Fuel Addictive FP-60

13th December, Tuesday - Fuel Addictive FP-60: My Bike Eat Anti-Malaria Pill

Actually, what I really wanted to say is that today, I feed my bike something machiam steroid, which make my bike very powerful.

But I never eat before steroid so I don't really know how it feels. The only thing close to it that I ever eaten is the army anti-malaria pill. So I say my bike eat anti-malaria pill.

If you can’t make head or tail, or want to know what exactly I gave my bike eat, this is my full story.

Meet Ah Kim the Drug Pusher

I have this friend call Ah Kim. He also xiao bike like me. But he very techie one. Like to go into cheem cheem things that are beyond me. Like what chemicals in what lubricants and solvents are good and what are not good.

One day, he called me and say he got a fuel addictive, ask me to try.

The fuel addictive is those type you mix into your petrol after you top-up. Almost like a 2-T oil like that. His fuel addictive goes by a very un-hip name, FP-60. Don’t ask me why must be 60 and not 59 or 61.

I say ok lor. Free mah anyway.

His FP-60 is come from a never-heard of company from US. He says it can clean the engine and the fuel injective system. Can increase your petrol octane by one level up. Means you pump 95 and can get the effect of 98. And it can reduce fuel emission and what knot.

If you want to read more, later go to : http://www.lubecontrol.com/fuel.htm.

But I am a very practical person. I don’t care if my bike can save the earth’s ozone layer or not. I just care whether the fuel addictive can help me to save on my petrol cost or make my bike chiong even faster. FYI, my bike is a Fazer1000. His name is Frost.

One thing about this Ah Kim. He very honest. He already tried the FP-60 himself liao and he doesn’t think it can really improve fuel mileage.

So if it cannot improve fuel mileage, what good is it for me?

Last time I also tried before a fuel addictive called “XYZ” that I bought from the accessory shop AutoBacs. The “XYZ” says it can make the engine more powerful, improve fuel mileage, protect the engine, make it last longer, etc etc. I started off trying the XYZ with great enthusiasm. But after trying the XYZ for a while, I still don’t feel any difference. I gave up on XYZ and become skeptical of the whole idea of fuel addictives.

After all, where got so good one? If fuel addictive really so solid, why the petrol companies don’t offer it inside their petrol instead of offering silly promotions?

So based from my past unhappy experience with other fuel addictives, I see Ah Kim’s addictive as just another one of them and was quite prepared to give up on it without even trying it out first. I was already mentally prepared to use this blog space to tell you about this pretty chio girl I met the other day.

And it doesn’t help that this Ah Kim offer his FP-60 in a small plastic bottle exactly like those use to keep cough mixture that you get from a clinic complete with ml markings at its side. Moreover, FP-60 is pink in colour. Lagi look like cough mixture. When I opened the bottle cap, it indeed smelled like cough mixture.

The FP-60 actually comes in a bigger bottle that looks more like a proper product. But Ah Kim ration and pour into smaller medicine-like bottles to give out as samples to let people try.

FP-60 looks like that, when not in medicine bottles.

He says, only need to pour 30 ml of the FP-60 for every 20 litre of petrol will do. But because I am so skeptical of his fuel addictive, I tell him one bottle maybe not enough, so give me 2 bottles to try.

I have just top up my Frost full tank with Octane95 from SPC. I very niao one. Ah Kim helped me to pour the FP-60 into my fuel tank. Then shake my Fazer1000 around as if it is a SP 2-stroke bike. Then I say bye bye and rode off. I was in for a surprise.

Frost on Steroid

I expected to feel no effect from his FP-60. Or, at best, if I tried very hard and be ultra-sensitive, maybe I can psycho myself that I can vaguely feel something different.

But wah lau eh. From the moment I move off, I can feel the difference liao. No need to strain to notice. It’s rather obvious to me.

Frost feels like it just drink kopi kao times two. Ang moh called it espresso.The bike really feel like it keeps wanting to chiong. The throttle feels on a “tighter” leash. Feels like needs less effort to accelerate. More immediate response. Some times feel like I am riding one gear lower than normal.

When I ride on the expressway, my cruising speed increase by an extra 20 kmh. So I was tailgating the Mercedes and Volvos all the way along PIE (other cars all guai guai siamp one side liao, but don’t know why, only Mercedes and Volvo drivers si bei thick skin and just die die don’t budge their ass and give way). When not tailgating, I was overtaking the extreme right cars vie the middle or extreme left lane. To say the least, I was riding a little on the naughty side.

Throughout the whole ride, I was rather worried about encountering a TP.

I have never felt so aggressive on a bike before. Except only once. It was during my last year’s reservist.

Fact About SAF Anti-Malaria Pill

Last year, I have to go to Pulau Tekong for reservist. As you know lah, SAF is dam kia su one. So they issue my whole reservist group with anti-malaria pills to take in case we kena malaria from mosquito bite on Pulau Tekong.

My reservist buddy took the pill at night and complained it kept him awake the whole night. So I decided to take the pill in the morning before I leave my house for reservist. But the anti-malaria pill somehow has this effect of making me more aggressive. I was either overtaking cars like mad or tailgating cars like mad. That morning, I reached Pulau Tekong extra early. My reservist buddy said the anti-malaria pill contains a chemical known to be a stimulant.

Now, I ride Frost as if like I just took the anti-malaria pill again. It is very strange. It is actually not me but Frost that took the FP-60. But don’t know why it also affects me.

Other Signs

I am still very skeptical about this FP-60. Maybe it is just a self-fulfilling prophecy and not real. So I want to see if there are other means to indicate my bike is really more powerful.

On my way home, I always kena this 2 traffic lights that always turn red whenever I am there. So when the light turn green, being a 1000cc bike, Frost always leave the rest of the vehicles some distance behind.

Today, after adding the FP-60, Frost is still as usual, first vehicle in front. But when I looked back, wah, the vehicles are way further behind than usual. And not only one traffic light. The next traffic light also same thing. The vehicles are left further behind than usual.

Then when I reached home, at night, I still have this urge to go and ride my bike again because it feels damn siok to ride. Normally I don’t gian (lust) my bike until like that. So at night, I took my bike out again to chiong.

