West Malaysia loop ride

It was still dark when I woke up this morning. It was very still and the room was filled with the persistent hum of the air conditioner. My watch read 5:35am…my alarm did not have a chance to ring yet! Oh well, time to get ready for the spectacle.

Getting ready in any other place would have been a simple affair. Switch on the heater, brush my teeth, take a quick shower, change into the day’s clothes and off I go. Things were a little different here as the shower was so weak in the morning all I was getting was a consistent drip. The water was hot…but there was no way I could really shower with this. So I had to take a cold shower…brrrr…still…it was invigorating.

My room mate, Paul, did not want to witness the spectacle so I went out by myself at 6am. There was a group of school kids having a camp here and they were in the prayer room for their morning prayers. I made my way through the darkness crossing the bridge towards the beach head. Then it was time to wait for it to happen. I did not have to wait long as the sky started glowing faintly…but I was a little disappointed with the huge and shapeless cloud cover stretching out from the horizon.

Regardless, I still enjoyed watching the colours of dawn as it unfolded before me like an ever evolving work of art. Even the water was touched by the warm colours!

I was joined by Chris before long and we heard the sound of a little motor boat. They passed us as they made their way to wherever it was they were going.

The magic of dawn lasted only for a short while and before long it was time to head back to the chalet to get ready for breakfast. The way back was nothing like earlier…it was BRIGHT!

Just in case you were wondering…the ants will see it this way.

Anyway, we rode out towards the town area and found a place that served some local food for breakfast. We had Roti Canai (the Malaysia equivalent for Roti Prata) and I opted for some Mee Goreng. I always prefer a big breakfast to set the tone for the day. For some, though, a big meal may lead to this.

We decided to explore the area before heading out since we had a pretty short ride to our next destination. I remember reading about a town dearby called Bukit Besi which used to be a thriving iron mining community. Apparently, the old mines are no longer active but one could still see the equipment that were used in the past lying around. That sounded good so away we went!

The road there was pleasant, some bends, blue sky, few clouds, relatively cool temperature…perfect. See how the cloud mirrorred the road?

I spotted a lake beside the road and simply had to stop to take a closer look. For your benefit, I climbed over the road barrier and scaled down the 15m slope just so I could get right up to the lake side for this picture.

On my way back up I saw this delicate structure!

Photographs are deceptive as usual…you cannot really see the slope as it is compressed with the perspective of the lens…still…a beautiful lake…and a good bunch of riding buddies!

We arrived at Bukit Besi before too long. It was a small, quiet and deserted town. There is no real sign of any iron mining now. In fact, we struggled to even find a mine anywhere. We looped around a couple times and I eventually decided I needed to ask someone where that mine was. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to know either. One lady did tell me that I should follow this muddy track that all the trucks are going on if I wanted to get to the mines. Unfortunately, we had a Super Four, a Fazer and an RT in the group and those are not exactly bikes made for muddy tracks. So I decided to go in and explore a little just to see if I was on the right track. It was sandy, muddy, gravelly and dusty all combined together. I did not get to the end as it would be impossible for my buddies to get there…and I was not too eager for a repeat performance of laying Big V on his side!

I found the gang waiting for me under a small little tree outside as it was starting to get hot. We decided that Bukit Besi was a non-starter today and that we should head on to the next place. I remembered reading about a tunnel that was used to transport the iron ore from Bukit Besi out to the coast and thought we could give that a try. Everyone agreed so we headed out towards Kampung Che Lijah where the end of the tunnel is. After some wrong turns, we eventually found the tunnel!

As you can see, this tunnel is tucked away quite nicely. Here is a closer look.

We rode through the tunnel since it was conducive for motorcycles and were a little disappointed that it took all of ten seconds. Hahaha! Well, at least we found something!

It was time to get back to the guest house, pack up and start heading north towards Kuala Terengganu. We did want to get there for lunch…and hopefully…find the place where they still built boats in a traditional style. Before going much further, here is the route for today.

The ride up was a short and relaxing one…until we got into Kuala Terengganu. The sun was at its highest point and those traffic light stops were gruelling! They did provide for some photo opportunities though.

That was a picture of our sweeper Chris. I hardly get to see him close enough for a photograph when we are riding as he is always at the back so it was good to catch him here. I heard Paul calling out to me at this point as he said “take a picture of me”. So here is (yet another) one of Paul…hahaha!!!

The combination of heat and hunger made me decide it was time for a lunch stop. It was not easy to find a place as I had no knowledge where good food can be found and this is a large capital city. However, luck was on our side as I just happened to choose to stop in front of this unpretentious shop along Jalan Hiliran at Chabang Tiga…I think.

What is so special about this place? Well, the owner of the shop goes out to sea with his boat every morning to fish. His catch will then be cooked fresh every day and served in this shop. We did not know this until we saw many pictures of him with all sorts of fish on his boat hung along the walls. One of the other patrons I spoke with told us the story. Wow!!! Unfortunately, none of us chose fish that day…I guess I should have asked around before we picked our food! Still…it was super yummy!!!

