Singapore Q&A

Kuality Time >> Hi Remi, is it true that last Friday was public Holiday and you took your motorbike out on a trip to Singapore?

Remi >> That's correct!

KT >> Awsome, how was that?

R >> Moist... it rained every afternoon :-( Fortunately I got to wake up early and enjoy some morning sun.

KT >> So it's been your trip on the East coast, then a trip up North to Penang & Pangkor, and now Singapore, not counting all the weekend trips in Selangor... Don't you get any bored of it???

R >> No, really not! It's been different every time: Malaysia is full of variety, and conservative East coast is definitely different from urbanized Penang or wild Pahang! And while driving down South through Johor I got to discover a new face of Malaysia: little towns that are fare less developed than Klang Valley, but that are still very different from conservative East coast. Actually I think this was a glimpse of what Malaysia used to be 50 years ago, before Kuala Lumpur and the whole Klang Valley become so industrialized.

KT >> Did you bring any picture back?

R >> Not really, I'm definitely not good at capturing urban scenes and I'm not happy with was I shot.

KT >> Come on, you're being shy, I'm sure you've got some OK shots!

R >> No, but I wanna work on this aspect of photography and learn how to capture street snapshots...

KT >> So you crossed borders by plane, bus, boat, car, train, taxi, foot... and now motorcycle. How was that?

R >> Actually a bit boring: a crowd of Malaysians from Johor Bahru crosses the border everyday to get to work in Singapore, and the queue of motorcycle is huge! With all those engines idling, I was breezing in exhaust gas during all the waiting time...

KT >> And how was Singapore?

R >> Actually I've been there 5 years ago. I remember when I was roaming through Little India, I thought it was a bit messy and dirty. Now, 5 years later, after living in Malaysia and traveling through South-East Asia, I found Little India was the cleanest Little India I ever saw! Singapore reminded me of some Europeans cities. The memory I had of Singapore from my previous trip 5 years ago was wrong: I forgot how much greenery there is, and how pleasant it is to walk around. Singapore strongly differentiates from other Asian capital in that it is not as bustling. I expect quite a reverse cultural shock when (if ever) I'll settle back to France...

Aside from this I really enjoyed the cultural display in Singapore, like the amazing Asian Civilization museum (currently being renovated btw, can't wait to see the new version). Singaporeans are very good at preserving cultural heritage and old buildings, which is definitely missing in M'sia.

Balik Kampung by bike

Like for all the Muslim countries, the celebration of the end of the fasting month brings up a lot of festivities in the country. In Malaysia, the Eid is called Hary Raya. For the Muslim Malaysians, Hari Raya is the time to reconcile and renew relationship with others, mainly with the family. It lasts usually a week, during which the Malays are supposed to gather with the family in their hometown and ingest as much food as their belly can contain! There is a dedicated Malay song for it, broadcast on all the radio, TV, supermarkets, cabs, food stalls, etc... This is called Balik Kampung and literally means going back to one's hometown (most likely in the remote countryside) and celebrate Hari Raya with friends and family.

Jerome and I have been totally brainwashed by the song, so we took the whole week off for Hari Raya, and decided to go on a tour in Pahang state (the most rural state of Malaysia) and go visit the Kampungs during the celebrations... Since there is almost no public transportation in this area, and to be more flexible, we rode our motorbikes. The good thing with Pahang is that it's the biggest state of Malaysia and it spreads from one coast to another. Therefore Pahang is a concentrate of the whole Malaysia.



Our trip started on the West coast along the strait of Melacca. We visited little industrialized towns with a strong Chinese influence like Muar. Those towns were created during the Spice Trade period and are now hosting most of the Malaysian industry. The West coast is from far the most developed part of Malaysia, but Jerome and I were looking for more adventurous, kampung-style attitude, so we quickly left the West coast and crossed the country from West to East, across the central mountains.

As soon as we passed the North-South highway (main trunk road in Malaysia) we instantaneously felt we reached an very different environment! No more highways, malls and tall buildings. The road became a lot more bumpy and we crossed only small dusty villages. Finally we felt we reached the middle of nowhere! The fun can take place!





On the way we stopped at Endau-Rompin park for a jungle trek. To reach the trek's starting point one must follow a dirt path for about 60 km through palm tree plantations. It seemed fun at first until the monsoon rain started to pour... Dust became mud and it became really hard to control the bikes... My bike was so mishandled that the steel fly case support got literally ripped off by the shocks. Then the trek was nice and very wild, but we felt safe because our young guide was really good. He is an Orang Asli (first inhabitants in Malaysia, they now live in tribal villages in the jungle).




