Put on your mask..!

It's that time of the year where Malaysia once again is hit by SMOG! Smog happens due to dust, smoke, and small particles can't be seen with the naked eyes floating in the air. This may be caused naturally or by human activities such as open burning, smoke produced by factories, and smoke from vehicles. Smog can also block sun light hence, lowers the visibility.

Smog can be measured using the Air Pollutant Index (API) as per below:

Up until 3rd March 2014, it was reported that all States in Malaysia is still below API 100 except for Klang Port, Selangor where it has been recorded as "Unhealthy" with an API reading of API 117. 

The Government of Malaysia is watching the API closely. In the event of API reaching above API 125, the Government will definitely imposed all Malaysians to stay indoor, just like what had happened in 2013. Schools will be closed for a certain period of time.

The higher the API, the lower the visibility and the less healthy air that we breathe in. So be extra careful when riding or driving. Switch on your vehicle lights to be visible to others. 

It's best to stay indoors especially for kids and infants. Drink lots of plain water. If we have to go out, then put on your masks! Be informed !

Walkie-talkie...

It's good to have some communication while riding. At least every member of the convoy can know what's going on plus, you won't get bored when you have somebody to chat with. Was discussing with some friends about getting walkie-talkies for rides instead of using the normal bluetooth set for helmets.

The bluetooth set is quite pricey, of course there are some brands which you can get them from as low as MYR350. These are the types that are universal to most helmets brands and design. Some brands like Shuberth are sold at above MYR1000. Yes, they are still affordable but sometimes you just want value-for-money kinda deal.

With the bluetooth set, you can link it up to your mobile phone, listen to music stored in your mobile phone, and intercom with fellow bikers while riding and can go up to 5km range.

Now, the intercom part is what I'm contemplating with. You can only intercom with people who are using the same brand as you are and depends on which brand you are using, you can only intercom with 2-4 people at any one time (I stand to be corrected). For phone capabilities and listening to music, I think this functions up to a certain limit and pending on how noisy your helmet can be. With my HJC RPHA 10, after 150km/h you can barely hear anything. Of course, its definitely not a good idea to be on the phone while traveling at anything above 120km/h.

As for a walkie-talkie, obviously they don't have the phone and music capabilities.  If you are like me, I don't think they matter to you. Yes, walkie-talkies can only be link to the same brands BUT they can be link up to as many users there is and the range is somewhat similar to a bluetooth set, 3-5km. And you can get them from as low as MYR450 per pair.

So I'd say...I'm going to give walkies a shot. If you think otherwise or alike, leave a comment below. Let me know what you think about this. 

Ciao!

The windscreen...

Had my windscreen changed. Been wanting to look for a shorter and smaller windscreen for city ride. Why? Thought it'll look good..hehe.

I bought a dark windscreen by MRA for MYR400 . It's shorter by at least 2 inches from the original Multistrada windscreen. It was easy to install and yes, its adjustable.

So last night I had a test run, was quite anxious to know how different it may be from the original windscreen.  All-in-all, I feel that the wind deflection is very good, if not better than the original windscreen. It is more sturdy,  that's for sure! Felt good riding the bike. Now, I'm not sure if I want to change back to the original windscreen. 

Yes, I would recommend this windscreen. Made a good investment!

Mandarin Ride...

Ride to Malacca, done it a few times already.....ride to Port Dickson...mmm..nothing much to do there...breakfast at Karak...what's new....how about...RIDE AROUND PENINSULA MALAYSIA?? Yeah! Lets!

30 Jan 2014 is the date, me and 6 other friends set to start the new year to ride around the Peninsula Malaysia. First,  we are going to head south to Johor Bahru then we are going to take the east coast routes to Kuala Terengganu and lastly to cross west via Kelantan to Ipoh, Perak before heading home to Kuala Lumpur. We gave a name to this ride... "Mandarin Ride'...why? First, it was because the dates were on Chinese New Year....secondly, that's the only name we could think of! (hahaha)

Day 1, KL-Port Dickson-Melaka-Muar-Tg Piai-Johor Bahru.

After a quick breakfast, we rolled out at 8.30am from Dengkil rest area, we set to Port Dickson via Sepang. We used the inner ring roads just to make it less boring compared to going on highways. Inner roads bring more action and more places to swing by and visit.

