22th January, Sunday---See Hong Kong WTO Pia Zui

Today is Sunday and I am ill. No one like to be ill, butI hate most being ill on weekends.

Because weekend ill cannot MC so most boh hua (lousy deal) one.

So while I rest at home, I tell you about my recent trip to Hong Kong. I was at Hong Kong for holiday from 16th Dec, Friday to 18th Dec, Sunday 2005.

Believe it or not, the weekend that I was at Hong Kong, zun zun kena the WTO meeting there.

Did I get to see the over 1,000 Koreans pia zui (gang fight) with the Hong Kong police?

Yes, I did.

Getting to Hong Kong

How I get to Hong Kong?

I take economy first class.

No I cannot take first class. It means that I take economy seat. And some more on a budget airline. So it's the cheapest way possible to Hong Kong.

A Tourist Milking Machine

Hong Kong is a very well-oiled machine built to milk tourist dollars. You don’t need to buy any Hong Kong map before hand.

Before you can get out of the airport, you will be already stuffed full of maps given free-of-charge by the promoters there. These free maps are actually very good. They have all the information you need as a tourist. From map of MTR stations, to the major tourist attractions. Basically, they tell you how to spend money in Hong Kong.

But one of this free map got this funny slogan. It shows that Hong Kongers are very direct people. It also shows that their English are not very good. It says on its front page:

“So many places to shop, so little money.”

And I thought only the Japanese have weird English.

Welcome to Hong Kong.
Jackie Chan is Big in Hong Kong.

Some Places I Went To

I was there for vacation. I traveled free-and-easy. Hong Kong has a very good public transport system. So one can easily travel around Hong Kong without needing the guidance of a tour group.

A beautiful view of Hong Kong Island from the their famous Victoria Peak.

The bus ride up and down Victoria Peak can be quite a thrill.

Photo taken from the front row seat, top floor of double decker bus.

It is sort of an alternative to roller coaster ride.

I also went to Ocean Park.
This is the cable car ride to the upper half of Ocean Park.

Ocean Park got all the sea animals like dolphins and seals.

One would think it is beside the sea.

But ironically, it is actually on top of a mountain.
I wonder how they transported those dolphins and sea lions up this steep mountain?

The Tian Shui Wan.
Or Shallow Water Bay.
Yes, there actually is a Deep Water Bay. It's next to the shallow one.

How to Tell A Singaporean from a Hong Konger

To Ang Mohs, they probably think that Singaporeans and Hong Kongers (it's not Hong Kees) look a like. To me, all the Ang Mohs look a like.

But no matter how much a Singaporean can look like a Hong Konger, there are ways to tell Singaporeans apart from Hong Kongers, even from a distance.

Here is how, based on my observation from my 3 days of stay at Hong Kong:

1. At the Travelator.

At the airport, I saw got Travelator. So I very happy. No need to walk. I just stand on the travelator and let the travelator move me along.

After a while, then I notice that I am the only one left standing on the travelator. All of the Hong Kong people around me are walking on the travelator. They don't stand still on the travelator one. They walk.

Singaporeans use travelator to save them from walking.
Hong Kongers use travelator to help them to walk faster.

2. In the restaurant.

Hong Kong is a very jam packed place. So in their restaurant, all their tables very small and full of people one. And if you want to wait to get a table all by yourself so that you can whisper sweet sweet things to your cai (girlfriend), then you will never get a chance to eat.

In Hong Kong, it is always crowded so you need to share table with other people one. A bit like eating at Raffles Place in Singapore, especially at Golden Shoe hawker centre.

So I learnt very fast. I see got 2 free seats, we quickly take. I and my friend share the small table next to a Hong Kong couple.

Hong Kongers are very efficient people. So very quickly, the waitress served us 2 glasses of Chinese tea.

I was a bit thirsty from just now shopping. So I drank the Chinese tea.
As I drank, I noticed the Hong Kong girl sitting beside me, kept staring at me with her eyes open wide wide.
Basket, never see before Singaporean is it?

Then I noticed that the waitress also served the Hong Kong couple the same 2 glasses of Chinese tea.
But instead of drinking the Chinese tea, the Hong Kong couple put their chop sticks and spoons into their Chinese tea!

I was stunned. I started to look around the restaurant. I realized that on other tables, they wereall doing the same thing.

