MyVi memories..

Compact cars rulz!
I used to drive a Suzuki Swift back in the days. 
Its 1000cc engine was the most fuel-efficient that I've come across.
As a matter of fact, the car was way ahead of its time in terms of features. It just lacked the power as it was meant as a city car.
Later, I upgraded it to a Suzuki Jimny 1300cc 4x4 which I had for a good few years before selling it off when hard times hit. 
I was out of a job and could not afford to maintain the car.
Then, it was back to cycling my Raleigh road bike, walking to work, taking the taxi and buses.
To sum it up, the mid-90s was the worst years in my life.
Not only did I put up with double standards and discrimination at the workplace, I also had to deal with assholes who made things really hard.

The MyVi and a Tern Link P9

What goes down must come up
It wasn't until mid-2005 when things got much better and I felt that it was time to give up the Gilera Runner 180SP and my trusty Piaggio Hexagon 150 for a 'real' car.
There weren't much choices for a RM48k pricetag except for the Perodua MyVi.
At that time the national car maker was revamping. 
They were kept under close supervision from Japan.
What you see on the road, is actually a re-branded Toyota.
The origin of the MyVi can be traced along the lines of the Daihatsu Sirion and Toyota Passo.
I ordered the 'EZi' variant - 1,300cc, automatic transmission.
And to make things more comfortable on the road, I added leather seats. Later, to carry more luggage, I purchased a Thule roof rack and a roof box.

My old Gilera

The trusty Piaggio Hexagon

Variety is the spice of life
When I took the keys to the MyVi, my journey to some endless problems began.
The car's windscreen leaked.
Just barely weeks into my ride, I found a puddle of water on the floor mat.
This went on for years and it didn't bother me.
I've had a few minor bumps and grinds with the car, but never a major accident.
One of the plus-factor of the MyVi is the fact that its spacious, fuel-efficient and very nippy.
Spare the 1.3litre engine, its a nice car to drive.
But its also a very basic car. At RM48k, I guess its worth my while.
The MyVi was also cheap to maintain. I spend about RM100 each time I bring it into the workshop for service.

The MyVi with my Jetstream EX

I transport my bike with this car

You can fit two Dahon Jetstreams into the MyVi

All good things must come to an end
For the record, this is the longest car I had in my keeps.
I maintained it and kept a strict regiment in paying its monthly installments for six years.
My original loan was due for seven, but this had to be cut short to make way for a new ride.
Five years is the maximum you can push with a local car. 
Beyond that, things fall apart.

The successor: My new ride next to the retired MyVi

I surrendered the MyVi to my car dealer last week.
It will be sent to a used car dealer somewhere in Banting.
I wish the new owner of this car good luck as it had brought me years of service and had faithfully kept me safe on the road.

Sungkai Bikepacking Adventure - Part 2

Rise and shine!
I've had no trouble catching some sleep.
On a hard concrete floor, the Thermarest scout sleeping mat that I brought along had served me well.
The campsite, it seems, was on a valley and the entire night was quite windy. Lucky for us, it didn't rain.
As for me, the first order of the day, was to clean up and get organised. We needed to pack our panniers.
Well, we brought some food supply and fuel that was not used at all, so, there is no reduction in weight.
From the campsite, there is a series of hills and long climbs to go through before we hit Slim River.
I said goodbye to the Malaysia Knife Forums people and thanked them for their hospitality before riding off to a stall near Sungai Klah village for breakfast.

Morning at the campsite

 Murphy's Law Part 2
I tumbled onto the riverbank near the campsite the night before.
Part of the embankment collapsed when I stood too near to the side.
As a result, I sprained my left ankle.
Never had any luck with the left-side! 
The real challenge here - is to cycle another 70km to Tanjung Malim.
This is the only place where we could jump onto a train and head back to Kuala Lumpur.
So, there I was, in pain and limping. 
We rode off towards Sungkai without much hassle and the place that we had our sights set was Slim River. 
Roger had to go back to the train station to claim his tent..

