Route without Horizons - Gajah!!!

a combination of unfortunate events conspired to prevent me from putting this long awaited sequel down in the confines of history. in the end, a compromise was reached. now, my freaking computer is in chinese...so yeah...'my documents' became 'wo de wen jian' ... while ' control panel' became 'kong zhi tai'...the rest u figure urself..

speak mandarin campaign is really cool...

before i complain further, i think i better concentrate on getting day 2 out! the maps ain't ready cos i'm trying to figure out if i can install photoshop on this OS, will update it when it's done..so without further adieu...Route without Horizons - Gajah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

morning on banding island

the five bottles of tiger were flat, still it was still potent enuff for all of us to drop dead upon reaching the bed, with reminders to wake up early to catch the sunrise over the mountain range fast disappearing into the numbing brain....

if i weren't so tired, the midnight orchestra might have kept me awake the whole night. but fortune would have it that i had just miss the sun rise. plans to wake up at 6, have breakfast and leave the resort at 9 evaporated as i woke..... at 8. the sun had just managed to pull itself clear over the range but a heavy fog still lingered at the heady altitudes of 1200 feet of Banding Island.

the heavy shroud

by the time we were ready, the prelude to a cloudless day was set with the sun shooting tiny missiles into our skin as we left the island to get some pictures over the exiting bridge.

exit from banding island

exit from banding

picture postcards scenery greets us all round the bridge as we search for sensory delights to prep ourselves for the coming hours.

very postcardy

the route today would be really simple as much of the roads around the northern parts centre around the west-east highway, also known as the gerik highway in certain stretches. and southwards, we would head to gua musang aligning ourselves to the ever present peaks and knolls lining the road.

the wonderful roads

much of the journey would be pretty straightforward and it is a pleasant surprise that the weather isn't too hot to handle. perhaps the altitudes we were travelling on played an important part. the many twisties and winding roads reflect the times when the most economical way to build roads around mountainous regions was to go round them. however, we are in danger of losing these roads altogether, as the push for efficiency in the transport system prompts the local authorities every day to venture out new roads which are boringly as straight as a ruler. perhaps, the best time to enjoy these roads would indeed to be as soon as possible as bulldozers and tractors push down lands to make way for ' development'.

the shit we go thru sometimes...there are worser ones (fist sized rocks about a few inches thk)..but my poor dear was hanging on for dear life instead of whipping out the camera

shark stone

nicely cornering in and out of the twisties with Jocleyne gamely filming us from the front bike, i was stuck in a monotonous trance when suddenly isaac e-braked for no reason! knowing the man and his amazing senses, i instinctly knew he had spotted something and to the right i turned my head. and i saw a freaking huge butt! the butt of a wild elephant just turning around and fleeing into the jungle. my vision became those of documentary films when pandemonium ensues when a cameraman or presenter caught something unawares.... i quickly braked and dear was still cutely unaware of wat was going on even when i shouted 'elephant!' thru my helmet.. i called her to disembarked and off i ran to the site. a wild elephant by the side of the road for god's sake. i've seen monkeys, chickens, goats and even seeing someone colliding into a cow but a wild elephant is totally something else. the excitement of seeing the rafflesia was already enuff for the trip...seeing a wild elephant is once in a lifetime...unless of course, ur in africa...

a ravine. the elephant disappeared from sight but the shaking of trees showed us where it went. gingerly, we climbed over the road rails and peered....lo and behold, a visibly shocked young asian bull elephant was peering back at us from the foot of the ravine. i felt a strange sense of safety since the ravine had a pretty steep slope..so any charge by the elephant would be slow and we're really about 30 to 50 metres away from it. cameras and video cams promptly appeared and captured this amazing moment.

gajah the rajah

after tarrying a little while, the elephant walked off into the dense forest...and then trumpeted its mighty trunk as if to say goodbye. not once or twice but a succession of which we went off satisfied. already, this trip had much more than any i have been to.

excitment gave way to hunger and breakfast or brunch was to be somewhere near the top of a peak where a small malay kampung thrived. the relaxing attitudes of the villagers calms the most nervous of souls as they amble into the food stall and have mini gatherings on a Friday afternoon. I immediately thot of wat i would have been doing had i been in singapore at work. simply nauseous.

dear's fav sort of tree

a few kilometres out of the stall was a nice spot for more phototaking. dat said, it is very tiring to embark and disembark from a motorbike and i must salute my dear for taking every thing in her stride and gamely taking pictures and mementos everywhere. memories are made of these.

