West Malaysia loop ride

The beginning of a new journey always fills me with anticipation. There is a familiar mix of apprehension and excitement. This mix of emotions is very heady and one can easily get addicted to them. I am not certain if I am addicted to them really. But one thing for sure, I have a lot of trouble getting to sleep the night before every long journey. This one is no different.

My alarm rang at 5:30am after what seemed to be a very short night. I sprang out of bed and started getting myself ready for the ride. This is when the buzz started for me. I felt energetic, awake and alert. I sent a text to every rider in the gang that it is almost time just to be sure everyone was awake as I was getting ready. To my amazement, Eric replied that he was already there at the meeting point. I glanced at the time…6am…and I thought to myself that he must be really excited. Then I saw his next message saying that I told him we would meet at 6am! My bad!!!

I hurriedly completed my preparations and rushed out to meet him at our pre-arranged meeting point. I was glad I got there a little earlier than planned as I was feeling bad that Eric went out so much earlier. The good news is that nothing was going to spoil the start of this journey for any of us. Eric was his usual cheerful and funny self and we had a good chat. The rest arrived soon after and we made our way out of Singapore into Malaysia.

The first order of business is to get the bikes fuelled up and give every bike one final inspection to make sure everything is in order. Agree on the riding formation and start gearing up!

Then it was time to head off and start the journey! Gentlemen…start your engines!

Our route today will take us east along route 3 to Mersing, then north towards Kuantan, and finally to Dunggun. This would be a long riding day of more than 460km!

The traffic as we rode out from the petrol station was heavy as expected since it was a Tuesday. Thankfully, the traffic started to thin out as we progressed further out from Johor Bahru towards Kota Tinggi and the gang got into a familiar rhythm. The roads got better and better…

…and better still!

We rode at a healthy pace and arrived at the small town of Jemaluang and stopped for some breakfast.

This corner coffee shop is very popular with bikers. Some say that they had the best Wanton Noodles in the state. This jolly gang of riders was certainly more than happy with the noodles as we were all famished! We had noodles and coffee and toast! What I really like about this place is that it reminds me of my childhood days in Kuala Lumpur. All coffee shops used to look like this!

One of the things that I always wanted to do was to be able to post pictures along the way. The problem was that data roaming was very costly. This time round I was much better prepared as I had gotten myself a pre-paid Hotlink phone card. I was able to get a good signal and started posting a few pictures on Facebook. Both Eric and Paul were also looking to do the same and requested that we stop by a shop that would allow them to do this. The plan was to find a shop in Mersing…the next “big” town.

Mersing was a short hop away from Jemaluang so we got there quickly enough and found a couple shops that sold phone cards. What happened next was a slightly chaotic hive of activity as our two friends went about sorting out their pre-paid phone card needs. Interestingly, they decided to go with DIGI pre-paid cards. We set off soon after things got sorted and crossed over Sungai Mersing. This being just a couple weeks before the Malaysian General Elections, the entire bridge was made more colourful by the flags of the parties vying for seats.

This next stretch of road heading up north towards Rompin was wide and open with sweeping bends and the occasional view of the South China Sea. It was beautiful! I also started experimenting with different ways of taking pictures.

  

As we rode into Rompin, I remembered a spot that I stopped at on a recent ride along Sungai Rompin and decided to have a short stop to enjoy the beautiful and scenic river.

We then headed out again and continued our ride north. The intent was to have lunch in Kuantan. However, I was feeling very hungry as we pulled into Pekan and decided to stop there instead for lunch. We ended up having lunch at a place next to Sungai Pahang.

We all had Nasi Ayam (Chicken Rice) here…just because everyone else there seems to be having the same thing. It turned out to be really yummy! In fact, I am feeling hungry now just thinking about it!

As we still had quite a lot of distance to cover, we quickly finished up our lunch, filled up at the petrol station across the road and pushed on. The roads were lined with party flags…even more than at Mersing!