Parting shot: Leaving the campsite for Sungkai

No pain, no gain..
We rode out to Sungkai without much issues.
Roger had a couple of chain-slips while I struggle to keep the injured ankle working.
There's much to cover from Sungkai to Slim River and towards Tanjung Malim.
If we were to follow the train schedule, we will never make it back to Kuala Lumpur before dark.
The plan is to catch either a KTM ETS or the hourly Komuter service to KL Sentral.
Slim River is roughly over an hour from our location, so, we kept our average speed at 15km/h.
With load, that's the best we could do.
Lucky for me, Roger is a good cycling buddy. He's never in a rush to do anything. Just went with the flow.

At a political party's branch in Trolak

Relic: A petrol pump outside a sundry shop

A town lost in time..
Trolak. I've heard about this place, but have never been there.
Basically, its just a dot on the map.
This time round, we made a detour to Trolak and found out that its a dead town.
The North-South highway literally 'killed' this small place which is home to a couple of hundred of people
We took some photos to remind us of our visit and carried on..
Before noon, we reached the Slim River train station.
Roger was happy that his tent was returned back to him by the station master.
There, we met an elderly gentleman with a young boy.
He was just hanging out at the platform as Roger struck a conversation with him.
"Where are you guys from?," asked the curious stranger.
Since Roger is a friendly dude, he did most of the talking.
We learned from the man that Tanjung Malim is 20miles (33km) away from Slim River and many cyclists prefer to use the 'old road'.
I promised Roger a 'coffee break' and kind of pushed things a bit too far.
We rode past Slim Village, a small settler's area and did our water refill.
Just further down the road was the Slim Village town: a row of pre-war shops across a bridge.
That's where we decided to stop and have an ice-cold glass of coffee before pushing off to Tanjung Malim.
A couple of elderly men were having their late morning tea there.
One of them struck a conversation and told us about the natural attractions in the area.
After the refreshment, we cycled towards Ulu Behrang, which is about 10km away.

Chilling out at a coffee shop in Slim Village, Perak

 The Sun was out in its full glory.
We pushed as far as we could and the heat had really punished us.
After Slim Village, there was Ulu Behrang.
This is very near to the Proton City in Tanjung Malim and we were literally on a home-run.
The last eight kilometre was a real drag.
Tanjung Malim, as it seems, is just paved with an undulating terrain.
We were crunching our gears to reach the train station and before that, lunch was on my mind.
There are a few good makan places around Tanjung Malim, but the one place that I wanted to check out was a restaurant offering river fish and a couple of house dishes.

Our link to home: Tanjung Malim

A simple lunch

At the restaurant, we spent about 45-minutes eating while keeping watch on our bikes which was parked at the entrance of this makan place.
And as usual, some patrons would struck a conversation, asking about where we came from and where we were going.
Roger was nice enough to do the Public Relations while I took some rest and my much-needed lunch break.
We boarded the KTM Komuter to KL Sentral (I paid RM8 to get all the way to Subang Jaya) at 3:45pm and it would take another two hours to get there.
Roger and I switched train in Rawang and proceeded towards Kuala Lumpur..

The train station in Kuala Lumpur

We re-capped about the journey and was glad that no untowardly incident took place.
It was all smooth as we parted ways. 
Roger got off at KL Sentral while I switched to the Port Klang line at the old KL Railway station.
The ride was okay for me as the train was not packed like a can of sardines.
The moment I got off at Subang Jaya, I noticed that my airhorn had came off and it was stuck between the rear wheel.
Took me a while to figure it out on how to solve the problem before I got on my way back to USJ26.
I for one, am glad to be able to complete the ride and clocked-in a total distance of 129km.
This is by far, my most memorable outing with the Malaysia Knife Forums. And well, hopefully, I would be able to do the same the following year.

