Highlights:
- What real life casino looks like
- Discovered Route 9, the shiokest route for cornering in Malaysia
Roller Coasters on Genting
After taking complimentary breakfast, we had some time to kill before we check out at 11am.
Some of us got not enough fun conering up Genting and to take the roller coaster at First World's amusement park.
It features a prone-down posture, has spinning and looping actions.
From their faces, do you think the ride was scary?
A Casino in Real Life
Somehow,no body mentioned about about going to the casino. Maybe bikers all boh luai.
Surprisingly, the person most gian to go to casino turned out to be our undergrad, PPlater. He chio me go casino and I said on and tagged along.
Now, the casino allows shirts with colour and jeans. The casino does not allow photo so too bad I got no photos to show you.
I have prepared a princely sum as my gambling capital--S$200!
I told myself to be disciplined. Maximum lose all my gambling capital but must not sell my STX to the casino.
PPlater, being a student still, has a slightly smaller capital of S$100.
Inside the casino, we were first greeted with rows and rows of jacket machines. But we want to go for the real thing. We only want to play card games and huat ah!
There are many card playing stations. Each station consists of a large table lined with green cloth on its top; a dealer, who is a casino employee; space for 6-8 players. Each station plays only one style of card game eg: Black Jack, Poker, etc etc.
The first discovery I made of real life casino versus the movies is how little talking is required. You can play even if you can't speak Malay, English, Tamil. In the movies, the dealer will now and then talk and sprout things like, "Banker draws an Ace. Player A wins etc". At Genting, for all I know, the dealers might all be mute. In the movies, the dealers are elegant gentlemen dressed in tuxedos. At Genting, the dealers are teens still with pimples, dressed in overly large waiter-like uniforms.
There is no need for anyone to talk to play the game because the table cloth is a self-contained rule-book. All the rules are written on the table. And you just need to put your money at the right box on the table cloth. You lose, the dealer eats your money away. You win, the dealer puts chips on your box.
The only time the players talk is when the poor teenage-dealer is about to draw a card. The players, all uncles and aunties, will all shout in unison, "Picture! Picture! Picture!" And when the dealer really draws a King and exceeds 21, the rowdy loud rejoices happily.
In the movies, the dealer will perform fancy trips when they shuffle the cards and spread the deck across the table. In real life, the dealers do not need to do any shuffling. A machine does the shuffling.
Sitting down distributing cards for 8 hours a day, 12 months a year, I think it must be very boring to be a dealer in a casino. And it's a job that the only time your customers are happy with you is when you screw up in your job--that is, if you lose and therefore they win. It must be the worst job on earth.
So when the Singapore IR is ready, better think properly first before apply job as a card dealer.
Our Turn
PPlater and I spent some time watching other players how they play, like where to put the bet, what are the card rules. We watched and watched. We watched until we start to almost chicken out. At least I did. Good thing PPlater did not.
One player vacated from the game. Here is the chance. PPlater goes forward and sit down at his place. PPlater takes out his gambling capital of S$100 and was about to exchange for chips. But not before one uncle took out his stack of notes to exchange for chips. Our S$100-200 suddenly looked so small because that uncle exchanged 2,000 ringgit. Unlike in the movies where Chow Yuan Fatt has stacks and stacks of gambling chip piled in front of him, PPlater's gambling capital composed of just 4 chips.
PPlater's put his first precious chip down on the table. He wins! He now has 5 chips! Wow, I didn't know winning is so easy.
He puts his next chip on the table. Lose. Back to original 4 chips.
He puts his next chip. Lose again! O-Oh. 3 chips left. Things are getting tense.
Next chip. Lose gain! 2 chips left. Wow, I didn't know money can part from you so fast.
Tolong tolong. Ti kong por bi por bi. Next one better win ah. Next chip. Win at last! 3 chips now.
He then wins 2 more games in a row. He now has 5 chips and is on a winning streak!
PPlater is very disciplined. He stood up and ended his foray into gambling in Genting. He explained that he might only win S$25, but better that he walked away win a small win than to keep playing until he eventually loses.
Wise words and at a 25% profit on his investment within 15 minutes, it is a good return. But if I am casino operator, I will surely ban such players.
For me, I kind of like regretted for chickening out. But I am glad that at least I still have my STX to ride home.
Departure
Checking out of First World is such a breeze, compared to the 1 hour checking-in. Just drop the keys into a box and leave.
Lined up for a motorcycling race on top of Genting?
It's to take a group photo.
Going down the steep slopes of Genting.
If you look down, it can be a bit scary. The small dotts in the lower road are the head of our convoy while I am riding down.
Going up Genting is throttle and leaning over.
Going down Genting is all brakes and leaning over.
The ride up and down Genting was really fun. And we reached the bottom of Genting before we know it.
From Genting Sempah exit, we took the E8 highway, also known as the "Karak Highway".
On the scenic Karak Highway.
Unlike the straight monotonous NorthSouth Highway, the Karak Highway was fun to ride.
Nice scenaries around, some gentle bends and nice weather.
