West Malaysia loop ride

Day five has come in the blink of an eye and we now have two days left in this adventure. I cannot help but feel a sense of desperation and dread that it will all be over soon. Then again, live moves on and it is a lot more important to savour the current moment to the full than worry and dread about what will come next. So let’s get on with it!

I decided last night that I would wake up early to catch the sunrise this morning at the lake. I love watching the dawn of a brand new day unfolding right in front of me to a beautiful backdrop. So I got up while it was still dark and made my way out to the lakeside. It was drizzling lightly when I got there but I was not going to let some water get in the way of capturing the spectacle of dawn. I set my camera on the deck of the jetty and tried taking some long exposures of the pre-dawn scene. I love how the entire sky is filled with a magical light that the eye cannot see. It took a bit of experimenting before I managed to get a picture in a good enough focus and exposure. I just love those colours and it makes me feel like I am in a completely different planet. Just look at the colour of that sky!

Chris came along to join me at the jetty and we chatted as usual. The drizzle got a little more intense as we chatted so we decided to move into the sheltered patio of the coffeehouse right next to the jetty. Time flew by quickly and before long the light from the slowly rising sun began to fill the sky with a palette of cool and warm hues that is too beautiful to adequately describe in words.

The rest of the gang showed up shortly after and we were all just enjoying the scene. Obviously, I had to have one for Facebook even though we all were not fully awake!

It was time for breakfast! The coffeehouse served the usual spread of breakfast dishes that you would find in a resort. Some local fare, some continental options and some American favourites. I went with my usual selection of Nasi Lemak followed by some porridge, before rounding off with a yummy slice of toast with butter and sugar as dessert. This filled me up nicely and I am ready to face whatever the day throws at me.

Our route today will be a long one. We will travel a little more than 500 kilometres touching five states (Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Johor) to Muar. That is quite a long way so we will be breaking from tradition and taking the North South Highway for the most part of the journey to shorten the total travel time. This works well too since there are some really nice stretches along this northern part of the highway.

Since we came all this way to Taiping and we have heard so much about this town, we decided we should explore it a little before departing. One of the places we all wanted to see was Bukit Larut (Maxwell Hill). So we changed into our riding gear and headed out. Our first stop, though, was the petrol station just outside the Laketown area. This little petrol station is quite special…can you spot why?

Well, other than the fact that it is nestled in a rich landscape of a plantation, this station still uses old style pumps! I have not seen this for awhile and was really blown away! On closer inspection, I found that it was not all that old since the display was digital but I was still happy to see that the pumps jut out from the sides and not the front like so many that we see today.

This petrol station is also special for another reason because Big V had a major milestone here…he has run for 60,000 kilometres!

I remember that Big V had run less than 44,000 kilometres when I got him back in May 2012. How time flies…and this also shows how much I enjoy riding with Big V. We travelled 16,000 kilometres in less than a year! We rode out towards Maxwell Hill after filling up and enjoyed the relaxing Kampung Road (Village Road) in the early morning. I am glad that Chris took some video footage of this part of the journey with his GoPro. Here it is for your enjoyment!

We were greeted by a lush landscape of expansive green fields and beautiful tree-lined roads after a short ride of about 20 minutes. I knew then that we must be close to our first destination…and after a few turns…we were greeted by a sign that said “Selamat Datang ke Bukit Larut”, which means, Welcome to Maxwell Hill. Unfortunately, this sign was accompanied by another that said “No Entry for Unauthorised Vehicles”. This meant we had to hike up the hill instead of ride up the hill. Since we were already here, we decided to hike up and see what this place had to offer.

We parked our bikes the best we could in this very public place and started looking for ways to lighten our load. I did not want to repeat my hiking experience back in Pulau Pinang in 2010 carrying a big and heavy bag! So we tried to pack as much as we could into our boxes. Unfortunately, we did not all have boxes so I ended up my helmet in Chris’ box, Eric’s jacket, Paul’s jacket, Paul’s back protector, my own jacket, my tank bag and my overnight bag all packed into my three boxes. Not bad eh? It felt great to have accomplished this major feat…and then it was time for the next…our hike!

Maxwell Hill felt familiar to me. Perhaps I had been here before as a kid…but I suspect it is because this hike was up a paved road and it reminded me of Bukit Timah Hill back in Singapore. The one thing that is different between the two is that it was a 1.2 kilometre hike up Bukit Timah Hill…and a whopping 13 kilometres! That is one order of magnitude further! We did not know this at the start, of course, so we hiked with ernest!

Chris and Eric went a lot fast than Paul and I. Perhaps it is because of the age difference? But I suspect it had more to do with the fact that we enjoyed the natural surroundings more and stopped frequently to admire the flora…and it was not easy getting a simple shot like this right too!

I was also very attracted to the beautiful combination of curvy road and lush greenery…with a carpet of fallen leaves that reminded me of autumn in Falls Lake (Raleigh, North Carolina)!

I found it physically impossible not to be captivated by the beautifully rich colours of the foliage.

To top if off, there was also a small waterfall…of sorts…that we explored.

Chris and Eric must have gotten a little bored up ahead and started to take some creative pictures. Here is just one sample of their creativity…hahaha!!!