Analysis

You may say that all these things that I described are still subjective feeling, and are not objective enough. I totally agree with you.

But how to give objective proof? Bring my bike go dyno? Maybe. But I ride bike long enough to know that dyno charts are not conclusive also. You can mod your bike here mod your bike there, but the dyno chart come out nothing gained. Or, the dyno chart can say you add one or two hp at the top end. But when you ride, you still don’t feel anything different. So what’s the point even if the dyno chart say you gain extra 2 horsepower? Many people think dyno is objective. Actually, you can get different results when you dyno a few times, by different people. It is like back in school days when you have simple laboratory experiments. Never sui sui consistent result one.

So maybe, in the end, it is whether the rider can feel anything different that matters.

I will try a longer term test to see if there is any improvement in fuel consumption from using FP-60. This should be a more objective test. Although Ah Kim says it may not improve, I will still try anyway and I will report back here.

Why FP-60 Leh?

Assuming this FP-60 really works as I felt, then

• It should make your bike go faster, marginally.
• If one elects to avoid going faster, than by right, it should translate to improvement in fuel consumption.
• If this FP-60 really makes the engine “smoother” from its cleaning effect, than it should be beneficial to the long-term well being of your bike engine and not be detrimental to the engine.
• To use FP-60 maybe a bit mah fun (troublesome). It is like 2-T oil lor. You must keep a small bottle with you on your bike. So after you top up petrol, you than need to add the FP-60. It is a change in your routine. If you can change and disciplined enough to stay with the change until it becomes a routine, than you would have no problem.
  I will keep you posted on the fuel consumption and my feedback from longer-term use of the FP-60.

And if you belong to any of the following type of riders, you may like FP-60 also:

• You pump on V-Power. Nothing less will do. Don't care oil price.
• You like to park your bike far far away from other people’s bikes and cars
• You wax your bike more often than you bath
• Every time you park your bike, you always put on a bike cover
• Every time before you start your bike, you look out to see if got any new scratches on your bike
• Every month, new accessories will appear on your bike
• You got a brand new Yoshi or Akapok exhaust

Caveats

Caveat is just another name for “Z-olp” or excuses:

• I don't earn a single cent from this FP-60 or Ah Kim at all. Whether you buy this FP-60 or not, is none of my pua sa (business). Vice versa, if the FP-60 doesn’t work for you, don’t come and find me. I am doing this mainly out of my curiosity, my love for motorcycling, and self-interest. I want to try if this FP-60 is really good. If good, I will buy it out of my own pocket after my two medicine bottles of FP-60 run out.

If this FP-60 is really good, no harm I tell you what I felt. If it is not good, I rather keep my mouth shut. If not wait you send hackers change my blog into porn site.

• FP-60 may give that kind of effect I described for my Fazer1000 (03 model carburetor). But it may not give your bike a similar effect.

Maybe if your bike is EFI (electronic fuel injection) type, you may not be so sensitive to the extra throttle response because the EFI comes between your throttle and engine.

But I see it as, if this FP-60 is really that good that it benefits carb engines, it should also benefit your EFI engine. Plus, this Ah Kim says it is especially useful for EFI bikes because with carburetor bikes you can “wash” the carbs, but EFI you can’t “wash” your fuel injectors. The FP-60 is supposed to do this cleaning of fuel injectors for you.

• Even if this FP-60 really improves your throttle response like it did for my bike, this kind of thing, after a while, the rider will get so use to it and become insensitive of the extra power. It is like if you everyday drink 10 cups of coffee. After a while, you can even drink 3 cups at night and you still can sleep without any problems.

But of course, given that a rider is so immune to the effect of FP-60, once he stop using the FP-60, he should instantly feel the bike less powerful.

• If you use FP-60, speed and suay suay kena caught by TP, I don't know if the TP will accept the excuse that you just tried out a new fuel addictive that makes your bike go faster than normal. If this don't work, try "I just ate the SAF anti-malaria pill."

I think this FP-60 not really available in the Singapore market yet.
I don't know what price is it selling for.
If you want to know more about FP-60 or want to get your hands on it, you can email and contact Ah Kim at:

kimpeng@anrsg.com

Ride to Kuantan (Part II)

10 November, 2005, Thursday--Ride to Kuantan (Part II of II)

Today, we would leave Kuantan and head back to Singapore.

Kuantan is famous for its sea turtle lay eggs. Do I get a chance to see?

Alamak, the answer is no chance. Why?

Because if you want to see, must come during the period between early July and September. Now is November, the turtle's lay egg factory close shop liao.
And must go to Chendor Beach because the green turtles and giant leatherback turtles always return to the same beach to lay eggs. We are at Balok Beach, about 20km south of Chendor Beach.
The Kuantan beach no good meh? Why cannot lay eggs here? I didn't know the turtles are so fussy.

For more information on Kuantan places of interest, just search the web or later, you have time, go this link: http://kuantan.regency.hyatt.com/kuakt/location.html

If turtle not in, then Kuantan still got things to see meh?

Got. Later I show you.


Breakfast

The hotel provides complementary breakfast. Aiyah, actually anything complementary means you have already paid for it liao. Breakfast is buffet. Simple but sufficient.



We get to sit in the airy restaurant. Very nice ambuience.

We read the news paper there as we ate. You know what is the headline news that day?


The Malaysia jaen hu make the Malaysia police must wear an additional badge on their uniform.
The badge says "I am against graft".


Graft is not Steffi Graff, or some long-necked animal in the zoo. It also got nothing to do with art and craft. Graft is a nice way of saying corruption. Or in this case, take kopi money.

I thought only Giordano and McDonalds crew need to wear those round round badges on their uniform. Now Malaysia police also wear same round round badge.

Don't know the news zun (accurate) or not.

After breakfast, Spectrum and Eeie want to go walk walk around the hotel. There is actually a spa also within the hotel. I want to ta pian (make cake). So I returned back to hotel room.


After I am done with my business, I sat at the balcony and look see look see while waiting for Spectrum and Eeie to return.


After a while, I saw other tourists staying in the hotel start to climb onto our bikes and take photos of our bikes.

