Farkle - GoPro

Picked up a new toy today from David, as he is now an appointed distributor for GoPro cameras. You can expect to see the results on my blog soon.

Gonna have fun setting it up tonite. 

Yes, you know you've sunk to a new low when you idea of fun is to read the manuals.

Never Ending Farkle

Will it ever end?.......Never!! If you're not sure what I'm talking about or even remotely think that it's related to something obscene, let me just clarify it by attaching the definition below.

1.	farkle
	buy farkle mugs, tshirts and magnets accessory. The word is generally accepted to mean a combination of "function" and "sparkle", hence, farkle. Motorcycle enthusiasts may install accessories, called farkles (also spelled farkel), to customize their machine. One source attributes the term to Pete Wells, the organizer of a 1997 Honda ST1100 rally www.nabble.com/Re:-Farkel, {delete this line and join two halves for url} -or-is-it-Farkle--p2354383.html The term is well known in the sport touring community. An enthusiast may be in the process of "farkling". The completed motorcycle would be all "farkled up". Radar detectors, Global Positioning System receivers, heated grips, and satellite radios are some of those farkles. Other accessories could be aftermarket seats, side and/or top cases or bar risers, which make the motorcycle more suitable for long miles.

After my East Coast adventure I went to David's place for more stuff....good god have you no self restraint? apparently not. As usual, we justify these sort of spending as "it's necessary" humph...ya rite. Though as the definition goes, there is a functional element to it.

So what's new since my last farkle update:

1. Hepco Becker top rack and Junior TC45 case (from Sunny)
2. Wunderlich Microflooter Auxiliary lights
3. Hepco Becker Bash plate
4. Wunderlich Radiator guard.

HB rack

TC45

Lights on!

Bash plate

Radiator guard + bash pate

Radiator Guard

So is this the last of it?....we'll have to wait and see.

Kuantan - A Karipap Adventure

Maximised my time in Ri-Yaz by checking out late, when the receptionist informed me this cute staff "kirim salam", well well well, good start to the day then.

I'm off to Kuantan today with only 1 thing on my mind....karipap. Yes sirree, I'm riding 240km for some karipap, if that's not commitment I dont know what is (insanity perhaps?) I was introduced to this gem 12 years ago, and since then have had the opportunity sample it it off and on all this while. Definitely a good thing as if I had stayed in Kuantan i think i'd have so much karipap that I would have vomitted by the mere mention by now.

I took the coastal roads this time around and kept it a cool 80 to 100kmh, no rush what. When all along the way you catch glimpses of the ocean on your left, you know you're in jack johnson territory, so just chill and enjoy the ride. This route also is not complete if you dont stop in Kedai Kopi Hai Peng in Kemaman. An original, old school type kopitiam that has stayed true to its roots despite adding current favourites like blended ice coffee and latte.

A quick cuppa and 45 minutes later I'm sitting down looking at my karipap. I showed my tummy no mercy on this trip and my waistline is paying the price for it.

Beyond the tree line is the beach

It's fondly known as karipap gemuk panas and also karipap Taman Gelora, either way it tastes as good. You get to sit under the tree, while the cool breeze and the sound of the ocean hitting the beach just adds to the overall simple yet calming experience. By the way, it closes on Monday.

I also hooked up with Meor, who was kind enough to provide a place to stay for the night before I made my way back to KL the next day.

Black Mamba - hoi update la blog!

Kuala Terengganu - 8 years still the same.

The last time I was here was 8 years ago for work. Those were the days of dialup and I remember going online for *cough cough* work and getting whacked RM800 for it, my room was only RM200, so you can imagine the amount of explaining i had to do back at the office. Yes, I found the town lacking chutzpah and stayed at the hotel most of the time. My perception of KT town still hasn't changed. I still don't like it. Basically me and KT town........not friend.

So what brings my ass here then you might ask, riding solo for 7 hours from Kuala Tahan, braving the rain and storm, with winds so strong it pushed me from one lane to the other. It took me an hour just to navigate the last 20km due to the storm. Have I gone bonkers? then again that's a foregone conclusion, i believe even my mum who only thinks the best of her son, as all mothers do, is worried that I'm off my rockers..haha. 

I'm gonna say that I'm practicing long solo riding, adding mileage to condition myself, getting the handle of the bike in all sorts of weather condition and bla bla bla, but what really brought me out here was the fact that I won a 2 nights stay in Ri-Yaz Heritage Marina Resort and Spa worth RM4,000 and it's expiring soon. What?! you went through crap for 4k you might ask. To that, I say, I'm actually quite cheap.....i'd do the the same for less. In fact actually I did, coz off season the room is about 700 bucks/night.

True meaning of superstar parking

Right in front of the room.

I went to Pasar Payang and have my lunch there at the food court. Now this place is a landmark in KT where even the tourism site would promote it if you wanna get hold of batik, handicraft and all sorts of local fare. The moment I stepped in there I didn't have a good feeling, the place was dark and musky, and because it had rained earlier water collected everywhere giving it an even more dodgy look to it. As for the food court, it looked to be in such a dilapidated state that to be honest, I'd rather eat in my hotel toilet.

