[YEAR 7!] Quit our jobs, sold our home, gone riding...

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At 8AM in the morning, the temperatures up here in the mountains feel like it's 15C. Even though we're having a blast leaning the Hondas into the curves of the empty roads, our ventilated motorcycle gear is flowing a lot of cold air. We're freezing! It's been months since we've felt like this! I don't complain too much. Only when we stop for gas and bask in the sunlight, do we warm up slightly. Cameron Highlands may not be as cold as it once was, but it's better than the >35C in the lowlands!

Ugh. Crowds and cars.

The summit of the Highlands are up around 5000 feet above sea level and are dominated by hotels and roadside stalls selling teas and strawberries grown up here in the hills. Cameron Highlands is very crowded and we fight through the weekend traffic as locals from Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh all come up here to get away from the heat.

Taking a break to view the beautiful fields of tea plantations

Pretty, but the deforestation of the Highlands is blamed for the rapid warming of the region

 

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It would have been nice to stay a day or two up at Cameron Highlands, but we're on a schedule to meet the rest of my family in KL. I was talking to my cousin the other day arranging plans for a family get-together. I told her a date I thought we would arrive and she replied, "You should probably try to make it on a weekend, you know... when people aren't working..."

OMG I felt like such a ************: "Everyone drop what you're doing, we're coming into town!"

The way back down

The road south from Cameron Highlands is not as wide as from Ipoh, the surface is not as maintained, but we still manage to find a few spots to enjoy pristine tarmac and the views and the turns don't disappoint.

Back to the hot and humid climate of the lowlands. We grab some lunch at the food stalls in the gas stations

To celebrate our trip to Cameron Highlands we eat some Beef Rendang. Mmmm... spicy meat dish

I think I'm getting the hang of Malaysian cuisine. Forget the fancy sit-down restaurants, the real food is found in stalls and hawker centres.

 

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We dive into Kuala Lumpur's heavy rush hour traffic and try to find our hotel. So glad we have tiny dirtbikes, they filter and cut through traffic like a hot knife through beef rendang - which is not that fast but still satisfying. Neda is dying in the equatorial heat. She is not doing well at all. She's fighting chronic crabbiness and I have to remind her constantly to eat because she can't feel herself getting hungry. Not good for someone who suffers from low blood sugar and the resulting hanger-management issues.

We finally pull into our hotel that we're staying at for the next few days. It's not a fancy place, but it's cheap and I'm reminded how much more expensive Malaysia is compared to Thailand. Neda immediately flees into the sanctuary of the air-conditioned lobby while I lock up the bikes. I feel bad for her, I know the heat is really affecting her enjoyment of traveling through South-East Asia.

My cousins, Choong San standing behind me, and Tanya sitting beside me with their respective spouses

The next day, we ride to a nice Chinese restaurant to meet up with my very large family. My grandfather has eight kids, who gave him seventeen grand kids - my cousins. Most of them still live in Malaysia and I had a great time catching up with the ones that could make it to the luncheon. I've been waiting for something that would remind me of my childhood. I haven't found anything in the buildings and places we've visited, but staring into the faces of people that I haven't seen for over 35 years -- that sparked all the old memories for me. I remember them so well!

Most of us were very young when I left. My eldest cousin was barely 15. It's quite trippy seeing the faint echo of the children that we once were, reflected now in the much older versions of ourselves. Despite all the embarrassing stories they told about me to Neda, it was a great family re-union.

To celebrate a great family get-together, we go out later that night to scarf down some roti

Malaysian roti is thinner, lighter and fluffier than the Indian roti. It's a popular breakfast meal and is served in the mornings with a fried egg rolled up inside, but it can be had anytime of day. You just choose whatever sauces to dip with the roti. Of course, we always wash every meal down with the liquid sugar they call teh tarik (pulled tea). Our hotel is right across the street from a huge hawker centre, which is convenient but dangerous to my arteries and waistline.

 

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After dinner, we ride into the heart of downtown Kuala Lumpur

The traffic is not bad after everyone's gone home from work, and the temperatures are way more bearable after the sun sets. Both Neda and I have a much better time riding around at this time of the night. The downtown core is very modern, boasting skyscrapers and huge shopping malls with colourful lights strung up everywhere to give a good impression to the tourists.

We're here mainly to visit the Petronas Towers. At 452m high, it was once the tallest building in the world when it was built in 1998, but is now "only" the tallest building in SE Asia after losing that title in 2004. Obviously, this building wasn't here when I left so I've never seen it before. No memories to be found here.

