Woof! Woof! Wanderings For CNY 2018

Celebrations are aplenty in a year. It just depends on whether you're up for it. In fact, Malaysia has too many public holidays, and the employers are not too happy about it. This is really a 'what to do?' case because we have been bestowed an abundance of holidays to celebrate life but the happiest country in the world is Bhutan instead? Are we not happy with so many days of rest? Why are we still not happy? Did we choose not to be happy despite the good Life that we have? Don't we appreciate the little things in Life? Anyways, I chose to celebrate my love on 14th February and the daughter (why is she present on our dinner date?) shot this photo for us. That's how we began week 7 of the year 2018.

2 days later, it's the Chinese New Year. The drive back on the eve was a breeze and I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't caught in the gridlock jam as my fellow countrymen took part in the annual exodus back to their respective hometowns. Ho ho ho! The morning began with 3 hours of packing stuff into the boot of the car, in batches as everyone took turns to wake up. The dinner for CNY eve was held in an impressive school hall, by a restaurant which rented the space. I was awed.

The red packets were quickly distributed after the clock struck 12 midnight. The noise of fire crackers and rockets blasted in the background as we stood outside to appreciate the start of the festive air. After a couple of hours of shut eye, relatives arrived for the 1st day lunch gathering at our place. Instead of having steamboat like in the past couple of years, mum decided to prepare Penang laksa and rojak buah instead.

It may seem strange to serve a tangy dish for lunch which will make anyone hungry but it's a good break away from the norm. Being older and more frail as age catches up, it's a simpler meal for mum to prepare. However, no worries about that. The dinner later in the day made up for that. And there was another dinner the next day, both treats by an uncle from Singapore and a cousin respectively. All in all, I had 5 yee sangs throughout CNY 2018.

After the dinner on the 1st day, proceeded to an auntie's house to continue the catching up session. The restaurants were too noisy an environment to have a comfortable chat. It's good to see everyone, albeit a year later, as features and forms change after a year. A drive through the housing area in the morning, reminisced how we ran through this expanse of padi field in our kid days. Now, that same expanse is replaced by houses, and there's no more ponds to catch fish or grids of land to play kites after the padi harvesting period.

Then there's the old village where we grew up as kids and spent time during weekends and public holidays. Kampung Hailam, is a thing of the past, as the entire Chinese village had been demolished to make way for development. No race based party saved the quaint Chinese village from destruction and the sea shore has been replaced with this embankment to prevent erosion. This project wasn't carried out when the villagers were still staying there though.

A drive down the road further away, where the 'Long Beach' at Pantai Puteri was, I decided to capture this shot of parents. We're too busy in our fast paced life, with the kids and their activities. Sometimes, we just need to pace down and appreciate those around us. In their twilight years, having spent their best years of their Life bringing us up, parents deserve to have this moment of time recorded and so, the photographer in me captured this portrait of them for CNY 2018. In a natural environment, there's totally no need for portraits in the boring studio, right? Trips to the sea side always meant sand in the car, sitting on newspapers placed on the seat to keep our wet butts from making the seat wet and having bottles of plain water to wash the sand before entering the car.

The day and journey throughout the day continued with lunch preparation. The traditional fried waxed sausage and spring onion dish is always there as a prosperity meal. With everyone gathered at the table, it was really good for chats as we don't really eat together during our regular meals. We normally eat at different times and even carry our plates to the living room to watch tv. I'm lucky to have meals with my late paternal grandfather though, as I made a decision to return to Malaysia in 2003. He left about 4 years after that.

All in all, a good CNY 2018 as we had the chance to keep up to date with each other's progress in Life. As everyone catches up in age, we also can't eat much already. The younger generation will pick up from here. Till the next CNY, hope everyone will continue to have a good one and stay healthy and don't forget to take part in Life's adventure.

Wanderlust of the Social and Biking Kind

A new year means a new start. According to Joey Yap, 2018 will be a great year for the Ox (yours truly). Horoscope remains as predictions if we don't take action. So, I made a killing while the iron is hot and a big bike ride sounds like a really good way to start the the year. As luck would have it, I came across an article in The Star, which promoted a Ducati Dare 2 Challenge event and I immediately struck a conversation on 4th January, 2018 with Mr. Diddy at the phone number stated. After 6 days, I was given a slot on 3 - 4 February, 2018 to join the ride. Excited I was, and the details of my IC and riding license, was submitted for the registration process, including the RM480 fees.

Fast forward to 3rd February, 2018 and I found myself riding my FZ150i to the Ducati headquarters at Petaling Jaya. At 0845 hrs, I was the 2nd earliest to arrive and Mr. Diddy himself greeted my as I parked my cute little superbike (sic!) Fortunately, there were additional bikes with pannier boxes and I jumped at the chance to ride one. The other Pilots (that's the term for Ducati bike riders) trickled in to sign the registration and indemnity form and a safety & technical briefing was on the cards. The riding mode had been set to 'Touring' which indicated DTC level 5 and ABS level 3, which we were to use throughout the journey. We were allowed to switch to 'Sports' mode where DTC was set at level 4 and ABS at level 2. More on that later.

The detailed briefing at 0930 hrs showed that Ducati really wanted us to enjoy the ride and in a safe manner. We were assured. Strangers to me, the team of 1 Ride Captain (Diddy), 1 Sweeper (Rosman), 6 male Pilots (Rashique, Lai, Danny, Anaz, Siaw& Sivakumar) and 1 female pillion (Shan). Off we went to have our fill of petrol after being flagged off at 0953 hrs. A total of RM230 had all the bikes filled to the brim.

