A departed man's living dream part 2

So, what happened?

I went to the insurance at Anda Insurance Agencies Pte Ltd, 18 Sin Ming Lane, #02-10 Midview City Singapore 573960 tel: 65542288, email: thomson@anda.com.sg

It was a complexed building. To change the name of the Next rider cost $80.25.

After the name was changed, i was only allowed to ride the bike legally on the next day.

In the night, Siong came to my house with the Tenere. He warned be about the stiff handling of the steering and handle bar. i took a small ride and it was really dangerous. he had a Hepco and Becker rack, so we tried putting Hope Too's pannier on but something is not right. The rack is the same size but we just couldnt squeeze it in.

We need panniers for the bike, else i have to go alone with a backpack. soft luggage cannot be tied at the rear as the exhaust were fitted very high.

I sent Siong back to Jurong.

The next day, i drove my lorry to M-technik just to deliver the 2 panniers and go home.

Then i rode the dangerous Tenere to Alexandra village to rectify the handling problem. I went to Hock Kim Leong.

The mechnic could instantly know that it is the steering cone bearing that was broken. but they do not have any parts.

'its about $150'

i was telling myself: WTF?! $150?! but i kept cool.

 After checking out the part number, they couldnt do the job because they do not have the bearing on hand. They ask me to go Serangoon to get the bearing and come back to let them do the repair.

i asked: which shop?

Mechnic: the SKF shop

I replied: ok... i try (but i don't know where).

i walked across the street where there are some car spare parts sales.

'uncle: do u have bearing number: 32006JR and 32005JR?'

oh yeh! they have it! $25 for 2! they have 32006 and 32005, with out the JR. as long as the size is the same, it fits!


Yamaha XT660Z Tenere's steering cone bearing number is: 32006JR and 32005JR. Tapered type.


i went back and Hock Kim Leong and they were sure impressed on how fast i ride to Serengoon and back within 8 minutes.

The labour to change the bearing was $80. They also changed the rear brake pad for $25. i didn't see the packaging of the new brake pad.

Next, i rode the Tenere to Mtechnik. With Chan's magic hands, he was able to fit the panniers onto the rack. I believe that i could not do it myself so, i would keep the panniers on the bike as long as Chan is not around me. Thank you, Chan.

Now, the bike is working again, the panniers are good, we did a small test with Samantha for a short ride to Kulai, Malaysia.

Being on the back feels so different because the seat for her is very high. the bike is most comfortable at 120-130km/hr. i tried a 160km/hr but dont feel safe, feeling that the panniers may fly away.

i stopped and looked at the engine during the petrol stop. noticed some brown water stain on the engine. could it be mud splash or corroded coolant water or coolant breakage? i couldnt find any break.

The bike does not come with center stand. i have to make a wood so that i could oil the chain or make the bike stand by itself if the wheels are needed to be taken out during puncture.

we are meeting at +3° 5' 58.32", +101° 38' 7.98", Naza World, KL, Malaysia on 7 June 2012 630am.

will be riding up with Samantha to meet them.

for the 

The Langkawi International Charity Ride 2012

At last i have a new riding pants. it suits me well, from Ho Kai Weng.

Something out of the Topic. I saw this truck with S1962CD on the road... it is a vehicle of the Diplomatic Corps in Singapore. source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Singapore

then, on 23 May 2012, around 3 pm, i saw 2 enforcement officer, parking their work bike at a non-desitinated lot, going to a motorbike shop for leisure shopping. are they abusing their authority?


Our life has always been chased by these people. we park to buy our lunch for 10 minutes and by the time we are back, the $10 fine is there. There is not a space for the commoners in singapore to breath. NO SPACE TO BREATH, U BLOODY #Y%*@@#?! ARE U LISTENING?! it is too tight. 


don't let us have a chance to bite back because once we see the chance, we will bite, chew, tear and make sure it bleed non-stop!


well, the picture below shows a thousand word. 


Don't push us too much!

 

this is Siong's Tenere. it just clocked the first 10000km.

A departed man's living dream part 1.

He signed up for Langkawi Bike Week 2012 on 7th June 2012 since February. He could not make it.

The organizers are kind enough to return RM$800+ of participant fee to the family.

