"Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world"
W.B.Yeats, from The Second Coming
Do you believe in Luck?
Do you believe in Premonition? And warning signs, omens and prophecies?
And do you believe there are such things as Guardian Angels? Or God?
On this ride, we really ran into a string of bad luck. Really Da Mei Yun.
The Way It Was Supposed To Be
Songkran is Thailand's celebration of the water festival. Our plan was to to set off on 11 April Wed, reached the Thailand town of Hat Yai and return on 15 April Sunday. The ride is led by my ridding buddy Spectrum.
The itinerary is like this:
Part 1 Songkran ride:
The red line. Set off from
Part 2 Kuantan ride:
Blue line. On 14th Apr Saturday morning, from Hat Yai, ride south back to
I rode the
Omens
Omen #1 One month before the trip, my steel-cased tyre Bridgestone BT-020 sustained a mysterious puncture in the middle of an absolutely clear and empty expressway (AYE).
Omen #2 One week before the trip, my leave to go for the trip suddenly got cancelled.
No leave how to go Songkran?
But Endless is stubborn one. I can’t ride Hat Yai, but I can ride to Kuantan taking part in the second leg of the ride. I would join 6 other bikes to ride to Kuantan. There, we would meet the 11 bikes from Hat Yai.Both groups will depart together on Sunday morning and head back to
Omen #3 This year’s Songkran falls on Friday. The 13th.
To Mersing
The route my group takes to reach Kuantan is set off from 2nd link towards Mersing using Route 3.
Here are a couple of new additions to my biking gear:
Commemorating THE movie of the year: Spiderman 3
The spider, in the same shape as that on Spiderman’s costume, is made of highly reflective 3M sticker. I should have a new helmet by the time Spiderman 4 is out.
My new riding boots: Goretex Diadora riding boots from, where else? Ah Boy. $180.
Makes me look like a World War 2 German officer with high boots.
I used to wonder how come riding boots are made with such thin soles. Doesn’t this make the soles wear out pretty fast? Wearing the Diadora riding boots made me realized that thin soles are needed for you to be able to “feel” your bike. Without being able to feel the foot pegs, you would not be able to tell whether the bike is gripping or sliding on the tarmac.
Interesting seat accessory on a Hornet 900.
Rider put the pillow there to prevent his pillion girlfriend from sliding forward. We wonder if afterwards, the rider would hold and smell the pillow in his sleep.
NorthSouth highway, en-route to Route 3.
Riding along Route 3.
We passed some nice scenic spots along Route 3.
Together we ride.
Route 3 has good quality road combined with many nice twists and turns. Makes for lots of fun riding and cornering!
There are a few stone “boulders” along Route 3.
These are actually machine gun bunkers built during World War 2 to protect the roads against invasion. Two such bunkers, in the foreground, point North and another two, in the far distance, point South.
One can imagine it would really be a tough job by any invaders to go against these concrete bunkers armed with machine guns.
Chaaaarge!!! As we attempt to scale one of the bunkers for a photo shoot.
Xiao Char Bor (Crazy Girl). Roof demonstrates there is an easier way to get to the top of the bunker. Use Qing Gong (Chinese gong fu).
Artistic shot taken by Roof. Note the sunlight reflection.
This is also the first time I pillion anyone on a bike trip. I am the Transporter. My cargo is Roof. My job is to pillion Roof to Kuantan where she will meet her good friend Denden, who is heading down from Hat Yai. The cargo will be transferred from me to Denden to ride back to
I must say that the Fazer is actually a pretty good bike to carry a pillion. When carrying Roof, the bike feels stable and does not feel wobbly or unstable. After I learnt to compensate for the pillion’s weight, for the rest of the trip, I could lean into the curves along Route 3 and I almost forgot that I was carrying a pillion.
This handphone pouch's kitty sure has bigger balls than its owner.
Bad News #1
We are almost reaching Kuantan, just 55km more or another 30 minutes of riding, and we can rest at our hotel, the Duta Sands Resort.
Vandice rides a Suzuki SV650. As it is a sports bike, its seat is a bit hard. Having ridden for several hours, his buttock starts to ache so he stood on the foot pegs to take weight off and improve blood circulation. Feeling better, he sat back down onto his seat. Just as his weight hit the seat, the engine suddenly cuts off and goes lifeless. The SV650 rolls to a stop.
The SV650 rolls to a mysterious stop. Perhaps it cannot tahan the rider's weight.
Motrax, Maverick, myself and Roof attend to the immobilized Vandice. The rest of the other 3 bikes are ahead and didn’t know we have stopped.
The malay ah gong of this house was very kind to allow us to push the bike into his house and take shade while we try to fix it.
Vandice bike even has a handy break-down sign on its tail.
How not to believe in premonition?