After lunch, we headed over to Pulau Duyong to look for boat builders. Things looked very promising when we got there. Pulau Duyong is a small island so it would be easy to ride around the entire island. If there was a boat builder here we would likely find it. Except we did not. We circled the island and all we could find were residences and some big boat yards. Tried asking some locals when we stopped because of the heat but even they did not know. Good thing we picked a nice place to stop as there was a beautiful view of the crystal mosque across the estuary.

In case you were wondering, the structure on the left is the crystal mosque while the one on the right looked like a palace of sorts. Not really sure as we did not explore much on that side. Given our failure to spot a boat builder, we decided to push off and head towards Kuala Krai.

While the journey itself would be a relatively short one, we had to contend with the weather which was very hot and dry at times, and hot and wet at others. This meant we had to stop to put on our rain gear now and then.

It got pretty unbearable after awhile and I decided we needed to take a break. So we stopped at this place called Wisma Peladang Setiu (at Setiu) and had some ice cold drinks! It is nice to be able to park right next to where we were sitting.

They served some drinks with interesting colours too…no, we did not order any of those. We ordered the usual stuff.

We stopped here for quite awhile and chatted about lots of different things. One of the gang decided to be a hero and was riding today without his gloves…can you guess who?

This place was very pleasant as a rest stop but it was eventually time to push on. We did want to get to Kuala Krai before dark. So we pushed off and continued along our journey. I do not know why but I felt really sleepy for some reason so I had to pull off again not long after just to ensure that I could keep awake!

We stopped here only for about 15-20 minutes so I could rest a little. As you can see, there is precious little space available for any kind of rest. While I would rather nobody see what I did, Chris made sure everybody did. I guess this was the best I could do…and no…I was not praying to the Fazer…hahaha!!!

Photography by Chris

Happily, the rest of the journey was nice and smooth…except for the two idiotic drivers driving towards us, overtaking and cutting into our lane. People like this are crazy and irresponsible. What could be so urgent as to risk so many lives? In any case, we eventually arrived at Kuala Krai while the sun was still shining strongly! I needed to stop so I could contact the owner of the next guest house so decided to stop at the park.

We arranged to meet at one of the petrol stations. However, I think I might have got us to the wrong one. Eventually, she decided to come get us rather than hazard me getting us even more lost! Paul had to move his bike while we waited…this is how you move a big bike.

Things look a lot better after the move is done. We waited here for her to arrive. So stylo!!!

We eventually met up with Sya and she let us all the way to the cosy and comfortable Casa de Familia home stay. This place was setup to house a medium to large sized family and they mostly cater to wedding parties. There are four bedrooms with air conditioning, three bathrooms with heaters, a generous living area with satellite television and even games! What a fantastic setup! The porch easily accommodated the bikes too!

We took our time to settle down and decided to ride into town for dinner later. There was also supposed to be a pasar malam (night market) that night! Riding out at night was cool and pleasant. We went out on two bikes only. I was the pillion on Chris’ bike. I am not used to being a pillion but I was happy I did not have to ride that night. I can’t say Chris felt the same though…hahaha!!!

Photography by Paul

We found a place called Jade Garden Seafood and had dinner there. I wonder if this one is associated with the other Jade Gardens around like the one at Sungai Rengit? Anyway, we were all hungry and were waiting impatiently to get our order taken.

It is very interesting how they take orders here. The lady sits at the table with us and takes our order as if we were all having a chat. This is not the only place where this happens. Maybe it is a north eastern Malaysia thing?

Photography by Paul

I took a few pictures of the group while we were waiting for food. In case anyone was wondering…here is how I look when I take a picture…hahaha!!!

Photography by Paul

The “drinks” arrived first as usual and they’re served in a very unique way. The little cups are immersed in hot water. I wonder why they do it this way? Having said that, I am glad that they still do it this way as I remember seeing my uncles manage the cups when I was a boy. Now it is my turn to handle the cups…but boy are they HOT!!!

Dinner arrived soon after. As usual, here is a quick look at what we had. Let me assure you that they were all super yummy!!!

Funny thing about having a group dinner these days…we have to wait till everyone had a chance to photograph the food. While I like to take my food pictures one dish at a time, Paul likes to do his this way.

We absolutely needed some time to walk around after such a satisfying dinner. So we crossed the road and headed into the pasar malam.

I like walking around these pasar malams. There are so many different things to see!

I wonder what it would be like to ride one of these on a WMLR trip…hmmm…

This boy was busy frying chicken wings and they looked yummy to me. Too bad I already had a lot for dinner!

Paul managed to find himself some socks that he badly needed too!

I like how the smoke from the satay sticks made this picture so much more dramatic…his expression was pretty classic too!

I was wondering what these little things were and started talking to the propreitor. He told me they were little Kaya Dorayakis. What an interesting combination! I ordered a whole lot for our supper snack and chatted with him more. I found out that he used to work in Singapore and lived in Johor Bahru back in 1985!

It was eventually time to head back. We bought a few beers from the restaurant and went back to the guest house. In case you were wondering, Paul was the pillion on Eric’s bike that night.

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