Weaving through the various highways was a cinch as the bike was well balanced and we didn't break a sweat at all. 30 mins later, found ourselves riding across the majestic Rawang Bypass which was just opened last December. The unique feature of this elevated highway is that it sits 60 metres above ground, giving the Pilots a magnificient view of the forest reserve and Rawang township below us. A short 8 km later, we exited Batang Kali and entered the North-South highway via Sg. Choh.

Here, we were given an opportunity to try out the 'Sports' mode and we, like the decent boyz we were, tried very, very hard to keep to the speed limit. However, the only problem was that with every squeeze of the throttle which worked in tandem with the ride-by-wire system, the bike had a tendency to surge forwards with such fury, that it leapt forwards trying to chase the wind. Couple that with the fierce growl of the exhaust pipe, it was a pleasure to ride. However, it lasted only 15 mins though, as we exited the highway at the Lembah Beringin exit. Tragedy struck and a Pilot was down with a puncture at the rear tyre. So, with the Pilots teamwork for an hour and a half, everyone had a hand in setting the situation right by fixing the puncture and filling up the air pressure.

Dropped by the bike shop to make things are right before continuing our journey for another half hour to the lunch destination, where great Malay food was served. We were famished after a 100 km ride. Sitting down together, we were told that this shop provided good food for Big Boys Adventure's white river rafting participants. Well, good food after a thrilling adventure sounds like a good reward, eh? Come to this stall if you're passing by Kuala Kubu Baru town.

After making sure the Pilots weren't sleepy after the satisfying lunch, off we headed to the Kuala Kubu Baru dam, which was only 20 mins away. Not letting a photographic opportunity pass, we gathered the bikes for a group photo with the dam as the background. Scenes of nature always calms the soul and it's not too bad idea to check out mother nature as a break away from the polluted atmosphere of the city. Having had enough good quality oxygen, off we started the run to Fraser's Hill, to swallow the curves for 30 minutes and experiencing the agility of the Multistrada 950 which weighs in at 205.7 kg. 

We needed to remain hydrated to cool down and so, a drink at Fraser's Hill didn't sound too bad an idea. The reward was within our reach after snaking through 8 km of windy road up The Gap. Moving off at about 1620 hrs, we found ourselves at Caravan Serai after 1.5 hours of more curves (and smell of durian). A cold shower in the glamping site had us refreshed and ready to share our stories and experiences (both life and riding) from 1900 hrs, which lasted till 0200 hrs.

Dinner was served at 2045 hrs and the hungry Pilots wolfed down the delicious chicken wings, fried rice, corn cob, ikan bakar, fish cake and sweet potato. Interestingly, this is my first BBQ where food was served to us instead of me having to partake in the cooking process. Not complaining though, as our brotherhood and sisterhood bond grew stronger by the minute and we thoroughly enjoyed the sharing. As Diddy said, everyone's adventure is unique in their own ways. And as always, guys topics starts after midnight and we were awed by the sharing of world standard experiences (of the ladies type).

Morning was broken at 0700 hrs as always but I joined the Pilots at 0845 hrs for breakfast. Not missing out the golden hour of morning photography, I couldn't miss this shot of the glamping site as the sun's rays warm the atmosphere and break the spell of coldness which ensured we had a good night's sleep without the need for air conditioning. Well, except just for the stand fan provided in the tent to circulate the air a bit. Alas, more stories on ladies was shared and we were guffawing our way through breakfast. This was perhaps the noisiest breakfast I've ever had in my life and I'm not complaining. I like to learn from people's experiences and it's priceless. It's just the opportunity that we must seize and this Dare 2 Challenge event provided the medium.

What's a trip to Bentong without savouring the durians, right? A kilo at RM23.70 didn't sound too expensive and 3 durians were slaughtered to feed 5 Pilots. As always with food, I'm always the unlucky (or lucky) one to finish it all and I took in the remaining 4 slices of the pungent smelling King of Fruits. With our mouths filled with the smelly stuff, we're ready to ride up Genting Highlands and squeezing the available 113 hp and 96 Nm of torque, we reached the top at 1307 hrs. Being misty, no shots of the scenery was possible. So, off we rode down to Starbucks at Gohtong Jaya. 

Here, Diddy shared with us the planned events of Bhutan Adventure Ride (BAR) which will take place on 18th March - 1st April where the Royal Enfield Himalayan 411 cc bike will be provided after touching down in Bhutan. For the Ducati fans, there's also the Italy Adventure Ride (IAR) World Ducati Week (WDW) which will run it's course on 16th - 24th July. Bookings for both events need to be made and confirmed by end February 2018. So, hurry up and call Mr. Diddy (Big Boys Adventure) at 016-291 9564 for further details.

We were back at Ducati HQ at 1624 hrs, after a 60 km ride through the old Ulu Yam road. Rider comfort was pleasant along this road where the engine temperature remained at comfortable 66 degress Celsius. But the engine temperature rose to 108 degress Celsius during the attempt to snake our way through the traffic jam towards Jalan Kuching. Now, that's a hazard for the guys nether areas, if you know what I mean. A satisfying total 342 km of great Ducati Multistrada 950 experience and everyone wasn't allowed to leave before all the Pilots had a go at the video interview of the awesome experience.

Ducati - Dare 2 Challenge Pilots, Ride Captain and Marshall

Thumbs Up! for the event