So in Hong Kong, the Chinese tea is used to wash the chopsticks and spoons, and not for you to drink one!

Don't be like me.
Remember, their free Chinese Tea is not to drink one.
The Hong Kong roast duck and roast pork are super oily, but super yummy too.

Basket, that Hong Kong girl sitting beside me.
She see already, why never tell me to stop and still allow me to continue to drink finish my tea?

So in Hong Kong, if you see the blur sotong that go and drink the Chinese tea meant for washing chopsticks, there is a chance the sotong is a Singaporean.

The bowl of noodle is called Kong Chai Meen.

Or "Worker’s noodles". I really like it. It is a simple dish: instant noodles, with ham and egg.
You can try an authentic version of this in Singapore as well.
Go to Ngee Ann City, basement.
Restaurant named Central (Zhong Huan), after the CBD of Hong Kong.

3. On the escalator.

In Hong Kong, the cars are all right-hand drive one. That means, the car keep to the left of the road. Just like Singapore. Riding on escalators also got left-hand drive and right-hand drve.

In Singapore, we are taught to keep to our left. So we hold the escalator rail with our left hand.

In Hong Kong, it is the opposite. The Hong Kongers keep to their right and hold the escalator rail with their right hand.

So many times we ride the escalator, everyone else would be keeping to the right and only me and my friend keep to the left (because we forget and stuck to our old Singapore habits).

4. Of all things while on a tour, you take a picture of a bank.

Good to see a part of Singapore contributing to the Hong Kong society.

Some Observations of Hong Kong People

1. They don't usually smile

Even though it is the country that produced some of the funnies comedians like Stephen Chow, Hong Kong people are not a smiley lot as a whole.

In Singapore, the jaen hu everything also like to talk GST. They collect Goods and Services Tax from you. They also like to preach GST (Greet, Smile and Thank you) to the people in order to raise service standards in the country.

In Hong Kong, the people give good service, but in a different way. They will do everything for you sui sui fast fast. But from beginning to end, they will not break a smile. Even their hotel staff also like that.

All their mouth starched to their face one.

So actually Hong Kong girls are pretty, because their skin so smooth. But because they don’t smile, I prefer the Singapore Ah Lians, because at least they smile at you more.

2. They work very fast

In fact, every thing they do, also fast. Walk also fast. I always kena overtaken, while walking in the street, by their uncle and aunty, grandfather and grandmother.

When I first arrive at my hotel, I went to the concierge to check in. A lady hotel staff attended to me. Wah, she quite pretty leh. I still remembered her name is called Joan.

No lah, not she tell me her name. I saw her name tag.

So as she was typing into the computer to check for my reservation, I was talking to her to reply to her usual check-in questions, and also checking her out.

However, I noticed that she got this very serious look in her face, staring straight into the computer screen. And of course, she don’t smile one.

And she was typing into her keyboard, so serious, so fast, as if like she taking part in some SMS competition like that.

I thought, “Wah, why so serious? Type so fast for what? Is it got long queue behind me?” I turned my head around and looked. But not a single other guest waiting to check in.

After a while, I dare not talk to her anymore. She looked so serious and so concentrated.

3. One of the in-thing now is army clothes

I think Hong Kongers have this fetish thing for army clothes.

Out of every 10 young people on the street, whether guy or girl, one of them will be wearing or carrying something with army camouflage.

I show you.

Dam Chio right?

She easily beat our Miss Singapore, Miss China town, Miss Tourism, all flat right?
And she is just a promoter on the street I happen to spot.

Notice that she is wearing a camouflaged skirt.
The girl must think that I am a chi ko pek.

Another thing that is in-thing amongst the girls, is high-cut boots.

See the chio girls' colleagues. Also wear camouflaged skirt and high-cut boots.

Dam sexy man. Don’t know do they still wear them when in bed.

So maybe Hong Kong girls will be crazy over Singapore guys. Why?

Because we all have No 4 camouflaged uniforms. Some more, ours are really authentic ones. Really issued by army and really is army uniform. Theirs all bluff ones.

So if you plan to go to Hong Kong soon, wear your army No 4 and army boots there. I tell you, you will be hotter than Andy Lau.

6. They will not bump into you

You got see the Malaysian bikes on Singapore road or not? They all experts at squeezing through traffic right?

