Midliferide: Malaysia

Ah, it feels good to be home. Left Pekan at 0745hrs to avoid as much traffic as possible, and I was excited to be back home with the family again. I was also looking forward to this ride; the JB-Kota Tinggi-Mersing-Pekan-Kuantan Route was the one I had “cut my teeth on as a driver” and pushed the limits on frequently in all my cars; the Civic VTi, Toyota Celica, Impreza WRX and the Lancer GT. Having driven up to Kuantan with the family last month, I was happy to note that a lot of it remains the same except for a stretch of roadworks south of Pekan. The one thing about this stretch is if you pick your day and time well, it is a pure pleasure of just you and the road with very little other traffic. Morning is always best. On a long weekend (either a Malaysian or Singaporean one), best to avoid the first day. This was a Singapore long weekend but an early Saturday morning, and as I started out, the roads were EMPTY. Even riding through the roadworks was fun, as there were added switches

So every morning, before I load up and tie down all my stuff, I’ve been checking my bike for snakes, spiders, fire ants and other assorted creepy-crawlies. When you go to places labeled “tropical paradise”, “rainforest preserve” or “seafront resort at one with nature”, it is a good precaution to take.  If I was a venomous cobra, I’d love to coil up round the engine block, just in that space between the V and the fuel tank. And if I am rudely awakened the next morning by my bed getting gradually hotter, unpleasant vibrations, wind in my scales and an annoying rumble (which as a cobra, I’d feel, not hear. Cobras can’t hear), my first frightened instinct would be to rear back and bite. And I’d have a choice of left calf or right calf as when the booted feet are placed on the foot pegs, the soft part of said calves above where the boot ends would be conveniently located on either side of my face. I also tend to place my helmet on the handlebar while loading up. If an unnoticed fire ant wer

And Day 4 dawned. With some trepidation. I knew - and planned - for this to be the hardest part of the trip. But if I wanted to do Route 4, there was no way to avoid it, not unless I wanted to spend a night in some hole in Kelantan. According to Google, it was going to be 370kms over a grueling 5hrs and 12mins. Planning for 3 fuel stops and one or two butt rests, that would be a 6 hour journey. I planned to get an early start, so went to bed at 2145hrs knowing that my body clock will wake me up by 6am. But of course, just thinking about it made sure I only got to sleep at 2230-ish, and woke up every hour from 4am onwards.  Nevertheless, I woke up at half-six, fully rested and raring to go. After breakfast (nasi lemak, fruit for some healthiness and two cups of coffee), I was checked out and on the road by 0830hrs.  And overwhelmed by the beautiful scenery all around me and the challenging roads - mostly well surfaced. No room for error, and with the sun dapple get through the forest ri

Oh, it got better indeed. Waaaay better. Started off a bit later this morning, about 9am. Simply because I am following a no alarm clock rule; I go to bed around 2200hrs (plus or minus one hour) and wake up when my body is ready to wake up. Since I’ve got a bit anal with tracking sleep - wearing my Apple Watch to bed and using the Sleepwatch app - for the first time this year I’ve had a really good resting heart rate and sleeping heart rate dip over the last 3 nights. With a breakfast of nasi lemak and two cups of coffee to start my engines, I rode off. It was Route 60, then A1-something-something then onto the North-South highway towards KL. The ride started off to be similar to Route 5 but just as I was gritting my teeth and mentally preparing myself, traffic opened up and it was a smooth ride to the NSE. Opened up on the NSE, as this would probably be the last chance for the rest of the trip. Then exited on Exit 143 - Kuala Kangsar, Gerik and a few other unmemorables. Upon which I w

Ok, it’s official. The worst road in Malaysia for riding is Route 5. This is from where it starts in Johor, all the way to Lumut. It might get a bit better after, but I can’t be bothered to find out. Headed out of Carey Island at about 0830hrs. I forgot that I was located in/in the vicinity of the Klang Valley, and had to actually pass through Klang. An hour later, leaving Klang after battling rush hour traffic, I was a sweaty mess, and the day was just warming up. Route 5 (the same from my 21-traffic-light gauntlet from two years ago, although I might be exaggerating the number now) is the same down south as it is up north. Too many traffic lights, too many lorries, too many small towns trying to win the traffic light contest and roadworks almost all the way. This made for slow going, not much overtaking opportunity, a lot of lane-splitting coming up to traffic lights and small town dawdlers out for a Sunday drive on a Tuesday morning. I’d left Google Maps on for quite a bit as the ex

Monday morning. Perfect weather if a bit hot, slightly short on sleep, but excited and a bit nervous as to what was ahead. Waved the wife and kids off to school, checked that I had all I needed, and hit the road, Jack. This time, as I was headed into parts mostly unknown, I decided not to do the adventurer paper map thing and relied a bit more on technology. Google Maps, with the offline map of the day downloaded and used sparingly along the way as a checkpoint. The sparing usage was for two reasons; the first to conserve battery life and the second was because the phone got incredibly hot sitting in the enclosed see-through waterproof compartment of my tank bag. I didn’t want a Lithium ion fire - which is apparently as hot as the sun - start that close to my groin. No venturing off the beaten path, either. As I was doing a much more distance in a day, I decided to stick to main roads. This meant boring highways and trunk roads on the west coast, but once I hit the north and east, it