Very cool looking at night!

To celebrate seeing the tallest building in South-East Asia, we go out in search of some famous Malaysian Char Kway Teow

The Internet said this is the best place in KL for Char Kway Teow. Hawker centre, of course!

Char Kway Teow is a dish made of flat rice noodles with eggs, shrimp, chicken and bean sprouts. Char Kway Teow is stir-fried in pork fat. Char Kway Teow is my favorite dish. Those last two facts might not be entirely unrelated...

 

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By far, the most popular tourist attraction in Kuala Lumpur is the Batu Caves

It's only about 15 kms away from where we're staying, so we hop on the bikes and head out there after the morning rush hour has subsided. The Batu Caves are the site of a Hindu temple built inside a limestone cavern, similar to the Taoist temple that my uncle took us to in Ipoh the other day. The only difference is that these are several times larger and grander.

Instead of Buddhas and Lao Tzu, Ganesh is presiding over this Hindu temple

Besides the Chinese, Indians make up the second-largest ethnic population representing about a 10th of the population of Malaysia.

During the long climb to get into the temple, several monkeys charge the tourists an admission fee consisting of bananas.

 

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"Have you paid your admission fee yet? Not to me, you haven't. Give it up now!"

As part of the admission fee you get to take a selfie with the guards

Another guard on the lookout for more admission fees

 

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"Here you go, may I enter the temple now?" "Yes yes, move along."

The inside of the cave is huge!

I think this was one of the Hindu priests in the temple

 

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Shenanigans inside Batu Cave

Lighting the votive candles in the temple

To celebrate our visit to the Batu Caves, we go off in search of the best satay in Kuala Lumpur

Satay is marinated skewers of meat grilled and served with peanut sauce

I discovered what makes this place the best in KL - they hide pieces of marinated pork fat in the skewers that when grilled become crispy, juicy bites of pure flavour. Gaaaaah, so good....! The sauce they provide on the side is made from ground roasted peanuts mixed with spices and it can make or break the meal. Weak or watery peanut sauce = bad satay experience.

Satay is also my most favorite dish in Malaysia. I can have more than one, right? (I am saying this a lot in Kuala Lumpur)

 

[Finatic Angler]

Gene

I believe you can edit the title yourself.

Go to the first post

Hit edit then if you don't see the title there should be a button to go advanced. The title should be there.

Great job on your journey. I Enjoy reading the posts.

J

 

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Thanks, I tried that.

All it did was change the title of the first post, but not the thread.

I know it works for a little while after you create a thread, but it seems that the title becomes etched in stone after some time.

 

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Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/304.html

It's stinkin' hot here.

With the temperatures soaring into the mid-30s every day, the only bearable times to go outside are early in the morning and after the sun sets at night. Otherwise, the minute we step outside of the hotel, we're instantly drenched in sweat! Because of all the sightseeing, we take about three cold showers every day and we're going through a lot of clothing!

Thankfully there's a laundromat just down the street. We go at night when it's cooler

This is bit of a glimpse into the more mundane aspects of life on the road. When you don't have a fridge or a closet or laundry facilities, the luggage, straps and tie-downs become an essential part of living on a motorcycle and getting chores done.

Okay, all finished. We have clothes for another couple of days now...

 

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From talking to my relatives, this heat wave is not usual weather for Malaysia, even at this time of year. They've been hoping for precipitation for a few weeks now, which reminds us that although we've been very hot and sticky, we really haven't ridden through a lot of rain in the last 5 months. I can count the number of times we've had to don our rainsuits on one hand while in SE Asia.

Very un-RideDOT.com. After almost two years of riding underneath a constant rain cloud across Central/South America and Europe, have we finally turned the page on our streak?

We celebrate a successful laundry run with some Murtabak and Nasi Lemak and more Mee Goreng

So happy we are staying across the street from a hawker centre. It's like being in Wonderland, walking from stall to stall and picking what we want to eat everyday. Murtabak is roti that's stuffed with meat. Nasi lemak is fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaves. All food from my childhood.

Start off every morning with a shot of liquid sugar: Teh Tarik

Malaysia has been all about the food for me. I remember when we met up with our friend Marco in Portugal when he was visiting his home country, he was eating all of his childhood favorites non-stop. I couldn't believe the amount of food that he was putting away the time, but now I know exactly what he was doing... Culinary nostalgia.