Like how?

To be fair, the weather did hamper my plans to explore the town and look for redeeming qualities but an incident kinda made me laugh to myself and sealed the town's fate. I was having lunch(elsewhere obviously) and messing about with my Garmin, and thought let's look at what this place has by way of entertainment. So I just tapped entertainment and the nearest it could come up with was 100km away. Yup....i was screwed....and the Garmin confirmed it.

Entertainment - only 100km away

Not all is bad though, I must say the room they gave me was really awesome. I'm pretty sure it's bigger than my apartment in KL. You can have a party in the bathroom and still have space. So after 700km of riding in 3 days, it did give me the rest that I need. It also gave the the time to wash my clothes and dry wet riding gear.

Living Room

Bedroom

I did get to move around a bit to capture some shots, but as mentioned, the threat of rain was always there.

Fishermen mending their net

Floating mosque

How the resort looks like from across the bay

I know someone's gonna say, dude....pretty sure if you get a hot chick from KT it'll change your views about the town. I don't know about the change perception thing, but it'll definitely make my mum happy. Till then onwards to more riding adventure as the rider heads off to Kuantan.

Kuala Tahan - BMW Motorrad Club, Malaysia Event

It was a 3 days 2 nights event held in Rainforest Resort, Kuala Tahan and I was looking forward to it as I've never been to that area, so it's virgin roads baby. Many may have heard this "the road is only new once" so you never know what to expect.

As some of us has commitments in the day we could only leave after prayers. Initially there were 4 of us meeting at BHP, then we were joined by another 3 making it a group of 7. With the exception of 1 RT the rest are of the GS variant.

Leaving BHP

It was a pretty straightforward and uneventful ride on Karak heading for the Temerloh/Mentakab exit, well it was anyways until I decided to pull a stunt. In the spirit of chronicling events while on the move I decided to take out my camera from the pouch just to snap a couple off, now pay attention coz there's a bit of science coming out here, because the pouch was open, it created a vortex that sucked out my glasses (i was wearing my sunnies at the time) and my 1 day old camera pouch. Nik who was behind me had to take evasive maneuvers when a couple of black stuff flew at him. Oh i could just imagine the headline "Biker stabbed by flying glasses" and the resulting aftermath "Ministry bans all glasses".

So lesson learnt there:

No 1: No open pouches on the move. 

No 2: Claudio von Planta you're not.

Best i got for my troubles.

It also started to rain while we're on the highway and in my infinite wisdom i decided not to wear my rain liner for the jacket and boots as it looks like the sky was clearing up ahead.............it didn't. Only when we reached the toll exit to regroup that i put it on, and yes no points for guessing it right.........the rain stopped. I was like not only I lost my glasses and my feet is wet, I feel like a numbnut for wearing the liner after the rain stopped....haha jokes on me la today.

After 250km of riding, we arrived in Kuala Tahan just as night falls to be greeted by the sight of so many Beemers parked, and to think that there are more arriving the next day. As you can see GS is pretty much BMW's bread and butter.

Something majestic about an Adventure

Dinner was  kampung style buffet followed by what else.....teh tarik la. So we went to the floating restaurants by the jetty. We talked about next day's agenda, the off road or canopy walk. I was mulling about this for a while as I've never done any form of off-road, so there's the skills (lack off) issue and concerns that I might damage the bike before my trip.

Husref also gotten himself a GoPro but has not installed it. so there we were late into the night reading the manual and trying to figure out a good mounting place on the bike and helmet.

The river ferries

The lure of putting the GS through it's natural element proved to be too strong to resist so at 10am we gathered for the briefing, important for noob like me.

GoPro curious

Off roading GS' 

Start of the off road

We were taken through the jungle tracks as well as plantation. Good thing it didnt rain the night before as that would have made it tough for us. All the while I'm trying to remember Fadil's briefing, stay loose, arms open, feet close to the bike. There were some pretty steep gradient which if I was to guess was about 25deg, which if you were to go down too fast would leave you wondering whether you can slow down enough not to hit the bike in front or even go off the ravine....interesting stuff i tell ya.

My fave shot.

Husref and I also became the designated cameramen, so we would recce ahead and position ourselves to try and capture some decent shots. There's also video but I currently do not possess the necessary skills to edit it, so I guess that'll have to wait for now. We're amateurs......but we try. 

Logging

Fadil leading the pack

GS gallore

After a solid couple of hours off roading, we made our way back just in time for lunch at the jetty restaurant. It took freaking ages to get our food. I'm like how difficult is it to make nasi goreng? Do you have to google the recipe or what? So if you to come here, be warned....speed is definitely not of the essence.

Heading back

The event closed off with the AGM, where Minesh got elected as the new president of the club and a new set of committee selected as well. They were giving out awesome prizes for the lucky draw, but bummer, nothing for me.

All in all it was an enjoyable event where I got to make new friends who i'll most probably be seeing more off in the near future. The food was awesome and the free flow was ehem ehem....free.

On Sunday as the group made it's way back to KL, I went on my own to Kuala Terengganu. So stay tuned for my next update......