This was the last wish he wanted to fulfill but no chance.

He intended to go with Siong.

It was somehow depressing for Siong to go alone now. Siong is willing to give up his ticket.

Langkawi is a duty free zone of Malaysia. Any goods including vehicle has to be declared. Thus, all the bikes has been registered for the event.

I promised Sam Leong's sister that our friend will bring his helmet, a representative of Sam's soul, to Langkawi Bike Week, and also to donate back the RM$800+ to the charity organization.

Hope Too is definitely NOT able to make it that far.

Siong is willing to pay for me. Siong is willing to let me use his Tenere 660XT.

I have no confident riding this bike.
Any accident on the bike, I have to be responsible, even scratches.
Samantha wants to go with me on this small bike, it would double the risk.
My job has piled up.
I need to get a riding pants and helmet sponge.
Samantha needs to get a riding boots and helmet sponge.
We have to orientate with the XT660.

But we want to fulfill a friend's last living dream.

will we/I go for the trip?

This will be our challenge for 2012:

A departed man's living dream part 1.

Thank You Sam Leong Chee Wah

Tribute to our true biker,

he is a good son, a good brother, a responsible cabbie and a good friend.

thou we will not meet again for now, hope that we will be brothers in the next life.

Thank you for what you have done for us. We will miss you.

30 June 1971 - 16 April 2012

Do not stay at Apa Kaba if you dislike friendly, helpful and sincere host.

26 March 2012

Did a short ride to Kuantan and some other roads with Uncle Woo on a DR650 and Sam Leong’s 660 with Hock being pillion on Sam and sometimes, Uncle Woo. This was a very rare occasion where Samantha didn’t join us. So, I could ride Hope Too to feel the actual weight.

It was an early Sunday Ride at 7am. While we rode through Kota Tinggi, we could feel the cool cloud among us, creating a little dew.

Michael Soh went 1 day ahead of us with his girlfriend.

Gambang Resort City is a nice place to bring your kids to enjoy. A few good man like us enjoyed the companionship and laughter of the ride.

http://www.bgrc.com.my/home.php

4 of us, sharing 1 unit of 2 rooms, a living room and a small kitchen is RM$428.00. Bike parking below the apartment and it is out of our sight.

N 03°42.260’

E103° 02.926’

Buffet breakfast included. Free WIFI at lounge.

27 March 2012

Country road ride: instead of going south back home, we rode some country road and went north, to a famous Indian temple at Maran.

The Sri Marathandavar Thevalaya Temple is 120 years old ad is one of the holiest pilgrimage sites for Malaysian Hindus.

N03° 42.087’

E102° 39.254’

Road leading to the temple is curve but cool as it is shade with trees. This is the region where it is next to the world oldest tropical rain forest that aged 130 million years.

If you are late, Jerantut will be a good town to stop for lunch and topping up.

Good pork rice lunch at:

N 03° 56.398’

E102° 21.904’

Since we had late breakfast, we rode to the ferry point at Kuala Tembeling, where you would witness tourist with trolley luggage come in buses to be boat over to the resort in Taman Negera. This stop, is one of the very rare places in Malaysia where toilet would cost RM0.50.

N04° 04.304’

E102° 18.531’

The road leading to Kuala Tembeling is a roller coaster ride. Believe it or not, I would rate this road as the most fun road in Malaysia.

Our late lunch at Bentong was simple. Bentong is so much of a typical Chinese dominated town with lots of activities and good food, if you know how to find.

Lunch point:

N03° 31.346’

E101°54.462’

The Karak highway to the east is fun towards Temeloh. We exited Temeloh, got our last fuel served and rode south into a deserted and sharp road. To Teriang, to Bahau, Gemas, Segamat, then Yong Peng. Looking at the map, Temeloh to Bahau looks short but the windy road had given us extra time to play.

2 weeks later, 3^rd March, we went for the Gunang Ledang ride with the Storm Riders.

http://singaporedream-rtw.blogspot.com/2012/03/storm-riders-singapore.html

Then, Jannick (pronounced as Ya-Nick), came to Singapore and stayed for us for some days. After he was done, we made a short ride together with Cherie, Richard, Juvena, Samantha and me to Malacca. That was 2 weeks after the Storm Rider’s ride. We took the trunk road from Kulai to Yong Peng, to Labis, Then to Tangkak. The route from Labis to Tangkak was nice. When we reached Tangkak, it was already dark and was raining. We decided to abandon the trunk road plan and rode fast to Malacca where we stayed in the cosy place: Apa Kaba.