Hong Kong people also good at squeezing through traffic. But not with bikes. But with people.

Hong Kong is a very small place. Everywhere is jam packed with people.

I show you.

Typical human traffic at major shopping areas

It is like our Singapore China town area, during the peak Chinese New Year period. Full of people.

The difference is that in Singapore, with so many people around, you can squashed like sardine. But in Hong Kong, even with so many people walking so fast, no one will bump into you.

So if you think you want to “bump” into pretty Hong Kong girls there, you can wait long long.

7. Motorcycling in Hong Kong

There are far fewer motorcycles in the places that I was at: Kowloon and Central, compared to Singapore.

The types of motorcycles I saw are mainly commuting types. That is, scooters and Super4s. I saw a few 400cc sport bikes. I did see one CBR1000RR4 Fireblade.

There could be a few reasons for the fewer motorcycles:

1. Hong Kong public transport is very developed, especially their MTR. So there is no real need to ride around in a motorcycle. Just hope onto the MTR and a few stops later, you are there.

2. Parking can be a problem. I noticed that in Hong Kong, motorcyclists do not anyhow park their bikes on pavements. They only park in designated bike lots. And parking lots are really a premium in land-scarce Hong Kong.
   

I saw this scene where a man waited for 10 minutes for an empty motorcycle lot to park his bike.

3. It is ironic to me that Hong Kong is known to be a freer society and Singapore is a fine (as in summon) city. Yet in Singapore, it is much even to park your bike than in Hong Kong.

4. It can really be cold to ride in Hong Kong. I was there during winter and I felt it was really chilly and cold there. Imagine you were riding with the cold icy wind blasting at you on a motorcycle. It is really very uncomfortable. Now I understand why those full tourers like ST1300/1100 and BMW emphasize so much on windblast protection. Because it is essential for riding in cold countries. Thankfully, in Singapore, you can ride all day/all night and all year round.

5. The Hong Kong motorcycle schools look more appealing than those in Singapore, judging based on this Hong Kong motorcycle school advertisement.

Hong Kong motorcycle ad.

If the girls in their motorcycling school are like that, I don't mind re-taking my bike license again man.

f. The police in Hong Kong ride several different types of
bikes. I have seen them ride BMW. I would imagine this would be their favourite as it protects them well from the cold wind blast. I have seen them ride VFR.I also seen them ride a couple of Diversion-like semi-naked type of bikes.

8. Hong Kong Uniforms

If you want to see how the school uniform in Hong Kong compared to Singapore, here it is.

Mind you, I do not have a fetish for school girls in uniforms.
I just want to show you their school uniforms ok?
But come to think of it, their school uniforms are a bit like those of Japanese girls.

WTO: Big Trouble in Little China

When I reached Hong Kong, I know nothing of WTO because whenever I read newspaper, I don't really read the news one. I only go to the 4D and TOTO announcement sections, comics page, the movie section and the sports section.

One day, while shopping, I saw a group of a dozen of people standing by the street singing. At first, I thought they were Christmas caroling. But actually, they were a goup of Koreans doing a peaceful demonstration.

Your average Christmas Carol don't sing
"Down Down WTO".

At first, I thought that after I take a photo of them, I better be prepared quickly run away already in case they buay song and want to hoot (wallop) me. But after I took a photo of them, I realised that they don't mind at all. So I took some more.

When I saw these Koreans singing, I thought, wah, this kind of thing can never happen in Singapore.

In Singapore, got one time, only 3-4 people wear some T-shirt, carry some banner in front of our CPF building, already attracted our riot police in a heartbeat. In Singapore, the jaen hu wouldn't let you sing on the street like that one, no matter how nice your song is.

If you think singing these Korean singing is fun, let me tell you: This is not the real thing. The real show starts later.

Showdown at Central

On Friday evening, just after office hours, I was riding the bus back from Victoria Peak and passing through “Central”, their Central Business District (CBD) area.

I was attracted by long continuous rows of Police vans parked at the road side in the middle of their CBD. Strange sight isn’t it?

This is a picture of the typical Hong Kong Police vehicle. They don't travel in cars, but in vans. Just like what you see in Andy Lau movies.

Then I saw their police was busy mounting mesh wire screens onto their vehicles.