Having hiked for quite awhile and realising that we were nowhere near the top of the hill (it is 13 kilometers folks!), we decided it was time to head back down. We had a little refreshment at the coffee shop at the foot of the hill, then headed back to the resort to pack up and check out. I took the opportunity to get a refreshing shower before checking out as I worked up quite a sweat with that hike!

It was really nice to get out onto the highway and ride at a good pace. What made it even nicer was the scenery and the fact that we would be riding through the tunnel just outside of Ipoh. There were also many rock outcrops along the way which I could not capture with my camera. What I did get was a shot of the tunnel just before we entered.

Nothing quite beat a video to get a visual experience of a place. Thankfully, Chris managed to get some video footage of the ride through the Ipoh Tunnel on his GoPro. So here it is for your viewing pleasure.

Our first leg would take us to our lunch spot which is at Tanjong Tualang. I came across this place from a television program just a couple weeks before the start of the WMLR2013 so I felt it is a place that we had to try. Apparently, Tanjong Tualang was famous for “Dai Tau Har” (which means Big Headed Prawn in Cantonese). I could not wait to get there as it was way past lunch time. So I was glad that we eventually found the sleepy town…and the restaurant that we would patronise. You can already see two of them side-by-side in this picture. We went to the one on the right.

We ordered a few dishes which all tasted great to me! The star of the show, however, must be the prawns!

Looks yummy eh? But seriously…look at the size of those heads!

Then there was this interesting tofu dish that was served with a garnish of century eggs and pickled ginger. The tofu looked ordinary…but boy do they taste fantastic! The skin is light and crispy…and the inside is warm and soft and tasty! Dang…I am feeling hungry as I write this!

We gobbled up all that delicious food and headed over to this little shop for some refreshments.

Looks like a shop selling fruits on the outside…but look…there are tables on the inside for ice-cold refreshments. Just look at the menu behind Eric! Oh…and if you were wondering why Paul was looking at the camera at that angle…apparently that was his “better looking” side…hahaha!!!

It was getting a little late and we still had a lot of distance to cover so we pushed off. It started to rain quite heavily along the way and we had to pull over so the rest could get their rain gear on. I do enjoy these little stops!

The rest of the journey was pretty much the usual highway fare with the exception of a few notable incidents.

1. We had many episodes of heavy rain. On and off, here and there, over and over. Which tired us out quite a bit.
2. The stretch along the E35 is terrible for motorcycles as we could not get through the toll gantries. Motorcycles needed to use the dedicated motorcycle lands which require quite a big detour. Cars along this stretch of highway were more reckless than usual. Several came really close.
3. Paul’s bike was indicating an engine problem. Turned out that it was engine oil running low. So we exited at Ayer Keroh so he could get a top up.
4. We were very late getting into Muar. Thankfully I finally managed to get hold of the home stay to let them know we would be very much later than our originally planned 7pm.

We exited the highway at the Tangkak turnoff and headed towards Muar…and dinner! It was already 8pm by that time and I was happy to finally get to the river. Traffic was really heavy in Muar town after crossing the river (which is quite normal). We eventually found the dinner spot that served two items that I was craving for.

This place was the bus terminal really. There are some stalls there just behind the terminal right next to the river. The scenery was nothing spectacular on this side of the river…but this was what we saw on the other side…how pretty is that!!!

This particular stall was introduced to me when I took the Marshalling course last year. I remember my first time vividly and could not wait to taste the food again! Here we are…tired…hungry…and generally impatient for the food to arrive.

The dish that I was craving for was Mee Bandung. I do not really know the origins of this dish but I think it originated in Bandung, Indonesia. I do not know if this was how they made it there. It definitely is not how it is made in Singapore. Whatever the case, all that mattered to me was that it was the best tasting Mee Bandung I have ever had! Just look at it!

This is one of the few places that I would order a second helping…and I did…and I polished both off completely…to the very last drop! Yummy!!!

Now that we were nicely satisfied with dinner, it was time to head for our home stay. Unfortunately, it was more of a wild goose chase. We turned around and around trying to look for it. The GPS brought me to the wrong place…correct road…different house number. We tried going up and down the road. Each time getting close but never finding the actual house number. The owner was not able to assist on the phone and we finally decided to meet back at the dinner place so he could bring us there. And when we got there…we found that the house was not even on the road that was given! It was on a turnoff…and it was not even the house at the corner! So if you are looking for a home stay in Muar and decide to settle on this one (Jia Jia Home Stay), contact me and I will get you better directions. What really got to me was that he insisted other people could find the place. What the hell!!??? Shouldn’t he just put this little detail in his contact page?

Still, the place itself was pleasant. A big seventies styled, double-storey, semi-detached house with ample parking space and air-conditioned rooms. Enough bathrooms with hot water for good showers…and a living area downstairs to gather around.

We booked the entire second floor for ourselves so we had one bedroom each…and some of these bedrooms were huge! I had a terrible shock when I decided to take my shower as the water pressure was terrible! It was a mere trickle…much like that morning in Dunggun. Turned out the water pump was not switched on! The water pressure was fantastic once that was on. Yes!

We got ourselves some beers from the 7-Eleven store nearby and gathered at the living area with old movies, beer, pictures and videos from the day to keep ourselves occupied till late into the night. I think we went to bed close to 3am that night!

All in all…another fantastic day on the WMLR2013!