3 person in 1 room: rm$54.00 with breakfast included!

Kenny, the owner of Apa Kaba had this idea of homestay and converted part of his property into a guest house cum hostel. He made a little space in the garden where guest could sit at the sofa and read.

In the morning, we will be greeted many times by 3 ducks as these ducks are doing their daily chores.

1) Do not stay at Apa Kaba if you do not want the host to take care of your motorbike.

When we parked our bike and took our shower, while waiting for the taxi to come, he came out with 5 pieces of cardboard and tiles and place them on the seat of the bike, ensuring that his cat will not mistaken that your motorbike seat as a new bed.

2) Do not stay at Apa Kaba if you dislike friendly, helpful and sincere host.

3) Do not stay at Apa Kaba if you love party and drunk people in the guest house during sleeping hour.

4) Do not stay at Apa Kaba if you don’t like nature and the real traditional Malacca house.

5) Do not stay at Apa Kaba if you don’t want special discount if you bring your own tent to camp at the beautiful garden.

Apa Kaba

N02°11.518’

E102°15.234’

We didn’t went to Jonker’s for dinner. Instead, we went to Papa Joe’s. His restaurant was close but he allow us to order from his neighbour and dine at his place. The Portuguese Malaccan seafood dinner was not expensive and fresh!

As usual, chilling around the bar with Joe ended up with so much malt juice. Ask our friends, it is the best beer around the region.

A week later, we left our bike in Singapore and took a ferry to Batam in Indonesia with Gael and Cheryl for a touristy 2 days 1 night trip.

So much things to do!

All photos of Apa Kaba homestay are from Juvena Huang Huilin.

Apa Kaba Guest house

No.28 Kampung Banda Kaba, 75000 Melaka.

+6062838196

+60127981232 mobile

apakaba28@gmail.com

Are you riding or driving into Singapore?

'But I was surprised a modern country did not have all the facilities for filling out forms at the border,' he said.

Swiss adventurer, 39, messed up his paperwork and was stuck at Woodlands Checkpoint for several hours. Mr Baumann did not have two documents needed to bring his Swiss-registered car in.

One was an International Circulation Permit (ICP) from the Automobile Association Of Singapore (AAS).

The other problem was his car insurance. He was told that he had to get insurance from a local company.

http://www.asiaone.com/Motoring/Drivers/Story/A1Story20090831-164759.html

How to drive into Singapore? what are the rules and red tape and documents?

http://www.aas.com.sg/?show=content&showview=8&val=138

But why Automobile Association of Singapore (AAS) is the issuing authority? It should be LTA or the Customs. because AAS is an official association in Singapore in the AIT/FIA Customs Documents Network.

Armoured vehicles, camper vans, caravan trailers and mini buses with cooking and sleeping facilities are NOT allowed into Singapore.

1) get your documents ready.

2) park you vehicle in malaysia and walk or take other local transport to:

Automobile Association of Singapore at River Valley road, to purchase an

INTERNATIONAL CIRCULATION PERMIT

don't forget to purchase

Autopass and insurance coverage.

3) go back to malaysia and drive your vehicle in and with the carnet, vehicle registration card/book, valid insurance for singapore, autopass, International circulation permit and all papers.... drive in, pay, pay, pay, pay and stamp, stamp, stamp and wait, wait, wait and repeat this cycle for a few times and...

welcome to Singapore!

so, you see, we do not meet much travellers around the world in Singapore.

