Kuantan - Ride to Eat

Happy National Day Singapore!

Our ride to Kuantan, after a 5 month dry spell.... Our ride to Eat.

Food, as we've discovered... there's so much that we've never tried before.

Firstly, there's Ikan Batu, served with mee sup. Both items had a dollop of sambal belachan on top. That's breakfast food.... The same shop serves the usual mini nasi lemak too.

Then there's Kedai Kopi Hai Peng. Well decorated coffeeshop.... see the trike on the wall as decor? :) Serves toasted kaya buns, also fermented rice wrapped in leaves & sweet glutinous rice too. All on the self service table....
The outside of the coffee shop :

Here's our cosy hotel. Very friendly staff & clean rooms. Highly recommended if you're in Kuantan. Easy parking too.

More food..... a shop that only sells otak & related fishy stuff...

It's delicious otak hidden in these triangle shaped leaf pouches, all grilled in a row.

Lastly, the not to be missed stuffed crab. Crab shell stuffed with crab meat + veggies + onions, then covered with egg & deep fried.

Told you it was a food trip.

Nikoi Island

Nikoi Nikoi Nikoi...

sounding like an ancient Koi fish of some sort, Nikoi island is not an ornamental fish, nor is it an island off the coast of Japan. Instead, it is a privately owned island resort with perfect blend of the rough and the refined.

Rough? = sleeping in grass roof huts with no aircon
Refined? = each hut has hand crafted teak furniture & beds with pristine white sheets

Rough? = unvarnished wood decking on forecourt of each hut
Refined? = the granite slabs lovingly hand laid into the straightest walls possible

Rough? = lightly cooked & still crunchy veggies
Refined? = dishes garnished with the freshest herbs from Asia and Europe

Yes, this is the tropical paradise that is Nikoi island!

Ros and i were part of a team fortunate enough to spend three days & two nights on this paradise, helping a select group of Nikoi Island guests have their first taste of rock climbing. For now, we'll let the pics say those proverbial 1000 words.

4x4 Drive KK to Ba'Kelalan 31 Mar - 7 Apr

This is our first off road drive.

Journey started in Kota Kinabalu where we met Malcolm, Eunice & Mel Jr. Driving from KK to Lawas was on road, before we changed to off road tyres at Lawas. Here, Eunice gave us a short briefing of the day's drive.

From Lawas to Merarap was gravelly roads. It rained along the way & vision got really bad. What was more worrying was the road we're going to be the next day.
Arrived at Merarap Hot Springs Lodge to spend the night & we were greeted by a little kitten, probably 2 mths old, which we adopted as Ah Meow during our stay. She would follow us wherever we went & was especially attentive during meal times. The lodge is located amongst forest & next to gushing rapids. A couple of hot spring pools were in the compound for visitors to soak in the 40 degree water.

Next day's drive was Merarap to Ba' Kelalan. This section was on logging trails, followed by mud tracks. And MUD it was. Apparently, it's been raining for a few weeks already plus many vehicles have been traveling in & out of the area, so the soft ground was totally turned over & over like cake mixture! Yup brown chocolate mousse cake...

Mel digs his arm into the mud to hook the tow rope on.

A bit of shovelling will help the front wheel get out.

An interesting log bridge...
Arrived at Ba'Kelalan Apple Lodge in the evening. Ba'Kelalan consists of 9 villages,in the Bario highlands of Sarawak. They have apple & mandarin orange orchards & also a couple of vanilla trees & vegetables. Paddy fields produced their special Ba'Kelalan rice, which was served during lunch time... fragrant & chewy texture, in between glutinous rice & regular polished rice. The grains were smaller than thai rice too. Opposite the lodge is the local air strip. 19 seater planes from Lawas & Miri arrive 2 times a week.

The airport:

The view of the villages from the hill top:
Taken with the lady of the Apple Lodge:

Hatyai & Cameron Highlands : Eat-Massage-Ride

Decisions decisions.

We had 5 days, 23-27 March, to spend riding & it wasn't until the night before, that we finally decided where we'd be going. Dying for a good massage & Seung wanting his mountain air... Hatyai & Camerons, here we come!

Monday morning, we shot straight to Hatyai, arriving in the evening in light drizzle. The rain came down heavily soon after we checked into New Seasons hotel. Had a hot bowl of kuay teow soup with the usual Thai standard generous veggies, plus an extra dish of crispy pork belly to feed 2 hungry riders.

We wasted no time to get a foot massage for the legs that have been curled up in riding position for 10 hours.

Tuesday morning, we claimed our 2 hour Thai massage at our favourite "Only One" massage centre. The masseuse detected all the knots on my shoulders & went on to attack them one by one with gusto. 2 hours later, we hobbled out onto the streets, feeling well pinched, twisted and pressed..... fresh enough for some street roaming.