At this point of the trip we were seriously exhausted and needed some rest. We spend the next two days on Tioman Island. We went straight to the Eastern side of the Island, the most quiet and wild one. We spend the next two days chilling out, diving and rock climbing. We hung out with a old Malaysian who once lived with a Dutch lady who ended up leaving Malaysia. But in the mean time they created a gorgeous half-blood Eurasian girl who took a one year sabbatical on Tioman... Yeah, this is life!

One interesting anecdote about the rock climbing thing: to pull the rope on top, we needed a local guide to show us the way. But since it was Hari Raya week, the guy was busy with the family gathering. However after few minutes he came back to us and said it was OK. So he came, along with 2 of his friends to help him setting up the climbing spot. Jerome and I felt pretty bad about it: the guy left the family gathering because of us, and for not so much money... So once everyone was more relaxed after the first climb, I told him again that we were sorry to bother them during Raya, and that since the rope was pulled up, they could leave us and come back later on to pick up the gear. But they didn't want to: he confessed to me that he was really happy to have an excuse to be released from the family thing for a while. He was bored with being a good boy and all, and he brought his best friends along at the climbing spot for them to get wasted on beers while Jerome and I were climbing! Owned!!!... Sometime I really think religions are all about hypocrisy...

After Tioman we were back on track, aiming North along the long stripe of wild, deserted sandy beach stretching for hundreds of kilometers all the way up to Thailand. That very part of the trip was actually the main reason for us to get on this trip. This ride was the most expected part! And I got to say that I was only disappointed... by the fact that we didn't have more time to spend on it! By chance the monsoon ceased pouring for few days, and riding along the beach at sunset, through small fishermen villages is a unique experience! The East coast is definitely very different from the rest of Malaysia, it really lags behind in terms of development and infrastructures.


We finally had to leave the East coast and crossed again the country from West to East through the mountains to reach Gua Musang and finally Brinchang in the Cameron Highlands. Some fresh air felt good. And I loved riding the crooked slope from Brinchang to Tapah. I only touched 4 times the concrete with my footrest...

Some figures to wrap-up the trip:

• 9 days in Pahang
  
• 1670 km by motorbike
• 6 different repairmen visited along the road (yes, bikes are local brand ;-)
• 1 Pepsi can used by repairman #2 to fix my loose wheel barring...
  
• 1 fall (but no major injury)
• 60 L of premium gasoline released in the atmosphere
• ~27 fried rice/noddles dishes eaten
  
• ~10 leeches stuck under my skin
• 6 white water rivers crossed by foot
• 999,999 liters of rain water poured over me
• Priceless: tons of fun and discoveries all along the way!

• 

In a nutshell: I was really hit by the duality of Malaysia: on one hand the Klang valley around Kuala Lumpur, its modern malls, huge elevated highways, Petronas Towers (tallest building in the world), industries, bustling development. On the other side, the rural Malaysia with many villages made of wooden stilts houses, dirt path, little markets along the road etc... Really two different countries.

Beside this, I discovered a new approach of traveling, and I sure will be back on a bike someday for another trip like that... The little man in my ear keeps whispering: "Sumatra, Sumatra"...

No need to push mah, just call lah!

After more than one year spent in KL I noticed that there are phone numbers painted on almost all the sign-posts, streetlights and stop lights in KL, but until yesterday I never had the curiosity to call and figure out whose number it was.

Yesterday, Marie's bike had a flat tire. I came to help and we were getting ready to push the bike over few blocks to reach a nearby garage. It was about noon, temperature was 35°C, that would have been hell! So I asked a guy passing by if he knew a bike shop closer than the one I was thinking about.

He answered: "no need to push mah, just call lah!", and he finger pointed a streetlight... He explained that repairmen write their phone number on all the streetlights within the area they cover!! One can call and get service 24/7 within 10 to 15 min ;-) But you need to speak Malay to give your location since bike repairmen usually don't speak a word of English...

Half an hour and twenty ringgits later, we were on the road again!

Way to go!...

Impossible Mission

- we need to catch a plane to Penang leaving at 21:30 tonight
- therefore we need to be at the airport (KUL - LCCT) at 21:10, no latter
- she leaves office at 20:00 at Jalan Tun Razzak and Jalan Ampang
- Kuala Lumpur is highly jammed at this time, no way to make it by cab

Your mission if you choose to accept it: pick her up with your bike when she leaves the office. Make it to the airport in less than one hour and ten minutes. (as a reminder: 85 km to be covered on jammed highways with crazy Malaysian drivers rushing home for the weekend).