But there is a motorcyclist name Yarat, he came in and went to a busy street in Singapore, park his bike there and show everyone his bike and his trip. well, he got some money from Singaporeans for goodwill and well wish. where all these money goes? i guess Yarat need to invest in paying the customs, Automobile association of Singapore, Insurance company, cash card, just to ride into Singapore for us to see and for him to experience. So, the maths equation is, we pay the authority to let him in.

http://www.lta.gov.sg/content/lta/en/motoring/driving_into_outofsingapore/other_foreign_registeredvehiclesoutsidewest-malaysianregisteredv.html?parent=other_foreign_registeredvehiclesoutsidewest-malaysianregisteredv&child=&root=driving_into_outofsingapore&rootFlag=block&parentFlag=none#Document_Chk_list

Storm Riders Singapore

3rd March 2012, Storm Riders Singapore held their Annual General Meeting at Gunung Ledang, Malaysia. We were hesitated to go due to the work commitment and the condition of Hope Too. Sam and I seldom join organized group for riding. In the end, we give it a try. The only contact we have with Storm Riders is Steve Chia.

Meeting time was very easy. we could sleep till our normal hours and wake up. We found out that the packing procudure was tedious. packing for a 2 days trip is almost the same as for 2 weeks trip.

There were marshall briefing before setting off and they reminded us not to speed because there is a police road block within few kilometers.

The convoy of about 50 went slow and reached the police road block. Everyone went smoothly and the police put out his hands and fingers, pointing at me! Hope Too can't travel more than 110km/hr (the Malaysian highway speed limit) and I was thinking, why me? Hope Too was the only bike that got stopped out of the 50.

3 policemen came over and spoke to me in a warning tone:

WHERE IS YOUR FRONT NUMBER PLATE? HOW IS MY CAMERA GOING TO TAKE PHOTO OF YOUR BIKE NUMBER? THIS IS MALAYSIA, NOT SINGAPORE.

I pointed out at the 'spare' numbers I had at the front fork. The policeman says it's not acceptable. The camera can't capture the image.

YOU TELL ME HOW? THIS IS MALAYSIA.

he looked furious.

Situation control:

1) has to give him lots of respect because he is the authority and we are in his country.

2) identify and admit the problem with sincerity.

3) provide solution for him.

4) be friendly.

Because i just changed Hope Too's front windscreen, i forgot to fix the metal number plate and luckily it is in the box. I took it out and fix it.

While fixing, they scanned my bike and seeing some signatures.

He pointed out one of them and asked who is this and I replied: that is my president, my president of Singapore's signature. you don't know him?

He walked away.

After fixing the number on the bike, they didn't seemed to bother talking to me anymore. So we rode off.

The rest of the convoy rode at their normal speed but Hope Too was coughing and sweating if he is going above 100km/hr. So we were the last bike to reach the next meet up lunch point, Pagoh.

When we reached Pagoh, the hardworking marshall were waiting for us at the point of entry under the hot sun. they were very patient.

While we were having lunch, someone tried to break the car door of one of the member's. it was noon time, bright daylight, the police beat is just about 10 meters away and yet, it happened. The Northsouth Highway's R&R is a dangerous place. that is where our Hope was lost before the trip. it's actually risky to park the vehicle and walk up to the eatery with out able to view at your own vehicle.

the ride continues to Tangkat exit where we regroup and ride into the resort with local police escort. The traffic police of Malaysia stopped every vehicle that is coming into our way and made them stop aside. We may have caused a little congestion in the town. Hope Too told me that he overheard other vehicles that were being stopped complained about us. I wonder if the Malaysian bikers were to come to Singapore and we can organize our traffic police is able to do the same.

Gunung Ledang is the highest mountain in Johor State.

The trees here are massive, hugh, straight and stout!

One tree can support many life form. If we cut or remove a tree, it is the same as demolishing the house of many friends out there.

can u see the leech?

We met many old and new friends on this short trip. Some of them were facebook friends that we have not met before. Some were veteran bikers that had venture South East Asia when I was still learning how to ride a bicycle. Mr Loh was telling me of his epic journey in 1985 where he rode to Golden Triangle, Thailand. Also, Anthony, that we met via facebook. I was so glad to see Our Motorcycle Diaries sticker on his bike.

good camera to spot the adam's apple on the performing ladies.

Previous president of Storm Rider did a good job. He sung 'My Way', it's a simple song but heavy lyrics.

Bikes, friends, beer and sexy ladies always made a good combination.

and we started with one beer,

Singha beer complimentary from Mr Loh.

continued with some beers.

ended up with .....

and

Next day, we went to Malacca for a cold desert..

It is actually our 6th year wedding anniversary trip.