Another session in the evening after a light seafood dinner, this time an hour of oil massage to complete the day's activities. If only we could have such luxury back home!

Next morning, we rode out of Hatyai and up Cameron Highlands. Great winding roads from Simpang Pulai where the CBR got a cheerful flick. About 20km before reaching, we were again greeted by a shower. :(

We had booked a backpackers lodge for 2 nights, but after we checked in, we found the cigarette smoke too much to endure. So we decided to check out an alternative place for the 2nd night.

Father's Guest House became our new favourite place to stay in Camerons. An old colonial bungalow with nice, simple & very clean rooms. RM80 for room with attached shower, & front opens out to a nice garden. 2 movie screenings daily in the evening in the lounge area & good parking area in the front. Couldn't have been better! Yay!!

Camerons has changed quite a bit since we last visited. Now there's Starbucks, KFC.... the old bus station is also a pile of rubble and a new bus station is built. Changes changes... Wondering how to keep all the old memories without all the modern stuff intruding. But that's just me wanting to enjoy the local sleepy coffeeshops on my holiday.

Teluk Iskandar chill out 13-14 March

This is our third stay in Teluk Iskandar Inn.... it's listed very highly on our favourite places to stay in Malaysia. Just outside of Mersing town, its our quiet retreat / getaway / veg out place.... whatever you want to call it.

Just about 2.5 hours ride from S'pore on half highway half countryside roads too. Nice :)

This time we're there with Kin on his CB1000R. We took Zumi & CBR out this trip to enjoy a bit of mileage while the Transalp twins guarded home turf.

Arrived on Friday in time for yummy Malay lunch prepared by Kamariah followed by relak time on the recliners in the porch. I pottered around the sea side to take pics of the tiny sea snails, which were about half the size of my little finger nail. At least 5 varieties of shell patterns found!

Home journey, we did some action photo taking.
Kin's CB1000R
Me on Inazuma
Seung on Inazuma

Zumi, the luggage mule....while unloaded CBR6 takes on CB1000R....

What's Next?

Many people got to know us through our Enduro Africa last year. Colleagues, friends, bike club members, relatives, and some acquientances ........

We became 'the adventurous couple'. With Africa done, the question was : what's the adventure for 2009?

Yes, there's always that search for the next thrill, next challenge, next milestone to get to. I must say, there IS something in the pipeline for both of us, which we're very excited about.

So, more news will be coming up soon. :P

Rompin' at Rompin

A post trip review on our cycle into Endau Rompin, Malaysia on 7-8 Feb.

Our drive up started at 6am on Sat, packing 4 mountain bikes onto Halil's Rav4. Passed customs smoothly, though the M'sian customs officer was pretty amused & wished us luck when we told him of our ride.

Quick lunch stopover & registration later, we were at the start of the 52km off road section leading to the chalet near Kampong Peta. Time to unload the bikes.
1st section was mildly up slope track among the oil palm planation. Some loose soft sand at the sides & the rear wheel slided occasionally to keep us on our toes. Road was dusty, especially at the start since it was a Saturday & trucks were travelling in & out of the plantation for work. 3- 4 uphills later, Sarina & I packed up into the car, taking over the wheel from Seung at the 22km mark. Sarina's front fork was under-pressured, with too much air released by an over-enthused 'unofficial mechanic' ;P

The boys continued the next section, which saw lots more steeper & longer hills, and definitely more potholes. We were glad to be driving, having our stereo & cushy seats!

Halil championing up the hill first... ^

Followed by Seung & Terry.... ^

The much awaited 'brown signboard' to mark the end of the 52km ride!

Reward for making it in.... Deluxe BBQ dinner right outside our chalet.

The morning after, spent at the river 10mins from our chalet.... before we headed out. The boys did a 30 min bike out on their choice section after a mid day snack & we were all ready to head home.

Happy 2009!

2008 came & went.

Despite the gloomy economy, I think its up to us to find our own little adventures to keep us going.
Looking forward to the new year & what surprises it might bring.

Happy New Year!! :)

Photo show at Eden

Last Saturday, about 40 friends joined us at Eden Sanctuary cafe, as we presented our photos from Enduro Africa.

It was a nice cool evening spent under the lush greenery.... with African music & pictures. Some loved the setting & food so much they brought family & friends back to the cafe the next day :)

Thanks everyone! We hoped you've enjoyed it as much as we did!

Channel NewsAsia

Yesterday afternoon, we had a film crew from CNA drop by to our place to talk about Enduro Africa.

With a thunderstorm coming down just before they arrived, it dashed the hopes of catching us on our bikes. But it was a nice chat about what it's like to bike as a couple.

It got us reminiscing about our past :)

Catch it on CNA 9.30am - 28th Nov. That's next Friday. Repeats during the weekend too.