 

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Today, we're on a bit of a road trip, heading south out of Kuala Lumpur to visit a couple of sites. First on the list:

Sepang International Circuit!

It's only about 45 minutes away from KL on the highway. The site of some amazing motorcycle (and car) battles over the years. It's unfortunate that we are not here when there's a MotoGP race on. And we're about a month early for the Superbike races. Still, it was interesting riding the circumference of the facility and seeing the famous grandstand and track in person. In my mind, I'm replaying that epic clash between Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez late last year!

We tried to get onto the track with our bikes but we were turned away by security...

Had to visit it like normal people do "Don't you know who we are?!?"

They had a small museum with a MotoGP sign, but there were no motorcycles there, just cars. Boring.

 

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We didn't ride all the way to Sepang just to see an empty racetrack though. One of my family's enterprises is soya sauce production. My cousin who runs the operations offered to take us on a tour of the new facilities and it's right next to the racetrack!

So we ride over there for a tour and some family history

My great-grandfather, who founded the sauce factory back in 1910

My great-grandfather came to Malaysia from China at the turn of the last century. The first wave of Chinese who arrived here were traders that came in through the shipping ports in Penang and Mallaca in the 1500s. My great-grandfather was part of the second wave of Chinese that started to arrive from the mid-1800s. They came to mine the rich deposits of tin found around Kuala Lumpur. He invested in a tin mine and also started the Yuen Chun sauce factory in KL in 1910.

Tin-mining in Malaysia was a booming industry all the way to the 1980s. But due to depletion and high mining costs, that industry has tapered off quite significantly. In 1979, Malaysia accounted for 31% of the world's tin output. Today, virtually no tin is exported out of Malaysia.

The original sauce factory is in KL, but my cousin moved the bulk of the operations to Sepang

He showed us all the different stages of how to make soya sauce. From cooking the beans, to fermenting them, then creating the brine, all on such a massive scale! It can take several months to brew the highest quality batch of soya sauce.

While the sauce business is good in Malaysia, the plans are to court more overseas customers, offering to re-brand our soy sauce as well as other products like oyster sauce, chili sauce, etc. The Sepang facility is state-of-the-art (and secret so I wasn't allowed to take any pictures , and is a great showcase for attracting an international audience. He showed me the skids full of Yuen Chun products that were re-labelled with the names of some pretty well-known western retailers. Impressive!

Thanking my cousin Choong-San for the tour and then off into the sweaty weather back to KL

I've picked up tidbits of our family history from my dad over the years, but talking to my cousins in Malaysia has revealed much more background into who my ancestors were, their personalities and the old family dynamics. It was like hearing gossip from over a hundred years ago! So interesting!

 

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Back in KL, a more personal piece of my history - my childhood home

When we were booking our hotel, I tried to find a place that was close to my childhood home. So we are actually staying less than a km away from where I grew up. One day, we rode up to the old house and I peered through the gate to see if there was anything that I remembered. It was exciting to be here, but the past is so vague for me -- I think I left too young.

The only vivid memory I have of the outside is rollerskating on that driveway. I was maybe only 6 or 7 years old, so I wasn't allowed out on the street, but I remember tottering around in that small area behind the gate. And the rollerskates weren't even proper rollerskates. They were these clunky metal clogs with four wheels on the bottom that you strapped onto the bottom of your shoes!

Well, now I'm back here on a different set of wheels!!! Surreal!

I didn't want to ring the doorbell, because I had no idea who the current occupants were. But after talking to my cousins, they informed me that my dad sold the place to his aunt, and she still lived there! My grand-aunt probably has no idea who I am, but one of my cousins offered to introduce us and take us inside for a tour!

Cool!

My cousin Tanya introduces me to my dad's aunt, current occupant of my childhood home

I remember a lot more of the inside. Over the years I've told Neda so many stories of my childhood and now finally I was showing her where all those events happened. Curiously, they were all stories about me getting in trouble, breaking stuff and hurting myself: "And over there's where I sliced my finger open while climbing that fence like a little monkey". "I broke the family TV when I was climbing that wall unit... like a little monkey". I did a lot of climbing when I was a kid...

We've visited Croatia so often and Neda's shown me so much of her youth while we've been over there. It felt really satisfying to be able to show her a bit of my past in person. I've come to understand so much more about her from meeting her family and seeing where and how she grew up. It was important for me to share the same thing with her.