At first, I see children climbed onto Spectrum's Hornet. Eeie's Hayabusa also attracted a lot of attention because of many people there never see bikes with full fairing.

Then after a while, I start to get hurt. "How come no one like my Frost?"
Luckily, not for long. Then got young girls climb onto Frost also.
I and Frost felt better now.


After a while, I start to think, "How come this Spectrum and Eeie gone for so long?" The hotel not big until half-an-hour they still not back.

I wait some more at the balcony then a thought suddenly struck me. I had the only key to the room. Could the guys be waiting outside of the room trying to get in?

I quickly go and open the door. I saw Spectrum and Eeie sitting on the floor outside, like they trapped inside a lift for very long liao.

Morale of the lesson: Never leave the only key to the hotel room with a blur sotong.

Go See Waterfall, Caves and Old Mine

Lucky got Spectrum. His malay very good. And he had stayed in many hotels all over the whole.
Spectrum got go and ask the hotel staff, what else is there to see at Kuantan. The hotel staff tell him that there is this one place got a waterfall, cave and an old mine. The hotel staff tell him the directions and gave him a very valuable map of Kuantan town.




The place we are going, on this map, is marked Pancing Cave/Sg. Pandan Waterfall/ Sungai Lembing.

To go there, our route is from the hotel, go V, IV, III, II. Then straight.

After that, we will backtrack and go to I, which is the new E22 highway from Kuantan to Kuala Lumpur. We would then exit from E22 to take Route 12, southwards to Segamat, then back to Singapore. Route 12, runs always parallel to Route 3, but it is in land. I never ride there before so is interested to see what the scenary on Route 12 is like.

It's time to say bye bye to this nice hotel.
And continue with our adventure.

To the Old Mine at Sungai Lembing

I am quite excited about this place we are going. How come got so many things there at one place one?

Got waterfall? Is it like the one at Kota Tinggi? Or big big one like Nigeria Falls?
Got Caves? Is is like those big big caves at Ipoh?
Got Old Mine? Is it like those in the Indiana Jones movie? Can ride the small cart on mini-railway track around inside the mine?

The map is very accurate. It even gives the distance from one check point to another. So just follow it and will reach II.

The road leading to Sungai Lembing is another trunk road. Something like the one we travelled on Route 3. Only that very few cars use it. Because according to the Malaysia map, Sungai Lembing is one spot deep deep inside a very forested area in Kuantan. There is no town, no civilisation, in the surrounding area of Sungai Lembing.

We were told that it would take about 20 minutes to reach the mine from II. But we ride and ride and ride. We see nothing but forests and palm plantations around us. It is like riding into the bowels of the earth like that. It looks like it leads to nothingness, the edge of the earth.

This country-side road actually stretched for quite a great distance. We actually clocked 25 km before we reached the mine. The distance is like from Orchard Road ride to Loyang

But the ride is also very pleasant. Because there are hardly any signs of civilisation along the way, it is also very relaxing.




You can see from this picture. An endless trunk road in the midst of green forests and plantation.











The scene of almost endless trunk road is broken by a herd of cows.

The cows looked very discipline. They all guai guai marched slowly in a single file together, keeping to one side of the road. They looked like army on a road march.

I stopped to want to take photo and touch them.




But the lead cow, I think is the OC (Officer-In-Command) or CSM, suddenly stopped at stared at me. The whole herd also frozed together with the OC cow. The OC cow got this buay song look on his face.

I think the OC cow would either order the whole heard to U-turn and run away from me or order the herd to charge at me.

I decided better leave the cows to their road march. Don't want to get charged and bayoneted by the cows' horns.


After the cows, I met another herd. This time is meh-eh-eh-eh, goats.

The goats are so small and looked so cute.
I thought of want to go and touch the goats also.

Then I thought of the look on the OC cow. Then I decided to better also not try my luck on the goat.





We continue on with our ride surrounded by nothingness and apparently leading to nothingness.





Then, out of the blue, the road opened into a small town!

An ancient Tin Town in the bowels of Kuantan.

How come so strange one? Why would any human civilisation want to build and live in a town so deep and remote from any other civilisation? Spectrum dismounted and go and jio jio the locals there to ask them where is the old mine, waterfall and cave.


This Eeie high tight. He went to find a loo. Later, he returned and found an interesting saying written in the toilet.

"Lai ye chong chong.
Qu ye chong chong."

If your mandarin no good, it is a famous chines idiom which means to come in a rush and to leave in a rush.

But found in the toilet this idiom takes on a pun of come that time flush flush. Leave that time flush flush.

This tin town people sure got a sense of humour.

Spectrum found out that the old mine, waterfalls and caves are just up ahead.

We rode on. Then we reached the end of the road.



This is the entrance leading to the an old tin mine.
















This is part of the remaining structure of the old tin mine.

The tin mine is already closed and no longer in use.






There is even a very nice museum just before the entrance to the old abandoned mine.
I am not interested in visiting museums. I think many Singaporeans also like me. That's why our national museum in Singapore empty empty one.

I think the story is this: Many many years ago. The British came. Together with the locals, they found tin here. The British very happy. So they take pictures. Some of the pictures can be seen in the museum. The tin mine was then started. With the tin mine, a small town was borned. Even after the mine was closed, the town remained.
And then one day Endlessloop came. And Eeie went to the town to siao pian and found an interesting saying.

So interesting in Malaysia. A town can develop because of a mine. Unlike in Singapore, the towns are all planned by HDB.

So where is the cave and waterfall?

Spectrum again go and asked the locals. A small road from the entrance of the old mine and museum, leads up hill to an open car park.

From this car park, we have to walk as there is no more road. Surrounding is thick forests and hills. The waterfall is about an hour's walk. The cave is nearer but don't know how far.

We gave up the idea of walking to the waterfall immediately because too far. The other problem is Spectrum got soft luggage mounted on his bike. If we hike to the cave, he got to carry his luggage with him. I don't have this problem because all my luggage are locked inside my hard saddle bags. This lesson shows the value of having hard luggage boxes over soft luggage bags.

So we didn't go to the cave as well. Because don't know how far it is, and after all the effort of carrying the bags, maybe the cave is just one small hole.