There was no way to avoid looking at them swaying in the wind…so pretty! I could not resist riding close to the barrier just so I could touch them!

I also could not resist taking a picture of this lumbering truck…pun completely intended here!

We eventually rode into Kuantan and got caught up in the heavy traffic there. It was also the hottest time of the day…made hotter by the long wait at the traffic lights. I wonder why traffic light signals take so long to change here! The good news is that this gave me time to take more pictures. Here is a picture of Eric looking like RoboCop…

And one of Paul on his super-duper BMW R1200RT with radio blasting…

There were MANY traffic lights…but he is still happy!

It took us quite awhile to negotiate the roads of Kuantan. Following the road signs took us inland…not the direction I wanted to take. Following the GPS heading towards the coast also took us to the wrong place. We ended up almost riding into a Mcdonald’s drive through next to the beach! I was feeling very hot by the time we got out of Kuantan and decided that I needed a break and made a stop at Pantai Balok. We parked our bikes and immediately started relaxing because this place was so peaceful and incredibly BEAUTIFUL!

Just look at that beautiful beach!

No picture is complete without one of Chris’ poses!

We spent quite a bit of time here enjoying the breeze and surroundings. Rejuvenated, we pushed on towards our final destination: Dunggun. At this point, the road took an interesting turn. What was a beautiful coastal road became a completely industrial one just before Cherating. The road itself took on a different colour too!

I was adjusting my cruise control at this point and my bike suddenly lost power. Try as I might, I could not restart the engine and I had to pull over. This is not a place or time for a breakdown! I frantically looked over my bike…jiggled every wire to make sure nothing had come loose…jiggled every switch…and eventually it fired up after I jiggled the kill switch. I wonder if I had accidentally hit that when I was adjusting my cruise control…hmmm. Whatever the case, I was glad it was the kill switch and not something serious! So on we go!!!

We passed through a few towns along this stretch…got stuck at some traffic lights…which meant more pictures! Here is another one of Paul.

I noticed this couple in front of me at one of the traffic lights and was intrigued that she was carrying this carton of eggs…don’t ask me why I was intrigued. I just was…hahaha!!!

As usual, the flags were EVERYWHERE!!!

We rode pass an oil refinery…

And I could not resist taking a picture of these magnificent power lines…I just love the dramatic look of these lines!

Eventually, we rode into a cluster of village looking chalets and parked in front of the main porch…Dahima’s Guesthouse!

I called many different guest houses before finding Dahima’s. Everywhere else were either full, or did not have enough rooms, or had enough rooms but no air conditioning, or no water heaters…I sure was glad I found Dahima’s. Interestingly too, unlike every other person I spoke with on the phone, Dahima spoke with a strong British accent. I thought that was strange until I met her. Turned out she is British and settled here years ago and started this guest house as a small business. How cool is that!

We unpacked the bikes and went to our rooms which turned out to be basic but comfortable. Equipped with air conditioning and water heaters! Yes!!! I then decided to have a look around the property and was amazed at what I saw just outside our rooms.

This bridge crosses over the pond and leads to the beach head.

This is what I saw standing in the middle of the bridge. It was a beautifully serene sight!

And the beach…was private…and breezy…and there was NOTHING on the horizon!

I really wanted to take this boat and get onto the water!

The beach was littered with these pretty shells. I remember collecting shells like these when I was a boy and could not think when I last saw a sight like this. Funny how Singapore beaches are devoid of shells!

They look very pretty close up!

This beach just goes on and on…

All too soon it started getting dark…and we all started to get a little hungry. Dahima suggested a couple places we could try and we decided to head to C.B. Wee’s Seafood Restaurant for a Chinese dinner.

It was a small family run restaurant and they were very friendly. We parked right next to our table!

It is always nice when we are at the table.

Needless to say, the food was DELICIOUS!!!

 

 

And the star of the show…Grilled Tiger Prawns! These prawns were as long as our forks and spoons!!!

So there you have it…a day of good riding, delicious food, fantastic scenery and good friends. What more can one ask for?