Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Jetstream Adventures 04: Chinese New Year Ride - Part 01

Another year with different bikes.. 

We gave much thoughts on "what to ride" on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year and decided pretty much that it's our refurbished Dahon Jetstreams.
Why? It's 20", easy to lug onto the train.
Last year, we rode all the way down to Kuala Lumpur and back. 
So, we did something different for this year's celebrations.
I had my 2011 Dahon Jetstream EX tuned-up and tested it during the ride to Sungai Way and Kuala Lumpur.
Everything checks out fine. But there's still some creaking noise. 
I suspect that the bottom bracket is giving way. The Jetsream EX has clocked-in around 6,000km, it has a lower mileage compared to my Dahon Speed P8.
The wear-and-tear came from a lot of trail riding and last year's Tour of Sumatera.

Leaving our home in Subang Jaya
The plan..

We rode out from our home in Subang Jaya towards SS3 in Petaling Jaya.
Traffic was pretty light in the morning.
Michelle had suggested that we cycle towards USJ20 and turn to USJ 11.
I hated this route due to the really bad road conditions and it's also full of slopes.
Since it was the first day of the Chinese New Year, it wasn't so much a hassle.

Cruising along USJ23
From SS19, we rolled down towards the Federal Highway motorcycle lane. 
A passage that we are very familiar with.
There were few motorcycles on the road as we cruised towards the Nanyang Siang Pau exit near Sungai Way.

Reaching road 50 in SS3, Petaling Jaya

At the gate of my in-law's home
Family obligations.. 

I hung around Michelle's parent's home, mingled with their relatives and caught up with my brother in-laws.
We spent a few hours there before heading out to the Paramount LRT station.
To board the train, we brought along our carry-on covers.
The Jet's aren't really compact when folded, so, it tends to take up a lot of space on the piece of nylon cover.
The ride from SS3/50 to the train station takes roughly about 20 minutes.
When we got there, we worked on bagging the bikes.
An auxiliary policeman came up to scout the situation and went back to his sentry duties.
We lugged the covered bikes without any issues at the station and proceeded towards the platform to board a train to Wangsa Maju.

At the Paramount LRT station

Entering the platform

Taking a ride on the LRT
A word about commuting on the LRT

There aren't many people who carry their folding bikes onto the LRT on a daily basis.
My emphasis is: "There aren't many".
And bikes, ONLY folding bikes that are folded and bagged, are allowed onto the LRT coaches during non-peak hours.
Although Prasarana Bhd did not put it on bold print that folding bikes should be bagged, we did it out of courtesy for the convenience of other passengers.
An uncovered folding bike can be intimidating to other people. But I am not here to argue on whether the bikes should be bagged or not. It's your call if you decide to bring yours onto the train. Good practices ensures that you are allowed into the train with your bike without paying a single sen or being thrown out of the facility. 
And when you lug your bike into the train, try not to leave it all over the coach. Be nice! Stand near the bike where you can keep an eye on it.


Exiting the Wangsa Maju station
Riding along Wangsa Maju to Jalan Mata Air off Jalan Genting Kelang
More family obligations..

Our destination was Jalan Mata Air.
It was way past 12noon and I signaled to pull over at a row of shops for lunch.
There's this makan place called "Nasi Vanggey" and we settled for some food there.
I pulled out RM20 and placed it on a zippered pocket on my Zoic Black Market shorts.
My estimate was around RM8 for a plate of rice and a drink.
This food outlet has a very interesting point of sale system. You order, get your food placed onto the plate and the server gives you an RF card.
Bring this to the cashier who issues you a receipt. 

The clear passage
This and a drink, came up to RM9.20
Lunch was just so-so.
My aim was to carbo-load so that we could continue with our journey.
I anticipated that my 77-year-old aunt had not cooked and is expecting lunch to be brought to her home by my sister who came around 3.30pm. 
What annoyed me the most, was the wait. My aunt was starving. We hung around to hand over red packets to my sister's two daughters.

Arriving at Jalan Mata Air
Handing a hung-bao to my aunt
Cat-poop and fart-face

My aunt lives with her partner, some old dude who is part of some weird Christian parish. 
He claimed that God gave him a pair of new kidneys when he was really ill.
So, there I was, sniffing around and found that there was a foul odor permeating from my old room. 
Upon closer inspection, I found some soggy cat shit on a sheet of vinyl cover. The contents underneath it was not soiled.
I told my aunt who immediately went to work on cleaning up.
Her boyfriend was upset and started grumbling. This strange guy also did not hand out Hung Bao. 
Instead, he gave cash to the two girls who came to visit their grandmother.
He said it was against his believe. 
My sister came with her husband and two kids, started to serve lunch.
That was my cue to leave.
I handed over Hung Baos to Jasmine and Delilah, her daughters. 
We mounted on our bikes and rolled out towards Jalan Semarak...

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