We decided to U-turn back out of the S Lembing. We did find the three waterfall, mine and cave. But we were not able to see them close in. There is another important place that we stumbled upon.

Hill with a Hole

On our ride out, we stopped by this place to take photo of an interesting looking hill that has got a hole on one side.















Fazer Hill (Instead of Fraser's Hill. Funny or not?)

This hill got an interesting shape. It rises out of nowhere and got steep edges.
Then in the middle of it, got this mysterious looking lobang (hole). The hole looked like got something insde. But don't know what is inside.
I was very intrigued by it.
But we did not go and explore because it looked quite far away and who knows if we need to spend another hour to climbed up its steep sides. We also got a long ride back to Singapore.


Only when back in Singapore, I found this description on the internet:

Charah Caves (Gua Charah The Charah Caves are roughly 25 km north-west of Kuantan at Panching, on the Sungai Lembing road. Formed millions of years ago, these limestone caves are the site of a Buddhist sanctuary which serves as a retreat for Buddhist monks. One of the caves houses an enormous stone sculpture of a reclining Buddha which is illuminated just once a day by a shaft of light from an aperture in the cave's roof. This is said to be the work of a Thai monk who made his home in the caves many years ago.

http://kuantan.regency.hyatt.com/kuakt/location.html

!!!! Could this lobang hill be the Charah Caves???

If it really is, then we had come so near to this mysterious cave and yet so far from it.
Now that I know this, I must go back to Kuantan and to this Charah Caves again.
I must go and find the reclining Buddha statue.
And when I find it, I must ask for a lucky four number from it.


As we are taking photos of the funny looking hill, I saw some school children looking at us with great curiousity.

I think in such a remote place, all the people have never seen people dressed like us and riding bikes like ours.

When we rode through the tin mine, I could see some of the adults see until their mouth open wide wide.


The children also. See until so captivated. After I took the photo, the teacher came out and scold them why never go back to class.

To E22 East West Expressway

We backtrack and head onto Checkpoint I on the Kuantan map.

This expressway is new. It cuts across the centre of Malaysia and allows people to travel from Kuala Lumpur to the east coast without the use of trunk roads.

It looked exactly like North South expressway when riding on it except that there are fewer cars and surrounding it are forrest and mountains.

We rode on it a short while, like 15 km, before we exit out of it onto trunk road Route 12.

Route 12

The ride through Route 12 will take us from Kuantan, southwards to Segamat. We will ride through Pekan, then Rompin, before reaching Segamat.

Route 3, which is always parallel to it, runs along the coast. Route 12, is inland. We expected to see mountains next to us.

But Route 12 has an interesting and consistent look-and-feel. Have you ever jogged through MacRitchie reservoir in Singapore? It feels almost like that. Both sides of the road are lined with neat rows of tree, so ride under the trees' shade along the way and is not hot. The road is straight almost all the way and has no curves.



Along the way of Route 12, we stopped by a petrol kiosk to fill up.

One of our bikes's chain is loose.

Teamwork.

None of us are mechanically well-versed. No where near Mokamoka's standard. But we all were willing to try our best, get our hands dirty to help solve the problem.

I realised on bike tours, it is not unusual for one or two bikes to encounter problems along the way. I am very fortunate so far that on each of these trips, there were always people who were very helpful. It is very different from other types of touring. One must be prepared to help out, be patient and cannot just I-do-my-own-you-do-your-own.




This petrol kiosk we were at has one thing interesting. Can you tell from the photo?

This is the only petrol kiosk I have seem that two different petrol brands (BP and Caltex) share the same petrol kiosk.










We stopped at Simpang P Manis along Route 12 to have lunch. It is another small hawker-centre type like the one we ate at along Pekan. Like many parts of Malaysia, there is nothing but a few stalls of nasi padang.






But this time, we smarter liao. We asked the Tua Chai Tao (Eeie) to go first.

After he picked his dish, we asked how much. The practice by this seller here is that you just pick your dishes, eat finish, then you are given the bill and you pay after that.
From our inicident at Pekan, we insisted we be told the price first. Eeie's is 5 ringgit. So it means that this seller is fair. Then one by one, we ordered after that. We all average around 4-5 ringgit.

Eeie has an interesting formula for drinks that is rather tasty. It is teh au with lime with ice. I don't know how you translate it to malay. He ordered it at Pekan and we drank it again here. The drink stall sellers all seem to understand and they all taste equally nice. Try it.

We reached Segamat around 3.00 pm. So what do we do next?

Instead of going by Route 1 which leads to NorthSouth highway and back to Singapore, I suggested that we try J41 out of Segamat, followed by J32 ending at Pagoh. From there, NorthSouth back.

When it is J-something, it means it is a smaller road than the normal trunk road (Route 12, Route 3).

Because J41 is a small road, the trick is to be able to locate it before we bypass it.

But with Spectrum leading and topoing, we got no problem.

This is how you can spot J41, from the direction of from Segamat, westwards, along Route 1, towards Labis/Keluang.

As you ride along Route 1 insdie the town of Segamat, you will see a 4-storey shopping centre with the big big word Fajah on it, by the main road. It is easy to spot because the rest of the town only got 1-2 storey. After you passed Fajah, you ride another 500 m or so, you will pass by a petrol kiosk. Then another around another 100-200m, you will see a sign on your right, next to a right exit from the road, which says either J41 or Pagoh.

So you turn right, off Route 1, into this J41. It will immediately ride over a railway track.

J41

J41-J32 are small roads passing through kampungs and villages.

The roads are slightly nearer than the normal trunk road. There is also much less to almost no traffic.

I would describe the place as ulu or sua pa (countryside).



This is an example of the sua pa lor (countryside road) of J41.

Got see any car or not?

The people there all ride their kup kia without helmet one.

Surprising thing is that the road is actually very smooth. Maybe because few cars wear out the road.


But you should not ride fast fast through J41-J32, even though you can, as parts of it has little traffic. It is like when you drink the ang moh red/white wine, you must not drink fast fast like you drink the au bit jiu (the black beer stout). Otherwise, you will not be able to savy its taste and bring out its flavour. So you should ride at a pace where you can see, observe and take in the rural life style.



