West Malaysia loop ride

Yesterday was fantastic. An easy day riding around Penang and the nearby areas, discovering a fantastic beach with great food and a wonderful ride on one of the most twisted roads I have ever been to. It would be hard to top! At the same time, our ride today would take us onto one of the most scenic places in West Malaysia…Route 4…and I am stoked! We would be heading east today. Starting from the island of Pulau Pinang, all the way to the north eastern city of Kota Bahru. The best thing about today’s ride is that we will be on Route 4. The last time I was there it was late into the night and I saw a wild elephant by the side of the road and a sky filled with stars. What would today be like? Read on to find out! While the journey today would be a relatively short one, that last stretch going up towards Kota Bahru was new to me and I did not want to get there too late. So we arranged to meet for breakfast at 7am. Unfortunately, I was up late and only got to the breakfast place at 7:30am. The rest of the gang were done with breakfast and almost ready to go. So I grabbed a quick bite, packed up the bike and got ready to leave as well. It was 8am by the time we finally left the hotel. As usual, the first stop would be for petrol. We were experts with filling up the bikes by now and everyone was ready in a jiffy. We had to wait a little though because Nabil, the one who took the best care of his bike, had to oil his chain and pump up his tires. I don’t do these things because I had a Scottoiler installed (thanks to Ethan) and generally ignore my tires. I pumped them up with Ride On TPS and nitrogen so took it for granted that they would be fine throughout the trip. Of course, that was a little foolhardy of me…still…I am generally too lazy to do things manually. In any case…Nabil got ready soon enough and we headed off! The easy way to get to the mainland was by the bridge. But since I still was not able to get any footage of us getting on and off the ferry the last three times, we decided to go on it and try to get some footage. Third time lucky obviously did not work for me…maybe it would work the fourth time! The roads towards the ferry terminal were nice and empty as it was a Sunday. The morning was rather pleasant too…until we got to the area near the harbour. There must have been some kind of bicycle race or a ride-a-thon going on as there were so many bikes at one of the roundabouts. There were marshals blocking traffic so the cyclists had safe passage as well. So we waited until they were through and then started off again. I was so distracted by then I followed the cyclists path…and ended up in the wrong place! Nothing a quick U-turn would not solve though and we were eventually back on track towards the ferry terminal. This time round, I made sure my batteries were freshly charged and my memory card was properly formatted the night before…so…I got the footage I needed! YES!!! What was cool too was that the ferry was literally empty! With the ferry almost half empty, there was a lot of space for bikes…and for walking around. It turned out to be the best ferry ride I have had for a long time! For some reason, the breeze felt cooler and the ride felt smoother when there is so much space! I remember thinking that it would be nice if the rest of the day would feel the same…lots of space for an easy and enjoyable ride! All too soon, we were docked on the other side and headed out on Butterworth. I headed towards the direction of Kulim. This first stretch would be mainly express way riding and it was relaxing. We were passed by a group of riders from Penang on Ducati and Kawasaki bikes. They were going pretty quickly compared to our relaxing pace of 90kph. It was good to see them though…and always nice to have bikes to admire along the ride! There was one of those openings leading to a bike lane that came up eventually…and I debated if we should use it. As usual, I decided not to and headed pass it as the toll booth was at least half a kilometre away. Unfortunately, I quickly saw that there was no bike lane further up and waved for the riders behind to use the bike lane. Four of them made it fine to the bike lane but the first three of us did not. Thank goodness the road was empty as we had to make a quick U-turn to get to the bike lane…I did not want to repeat what happened the last time I had to go through a toll booth on a non-bike lane! We eventually caught up with the others further down the road. The plan for today was to ride the first stretch in a leisurely pace until we get to Gerik, fill up, do a photography run until we hit the public jetty at Tasik Temenggor for lunch. The ride went according to plan to Gerik. I briefed the gang on the photography run. We would be riding in formation in a relatively slower pace. I would go ahead and stop about one kilometre ahead, get off my bike, and take the photographs of the gang as they rode pass. They would then stop further down the road until I join up with them and we would repeat this until we got all the photographs we wanted. As expected, it took us three runs to get the pictures we needed but it was well worth the effort!

It was really sweet of everyone when I caught up with them at the end of our last photography run as they tried taking a picture of me on my bike. The picture turned out very nice too! Thanks guys! We rode the rest of the way to Tasik Temenggor and crossed the first bridge towards the public jetty where we planned to have lunch. I remember the jetty from our ride back in 2010. It was a very relaxing spot with some simple food places and I was really looking forward to a nice lunch. Unfortunately the place turned out to be badly flooded. One of the locals told us it was flooded for a month and the water was not subsiding! There was litter everywhere and kids standing around with nothing to do. It looked really sad. While they did still serve some food here, it was clearly not the best place to stop for lunch. I decided to head back for a couple kilometres and have lunch at the Banding Lakeside Inn instead. This was the place we put up for a night last year and they were very hospitable. It turned out to be the right decision as the place was still as relaxing, peaceful and scenic as I remembered it to be! The people were equally friendly and made us feel very welcome! The view from the lunch place was excellent too! Many of us were torn between admiring the view and ordering food!