If you don't get any news before Monday, it will mean that we mad it :-)

If you don't get any news at all, it means that we crashed onto a car :-(

(just kiddin' Mom lah, safety first: I can make it any time to Penang anyway, if not this weekend)

Edit: did it, was nice to discover Penang, especially the old Georgetown and the West coast.

Biker's Heaven

Today I found the true biker's Paradize! It's called Fraser's Hill. Fraser's Hill is a mountain resort named after a british fortune hunter who started a tin mine over there about two centuries ago. It's a small cozy and so british styled town lost in the middle of nowhere in the jungle, about 100 km North of KL.






Marie and I wanted to escape KL's heavy heat and chill out for one day in this resort. We took my bike to get there. And this ride happened to be the perfect ride! Especially the second half of the trip. Imagine a small road (actually more a slope), cutting through a quiet and dense jungle, climbing across a steep mountain. Imagine a desert one way road, just for you, laid in a perfect environment and which discloses a breathtaking lansdscape after each curve... Imagine a road in very good condition and plenty of curves! I really had a good time riding up there!

For those KL-based readers who ever plan on going over there, here is a good trick: about half-way to Fraser's Hill, a few kilometers after Kuala Kubu Baharu on road 55, on the left handside and after a bridge there is a freshwater river and cascade with a lake at the bottom. There are big rocks and tiny sand beaches around it. It's surrounded by jungle. Many locals were having a barbecue and swimming in the lake. This is a perfect secret place for a break, and sandwitch and a short swim on the way to Fraser's hill. It can even be the destination by itself! Always good to leave noisy KL for a week-end and end up in such perfect location for nature-lovers. Plus it's just about one hour away from KL.

Kuala L'impure

I can't pretend I wasn't warned about this because it happened to almost all of my expat colleagues here. I have been briefed many times. I heard many stories. But it was meant to be, I guess: I have been victim of bag snatching last Thursday night :-(

After a great gathering at Guilhem's I gave a ride back home to a friend living in the opposite side of KL. She sat behind me on my motorcycle while Marie was following me on hers. It was around 2a. As I just got my new motorcycle I don't have the rear fly case yet so I don't have a place where to put my handbag. So I dropped it in Marie's motorcycle front basket, along with her purse.

We have had a very good evening at our friends place. We were happy. We felt comfortable and secure in this district of KL we know well. So we didn't act especially carefully. There was not much we could do anyway: two guys riding on custom bikes came from being, snatched our two bags and flew away. For a sec I thought about chasing them, but I might I put myself in much bigger trouble, not even mentioning the risk for a car accident.

Content of the bags:

• our two wallets, including several hundreds of ringgits, 3 credit/debit cards
• one digital camera + a 1Go flash drive
  
• two cell phones
• Marie's eyeglasses + my sunglasses
  
• two international driving licences which happen to be not renewable from overseas
• my Malaysian motorcycle licence which I had obtained the very same day!
• and last but not least: the keys to our apartment

So there we are, in the middle of the night in KL, with no money, no ID, locked out of our apartment, and in the urge of finding a way to cancel our credit cards...

We filed a report at the police station until 5a. We called an overnight locksmith who tried to took advantage of the situation and asked us an insane price to open our door. So we sent him back to his bed. We ended up waking up a friend (thanks again Jerome!) in order to sleep two hours before waking up with the dawn to call the real estate agency for a spare key. Couldn't get a hold of them, so we finally borrowed some cloth from Jerome (yes, Jerome, the tall guy... almost 2m long! We looked funny...) A quick shower and let's look fresh for an intense workday which ended up for me in the late evening... What a day!

I won't let this happen ever again!

Berhenti = Stop ; Beri Laluan = Give Way

I have been feeling like a teenager lately: I'll take the written part of the Malaysian Driving Licence test tomorrow morning. Therefore, I have been practicing the Malaysian driving rules and road signs all evening yesterday... Kindly reminds me of my 16th birthday! Well, might sounds a bit stupid, but driving here makes a hell of a difference compared to France. Beyond the anti conformist reverse British driving, Malaysian people make an intensive use of their honk. And I now understand why: as per the Road Transport Department of Malaysia, it is officially advise to do so in many case: overtaking, entering a bend, passing a cow... What about kindly waving cops?

Edit: I passed :-)