One of the typical sua pa house there.
Don't need fence or fancy alarm. Not your usual 4-room, 5-room type.

Want to plant what tree also up to you. Don't need to apply permit.

Your garden how many square-feet?
Big enough. Want to stretch into the forest behind also can.



This J41-J32 is really sua pa. But I enjoyed the ride through it very much and like the place very much. Maybe because I grew up in this kind of environment.

I also wished to retire I this kind of environment. I not that kind that likes to go to Australia and retire. Then whole day got to eat kang tang (potatoe). I will go mad within 2 weeks.

Although this sua pa lor runs through a few kampungs, the road is actually very long. We clocked 55 km from Segamat until it finally reaches Pagoh. This means that this sua pa is even bigger than the whole of Singapore!

Initial D

The sua pa lor got some turns here and there. As I was riding along the turns and the hills, from my read view mirror, I saw a fast approaching white car from behind.

As the road was a bit narrow, I thought I better speed up a bit so that I don't hold up this car. Wah, but this white car really fast man.

I was riding at a stretch of road where there are no houses or people around it. So I decided to have some fun and ride faster a bit.

But no matter how I fast I ride, this white car still tailing me very closely through the twist and turn of windy sua pa lor. It is like this Takumi driving his white Toyota car delivering his toufu through mountain roads from the Initial D movie/manga.

I decided to give up and step to the side and let him drive past.

As he drove past, I caught sight of the driver. The driver is no Jay Chou.

He is an ah pek.





All good things come to an end. The J41-J32 sua pa lor ends when we reached the town of Pagoh.


The petrol kiosk at Pagoh where we filled up before the ride along NorthSouth back to Singapore.




Spectrum and Me

Many people like to ask me, "How I know Spectrum?"

Maybe they asked because I don't ride a Hornet. This Spectrum is very active in the Hornet's Nest group in Singapore. They have a forum for discussion at:

http://www.singaporebikes.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=36699

Some people from Hornet's Nest may call Spectrum the Public-Relationsh-Officer there, because he is very friendly and sociable. He likes to meet new people and will take good care of new and existing members of Hornet's Nest. Actually, he does not restrict his friends to Hornet riders only. Take me for example. I don't ride a Hornet.

I get to first know Spectrum from our common interest in motorcycle safety. Spectrum started this thread on motorcycle safety, called Street Smart:

http://www.singaporebikes.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=67876

Inside, he shares information on how to be able to survive while riding motorcycle. He also invites other people to share their knowledge and experience. I encourage all those who ride motorcycle, both experienced and new riders, to go read the Street Smart thread.

Because of Spectrum's generous spirit to help in other riders to be safe, and his efforts at the Hornet's Nest, I should also call him a guo bao. Guo bao means national treasure. It was first given to one of my favourite singers, Stefanie Sun Yan Zi.

There is also another Singapore singer who is very talented, but many people never call him a guo bao. Don't know why. He is Lin Jun Jie, or JJ Lin.

You should go buy his latest album, a Thousand Years.

When I first know of his name and people tell me his songs very nice, I don't believe. I listened already still think not nice. His voice not special at all what. He is a man but his voice not macho and powerful like Jackie Zhang Xuie You. Some more JJ's voice very high. Guys go karaoke cannot sing JJ song one because too high. Only girls and ah gua can.

But hear long already, then his songs start to be very nice. I would still say his voice not say very good. But it is the way his voice is combined and blended into the song, almost like his voice is one of the instruments playing in the song. So I would say his songs are nice.

I would describe his style is almost like Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson voice also very high right? Then he sing song, also cannot hear what the heck he is singing. But his songs still end up very very popular. So JJ Lin is a bit like the Michael Jackson from the East.

After I hear JJ Lin's album, then I realised he got another talent. All the song lyrics in the album are composed by him one! Including the very sentimental One Thousand Years (Later), Mummy (not mother but the egyptian one). I especially like Tomorrow, sound very hip and catchy.

He never compose the words because I suspect he is kang tang one: He was from Anglo Chinese School (ACS).

So this is my gift to Spectrum, for his friendship and generousity:

Ride to Kuantan (Part I)

9 November, 2005, Wednesday--Ride to Kuantan (Part I of II)

This is my second bike tour. I a bit more lao jiao liao, so no longer as nervous as my first one.

Just a few hours ago, at 4.00 pm on Tuesday, Spectrum asked me at 4.00 pm “Endless, want to go touring tomorrow or not?"
I said "On."
I only got a few hours to prepare myself and Frost (the name of my Fazer1000) for the ride. But this time I am more cool and steady liao.

Spectrum suggested we go Kuantan. I don’t know what is at Kuantan or what it looks like. I only remembered vaguely that Kuantan got turtle lay eggs.

Packing for the Trip

Unlike many other guys in Singapore, when my SAF Boots come out, it means play time!

This time round, only need to pack for 2Days and 1Night. Plus don’t need to pack sleeping bag because I think I should have a bed to sleep in.

So I only need to fill up one of my two saddle bags. The other saddle bag still empty. Maybe can use it to bring one turtle back from Kuantan.

Eeie is also joining us on the trip. He rides a very fast bike--the Suzuki Hayabusa. Eeie is a very sociable and jovial person who likes to crack jokes. He helps to make our trip even more fun.

So on this trip, there is a Honda, a Yamaha and a Suzuki. Therefore, Spectrum thinks the title of this trip should be called "Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki". This guy got no imagination.

Our Ride Plan

9th November, Wednesday:

7.00 am: Meet at GP Esso.
After that: Breakfast at Kulai.
After that: Take Route 94, followed by Route 3, all the way to Kuantan.
2-3 pm: Expect to reach hotel at Kuantan.
After that: Find something to do.

10^th November, Thursday:

11.00 am: Check out.
After that: Take Route 12 to Segamat.
After that: Take J41, followed by J32, to Pagoh.
After that: NorthSouth Highway to Kulai for dinner. Then back to Singapore.

A Smooth and Quiet Morning

It was a good time to meet. Because there is almost no traffic at the customs of both Singapore and Malaysia side, towards the direction of Malaysia.

But not so for the side entering into Singapore. I was shocked to see a ant-like queue to clear the Singapore customs stretching almost half a kilometer long onto the 2^nd link bridge. Should have at least half a thousand of Malaysian bikers queuing.