the peaks along gerik highway to gua musang

gua musang is another interesting stretch of highway to lead us back southwards and soon we came across the 'famous' (famous among the avid trekkers i guess) Stong waterfall from the jeli- dabong highway intersection. it is a massive sight with water furiously lashing out to the ground with such intensity that is seems almost scary , even when we're about a kilometre away.

stong waterfall with its ferocious waters

away we went again...taking in the sights as i tried my best to spot something out of the ordinary. about 80km from the stong waterfall, a bold sign labelled ' lata kertas' sprang out from the bushes and immediately we made a U turn. i, embarassingly, felled as my handle got locked out. i failed to notice that the road was inclined and with all the weight and excitement rumbling in me, i went in too rashly...

lata kertas means paper waterfall and we can see why. the entry route into the waterfall was steep and heavily potholed and jocelyne advised against going in. forunately, we did as we dipped into the cold waters of the waterfall, barely a few hundred metres in. the hot weather had drained much of our energy and i couldnt wait to get into the cool climate of Fraser's. meanwhile, this would do...

lata kertas

ah siong relaking by the pool

the sign that stopped us all

it would be 6 by the time we got up into fraser hill. the superbly narrow and winding roads leading up to fraser's is most stressful for a newcomer.

waiting at the Gap for the timing to go up..8km more!

every turn is an opportunity to plunge straight down into a seemingly bottomless ravine and the safety barriers are conspiciously absent in certain corners. odd hours are for vehicles heading up while even are for vehicles coming down. after 7, ur on ur own and i seriously doubt anyone in a right frame of mind would try it with the possilbility of another vehicle crashing into u in pitch dark surroundings.

fraser view from the main gate

dinner is just at this quaint and ancient looking chinese restaurant which serves average food. but we were too hungry to bother anyway....

dinner

den another 5 beers from the mama shop plus a bottle of red wine. another end to a very tiring day.....with good company and cool air for company....Day three awaits....

wait up (not too long) for the final installation of : Route Without Horizons -TiTi!!!

Route without Horizons - Bunga!!!

The days leading to the new year was probably one of the best ways i ever ended any year. Knowing full well that my new year was probably going to be spent either nicely tucked in my bed in singapore, tired from the ride or in the worse case, along the north-south highway, i decided to take the chance to go touring for the first time ever since i started work. and it proved one of the best decisions of the year.

Malaysia Route Map

the route we were about to take was punishing. much of the route would be to explore the mountain range roads along northern malaysia which hugs the malaysia-thai border. The gerik highway (west-east highway) is reputed by many singapore and malaysian bikers to be one of the best and most scenic routes u can find in malaysia with an appealing mixture of nice big sweeps to tight twisties. being nature lovers as well, it offers us a relatively unspolit view of the great reserves in northern malaysia from the dizzy heights of mountain roads.

Pushing all the way on the north south highway from 1am in GP esso, we would hopefully reach the kuala kangsar exit around sunrise. after an hour's rest and catching up on some much needed sleep in Tapah R&R, we headed straight for the exit to Kuala Kangsar which would lead us straight to Gerik along highway 76 and the destination for the first night, Banding Island Resort on Pulau Banding (where else...kekeke).

Perak

By the time we were at tapah R&R, i was so deadbeat (not riding for so long has taken its toll...me and xj used to be able do 1200km in a day) that my extreme hunger was ignored. Lenggong (halfway from kuala kangsar to Gerik town) is the place for breakfast as isaac had been there abt 3 years ago and was familiar with that area. indeed, it was such a quaint little place with picturesque sights and having nice piping hot prata al fresco style completes the package. it was said that anna and the king was filmed around the area as the beauty of the place with its calm waterways were mostly untouched.

Lenggong's causeway with water on both sides of the road (the buses and lorries were speeding round the corners like jay in initial D)

Parked along the 'causeway'

the 3 musketeers

taking in the sights (isaac and cysiong)

indulging in some vanity here

a quick trip to the muzium arkeologi lenggong nearby provided us also with the historical background of perak's or even malaysia's first inhabitants, the perak man. (something like the more famous peking man) that was actually quite a fruitful stop as we caught up on some really good air-conditioning in an otherwise hot and humid morning, made worse with our thick jackets.

Off we went again, this time another stop to take pics with something u'll prob wun see much of. a 'wild elephant crossing' sign..........hahah...wat a joke..i really doubt any one would have seen a wild elephant crossing the dang road...though cows are not uncommon.