We head north and enter Route 2 to get to Karak town.
At this kopi tiam at Karak town center, we had lunch.
The roast duck and wanton mee are nice here. Yummy!
After that, we rode along this route called Route 9 that will take us south all the way to Melaka's Tampin.
Route 9, the best cornering route in Western Malaysia
I have been to some routes with twisties that are really nice to corner on a motorbike: Route 3 to Mersing, Cameron Highland, Gua Musang Highway, Gerik Highway, the earlier Genting Highlands.
But this Route 9 beats them all, in my opinion. What makes Route 9 bends so special?
Riding along Route 9.
I don't have any picture to show you of my cornering action along Route 9.
The bends are so fun that I kept me so fully engaged that I had no time/no capacity left to take photos for you.
Route 9 is filled with twist and turns. It even has hairpins. What made these bends so fun to corner is that almost all of them are constant- or increasing-radius corners.
This means you can enter the bend and can really lean very low because the bends will not suddenly sharpen and catch you out further.
One of the numerous increasing/constant bends along Route 9.
And the further good news is that Route 9 is rather long. It takes about an hour to complete riding through. And all through the route, there will be nice corners here and there.
The STX is a cornering machine
Going through Route 9, it made me love my STX, Vice, even more.
I already knew my STX is a very different bike from its predecessor the ST1100. I already knew the STX is a very fast bike, despite having a neat sedated Honda tourer image. Along the NorthSouth Highway, you will be surprised to know that the STX pulls as strongly as a Blackbird when both bikes are in top gears (the STX has a lower redline so it's 240 can't match the BB's 300 top speed). And on the first day of this trip, while playing with a BlackBird along another trunk road, Route 50, I was pleasantly surprised that the STX was a match with the BlackBird.
All these are straight line performances. What about cornering? How good is the STX in corners?
Along Route 9, I found out the STX was fantastic!
The bike is so light to steer and to lean over to take a corner. Its sitting posture is perfect for upright touring, yet its frictionless broad and long seat along you to hang off and to adopt a prone sportsbike cornering posture that makes cornering action much more involving(the FJR has a frictionful dimpled foamy seat).
I leaned over so much that after I buah the toes of my boots against the road surface, for the rest of the corners, I tip-toed my boots on the foot peg like riding a sports bike.
And it's fantastic V4 engine that delivers great amounts of torque from as low as 3,00 rpm. Plus, somehow the STX V4 allows you to use the power of its 1,300 cc engine without fear. The engine is so gentle with you, yet it actually is digging the tyres into the tarmac and hurling the bike forward.
This fantastic V4 is my ace around corners. Once I see the exit of the corners, I could open my throttle quickly without fear of losing grip as in the case of inline4s. The 1,300 cc engine throws the bike forward and I can see the bikes in front of me, the FZ1, the GSX1K, the CBR1K, can't escape and all gets reeled towards me! Yes, I eventually overtook most of them.
(But convoy riding along trunk road is not a race. So it is not fair to say the STX is quicker than these litre sports bikes. It's just that the STX is a match along the corners to keep up with them.)
And there's the STX's combined linked brakes system (CBS) with ABS. Bike journalist hates them. I love them. They are so idiot proof and so effective. I can power out of a corner, hurl the big STX to high speeds. See the road rapidly disappearing in a corner fast approaching. No fear. I opened the throttle even wider!
Just about right, I pressed on the front brake lever. Sometimes, with the foot brake added in. I can feel the CBS gripping the front discs, then activate the rear discs and my STX gets pulled back like a big parachute behind. I have the assurance if the braking force too strong, the ABS will kick in, though it never ever need to. The idiot-proof CBS also meant that I can trail my brakes into the corners of route 9, something I seldom do previously on other bike models.
And as I traversed the mid-section of the corner, leaned over and out of my seat, with a constant pressure on the throttle...see the bend starts to straighten out and I saw the exit, once again, I opened my throttle progressly and see my STX closes in onto the bike in front!
The corners of Route 9 and the fantastic cornering capabilities of STX lead to using up to 80% of the width of my BT-21 BattleAxe tyres!
How can a bike that is comfortable for long-distance cruising yet be able to go so fast and so able in cornering? Sometimes, life is just so unfair.
Watch Out
Later on, it starts to rain. We are reaching the end of Route 9. Then the other STX in the group fell. How come?
The STX wasn't going very fast. It was just doing 20kmh or so going around a bend. As the bend straightens, the rider opened the throttle ever slightly only since it was raining. But it so happens the rear tyre, at the moment, was on the white painted central divider. This painted surface is so slippery when wet that the rear tyre lose grip and the bike fell.
Good thing the rider was amoured and there was no injury, just a scare.
So boys and girls, lessons learnt are: Avoid touching the white painted lines when raining. And wear armoured safety riding gear as they keep you looking beautiful and handsome.
Sitting down. The VFR rider was in the midst of filling up when this big Malaysian lorry decided to squeeze past him inches away and the rider could only hold his breath.