Good thing that Eeie and Spectrum are very punctual and not those type that got rubber band timing.

It was a bit unusual to see that we have the
whole GP Esso to ourselves.

We set off to Kulai to makan (eat) at Yun Lai, the coffee shop popular amongst Singapore bikers. We discovered Yun Lai was closed. So we ate at the coffee shop opposite to it.

Route 3 (To Mersing)

Our plan is to ride along Route 94 first then Route 3 to Mersing. I have been through this route many times liao.

Route 3 is a popular weekend playground for many Singapore bikers because some stretch of it has got some interesting turns. Last time I think Route 3 is the best trunk road to play on.

But having rode the Gua Musang road at Cameron last week, I think many people will agree with me that I still think Gua Musang really much better than Route 3.

But Route 3 is much nearer lah. To go Gua Musang, you must ride 500 km just to reach it. Route 3 only needs about 50 km.

Don't know why, but this morning, Spectrum ride faster than his usual self. I need to put in a bit of effort to keep up with him. Maybe it is because we have quite a bit of ground to cover, so he wanted to ride a bit faster. Or it could be I was “detuned” from the last ride with Simon Soh’s larger convoy. Or maybe this morning, Spectrum mixed up and ate Viagra pills instead of his normal Vitamin pills.

After riding a short while on Route 3, Spectrum suddenly stopped by the road side, next to a piece of rock to take picture.

Then he pose and waive in front of the rock to take picture. What is wrong with him?

Never see a rock before is it?

Spectrum said this rock was actually a bunker!

I passed by this rock many times but never thought much of it. Now that I am dismounted, I can see it more carefully. It is really those type that can have soldiers inside fire machine gun ones, just like in the Saving Private Ryan movie. Spectrum said it was properly built to guide the trunk roads from enemy.

Spectrum Got GPS

At first, I thought how come this Spectrum so busy one?

Every time we stopped for even a short while, he has to keep looking at his handphone.

His wife and girlfriends cannot let him tour in peace is it?

Then I learnt that the handphone-like thing that he is holding is a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) device. The screen shows that he is on Route 3. Pin point your position to within 100m or less.

I think, “Wah, with this thing, during army topo (topography) exercises, blur sotong also can become topo king.”

I will not go into detail about Route 3 today. I will just say that after Kota Tinggi towards Mersing, there is a stretch of long straights, part of the straights have gentle upslope and downslope. Then around the 265 mark, there is stretch filled with some good C and S curves. Then after that, it is mostly straight again until Mersing.

Route 3 Straight Roads also have.
Curve Roads also have.

See nice curves on Route 3 then cannot self-control.
Must corner liao.

Swap Motorcycles

This Eeie very keen to try my Fazer because he thought of getting one. And Spectrum very keen to try Eeie’s Hayabusa. I also keen to ride Spectrum’s Hornet 900. So we all agreed to a 3-way deal.

Hornet 900 Comparison with Fazer 1000

Sitting on the Hornet 900, it feels really small compared to the Fazer 1000. In fact, I felt like I am sitting on a Super4.

The Hornet feels more agile and smaller than the Fazer.

The Hornet engine is, well, very refined and smooth. It pulls seamlessly from very low rpm, all the way to high rpm, without missing a beat or complaining. I like the Honda’s engine that it give a throaty growl when accelerating around in town traffic.

The Hornet brakes are pretty good. But I like the Fazer’s better because The Fazer brakes has a more immediate bite and bites harder.

The Hornet has a better gearbox. It is slicker, lighter and easier to shift than the Fazer’s.

Spectrum has a small aftermarket windscreen. It looked even smaller than Frost’s. But it worked very well too. You will not feel the wind blowing at your chest. So you can ride to as high as 150kmh without feeling like being blown off. Frost offers a slightly better wind protection, only because it is half-faired. So it is not a very equal comparison.

If you do a lot of riding in town or heavy traffic, the Hornet has the advantage over Fazer. The Hornet will be an easier bike to move around in town. Because it is smaller, it is more nimble to maneuver in confined places and heavy traffic. It is also easier to manhandle and park. Its engine, being EFI, develops stronger torque in low rpm, so it can accelerate stronger in town traffic.

For long distance touring, the Fazer has the advantage. On the Fazer, you can fit hard luggage (2 box or 3 box combination) while still maintaining its elegant looks. As the Hornet is smaller than the Fazer, I thought the Hornet would look a little awkward if fitted with side boxes. The other advantages of Fazer during touring are, it has a half-fairing (but Hornet does have a half-faired model as well) combined with a slightly long hence stable wheelbase, a more laid back riding position and a softer seat.

Both bikes are good for trunk road busting. The Hornet has the slight advantage of being more nimble. The Fazer has the slight advantage of a stronger mid and top end.

All in all, you can’t go wrong with either the Hornet or Fazer. They each feel slight different but they are not all that different. It is like some like to drink Kopi (coffee white) while some prefer to drink Kopi Au (coffee black). You understand me or not?

My turn on the Hayabusa

We reached Mersing around 12.00 pm but we did not stop for lunch there. One reason is that we weren’t that hungry. Another reason is that I have yet to find a good place that offers delicious food there. So if you know, let me know.

After we reached Mersing, we decided to swap bikes again. Even though the Busa was Eeie’s, he was so happy on my Fazer, he preferred to stay on the Fazer. He even started calling Frost “His Fazer”.

So I swapped with Spectrum and I got my first chance to ride the 1300cc Hayabusa. The sitting position is distinctively less comfortable than the upright Fazer and Hornet. It is a sports bike hunch down position. But I would say it is slightly more comfortable than a true blue sports bike like a FireBlade or R1. There is not so much weight on your arms. And the seat is actually the softest of our 3 bikes.

My Short Ride on the Busa

We continued with our Route 3 and left Mersing and rode towards Pekan.

The engine of the Busa felt like a big muscular ox. It pulls effortlessly in any gear and at any rpm. I hardly need to change gear even when I overtake cars during trunk road riding.