The route to banding island wasn't really fantastic though it had some nice sweeping bends, though we couldnt lean much with our slower speed in the trunk roads. dear thot that the route up to banding was the gerik highway and wondered wats so great about since there was little to marvel at except a few spots along the way....but she never knew.....

the twisties and scenery along the way

Soon enuff, we reached our destination for the night. having ridden almost 800km to reach here, the end product certainly didn't disappoint. The eagle eyed peeps amongst you would probably be asking. 'A pulau (island) in the mainland?' yup, right smack in the state of perak is tasik (lake) temenggor, which i believe is the largest in malaysia. (circled in the map of perak)

nearing Pulau Banding

1200ft above sea level

the length of the lake is almost the width of singapore! a dam built fairly recently caused much
of the lowlands to be drowned leaving only wat used to be the summits of mountain ranges as islands. Pulau Banding is serviced by two bridges, one in and one out joining 'mainland' malaysia. naturally, the whole area, with its long ranges and excellent wildlife, became a reserve.

the bridge to pulau banding

Home for the night was banding island resort and it seemed that we were the only occupants for the day. a quick chat with the employees revealed that weekends were the only times where they would be filled with more pple, namely from KL and Penang.

View from our room

the resort

having seen the receptionist area, something caught my eye. Eco tours such as boat rides and treks can be organised and guess wat. Rafflesia flowers are sighted in the region!! none other by the natives, the orang asli still living in 'relative' obscurity, hunting and growing their own food in the vast expanse of the reserve.



having decided on the boat ride after much negotiating with the organisers, we were off on a boat ride to possibly see the biggest species of flower in the world.

boat ride (im playing with the gps..next item on my wanted list)

sure enuff, we stopped after half an hour of slicing through the waters and came to an enbankment. a ten minute trek brought us quite a sight. first off, we saw elephant tracks which were hardened, indicating that they were here a few days ago.

young elephant's tracks

den the reason why they were there was revealed. on a steep slope on one of the face of a hill, we saw the rafflesia flower. the only time i saw a rafflesia flower was in primary school textbooks, exclaiming that it is the biggest flower in the world. they were only to be found in the island of borneo in sabah and sarawak, so having seen them in peninsula malaysia is quite a pleasant surprise. They are not as humungous as their borneo counterparts but still huge nonetheless and apparently, elephants love to eat their buds.

the flower up close (the bud is on the top left of the flower)

knowing that there are wild elephants in that island ready to pop out anytime was already an exciting prospect, though the experience of seeing the flower made it perfect. and finally...no...the flower doesnt eat insects or man and it doesnt stink after it has bloomed. it only stinks during blooming.

small flower compared to the man sized ones in borneo

i wondered if i could touch the flower since it looks so puffy, but our guide said it might not cause the buds to bloom. anyway, i think it might just be a way of leaving the flora 'untouched' as they say, and i gladly obliged.

out we went and next stop was an orang asli settlement. my impression of natives would be unkempt and wild pple, naked childen running everywhere and stuff like dat. but no, their settlement show signs of social bonding and camadamerie with homes built in an open concept and a huge elevated hall for, wat i assume, for village gatherings. the men were out hunting but the village headman entertained us with his blowpipe skills.

the settlement

showing off his array of darts, which were numbered and marked, he pointed his crusty finger to the dark blob at the tip of the dart. an anasthetic from a plant was smeared onto the tip and it's potency is so strong it could knock u out in 2 seconds, claimed the headman. and i tended to believe him. the tip of the dart would remain in the victim while the rest of the stick ( thinner and weaker than a satay stick) breaks off, making it very hard to pull out the poisoned tip. the other side is made of some lotus look alike pod with a firm yet soft texture.

the unpoisoned dart (poisoned ones have a dark blue tip)

pointing his blowpipe at a hard tree some 15 metres away, a 'thunk!' reverberated and we were all stunned. some 10cm of a farking weaker than satay stick actually penetrated into the tree! the headman explained further that they have stronger darts for the bigger animals. an invitation to blow was declined as we had tried it before some other place and also, his mouth piece was put everywhere from his feet to the ground.

groovy baby yeah!

hygiene isnt a particularly important issue for these guys as i saw swarms of houseflies hovering around their unused utensils in the main house. well, at least these guys have TV, a hi-fi system and a satellite dish from 'astro' (malaysia's scv)! yup, modernity have crept into their lives, much as we want them to remain obscure. with that we headed back for some much needed rest and dinner

that boat ride took almost 3 hours in total and we greeted the shower with great joy.

the end of the day and a beautiful sunset from our room.....

and there's no better way to unwind after a hard day's work with malaysia's hidden gems. tigers!!




stay tuned for Route without Horizons - Gajah!!(Day two) where a surprise awaits....

