Damansara's hobby shop returns..

"Katon Tomodachi"...

Frankie Lim, a friend of mine whom I came to know through master Lee Hong Leng (another old friend who is a Wushu exponent), told me about a new hobby shop in the newly refurbished Atria shopping mall in Damansara Jaya.
I was told that the owner of the store used to operate in SS2 Mall, which is about to be torn down for a new residential project.
As far as I know, there was a small stall in the mall and there was a guy who runs it. He sold an assortment of hobby kits. 
At the time I made contact with the dude, he wasn't too friendly. But, then again, I could be wrong or be too quick in summing up my first-impressions.

The timeless B-29 bomber kit shown at the store's window

Some assembled armor for sale

Once regarded as a nuisance, China's Trumpeteer is now highly sought-after

A selection of warships

Fully-stocked

The store's facade.. 

So, fast-forward to the new Atria mall... I made a beeline to the refurbed building and found parking at the upper-levels of the mall.
Took me a while to locate the store, and I finally found it. It was on the far South-end of the building. 
Katon Tomodachi is located on the second floor. It's a small shop with just enough space to move around. 
There, I met Vincent Leong, the owner.
I found the guy to be very friendly and enthusiastic. There, I engaged in a conversation and learned that he has been in the business for more than 13 years.
"My shop was in the old Atria until I moved to SS2 Mall," he elaborated.
The selection of kits at Katon Tomodachi is quite impressive. 
To sum it up, they have more Tamiya kits compared to the Tamiya Underground. 
And when it comes to prices, I would say it's pretty decent. 
With inflation in mind, there are a lot of kits that can be considered as "overpriced". But I found the rates at this shop pretty reasonable. 
This store has potential to grow as long as people are willing to spend their money there. Apart from retailing, Vincent is also a master-modeler. His craft can be found on display at the store's showcase.
Katon Tomodachi is at lot S05, Second Floor, Atria Shopping Gallery, Jalan SS22/23, Damansara Jaya, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor and opens from 10am - 10pm. 

Archery for all..

Kolonel Sander's legacy..

Our "last-fling" with bare bow archery at the MSN Keramat Archery range was a month ago. 
Haji Ghazali, our go-between guy at the range told us politely that bare bows are not allowed at the range.
We have had a good time at the range, which in my opinion: is one of the most beautiful archery range in the Klang Valley.
There were some power-struggle in the club that occupy a small section at the range and it spiraled out of control when two camps tried to dominate the scene.
Cikgu Lau, a buddy of mine and I went to the Keramat range to shoot some arrows. We were reprimanded by one of the "official" club committee members. 
In short, we got thrown out.
Seems to me, the Keramat fiasco was more like a Kentucky Fried Chicken archery. Spare the few friendly faces, there were some really cocky characters. 
Michelle and I had decided not to go back there. Ever.

Caught in-between..

While the war wages on, the conflicting parties had reached a compromise. The "archery academy" folks had full control of the turf while the other club were given a small space at the range. Not bad. I hope they will resolve all hostilities and move on.

A big break

Mr Tan, an old friend of mine and a US-NAA Level-3 coach told me that traditional bows are allowed at the Kg Pandan Sports Complex.
Then, Raymond Chew, a customer of Tan confirmed this and made arrangements for us to give the range a try.
And since it's place where we can rent the target lanes, the "type" of bow was never an issue.
Best of all, the hourly rate is RM8/hour. I took the opportunity to check out the range in Kg Pandan with Michelle, my wife and found the place to be quite suitable for recurve bows.
The longest distance is 70-meters and this is also the range used by a group of Traditional Japanese archers.

With En Zaki, Raymond and Michelle at the Kg Pandan range

Mr Tan, who also came to the range was with his traditional bow. But the lanes were full as a group of islamic archers were training their customers there.
Then, came the Kyudo archery practitioners.
Raymond said he knew someone at the range by the name of En Zaki. 
And true to his observation, a guy and his son had turned up. They set up their target bud at a concrete pavement and invited us to give it a try.
Zaki was there to train a kid, whose parents had paid him for coaching.
I noticed that he had a Primal Gear Compact Survival Bow and was shooting with a thumb-draw technique.
We exchanged notes and Michelle and I had the opportunity to shoot two ends before I head over to work.

The Kyudo sensei in action

Michelle having a go a the target bud

Shooting my Hoyt Buffalo takedown bow

A decent group of people..

The folks who were practising at the range were all good. 
Although there were some Samurai-wannabe, we paid no heed to their customary bow and Zen-like form.
It's fun to watch the Kyudo archers in action, but in terms of practicality, their accuracy would come in question.
I see that some of the guys were really strained and their shots were either too low or wide.
But hey, it's not the target that matters but the form.
The number of people with traditional horse bows were overwhelming at the range.
Most were beginners while a few seasoned archers showed what they can do with their Korean bows and bamboo arrows.