But the engine is different from that of a true blue sports bike. The engine will climb the rpm but it will notl climb as energetically as a FireBlade (I used to ride a Honda CBR954 FireBlade). The positive side is that even though the engine is able to accelerate the bike so smoothly that you hardly notice it and it will not threaten to throw you off.

The sitting position is really that of a man sitting on a big missile. It reminded me of those children stories with witches flying around sitting on their broom stick. I think their backside sure dam pain one. But the Busa will not make your backside pain because the seat is very soft.

Eeie’s busa has a tall aftermarket screen. It deflects windblast so well that your head and body will totally feel no wind, even when you are riding very fast. It should be very good if you are riding at over 200kmh along the NS highway. But on the trunk road, it does make the journey a bit boring.

Some say the Busa is heavy and hard to turn. I don’t feel it is so when riding on the trunk roads.

One thing I distinctively uncomfortable with on the Busa is its brakes. I feel like I am riding on a train. I can accelerate it easily but I must be careful that the train needs to roll to a stop and is not quite capable of doing an emergency stop. Maybe I don’t know how to make the full use of the Busa brakes within the short time of riding it.

I must profess that I am not the type of rider suitable to a Busa. After riding like 50 km, I wanted to swap to either the Hornet or Fazer. I swapped out of the Busa so quickly that there isn’t any photo of me on the Busa. So my opinions could be very biased lor.

I could see that the Busa is wonderful for those riders that like to cruise at over 200kmh along the NorthSouth Highway comfortably for great distances.

If you like finesse riding such as braking hard and shifting gears at the right rpm, ride low around the corners, then a pure sports bike like the FireBlade or R1 might be a better choice. But if you like to ride fast in a straight line for long distance possibly for touring, then the Busa is a good choice.

Break at Lanjut Resort

We turned turned right, off Route 3 (Rompin), into the road leading into Lanjut Resort.

Eeie on my Fazer at the entrance of Lajut Beach Resort. Followed by our bikes and us resting by the scenic Lajut Beach Resort.

There we took a break and had a drink. Lanjut Resort is just by the sea side.

We also took the opportunity to do some filming of our bikes.

Lunch

We rode on and stopped for lunch at Pekan, at this road-side mini-hawker centre of sort. It was about 2.30 pm.

I enjoyed eating at where the local people eat. Spectrum has this theory. If there are a lot of local people eating at a particular place, it must be good. Or else the local people will not eat there. Of course, another reason is that it should be cheaper. Or so I thought.

At this place, there were plenty of local people eating there. Every one eating there was local. So we ordered from this nasi padang stall.

I think the term Chao Tao (carrot head) is used to refer to a person, used in the context, when the gets duped or cheated by a seller into a bad deal. It is like the carrot head kena chopped off on a chopping board.

Spectrum's nasi padang and mine cost 5 ringgit each. We did not order a lot. It is not that cheap by local standard. Spectrum and I felt like little Chao Tao.

But Eiee’s nasi padang cost 10 ringgit! So Eiee is the big Chao Tao.

But Singaporeans also one kind. Kena chopped still kuai kuai pay. Then only know how to come home and complain over the internet.

Route 3 (Pekan)

On the Malaysia map, you can see that this stretch of Route 3 runs parallel and just next to the East coast for about 70 km.

The South China Sea does break out at certain stretches along the road, next to your right. If you are on a loose schedule, the beach is just 10 meters off the road, so you can exit Route 3 and go enjoy the beach. This is what I called really East Coast Road. Singapore’s East Coast Road cannot really see the coast one.

On the open roads and plains, next to the sea, along Route 3 (Pekan).
This is also our most preferred combination for most of our journey.
Eeie on my Fazer. Spectrum on Eeie's Busa.
I on Spectrum's Hornet.

For the rest of the stretches where the sea view is not visible, it is still a nice ride. Because the road takes you through an unpopulated Pekan, I recommend that you don't rush your ride and you will find this stretch of road very relaxing.

Kuantan

I expected Kuantan, being a coastal town, to appear like Mersing. I was quite surprised to see that Kuantan is really quite big. Almost like a city. And it is bustling with activities. Traffic was also heavy and there is quite a dense network of roads within Kuantan. So this make navigation not so straight forward.

Even Spectrum with the aid of GPS, has some initial problem in locating our hotel.

I can’t really recall how we turned here and turned there. I just follow Spectrum. I remembered we rode past several posh looking resorts and hotels, and a few golf courses. Then I followed him down a road that ends by a drive-through in a McDonalds by the sea side. So clearly this is not where our hotel supposed to be.

While Spectrum is asking the local for directions to the hotel, I noticed that in this scenic touristy location, there is a Malaysia army camp. I find it interesting that the Malaysia jaen hu very welfare to their soldiers. Their army camps are located in nice nice touristy places such as this. And at Cameron Highlands, Brinchang town, there was also a commando camp. Don’t ask me why the commandoes cannot train anywhere else but must train at so high up at Cameron.

Contrast this to the Singapore jaen hu. They like to put the army camps at ulu ulu and inaccessible places like Pulau Tekong where only refugees and wild elephants go.

After getting the new directions to our hotel from the local, Spectrum explained to me the route. He said something like “We are here…now we ride to…then when we see…we turn…then ride for another….” I don’t know where we are, don’t know the map of Kuantan and don’t know where our hotel is. But I just nodded my head and said “Orr.”

So I and Eeie just followed Spectrum. Then we ride, ride, ride and ended up on a road with the beach just off to our right. The neighbourhood is not that touristy but more filled with local kampong houses. Then suddenly, ahead rose into view is our 4-5 storey hotel. We found our hotel!

See, I was right. Just trust Spectrum, relax and follow him. He has many years of experience in navigation from his job. The best person to topo is him.

Check In

Our hotel is located at the Balok Beach, along Route 3. It is about 20 km after Kuantan and 16km before Cherating Beach.

This hotel certainly looked many times more posh than the apartment I stayed in at Cameron.

We looked for a place to park our bikes at the car park, but found none. So we rode to in front of the lobby to ask where to park our bikes. Much to our delight, we could park our bikes right in front of the hotel lobby!

In Singapore, to receive similar treatment at hotel lobbies, your car should minimum be a Porsche, Ferrari or Rolls Royce. Only here, a Yamaha, Suzuki and Honda will do.

Our bikes' VIP treatment.

While Spectrum did all the checking in at the concierge, I walked around the lobby. The hotel is very well designed. The lobby is at level 1. At basement 1, overlooked by the lobby, is an airy restaurant. Beyond the restaurant is a very nice looking swimming pool. Further beyond, but no further than a mere 100 meters, is the beach and the sea.

Quite an excellent choice of hotel by Spectrum.

Our hotel address is:

Swiss GardenResort & Spa
2656 Mukim Sungai Katong, Balok Beach, 26100 Beserah,
Kuantan, Pahang. Tel: 609-544-7333.
www.swissgarden.com.

Since the hotel is so near the sea, I went over to Spectrum and asked him what level is our hotel room on. Because I scared wait got tsunami come while we are sleeping.

Luckily, our hotel room is on level 3. The room number is a very nice 8360. One more time, 8-3-6-0.

The bellboy (if he is too old to be a boy, should I call him bellman?) wheeled our luggage which comprised of our helmets, soft and hard saddle bags, into the room. I felt a bit strange that I don’t need to carry my own helmet.

The room is like a nice 4-star hotel room. It has got a nice toilet, clothes cabinets, fridge, TV and even a balcony.

The best of all is the view from our room. We got a room with an even better view than a sea view. We got a hotel room with bike view. Look down from the balcony and we can see our bikes parked in front of the lobby.

Don't have sea view never mind.
Got bike view can already.

The time is around 4.30 pm. Our program is to go walk the beach followed by dinner.

The Beach

The beach is only a short walk from the hotel. I thought this is supposed to be the monsoon period and I expected to see strong and high waves. But the sea was calm and in retreat. The beach is flat and smooth.

The sand is not those sandy white type but more brownish. The sea is also not crystal green but also more brownish. But anyhow also beat our Singapore crowded east coast beach and sea. The sea stretches infinitely into the horizon (South China Sea). There is also very few people on the beach.

The weather also does not appear like there is going to be monsoon thunder storm. There are lots of low little cumulus cloud indicating fair weather.

Eeie and Spectrum go swimming in the sea. I never like water sports and swimming. So I prefer to stay on the beach. I enjoyed walking on the beach and admire the scenery. I find it very relaxing.

Kuantan got a couple of "dolphins".

Then I see a Wave.

Not a sea wave but a Honda wave, with an Ice Cream Man on it.

We bought ice cream from him.

He sells a special type of ice cream. I called it the incredibly-fast-melting-ice-cream. As soon as the ice cream man transfer the cone into your hand, you can feel the ice cream starts to melt already. But only 1 ringgit for a double scoop.

No time to pose nice nice.
Must faster eat. If not melt already.

Swimming Pool

After dipping in the sea, Spectrum and Eiee then go dip in the hotel’s swimming pool.

Introducing the synchronised swimming team....

The swimming pool even has a mini Jacuzzi in it. It has warm water for you to soak in and there are water jets in it.

But sometimes, no matter how gorgeous you are, the girls just keep their distance from you...

This is Eeie in the Jacuzzi pool.

Table Soccer

The hotel has a small amusement park. There is a table tennis table. We played table soccer. 5 balls for 2 ringgit.

We played a few games. He doesn’t look like it, but Spectrum is rather good at table soccer. The overall positions are Spectrum first, I second and Eeie third.

Pasar Malam

Spectrum asked the hotel staff where can we go jalan jalan (walk walk) at night. They suggested that we can try the pasar malam, which is nearby.

We were gamed on trying whatever local food we can find around there, instead of the more conservative approach of eating at the hotel’s restaurant.

We rode our bikes out at about 7 pm. Turn right on exiting the hotel. It was dark and there is very little street lighting. But traffic is not light and there are bikes and cars around us.

We rode for about 10 minutes without any turns and we reached the pasar malam. It is just next to the road.

The pasar malam is very interesting to me. There were a lot of food stalls and the place is bustling with activities and people. The sellers and customers are all muslims. The only non-muslim people there are the three of us. The people there are very friendly.

We walked around the various stalls. And whatever individually we fancied, we bought and ate.

I liked the fried chicken. The chicken is fried immediately, so it is still nice and hot. And it taste like KFC chicken. And a chicken drum stick cost you only 1 ringgit! Wah song ah! You can eat until you siok and you still wouldn’t blow your pocket.

Spectrum said order from those stall where there are a lot of locals buying and not from those stalls where the seller just sit there pa bam (beat mosquitoe).

Spectrum order satay. Eeie ate roast chicken.

Then Eeie ate murtabak prata. You believe got roti prata square one?

Eeie said the murtabak prate nice.

Spectrum and I also ate “lok lok”. Last time, Singapore also got lok lok. But now no more. In Singapore, the hawker food stalls are got a grading from the Singapore jaen hu. 'A' for cleanest. I think some of the food stalls here might get 'F'. But I say heck care. Don’t try now next time no more chance to try liao. So I got to experience lok lok, something many Singaporeans have no more chance to experience.

This is lok lok. How to eat?
Very simple. Choose any 3 sticks for 90 sens. Then boil the sticks of food in the small little pot. Then you eat.

Then, I saw a stall selling Sri Rasa burgers. Sri Rasa burgers are like our Singapore's Ramly Burgers. Spectrum said the Malaysia burgers cooked by Muslims got standard one. So I decided to try. I ordered the beef with egg (Daying Telur). I must say it is fantastic! The burger is very tasty and the ingredients got a lot of flavour. Yum yum. Mokamoka, who likes Ramly Burger, would have eaten at least three burgers.

It did not take long for us to fill our stomachs. We really still want to eat but we are really full.

We tah bao (pack or take away) back 8 Ramly burgers back to the hotel. 6 is for the nice and helpful hotel staff that we met. The hotel staff speak very good English. 1 burger is for me to eat. The other burger is to stare at Spectrum to ask him to eat it.

We turned in at around 10.30 pm. I managed to eat another Sri Rasa burger before I slept. Yum yum.

The beds are rather comfortable.
Zzzzzzzzzzz.

Will part up Part II, our next day at Kuatan, soon.