Motrax even swap his battery from his functioning bike to onto the lifeless SV650 to test if it is a flat battery. After plugging in, the SV650 still has got no sound, no picture, no life.
After spending another 1 hour trouble shooting, we gave up and decided we are unable to get the SV650 moving. We called Spectrum who is leading the Hat Yai group to tell him of our situation and ask for referral on whom to call to tow the SV back to
Bad News #2
When we contacted Spectrum, we were quite s
hock by the news we hear. One of the bikes in the group, while riding along the windy and mountainous Gerik route, crashed.
The Gerik Highway is filled with many twists and turns, up and down the long mountainous route connecting Ipoh to Terranganu.
The rider and pillion, ran wide along one of the bends and crashed into the metal railing along the road. If the crash was any harder, the bike would have fell hundred of meters into the steep ravine just at the edge of the road.
It is really a surprise as the rider is a very experienced rider who has ridden to many of our trips into
To be safe, they were escorted by Spectrum and Denden to the nearby
Now that there are two bikes to tow back to
The tow truck has to cover hundreds of km to pick up these two bikes to
The ah gong, who has never met us until now, is so kind to allow us to park the SV650 in the pouch of his house until the tow truck comes to pick up the bike.
Future Embassador for Singapore at work.
We have to thank Roof who knows a bit of malay to converse with the ah gong who then give us permission to shelter the SV650.
Maverick pillions the bikeless Vandice, together with Motrax, Roof and myself, we head to join the rest of the other bikes up ahead and to head for Kuantan.
We met up with the rest of the bikes and together, we rode into Kuantan town. Kuantan is quite a big town and we have a bit of difficulty navigating along its town road.
The map of Kuantan town and the route to Duta Sand Resort, the place we were to stay overnight.
In the midst of heavy town traffic, after a while, our convoy of 7 bikes broke up and got separated. Motrax and Mavrick with Vandice are missing.
Bad News #3
Maverick with Vandice as pillion, and Motrax, are the last 2 bikes in the convoy riding through Kuantan town. Vandice’s phone ranged. It is the telephone number of the tow truck company. They must be calling to ask for location to locate Vandice’s SV650. Vandice asked Maverick to stop so that he can take off his helmet to answer the call. Motrax, as the sweeper, stops with Maverick and Vandice along the road side.
Vandice removed his helmet and started to speak to the tow truck company. He is happy that the tow truck company should be able to reach the SV650 by night fall. In his enthusiasm while taking on his handphone, he did not look down and notice that there is a very low-ankle-height steel pipe sticking out from the road side. Oh no! He tripped over the steel pipe and fell downwards towards the floor.
To his horror, he fell right onto his own helmet that he has earlier placed on the floor. His chest crashed on top of his hard helmet with all his body weight and momentum.
Vandice rolled on the floor in pain, grasping on his chest. Motrax and Maverick ran to help him. The locals in the kopi tiam stood up and started running to help. Even some malaysian cars came to a stop and their drivers ran to assist.
After some time, Vandice’s pain subsided slightly and was able to ride pillion. The three of them managed to find the rest of the convoy waiting by the road side up ahead. Together, the convoy tries to find the Duta Sand Resort. According to Spectrum’s Indiana-Jones-like instructions, to look for the “
Duta Sand Resort
We went past the “
After all the mishaps, what a relief when we are finally able to dismount, check in and rest for the night at the Duta Sands Resort.
Our group was supposed to reach the resort at 4 pm. By the time we are actually there, it was already past 6 pm.
Our group is now safely checked into the resort. What about the other Hat Yai group? What is happening to them? Where are they now? When can they get to the resort to meet us?
We couldn’t reach any one of the riders. The Gerik route runs through a mountainous and uninhabited region in the middle of northern
After some long anxious waiting, the group finally rode into coverage and was able to communicate with us. They are reaching Terengganu, a major town high up north and resting on the east coast. Then they will turn south and ride 200 km towards Duta Sands Resort. They estimate to reach by 11 pm.
Spectrum and Denden, are even further back from the rest of the Hat Yai group as they had spent some time at the
When I heard that, involuntarily, shivers ran down me. Because I was caught in almost the same situation. I was also with Spectrum, Denden and a few other bikes and we were still at Jeli when the sun started to set. And Jeli is only in the middle of the Gerik route and we did not reach Terengganu until 12 am. I remembered what a nightmare it was and how dangerous it was to ride in the ultra-dark Gerik route at night. It is so dark that one can’t see one’s hand when it is only centimeters in front of you. The road has no street light and one has to ride at full alert through out as all it takes is a momentarily lapse in concentration to ride off the road in this abyss darkness.
In my mind, I think that it would be overly optimistic for Spectrum and Denden to reach Kuantan at 3 am.
Bad News #4
With nothing else to do but wait, my group went to a seafood restaurant about 200 metres north of Duta Sands for dinner. The food is decently priced.