December

last month was so spectacular that i simply had
a) no time to write all i want
b) too tired to write all i want
c) too lazy to write all i want.

spectacular u ask? why of course, it's fucking december , for god's sake. it's only when u started working that u realise that christmas IS indeed uplifting , both psychologically and physically. (no, not wat u horny bastards are thinking)

the air would be thick with anticipation of gifts that u hope u get or rather hint that you'll get and all these make going to work that little bit more bearable. Knowing that I was about to embark on my first major trip ever since i started working made it even sweeter. In between the days to christmas, frerin's birthday dinner at JB was simply so good and enjoyable that i wish his birthday was every month. check that event out in his blog for the trilogy of frerin and his merry men's adventures in JB in the 24th dec entry.

Instead, let me loose on the christmas night and wat i think is the best way to end off the old year. (next few entries for THOSE brilliant days rounding up an otherwise sad 2005)

paulaner's is a german pub cum restaurant serving some seriously fresh german beer. (it had to be. they had a microbrewery in the freaking place!) larry the hairy and his little skinny girl joined us for dinner and my oh my, wat a huge place it was with old european classical furniture, possibly to emulate some old fuddy duddy german restaurant. heads up to the crew though for bringing up some cheer in their otherwise serious looking furniture with party hats, and a whole catalogue of party whistles, blowers and pops. i like this particularly ugly one of a lip which gave this dumb sounding noise. it's so dumb i love it.

Pacifier for the night

Me and Rach wanted to come this restaurant so much, especially after partaking in some good 'ole fashion partying during October's Erdinger OktoberFest in FarEAst Square. Pork knuckles, naturally, became the focus of attention and it didn't disappoint. the rough texture of the deep fried skin gave a hint of how crisp it was and the succulent meat (or fats, rather) ooze with just so much fragrance and oil. SLurp!!! i concentrated on eating it so much that i didn't take any picture of it though...doh!

Dear's HotDog Delight

The beer was also pretty delicious, with me being the only man on the table bringing the dark version. wat a disappointing larry the hairy...hahahah...

"The shirt says Jeep not Beer"

AFter dinner was the customary gift exchange and we felt proud that we got something that both of them love to have. Who says christmas is all about receiving! while we got reminders of their birthyear.....our very first "piggy" bank. double doh! hahaha...i really love hanging out with them cos we're really like elder brother and sister to them, though we're really on a same level.

Mabbe that's why we're on the same level

the next move was a mistake cos we thot it would be great to take some pictures along orchard road and down we zipped to park at borders. but the crowd was so humongous that i crossed the road back straight to borders to get some fresh air. My..we're really getting old.

having other appointments, we split up and i headed straight to frerin's dwarfess' abode for the countdown and yet another gift exchange.

straight we went for the house and we're immediately drawn to the mini karaoke system in the living room. One word. Power.

after chilling the wine and settling down, we gathered for the gift exchange and another one word for boo's gift. chibuais! looking at the pathtic wrapping paper and the dimensions of the box, i knew straightaway wat the cockanaden bought. Some say he bought a chocolate bar while others think it's a case or something. but one look from the fugly wrapping paper (a mirror like paper with coloured stripes, namely, blue yellow and red, go figure), i knew it was from a downstairs bookstore that sells parker pens. Indeed, it was a parker pen. and the wrapping paper was free from the bookstore, which i heavily suspected was kept there for eons. muahahhahahahah... only boo can do it.

when all of us looked and speculated at the presents, poor boo's gift was shunned by all but himself. and while the rules of the gift exchange was that we couldn't get our own thing, someone had to make the sacrifice. and the sacrificial lamb was frerin. boo was looking apologetic by now and insisting his present was really good while frerin was looking pissed, but hey, they can quarrel one moment and become gay in the next, so it's no issue. ailin's got dear's present, a nike shoe bag which i thot was appropriate for all the rest. Boo's got mine which was a King's safety wear sunglass which really looks quite nice. and boo seemed pretty happy about it.hahaha...

Hail the pathetic gift wrapper

Freddy Kreuger's GF

only boo can try to look cool and end up looking like a grandma

while both me and dear got the best presents i believe we could have. bleach figurines. not just any bleach figurines but well crafted ones befitting any todd Mcfarlane's figures. absolutely power.....this followed by a mcdonalds supper and singing the night away....knowing full well that we all have a long weekend.

she didn't know wats gg to hit her

i should replace andy serkins in king kong

The wonderful gifts (well...except for one......)

U have no idea how happening this 5 can get.....

Next up, I'll try to complete the trip report for my northern malaysia down to Fraser/ Genting ride soon. will try to get the route map out if i can....I know i owe the Koh Samui one since march but i couldn't write without thinking of benny. This would have been a great year if not for the loss of one of our best friends. the picture does look a little incomplete without him. we still miss u bro....as im pretty sure the rest of the guys are.

wish u were here...