An early morning session where we had the range to ourselves

Michelle's pretty happy with her grouping at 12 yards

What sets Kg Pandan apart from Keramat is the fact the folks there were pretty friendly. No egoistic Kolonel Sanders-like characters, selfish left-handed compound bow shooter, fart-faced committee members and that "I am too good for you" kid.
The pace at Kg Pandan is more relaxed and I found the Kyudo archers totally amusing. These guys practise from 10am - 12noon.
If done right, we can sustain our training sessions at this range and block off some dates by paying in advance..

Tour of East Coast - Part 6

Teluk Gadung Beach in Dungun, Terengganu

Just chilling out..

We've covered some 300km from Kota Bharu in Kelantan to Dungun in Terengganu. To me, it's an achievement. No downtime, plenty of fun and a fulfilling experience.
With the day slowing fading away, we had a night's stay in Dungun and we intend to make the best out of it.
Michelle and I took a stroll down Teluk Gadung beach and ended up at the far reaches of the area.
We saw some people pulling their fishing nets and spoke to one of the men who were preparing soft drinks.
He said the group were from a nearby polytechnic and they intend to pull the nets till late and night.
Well, hopefully, they caught something.
From the beach, we walked back to the hotel and headed straight to the restaurant.

A happy camper!

A driftwood along the beach area

Exploring the shoreline

The corrosion expert at work..

Last night in Terengganu and an awesome dinner treat!

I told Michelle that I would treat her to some makan at the hotel's restaurant.
She ordered a plate of grilled lamb chops.
I had the "XXL" grilled platter. 
While we waited for the main course to be served, we had some rojak buah for starters.
Since this is a training hotel and the people serving us were students, I don't place a high expectation. 
But when my meal arrived, it blew me out of the water.
At RM31 a pop, the mixed grill set was totally awesome. I had a piece of steak, lamb chops, shrimps and a piece of fish fillet fried in batter.
In short, it was a meal fit for Godzilla!

Samo's dinner

A large portion for a super-sized man..

All good things must come to an end.. 

For the past five days, we took the challenge to ride along Kelantan and Terengganu's coastline. 
It was a great experience for us. The planning and execution was done with clockwork precision and some minor adjustments were made to compensate for cost and logistics. Nevertheless, we pulled it off.
After a good night's rest, we packed up and had breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. We don't have the luxury of waking up late prior to this and were grateful that the ride was incident-free.
From Jalan Pantai Sura, we rode towards town and found a 70-year-old Chinese coffeeshop where we had some really good coffee.

Rolling out to Kuala Dungun town

Enjoying a cup of local coffee

Speaking to the shop owner

A selection of packed meals

Boarding the bus

Our bikes in the luggage hold

Arrival in Terminal Bas Bersepadu Selatan near Cheras

Home at last and with my girl.. 

We had a bit of time to burn, so, we hung out at the coffee shop. It's owner, a middle-aged man had struck a conversation with us.
He shared some stories on how he got started and said that we were unusual people who took on the road to see the country on a bicycle.
"The furthest I could go was a 10-minute ride around town. You guys are crazy! Coming down all the way from Kota Bharu!", said the amused coffee shop owner.
I was just awestruck by the wooden shops that lasted nearly seven decades. Kuala Besut town has seen better days and is slowly dying as progress takes it's toll.

The journey home..

We waited for the bus that arrived late. It was scheduled at 11:10am in Dungun. Our bikes were bagged and ready to be loaded onto the cargo hold and when the bus had finally arrived, it was a mad scramble to fit the bikes and I made sure that they were secure. We found our seats and endured the six-hour journey to the bus terminal near Bukit Jalil.
Our plan was to get a ride on an executive taxi.
So, fast-forward from Dungun to the Terminal Bersepadu Selatan, we made it back in one piece. 
The journey on the ECE highway was rather forgettable as we are familiar with the scenery. Once the bus dropped us off at the terminal, we carried the bikes to a cab stand and managed to get a driver to send us home. The meter came up to RM57, which is pretty decent when you have so many luggage. 
We got home and were greeted by our kids. I was very happy that everything has gone smoothly as planned.
This trip inspired me to plan for more road trips around the country and abroad. As reality sinks in, I have to rotate back to the world and endure the mundane working life until another tour is up.
On the whole the tour of the east coast was an excellent learning experience for me. Kota Bharu was awesome. Kuala Besut sucks, Penarik was exciting and Kuala Terengganu was only so-so. Dungun made up for the long ride. 

Summary of the journey: Watch this video presentation