  The food was great…and dessert was even better! We took the opportunity to order up some cheesecake to celebrate Nabil’s birthday properly. I think he was a little embarrassed when we sang him a birthday song! Hahaha!!! The sun was high up in the sky by the time we were done with lunch and we decided to stay a little longer just to avoid riding in the heat. Many of the riders took the opportunity for a power nap…others were chatting or taking photographs of the beautiful scenery outside. It was time to go eventually and we got back to readying our bikes for the next leg. I decided to make this next stretch free and easy as it would be a nice long stretch of mountain roads all the way till our next stop: the Titi Wangsa Rest Area. So I briefed the riders and let them head out…and reminded everyone to be safe! I decided to ride at the very back since I rode at the front so much. It was really relaxing to be able to take my time and get ready while the riders rode off one by one. Eventually, I rode out at a very leisurely pace…enjoying the cool breeze even though sun was high up. The ride to the top of the mountains was a real highlight for me. The views were fantastic, the bends were long and easy and the road was practically empty! What more can a rider ask for? The kilometres flew by and all too quickly I was at the rest area. We stopped to admire the view and breeze.

The next leg was to be a 40-50km stretch of heavenly roads leading down the mountains towards the town of Jeli. It would be another free and easy leg. Again, I decided to ride at the end of the pack. I am running out of superlatives to describe the road…so it is probably best to wait until I get the video done so you can see it for yourself. One stretch of this road was under construction and we had to stop for awhile as they only had one lane for traffic to flow. Fortunately, it was just 1km almost at the bottom of the mountain so I was able to wait patiently…and then rode on fresh tarmac…till the end of the construction zone where I came face-to-face with a paving machine! I realized then that I was supposed to ride on the other lane instead! I wonder if the rest of the cars were on the same lane as me and what they would do when they got to that same spot! We met up at the petrol station just outside Jeli as planned and rested there for awhile…excitedly talking about how great Route 4 was for everyone!

The last leg from Jeli to Kota Bahru was a short one…less than 100km. So we set off at around 4:30pm in our usual formation. The ride was an easy one until we got onto the stretch of Route 8…our last stretch before hitting Kota Bahru. There is something to be said about Route 8 as the stretch that joins Bentong to Gua Musang is fantastic but the stretch that joins Machang to Kota Bahru was just one long, narrow and straight dual carriageway. The traffic was horrendously heavy by the time we got here as it was rush hour (yes, Sunday is a working day in Kelantan it seems) and everyone was rushing to get home! I have to say that the drivers and riders here are some of the most impatient that I have seen anywhere. The traffic was so heavy there was hardly any room for overtaking…yet people do overtake…and they do so in a very erratic and exaggerated manner…swerving out and in very abruptly. I was not surprised to see an accident along the way. We got to Kota Bahru at around 6:30pm and stopped to lookup the directions to the Lee Guesthouse where we were putting up for the night. Google Maps made it look really simple and so we headed off…only to get a little lost because the roads that we saw on Google Maps for this part of the world was obviously dated! We went on for a bit before deciding to ask for directions and eventually found the guesthouse…nestled at a place that was not shown on Google Maps at all! So be sure to write me if you want to stay over at the Lee Guesthouse and I will give you directions. The guest house turned out to be a semi-detached house that the owner decided to convert for people who want a more local experience. The neighbours were playing badminton outside when we arrived and were very friendly.

We had to park our bikes in the porch area just because we wanted them to be within locked gates and not parked outside. As you can see, the area was a really small one and it was going to be quite a challenge to park seven big bikes in there and still have room for us to get in and out. We eventually did it though…in our very first attempt!

The owner of the guest house was friendly and helpful. He stocked up the place with drinks and snacks…and wrote the prices down for us so there was no misunderstanding. I allocated out the rooms and arranged for everyone to get cleaned up and head out for dinner at 8pm. We decided to walk out for dinner and found the mall nearby without problem. The walk out was a rather pleasant one too.

We decided to eat at one of the food stalls we found while walking to the mall eventually. However, Alex bought some nuts so we could enjoy them with some of the beer we knew were waiting for us in the refrigerator back at the guest house.

Our dinner was an authentic spread of local Malay cuisine. We also scouted a dish that was called Mee Kung Fu. Not knowing what it was, we decided to order a portion just to try. We took turns to guess what this mysterious sounding dish would be. Turned out it was Cantonese Noodles…they probably spelled Kwong Fu as Kung fu! Hahaha!

There was a football game on while we were finishing dinner…Manchester United were playing Wolves…and some of us were hooked onto it! We eventually decided that it was better to forego some of the action and walk back to the guest house to enjoy the rest of the game with some beer and nuts. What a fantastic game it was…Manchester United scored FIVE goals! FIVE!!! Man…it was one good game! It was the best way to end a fantastic day…as long as you were not a Wolves fan that is!