Then I saw many many of their green-clad police was running around in full riot gear (helmet with visor, glass shield, elbow and knee guards, and a big long stick) on the pavement like antsy ants.

I was wondering, what is happening?

Then the bus went pass one junction and I caught a glimpse of the event.

Confrontation and Face-Off

It was a 3-4 lane wide major road in the middle of their CBD. But on this Friday evening peak hour time, the road was completely devoid of cars and deserted. Why?

Standing at one end, was a human wall of Korean demonstrators, that stretched and covered the 3-4 road lanes.

Standing at the other end of the road, separated by a mere 100 metres of clear road, was what looked like the entire Hong Kong police force.

It was also a human wall of rows and rows of green Kong Kong police fully armoured in riot gear, with the first row forming a continuous row with their transparent shield.

It must look like hundreds and hundreds of Hong Kong police already there. Yet behind them, armies of even more Hong Kong police are streaming in like ants to thicken the phalanx.

It looked like exactly like a scene out of a movie like those Roman or medieval time war show, such as Troy or Lord of the Rings.

With such a high concentration of forces packed into such a small area and faced-off against each other, it does not take a genius to know that the inevitable.

What eventually happened and reported in the Hong Kong papers the next day.
Over 1,000 Korean demonstrators slugged it out with the Hong Kong police at Central.
Tear gas, fire and all.

I didn’t get to see the actual clash. Because the bus already by-passed it. If I had known, I would have immediately gotten off the bus, buy buy a drink and a stool, sit down on the side and watch them wallop each other.

Still, the sight of the two sides doing the face-off was already well worth my Hong Kong trip.

Who are these demonstrators and what are they protesting about?

I think the protestors are Korean farmers lobbying against WTO’s call to remove acts (such as subsidiaries or tax reliefs) that protect the Korean farmers’ trade from foreign imports.

While I was at Hong Kong and saw so many Korean farmer protestors, I thought, wah, I didn’t know that there are so many Korean working in farms at Hong Kong.

Kind of strange that small Hong Kong has so many farms needing so many Koreans isn’t it?

I learnt later that these Korean farmers actually flew in from Korean to Hong Kong especially just to do this protest thingy. So no, the Korean farmers don’t work in Hong Kong.

I also learnt that protests and demonstrations are real common in the Korea society.

That is why the Korean farmer protestors in Hong Kong were really highly organized and professional in their ways. From their street singing, to mass bows in front of photographers to the climatic clash.

They were so professional that after fighting out with the Hong Kong police, the Koreans apologized to the Hong Kong people, something like “My apologies for the inconvenience. We have nothing against you. Our target was the WTO. It’s nothing personal. Thanks for being such good host.” No sweat.

I read that there was not much arrests and so the Korean farmers flew out after the WTO was over. Maybe some would have stayed a little longer and went to Ocean Park and Victoria peak.

One Night in Beijing

I spent 3 nights in Hong Kong. I can't think of any song along that line. But it reminds me of another song along the same line: One Night in Beijing.

One Night In Beijng; 陈升的这首<北京一夜>

不想再问你
你到底在何方
不想再思量 你能否归来么
想着你的心 想着你的脸
想捧在胸口 能不放就不放

ONE NIGHT IN BEIJING 我留下许多情
不管你爱与不爱
都是历史的尘埃
ONE NIGHT IN BEIJING
我留下许多情
不敢在午夜问路
怕走到了百花深处

人说百花地深处
住着老情人
缝着绣花鞋 面容安详的老人
依旧等待着那出征的归人

ONE NIGHT IN BEIJING 你可别喝太多酒
不管你爱与不爱
都是历史的尘埃
ONE NIGHT IN BEIJING
我留下许多情
把酒对月高歌的男儿
是北方的狼族

人说北方的狼族
会在寒风起
站在城门外 穿着腐蚀的铁衣
呼唤城门开,眼中含着泪

呜......我已等待了几千年
为何城门还不开
呜......我已等待了几千年 为何良人不回来
ONE NIGHT IN BEIJING 我留下许多情
不敢在午夜问路 怕触动了伤心的魂
ONE NIGHT IN BEIJING 我留下许多情
不敢在午夜问路 怕走到了地安门
人说地安门里面 有位老妇人 犹在痴痴等
面容安详的老人
依旧等待那出征的归人