It took us roughly around 45 minutes to reach our first stop, Port Dickson (PD). We didn't do much here, just stop by the beach and took some photos. PD is the closest nice beach town from Kuala Lumpur so on most weekends, this place is pretty crowded. Although, it's too bad to see abandoned buildings/projects that became an eyesaw to tourists.

After Port Dickson, we continued our journey to Tanjung Piai in Johor. It is the southernmost tip of the Asia continent. From the ticket counter, one has to walk about 1.5km through a reserve forest to get to the tip.

Next we headed to our homestay in Johor Bahru where we were going to spend the nite. It was a double-storey house with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and it was all for MYR250 per nite. Cheap, huh?!

We had our dinner at a restaurant called Salsabilah in Johor Bahru. There we met a group of friends from the Johor Ducati Riders Club and also the Ducati Club Singapore . It was great to meet the guys!

Day 2, the ride continued on to Kuala Terengganu. From Johor Bahru we took da east coast routes via Mersing-Rompin-Pekan-Dungun-Kuala Terengganu. And of course, we stopped at every photo-opp there was!

We reached Kuala Terengganu quite late, around 11.30pm and we were greeted by fellow biker from the Desmo Society Terengganu (DST). They took us around for a short ride to some tourist spots and we went for a quick teh tarik. Afterwards, DST showed us the way to our homestay. This time it's a single-storey terrace house, MYR250/nite with 3 bedrooms. Each bedroom has one queen size and one single beds.

Day 3, we were set to cover about 520km that is from Kuala Terengganu(KT)-Kota Bahru-Pasir Mas-Jeli-Gerik-Kuala Kangsar-Ipoh. 

Before we left KT, one of our friends, Chaya Juhan invited us to her home for breakfast. Lots of food, small tummies to fill! Whacking is still a must!

Once done with a very good heavy breakfast, we hit the road. Thanks Chaya! All set to Kota Bahru, Kelantan before we turn towards the west side of the Peninsula. About 60km away from Kota Bahru, the traffic started to build up and it was quite massive. We had to stop for a breather.

Continuing on to Kota Bahru will be a disaster as the traffic was terrible hence, we decided to detour. So we skipped Kota Bahru and Pasir Mas and went straight to Jeli via Machang.

We stop at Jeli for a quick refuel and head straight to Banjaran Titiwangsa. The road was winding and it was awesome! However, do take note that the condition was quite bad at some parts of the road, but other than that...weeehoooo!! The scenery at the top of the Mountains was breathtaking. Loved it!

Too bad we had  a time constraint, after a few minutes we continued our journey on a yet another set of winding road leading to Banding Lake. The lake was huge. Its a dam actually. There are boathouses and some resorts in that area.

We had a good time here. Next, we moved on to Ipoh, Perak where we were going to put up the night. It took us like another two hours to reach Ipoh only to find out that there we no vacancies. Everyone was exhausted. We held ourselves together and took our dinner while searching for a hotel on the net. Finally, we found a small hotel in Chemor called, Chemor Inn. Thank God! Its a shoplot turned hotel. Comfy and the hospitality was satisfying. Once we all got our rooms....it was nappy time!

Day 4, time to go home but our expedition was far from over. From Chemor we headed to Kuala Lumpur via Batu Gajah-Teluk Intan-Kuala Kangsar. Since the distance was not too far, we took our sweet time and rolled out a little bit later than usual.

Our first stop was at Kellie's Castle , Batu Gajah, Perak. The castle was built by a British named William Kellie Smith for his lover, Agnes, in 1915.  Kellie, sadly, died during the construction period and the castle was never finished.

Next stop was at Teluk Intan, Perak and its famous leaning tower.

The tower is at the centre of Teluk Intan town and you will not miss it.

After a quick lunch, we continued to Kuala Selangor, our final destination for this expedition.  We went passed a padi field and stopped for a quick photo session.

 

The traffic to Kuala Selangor was pretty bad. Took us at least three hours and truly exhausted but the scenery revived us. We went up a historical Bukit Melawati (Melawati Hill). In its days, it was a heavily fortified stronghold and administrative centre of the Selangor Sultanate in the 18th and 19th centuries.

So..Bukit Melawati was our last destination for the ride before we parted. All of us had a great time...and we are planning to have another ride together and this time we are going to cross border to Thailand. But for now....PENINSULA MALAYSIA....CONQUERED!