor Bahru, Mersing, Kuantan and Kuala Terengganu along the east coast on the first day. We experienced the exhilaration of riding the magnificent route 4 that links Jeli to Gerik on the second day, and the beauty and thrill of riding around the Penang island on day three.

As usual, I wanted to start out early to maximize daylight. Here’s a tip: it is always a good idea to start off as early as possible so the journey can be covered under light. The best way to do this is to start as soon as the sun rises. This way you can see better on the roads since there is light and, hopefully, arrive at the destination before the sun sets. Nothing feels better (well, actually some things do feel better but you get what I am trying to say) than rounding up the day’s riding with a good dinner at the destination…but I digress…

We headed out for breakfast at seven in the morning and had some simple local fare. We had roti for breakfast…I had roti canai, Alex had chapati, and Dan had roti telur (of course he had to order it as “canai with egg” even when the server asked if he wanted roti telur, which is what we locals call it…so his order came as roti canai…or prata kosong using Singapore lingo…hehehe), and Tony, well, Tony had mee mamak (or mee goreng Indian style). I enjoyed my roti tremendously. There is something about this roti that really gets me in a good mood…hahaha! Maybe its because they use a lot less oil than the roti prata in Singapore…hmmm…

With breakfast over with, we went back to pack and check out. As I was readying my bike for the ride, I noticed that the left pannier rack had come loose. A closer inspection revealed that the restraining screw and nut had come loose and fallen off…probably during the round island ride. Thank goodness it came off then when I had my panniers stored in the hotel room. I cannot imagine what would have happened if it came loose with my panniers on! I am sure you can guess by now who had the right tools to secure the rack so we could continue on the journey…and so after some MacGyver magic, my bike was good to go! I checked up on the weather earlier in the morning and all locations registered “cloudy” skies…but those looked like heavy clouds in the satellite picture…so I briefed that we might encounter rain on the way down. The sky was pretty clear in Penang so we all decided to ride with dry gear to start and change onto rain gear when it rains. We eventually set off around 9:30am to fill up and oil our chains…and then its off to the Klang Valley!

While we came onto Penang island on the ferry, we rode out on the 13.5km long Penang Bridge, of which 8.4km is over water. The ride on the bridge was an experience in itself…no visitor to Penang should fore-go an opportunity to ride on this bridge. I felt a lump in my throat as I rode off the bridge onto the main peninsular at Perai. Leaving the island is like saying goodbye to a loved one. Still, the ride had to go on and we quickly got onto the North-South Highway heading south…and took the first opportunity to get onto route 1. Along the way, I saw a rider on a Singapore registered supermoto speeding past…he looked like he was having loads of fun too!

Route 1 was very different from the other routes we had taken: 3 (main east coast route), 2 (route into and out of Kuantan), and 4 (mainly Machang to Jeli to Gerik). This particular road is mainly dual carriageway and passes through many smaller towns. Its a little like riding pass Senai (a town in Johor state close to Singapore). Some of these towns are so small all we saw of them were a row of shops! Still, there was quite a lot of traffic…and plenty of trucks too…and I lost count of the number of traffic lights along the way. I thought it was great that we had the opportunity to ride on such a different route…it really brought out a different riding experience!

Now I had wanted to check on our engine oil levels when we filled up in Penang. Unfortunately, in my excitement to get to the Klang Valley, I had forgotten to do the check. Tony signaled to me at one of the traffic lights that he wanted to check something on the bike. The sharp reader would wonder why he did not use the walkie talkie since we had that setup…the truth of the matter was that these walkies were really not that great and many times all we hear is a heavily distorted voice…and it wasn’t because of wind since we were still! Oh well…so I pulled the gang over and we checked our oil levels. To our dismay, it was running low!!! The good news was that there was a bike shop just 100m down the road from where I had stopped (Sungei Jawi is the place, in case you want to visit this shop). You see…there is something to be said about serendipity!!! We had them change the oil for the three dirt bikes and the rear running light for my bike since that blew the day before. I watched the mech drain the oil from all three bikes…and was taken aback when I saw that Dan’s bike had almost no oil left! Thank goodness Tony signaled when he did…any further and his piston might have seized! Phew!!! It took about an hour to have everything done…and we hit the road soon after that as we still had a long distance to cover. Oh…and one of the mechs poured in the new bottle of oil without using a funnel…and not one drop was spilled…man…that took REAL skill!!!

Route 1 was good…but I didn’t want to spend all our time on a major trunk road and had planned to take the gang onto one of the side roads. So we turned off at A22 (just as we entered Perak) and headed west for awhile. I knew that Malaysia had a very diverse landscape…but what caught me by surprise was how that landscape change took place. This was not one of those gradual changes…it was a night and day change…that one turn took us from riding through small towns and sparingly populated industrial buildings…to a huge and flat maze of padi fields littered with small farm houses and make-shift scarecrows. To give you a sense of scale, we were riding along this flat farm land for the next 30km! It was farm land as far as the eyes could see…it was amazing! We rode along the A22 and turned south at the A190. We had to cross a bridge at Taman Kurau Permai so we could get onto the A100 which will eventually lead us back onto route 1. While I did see on Google Maps (when I was planning the route) that we would be crossing a river here, I did not expect the bridge to be quite so modern and large…and the view was even better!

We were on the A100 immediately after the bridge…and it was like someone had clicked on a new screen saver as the landscape was now endless rows of oil palm trees! You got to be there to really see how this changes occur…and how the road is so straight…and practically deserted! I spotted a Hindu temple along the way because it stood out so tall among the oil palm trees. There was also a solitary rain tree that provided for shade further down the road. Please come back to this post to see the photographs after the weekend of 14 March 2010!

Now I am not a meticulous planner when it comes to traveling. I like to explore…to get lost now and then…and to discover new places. I got my opportunity not long after seeing that solitary rain tree…we got to a split that I did not remember seeing on the map…and both directions took us to route 1! I decided to check my map before proceeding as it was hot and sunny…with hardly any shade…so I knew the gang would be tired and thirsty. So after what seemed to be an eternity (for them I’m sure it was), I led the gang in the direction of Simpang Empat. The other reason I wanted to get this right was because I needed fuel…so I could not afford to get this wrong…hahaha!

So…I got it right…hehehe…and we got to a small petrol station with just two pumps. I got my bike filled up…and we were ready to head off for some lunch. I was scanning left and right as soon as we got back onto route 1 for a suitable place for lunch. I eventually spotted a small row of shops on the left just outside Taiping and decided to stop there. This was a simple store that sold rice with Chinese dishes…and like any kampung store, we chose the dishes and took as much as we wanted onto our plate. No complaints about portions sizes! Lunch was VERY tasty…especially the wild boar curry! Yummilicious!

Ok…its time to head out for lunch now (in Petaling Jaya)…so watch out for part two later today!