ONE NIGHT IN BEIJING 你可别喝太多酒
走在地安门外
没有人不动真情
ONE NIGHT IN BEIJING 你会流留下许多情
不要在午夜问路
怕触动了伤心的魂（人）
ONE NIGHT IN BEIJING ONE NIGHT IN BEIJING
不想再问你 你到底在何方
不想再思量 你能否归来呖
想着你的心 想着你的脸
想捧在胸口 能不放就不放
ONE NIGHT IN BEIJING 你会留下许多情
不要在午夜问路
怕触动了伤心的魂

lifted from http://literature.mblogger.cn/dflying/posts/15967.aspx"

When you first hear this song, most people would think that it is an awful song. Because it songs a bit like wayang song. Got this woman singing in a high pitch voice.

But it is actually one of my favourite songs of all time. Why? Because of the lyrics of the song.

If you read the lyrics carefully, it is actually a sad romantic song. A bit like angmoh's Romeo and Juliet and the Chinese' liang sang bo and zu yi tai that kind.

If I were to loosely translate the lyrics, the song is about a old woman in Beijing, still waiting faithfully for her lover to return.

When the old woman was still a young girl, the lover had left her to to go and fight a war (a bit like in Singapore, you kena enlistment letter from Mindef like that).

But the lover then never returned. The young girl waited and waited, and becomes a old woman, not knowing what happened to her lover and still waiting.

The lover actually had died. He had become a heart-brokened wandering ghost, still dressed i his war armour, wandering at the gates of Beijing, looking for his lover (a bit like the angmoh show Ghost).

Romantic but at the same time, sad or not?

Such nice songs often make me wander, how come people can write songs with such beautiful lyrics. Then why Singapore, with so much money, cannot think of better songs but always end up with songs like Count on me Singapore?

Bekok, Last Ride of the Year

31st December 2005, Saturday - Bekok, Last Ride of the Year

Very aptly, Spectrum organised an outing on the very last day of 2005.

Bekok is not anywhere in between Singapore’s Bedok and Buki Batok.
Bekok is a small town/village somewhere between Keluang and Segamat. And there is supposed to be a waterfall there, as well.

Malaysia everything also have. I read in the papers that someone in Malaysia claimed that there is a Malaysia Bigfoot living around the Endau Rompin area, which is where the Bekok waterfall is near. Maybe got chance to see this Big Ah Meng swimming in the waterfall.

The day ride itinerary is as follow:

The ride will take me on some NS highway riding. And it takes me back to the sua pa lor (country side road) that I just went on my last trip, my favourite J32 near Pagoh.

To Meet-up Point

This is a very nice picture of the Singapore skyline, shot by Spectrum over the Sheare's Bridge, as he was heading towards Esso GP, our meet-up point.

When I saw this photo, I am reminded of how beautiful our planet is and how beautiful our sunrise can be, even in Singapore.
Then why I still always like to wake up so late and miss all this?!

At the meet-up point, it is like a market place.
Because there are 26 bikes coming for this ride!

Got one garang Phantom; one FJR; quite a few blackbirds; definitely several Hornets; a few quintessential Super4s; 3 lady riders: 2 ride CBR1000RR4 Fireblade, 1 ride Super4; ST11; one 400 scrambler; 2 scooters: Silverwing400, Burgman 650; FireBlade 900; R6; and of course, one Fazer1K (good ol Frost).

Eye in the sky.
A mini-motorised glider over GP Esso.

On to North South

I was the sweeper for this trip. I don’t know why they call the last bike, the sweeper. Sweep what? Sweep stranglers? Or sweep for things that fall off from other bikes?

Anyway, from my view as the last bike, the convoy of 26 bikes remind me of what, you know? Remind me of Singapore Traffic Police operation, after rounding up a large bunch of bikes for illegal modifications, then herding them back to TP HQ at Ubi Road to give summons.

If you want to ask me the lady riders ride fast or not on their Fireblades, I’ll tell you I can’t tell. Because I am the last bike and these Fireblades (Spectrum always like to call them FireBirds, don’t know what is he thinking of) act as markers.

Exit Pagoh

You will think that with these lady Fireblades acting as markers, they will surely catch everyone’s attention. I tell you, you are wrong.

One bike, overshot and missed the Pagoh exit, even though the lady Fireblades have parked their bikes at the Pagoh exit to mark the turn-off.