Sungkai Bikepacking Adventure - Part 1

A last-minute outing..
I had a weekend to burn.
And nearly half the day was used to send my wife's luggage to the airport.
She came back from India and had a flight to catch to Brunei.
Co-incidentally, there was two rides over the weekend and a camping trip in Sungkai, Perak, organized by the Malaysia Knife Forums.
I've attended their camp-outs and really loved the idea of cycling into the campsite.
As a matter of fact, at their first outing in 2010, I actually drove there with my bike.

At the Federal Highway motorcycle lane

The plan
I put up a post on the Malaysian Foldies forum as well as their Facebook page.
No takers.
The only reliable bikepacking buddy I had was Roger Teoh. 
This man can rough it out and is in no hurry to get anywhere, which makes him the perfect bikepacking partner.
My plan was to meet him at KL Sentral, board an intercity train or ETS to Sungkai in Perak and continue another 15km to the campsite. 
Sungai Klah, as it seems, is paved with hills from 2 - 9% in gradient. 
And when you are fully loaded, the challenge is to ride all the way without any breakdown.

Waiting to board the ETS at KL Sentral

Murphy's Law
Some things don't necessarily work out the way you plan it.
In this case, I rode out all the way to the Asia Jaya LRT station. Time spent on the road was nearly an hour.
Riding with another 20kgs of load in the rear means more drag and a 'back heavy' feeling. The ride took about an hour and as mentioned earlier, I made the rendezvous with Roger at the McDonalds at 12:45pm.
On a Saturday, the KL Sentral looks like a Zoo.
There were no more train tickets to Sungkai. What was left was a ride to Slim River, one stop away from our intended destination. 
Ticket for this ride costs RM26 one-way.
On the ETS, I don't have to worry about luggage space (always get the seat right in front, which is also the nearest to the door).
We took the 2pm train which is scheduled to arrive in Slim River at 4pm. 
From there, we have two more hours to cover the distance from the train station to Sungkai and make a turn towards Sungai Klah.

Arrival at Slim River

My ride, with the Ortlieb Backroller and Trunkbag

 A station too far..
There is no reason for me to go to Slim River.
Except when we had to get out of the train and begin our ride from this town.
In a nutshell, this is a dying town. 
There's not much activity here except for people getting in and out of the train and making a trip down to the Klang Valley using the town's bus service.
From Slim River, the next town is Trolak.
Sungkai is roughly about 25km away via the KL-Ipoh trunk road.
With a gloomy sky that loomed ahead, we tried to move as fast as we can.
Roger and I had a meal at a hawker stall before proceeding towards Trolak.
From there, there is a series of undulating terrain (between 3 - 7% grade) to cover before the Sungai Klah junction.
We slowly rode out towards our destination and took about one and a-half hours to reach the turning towards the Felda Sg Klah resort.

Slim River train station

The KL-Ipoh trunk road

Sungai Klah junction

Not for beginners..
The KL-Ipoh trunk road is a normal route for touring bicyclists to access Cameron Highlands and other cities up North.
You either suck it all up and ride, or whine all the way.
My choice is door number one, endure and take it as it is.
I know that some cyclists would complain about the dangers of cycling on a busy road. But hey, you always have a choice: cycle or stay at home and whine.
As for me, the route was really smooth. We had no issues cycling all the way from Slim River to Sungkai.
As a matter of fact, I get to see many things I won't when I am driving.
While maintaining a average speed of 15km/h, we observed the traffic which is constantly busy.
Even on a trunk road, people drive fast.
The road was wide enough for bicycles to move without taking too much space on the motorists' path.

The ride towards campsite

From the junction, there's another 15km to cover.
We took the undulating terrain with ease and slowly covered the distance.
For on the horizon was the Sungai Klah homestay.
This hilly village is the last checkpoint before reaching campsite.
We continued towards the Felda Sg Klah residence which is about 1km away from campsite.

Arrival at campsite

MKF hospitality: One of the old hands offering me a cold can of beer

Calling it a day..
We reached campsite before dark.
With the bikes parked, I introduced Roger to the Malaysia Knife Forums members and their organizing committee.
Dinner was served, we had a few beers, exchanged in conversation and called it a night before the long ride to Tanjung Malim to catch our train.