After dinner and back at the resort, it is already midnight and there is still no sign of the Hat Yai riders. Tired, we went to bed, thinking we will see them in the morning for breakfast.
The 9 riders of the Hat Yai group are tired from riding the whole day since 7 am and having to concentrate hard on traversing the windy and tricky Gerik route. Plus having to deal with the earlier accident, all their energy are sapped.
Heading south along Route 3 after Dungun, they are now only a couple of hour’s ride from a good night’s rest at Duta Sands Resort. The group rode past a traffic light. The entire group has passed the traffic light before it turned red, except for the last bike.
Just as the bike was clearing the traffic light, a car from the perpendicular traffic flow starts to move off. Wham! The bike perpendicular-ed into the side of the car, sending the rider rolling onto the floor.
Breakfast
My group rose from our good night sleep, unaware of the misfortune and suffering of the other group. I met the Hat Yai riders at the breakfast area and asked how was their ride to the resort.
They reached the resort only at 2.30 am. In fact, Spectrum and Denden reached the resort earlier than the main group.
The main group attended to the rider and bike who collided with the car. The collision bent the front fork of the 1,000cc bike. Again, thankfully, the rider wearing armoured gear and a good helmet, suffered some slight abrasion and some sprains.
The tow truck now has 3 bikes to collect. I hope they bring a big enough truck.
Before leaving the resort, we lazed a little around the resort, the pool and the beach.
Instead of staying in the hotel room, you can rent and stay in the caravans. 88 Ringgit per night. I thought I saw one of the keep shaking for whatever reasons.
Watch Your Front...Another artistic shot by Roof.
Watch Out! Whale Diving.
Mass exodus to the sea. And I thought only turtles do that.
No wonder we couldn't find the "Twin Peaks" that Spectrum described. They are not Twin Peaks. Looked more like Twin (Buttock) Cheeks.
Cute photo on the beach.
Star-fish. It has many tiny legs on its undersurface.
Review of Honda VFR
On the way back to
I also took the opportunity to swap bike with Maverick. He rides my Yamaha Fazer1000 and I ride his Honda VFR (V-tec).
Let's play the game: Spot the difference between these two pictures.
Answer: Motrax makes himself scarce.
The VFR is often known as the best sports tourer in the world. It is known as a sports bike that you can also ride for touring. Is this what I think too after riding it?
My Fazer is also known as a very good sports tourer. Compared to the Fazer, the VFR is more sporty and the Fazer more a tourer.
I would describe the VFR as really more of a comfortable sports bike. The VFR riding position is like a sports bike, but with a comfortable seat and a bigger windscreen. The VFR is really more comfortable on the racing track than the Fazer. But one is more comfortable on long-distance hours-long ride on the upright-Fazer.
The VFR’s 800cc Vtec engine and gearing are also more like a sports bike. One should not compared its engine to a 1,000cc street engine like the Fazer’s. The VFR is really a more powerful 600cc sport bike engine. The VFR engine likes to rev and one has to play with its light sweet gear and clutch. On the truck road, one can’t really ride on the tallest gear of a 600cc sports bike. On the VFR, you can ride on the tallest gear but you need to down 2 gears to make a quick overtake over a car. On the mid-range tuned Fazer, you ride on the tallest gear and you don’t need to down any gear to make the same overtake.
My overall impression of the VFR is that it is a very very high quality bike with a very very rock solid build. Some magazines criticized the Vtec engine’s step-up torque when the higher cam comes in as intrusive. I really don’t notice or find it a problem at all.
If you crave for a sports bike, just go for a VFR, after all Honda designed it to be a sports bike and it is only later that the masses use it as a sports tourer. The bike is far more capable than you can ever use and yet you can do daily rides without the torture of the hardcore sports bike and you can really ride to
But if you don’t really plan on going on track days and you don’t want to ride hunched over, than the Yamaha Fazer or Honda Hornet may make more sense. The Fazer and Hornet allow you to go just as fast as a VFR on public roads but are more comfortable.
Spectrum brought us to
To get there, ride along Route 12. Turn left after Muadzam Shah and ride another 20-30 km inwards.
What Lies Beneath.
Lake Bera is a very quiet and calm if you want a place to relax and away from the crowd.
Still, calm and quiet.
The
Does the tree stumb on the left looked like a dog?
What can you do over there? You can take a boat ride and fish in the
The
We took a boat ride around
The
I asked if there are any crocodiles in the
Another artistically beautiful shot by Roof.
The locals call this plant, Monkey's Bowl.
It is sort of a plant eater. Its hollow cylinder allow ants and other insects to fall inside it, which the plant will slowly digest.
More National Geographic shots.
But don't ask me what type of bird this is. I know it's a bird, that's all.
This one is not a bird nor a bird's nest.
It is actually an ant's nest. Must be a penthouse.
Bad News #5
It’s getting late. We left
I was the sweeper and the last bike. I approached a junction and saw the marker was SaintDuDu and Bandit. Markers are left at each junction to indicate to the convoy where to turn. The markers can only leave the position when they see the sweeper, which is the last bike.
After SaintDuDu saw me, he went to his bike to leave the junction. I waited for him to move off. But strangely, after several minutes, he was still fiddling with his bike and not moving off. I dismounted and went to check what’s up.
SaintDuDu found that his bike’s radiator is leaking. A leaking radiator would not be able to cool the powerful and hot engine of his 1,100cc BlackBird and the engine would soon overhead. How now? We are in the middle of nowhere.
Well, without anyway to plug the leak, our solution was to leak-and-fill. That is, top up the radiator with as much water as possible and ride. Once the radiator is almost empty, we find water to top up again. Fortunately, just across the road is a road-side coffee stall. I bought a couple of litre mineral water and empty them into SaintDuDu’s radiator.
And so off we go. As we ride, our makeshift solution seemed to work as the engine is not overheating. The trick is to reach the next water point before the radiator runs out of water. As we rode, we couldn’t see the rest of the convoy. They must be tens of km ahead of us by now. So there is only the 3 of us left.
Bad News #6
Just as we thought, let’s turn up our pace, so that we can quickly catch up with the convoy and to reach a petrol kiosk to top up the radiator, we noticed that our fuel is running low. The BlackBird and Fazer roughly have the same tank range.
I estimated that I have only 60 km of fuel left. As we rode along the deserted roads surrounded by nothing but only palm plantations we saw a sign board that says, “Segamat 120km”. O-Oh. We are not going to be able to make it to Segamat town to refuel. Our only hope is that there is a petrol kiosk along the way.
The 3 of us rode on and on. Still no sign of civilization around us, let alone any petrol kiosk. The fuel needle has pointed to Empty and the reserve light of our fuel tank has lighted up long time ago. It is very discomforting to ride with the reserve light on in the middle of nowhere in
To conserve our fuel, we no longer can ride fast. We dropped our speed to 100-110kmh. There, it should give us optimum fuel consumption for our bikes. We also try to keep our speed constant and minimize fast overtaking and hard braking.
With each passing km, our fuel gets lesser and lesser. The sky is also getting darker and darker. And we are all alone. Our hope also gets lower and lower. I seriously have to start entertaining the thought of spending the night by the roadside in the middle of nowhere in
The ride was really depressing. You are caught in a very difficult situation. To reach a petrol kiosk, you have to ride on. But as you ride on, you are emptying your fuel tank and you are closer towards being stranded. It felt like riding to meet the end. I felt like Bruce Willis on the space craft in Armageddon; like a trapped submariner at the bottom of the ocean floor breathing the limited amount of remaining air; like how it must be like on earth as the sun exhausts its last bit of energy.
As the ride droned on, and our views alternating between the vast oil planatations around us and the lighted reserve light, suddenly , up ahead, we spotted a bright blue building by the roadside.
Esso Mobile petrol kiosk!
Never in my life had I been ever happier before to see a petrol kiosk. I felt like a man in the desert who suddenly found an oasis.
The three of us turned into the Esso kiosk and we saw the rest of our convoy there too.
My record of least remaining fuel. Never before had I needed to top up so much fuel.
There were less than 2 litre of fuel left in my 21 litre tank.
Segamat was still a good 50 km away. My bike does 18km/litre. If we had not found this petrol kiosk, we would really be stranded. Guardian angels above?
After topping up my fuel tank, our convoy resumed our ride. It felt so good, so reassuring to be able to ride with a full fuel tank, without having to worry about being stranded.
All of a sudden, I also started to appreciate my bike more and more. I started to scold myself, “Endless! How could you ever thought of changing to a Honada STX1300?! Your Fazer is such a good bike. It was with you through thick and thin. And it got you out of all these tricky situations. How could you?! You heartless brute! Shame on you!!!” My desire for STX1300 went away. For the time being.
Bad News #7
We are now way behind our schedule. The sun is setting. There would only be minutes of light left. We were now at Segamat town. But still over 100km away from
Riding in the dark along the unlighted trunk roads.
It ups the risk significantly. It is much darker to ride in
Fortunately, we managed to reach
Epilogue
The riders who fell off are all back in
Several days later, I learnt from another group that rode up to Songkan and returned on the same day as us back to
- One bike on their way up to
- Their group returned from Hat Yai and spent the night on
- The group, nearing
So, after hearing my this Tai-Chi-Liao-Liao (so many troubles) trip, do you believe in Luck? Do you believe in Fate? Do you believe in Premonition?
Beautiful shot taken during the Songkran ride.