Fortunately, the strayed bike realized his mistake, turned-up and rejoined back to the group. This incident has no serious implication other than cause slight delay and comedy.

Shortly, after the Pagoh toll booth, we reached a T-junction and we turned right.

J32

A few hundred meters, there is the Petronas petrol kiosk that we filled-up before we start our J32 track.

This Petronas was the same Petronas that I went to in my last trip. Being there again brought back sweet memories of my last trip.

Never knew I would be back here again and so soon.

The difference was that in my last trip, we traveled in a small group of 3 bikes. This time round, it is one whole gin gang of 26 bikes.

Convoy leaving Petronas.

I kind of feel like a shepherd.

J32 is a country side road. It leads through nothing but mainly plantations and a few small villages. It is a very scenic and relaxing ride.

Size does matter.
At J32, the bigger the arrow signs, the sharper the bends.

So if you see big big arrow, better seriously slow down.

No Man’s Land at J32.

Swee boh? Nice or not?

This time round, I rode rather fast through J32, compared to my last trip where I rode at a very relaxing pace. If you were to go to J32, I advice taking things slowly to admire the surrounding beauty.

At the end of J32, we hit Route 1. Turn right towards Labis/Keluang.

After riding about 10km or so along Route 1, you will see this sign board below. Turn left to Bekok.

Bekok

After turning off from Route 1, the ride takes you to a short stretch of trunk road. This ride is also very nice that matches that of J32.

The road will cut over the railway track that leads to the railway station at Tanjong Pagar, Singapore.

Shortly after that, the road will take you into Bekok village. Within the village, there is a particular junction where you need to turn right, then turn left (at the next immediate turn).

Carry on straight. You will then see this sign. Turn left.

Watch out: There is a short stretch of road that has potholes. Nothing to worry about. Our Fireblades and ST11 all went through them with no sweat.

WaterFall

This is what the waterfall looks like.

The waterfall is not those steep steep kind like Nigeria Fall. It is gentle mini-falls. In a way, it is good because it is safer and you can access most parts of the water.

People having a good time there.

This is the toilet.

I had quite a bit of challenge in going to the toilet. Because it did not show male or female sign. It only got the alphabets L and P.

Is L male or female? Scully I go into the wrong side and see makcik inside how? Surely mati.

After a while, I learnt. Tandas means ‘toilet’. L is for male (Lelaki). P is for female (Puan). To help you better remember, just think of Longang for male and Papaya for female.

Into the Water

Spectrum playing water with xiao mei mei.

Strange as it is, the water can be very cold. Many of us dare not immerse ourselves fully into the water because the water is too cold.

Also be careful of how you walk when inside the water. Dry rocks are ok. Wet rocks and rocks underwater are slippery. Sand is also ok to walk on.

After playing in the water for some time, I ate my lunch. For this trip, we already packed our lunch to the waterfall to eat. Actually, there is no need to. There are stalls at the waterfall that sell food such as burgers. The burgers cost only 1.5 Ringgit and are quite nice.

My lunch is nasi padang packed in foam box. It reminds me of my SAF reservist training. I never knew I would say this one day: but the SAF food (as of last year) actually taste better than my current nasi padang.

For your information, I have helped you check out the market rates of hawker food in Malaysia. Wanton noodles in small towns should cost around 2.50 ringgit. In KL, it can cost 4-5 ringgit. For nasi padang, it varies greatly between 3 to 10 ringgit depending on what you order. In general, the muslim food seller, tend to be more honest and would not anyhow take you for a ride.

While I bought my food from a local stall, others went through greaterlengths to have special lunch.

Look at him blissfully enjoying his biscuits garnished with canned tuna.
Yum yum. Can I have some too?

The dip at the waterfall is very refreshing and cooling, especially for bikers after a long ride. It is now time to change back to dry clothes.

But this can be quite a challenge.
Look at Spectrum skilfully putting on his socks and riding boots.

Walking to and fro the Tandas can also be a challenge, when barefooted, because of the small little rocks on the floor.

Group Photo

Ride Back

We back-track to Route 1. Then take Route 1 to Yong Peng, then North South back to Singapore.

The ride back. Heading home and towards 2006!

I wish you a safe and enjoyable ride, good health and prosperity in 2006!

*Many of the nice pictures here are courtesy of Spectrum.

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: