Eastward ho

Our road trip was getting a touch predictable as we stuck to the main roads for fear of the ‘dreaded potholed village road, I think it’s this way shortcuts’ Funny we never had this kinda problem when cycling, as well, when cycling villagers seem more friendly are more open to ‘let’s help the poor silly touris suffering on their bicycles’ Not that driving was that bad really. It was just getting to be ‘same same’ (a Thai invented phrase actually)

Heck we have two foldies in the back enjoying the bumps and views too. After a week, the car did 715 kms and my tikit did 208 kms (100ks of which, after the car was returned) The Cappu, well, does not have an odometer.

Onwards to Bali’s far east are a string of fishing villages lining the coast on the driest part of the island. A small broken road circles the half blown off top and massif of Gunung Seraya, with dizzying views of the Straits of Lombok. This is a great 50 kms road to cycle across, and yes I did it in both directions during my lifetime.

Almost a decade ago there was pretty much nothing here, except for the Vienna Beach Bungalows and restaurant, a most unBalinese operation that catered to those wanting to get away from it all. The attraction along this coast was and is like Pemuteran 140 km in the west coast, snorkelling, diving and sailing. The area is as lost as one can get in Bali without heading out on a jukung/outrigger to Lombok.

As usual we had no reservations. With new resorts popping up like mushrooms after heavy rains, we soon deduced that the going rate for a newish place, plus AC, hot showers and breakfast for 2, was about Rp 200 K (US $25) and highly negotiable in this low season.

These were in season and I had to succumb after 7.5 days

Fleeing the dreaded dark cloud of moisture

Da beach of black volcanic sand

Where we stayed, they have just 2 rooms, with No 3 under construction

The usual places to stay were becoming ‘too famous’ with rave reviews from travel websites and the all knowing Looney Planet. Sadly some were suffering the ill effects of being too well known and service and standards were not up to par with their ever increasing room rates. Well they had a good run and had a lot of my custom especially  when we show up with a group of 10 perpetually hungry mountain bikers in tow. With the popular spots in Bali, there’s always a new hotel or restaurant to try out. It all depends on how much effort you put in to find them.

With your own transport/AC car, it’s a miniscule malady. Park car and ask wife to go out and check rooms/prices. On a bike trip, wife hides in the shade while, after many many kms, hubby climbs more stairs in SPD shoes to make enquiries. Can’t win them all, I guess.

View from the balcony

Cloud watching (great alternative to slow/no wifi)

As we were 30 minutes too early for lunch at 12 noon, a kiasu S'porean coyly copied 10 jazz remixed CDs into I tunes.

Sails Restaurant along Lean Beach is the place where other hotel and restaurant bigwigs come to dine, http://restaurantamedbali.com  We spent many a daylight hour there, and one rain soaked dinner (a first for us) after which we had to drive back in the dark through flooded streets and across one river bed, which was not there a few hours ago. It was after all the ‘dry season’ of late April. In retrospect, it was better that the car got soaked than our bicycles.

3 cars = 15 diners, quick run !

Over polarized restaurant views

Boss wife and boss lady of restaurant

His

Hers (it's fishy)

His again, obviously (mucho porky)

New World Tourists (those are the bike models from Bike Friday) The couple from England were almost dehydrated

Bali Bali Bali

The first of 14 Balinese sunrises, stunning !

You’d think that after 20 trips to this island that I’d have no trouble writing about, but I do. There are so many alluring facets to Bali that some visitors never leave. I am not one of them as I am discerning. Lately though, paradise is showing it’s pitfalls. I thought I had mastered the art of avoiding those. Many trips on all manner of bicycles, since (gasp) 1989, also meant that any maps I brought were rarely used. Peering into a map is a sure sign of being a tourist, and a lost one at that.

And the Balinese, any Balinese who has something to sell you can spot a tourist miles away. Heck they can even eavesdrop, from 20 feet away, and try to ‘help’ you with any ‘problem’ usually a destination you need to get to, in a flash. In Ubud, (with the beach 30 kms away and touts less persistent) while we were mentioning in passing the name of a certain cafe that we had read about, some guy runs from across the street, shouting the name of that cafe and ‘can help’ in driving us there !

Others flash nice laminated A4 sized notices proclaiming ‘taxi’ ‘transport’ with nary a word, less the visitor feels vexed, though having such cards flashed in your face 20 times a day and on every street corner is going to take it’s toll. We were flashed, even as we cycled by. So having a bicycle won’t stop some persistent career cab drivers (taxi is a real misnomer as all are privately registered cars or worse, borrowed. Insurance? What insurance?)

Grandmaster moonlighting as a taxi driver

Ubud is a Mood (also a book title)

We spent many an hour with the elevated views from our room at one of the rare guesthouses that still has a rice field view, http://www.warjibungalow.com and doesn’t gouge you with US$ rates. We knew that they had a new wing, meaning new rooms from our last visit in 2008. We also knew that the ‘new wing’ of 7 rooms took almost 10 years to build. First the foundations, a stairway and some (not all) walls and a very mossy tiled roof went up. Then some men came to dig up a huge hole 10 feet deep, presumably for the septic tank and human waste.

3 years later, ‘some’ rooms were ready, others nicely painted but empty, waiting for matresses and lamps. We were in time for the grand ‘completion’ ie, positioning of beds, mattresses/linen and connecting of the lamps. Boy they do take their time on this island. As yet 3 rooms remained unfurnished. Their reservation form works though. You might get your room, IF Widya, (a svelte Balinese woman whose family owns the place amongst rmany other properties) has passed on your reservation to one of Warji’s House caretakers. (In our case, she didn’t! )

Another dawn before the sun breaks

Zoomed in view of Mt Agung, (3712 m), again from our room

A decade in the making, but it was new and spacious. 2 nights were marred by a larger than life, French mother and daughter chain smoking tag team. (next door) Seeing my disgust, they were kind enough to smoke in their room with their doors and windows boarded up, but presumably to enjoy their haze even longer

A group of Thai tourists on their first trip to Bali. I thanked them for checking out and letting us have their room. What a loss as they don’t smoke, and were a cheery bunch

The latest bugbear this trip must be the incessant traffic of motorcycles, which any can be had for a low Rp 14 million / US$1500 for a Made in China 2 wheeler. Ist payment is a measly Rp 500K / US$60. All traffic increases 15% yearly, while road capacity stay the same, with just more potholes after each rainy season.

Hey dude, where's my bike ?

Bali is being swamped with tourists. I think, 1.5 million each year. It’s bursting at the seams in the tourist enclaves, the southern beaches. Ubud is well on it’s way too, but I still have a few secret places left to reveal or revel in. That usually happens once we get out of even Ubud, and into the mountains and the northern coast.

Most were discovered from cycling, and trashing the rental car through bath tub sized potholed country roads. Long conversations with a few Balinese friends known since the early 90′s helped too. One is the director for rural road works and a keen cyclist. How very convenient. Another  is the car rental company boss turned village headman / problem solver and marriage solemniser with good ‘family’ connections with the police. Some nights were looooong on this trip.

Chucked in the garden of Warji's, I spotted a 'performance' MTB. Michael, a native of Hawaii, spends 4 months a year in Bali..... when he's tired of cycling in Hawaii. What a dilemma ! Where can I get/buy such a dire predicament ??

Urrgh ! Get back to work !

PAI in the Rainy Season

There's a waterfall at the end of a 7 kms hike through this valley. We managed 500 meters before the 'belakang pusing' (about turn in Malay)

No prizes for guessing that it was wet and muddy in August ! Doesn’t really matter if you’re the indoor type, but with mountains and dirt trails all around, mountain biking or even mere morning walks through scenic countryside will surely turn into a mud fest. And not too long ago back in August and September of 2005, the  Pai valley,  parts of it being an alluvial plain were hit by devastating floods which brought down tons of mud, rock and debris from the surrounding mountains. Imagine a small stream no wider than a road turning into a force of nature, wiping out river banks, houses and cars in one fell swoop. Two actually. Long time Pai resident, Chris P. an American has a very detailed blog here, http://allaboutpai.com/flood

We visited Pai again 6 months later in early 2006 and the effects of those floods were still evident. The locals had a secluded dumping ground, in a forested area where heaps of broken and rotting wood, construction debris and the odd rusting car were kept hidden away from visitors’ eyes. Guest houses by the river that were swept away in the night, showed exposed plumbing and even toilet bowls. Amazingly no one drowned or were reported missing. No one with a Thai ID or foreign passport at least. At the fancy River Corner Resort where we stayed in 2003,  4 bungalows by the river were gone. In it’s place was a new and wide riverbank with concrete slabs, presumably a car park. www.pairivercorner.com

Remains of a bridge over troubled water

The tourist dollar that this mountain town attracts meant that rebuilding bridges across the Pai river and even new guesthouses, is a yearly or more affair. Competition is fierce amongst the trinket shops, massage places, restaurants and hotels. Ironically we did not see any of this hustle and bustle this time round.  It looked like the Pai of 2002 when 10 of us went mountain biking there. The low season has it’s rewards. Room rates discounted at 50% or more, absolutely no crowds, unlike the thousands thronging the streets at year’s end, and business owners who actually had the time to talk to you, instead of just nodding grumpily, overworked but with tills and pockets overflowing with $$$.

Our relatives who were in Pai for the first time could not see what the fuss was all about. I don’t blame them, coming from a place like Melbourne, this was the absolute Thai boondocks, 4 streets, 2 traffic lights, sleeping dogs in the streets, wooden houses and some resorts in the countryside.  In 2 hours of slow driving around we had seen the whole place / town / valley  that was drivable.  I’ve been to Pai 8 times, and with the right mountain bike and weather, a month or so would be just right to ride my tyres bald. Occasional wifi would be nice (it’s the norm now)  but, I’d be too busy exploring the valley and spider web of dirt trails that dot the hills here.

www.paibaanthairesort.com Amazing Thb 600 / US$20 low season rates

In the Shan Burmese lingo, Pai actually means, migrate or simply, GO. In the last 10 years, the changes have been so radical that some bewildered locals have packed up and left. They literally went after caving in to big city investors whose offers for their land and homes were too tempting to refuse. No doubt some left unwillingly, instant millionaires or not. The resorts here are owned by big city folk to cater to big city folk. We saw Pai’s newest resort to top them all.  The Montis is an African themed safari like place by the highway. 6 star luxury @ Thb 10,000 / US$300 a night. 2 fake straw giraffes in the lobby to greet you. Empty car park.

Mamacharis for rent in Pai

At just 500 m above sea level the Pai valley is not Aspen, Colorado but the year’s end cool season when nights can get down to 5 deg C is a big draw for Thais, clothed in winter wear, even when the noon day sun heats everything up to 32 deg C.  Cats and dogs are decked out in knitted vests. Then came the movie makers. To date 4 romantic comedies or rom-coms have been filmed in Pai, so now everyone who’s hip and in the know, can say they’ve seen the movies and been to Pai, Mae Hong Son Province. Whilst cycling the tikit in search of a jok (rice porridge breakfast)  I came across 2 Thais on their Vespas.

They too knew of the high season mayhem and decided to ride their scooters 250 kms from home in Lampang, rain or shine, (mostly rain) in search of saner room prices of Thb 300 in August. They agreed that the slower pace of life in this town was an attraction, but apart from that there was nothing else much to do. That was the whole point of the ‘old Pai’  Hand made hammocks sell well here. That and bikinis knitted by the same two grandmothers in front of their homes, since the last millenium. There’s also a sizable Muslim community in town and their grand mosque sits behind 2 rows of shop houses that they  lease out to the trinket / tourist shops. The 2 Muslim bakeries in ‘town’ also cater to a handful of non Thai residents yearning for something other than rice or noodles.

Where can I get a sign like that ?

What of the backpackers and Lonely Planet crowd who first discovered Pai?  Seasoned hands have left save for a few diehards who have matrimonial or property ties to Pai.  Ex PM Khun Thaksin’s war on drugs must have played a part too as the availability of certain special weeds dried up, or were channeled elsewhere in the Kingdom. The Burmese border is close by and my friend Paul and I have first hand encounters with the Border Police. http://chrisgrrr.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/pai-yes-migrate

See what a slice of Pai and good ol’ mountain biking can get you into ?

I guess another cappuccino wont hurt !

Yours truly watching the rice grow in Jan 2003

Chiang Mai in the Rainy Season

Lush and green Chiang Mai, from Doi Suthep 600 m above

Yes it was wet, very wet. Thank God for a raincoat, mini mudguards and good brakes which made cycling less miserable. This (photo below) being the 2nd last day of a very short 5 days in Chiang Mai and Pai, I was getting used to the daily deluge come 5 pm. I had to count my blessings as there was usually semi sunny / cloudy skies with light drizzle in the earlier part of the day. Weather stats for August, the height of the rainy season was rain for 20 days (out of 30) and a 60% chance of rain and thunderstorms each day.

If you’re looking for blue skies and getting a tan, you’re just 4 months too early or late. The best time to be in the Thai north  is between November and February. Little chance of rain with cool winter winds from neighbouring China bringing temperatures down to as low as 2 degs C in the mountains. In the valleys and cities like Chiang Mai, Thais and tourists alike will find the daily average of 20 deg C with deep blue skies most agreeable. Welcome to the north’s winter season.

Waiting out a rain storm at a cosy coffee shop where I was invited into. The Ping River will burst it’s banks with just another meter more of floodwaters

So why was I in the Thai north in the most inappropriate month of the year ?  Well the trip and expensive air fares were taken care of by Coleen’s relatives who had never been to the north, didn’t care if it was raining or not and most importantly were there for a slow paced vacation spiced up with a visit to Gems Gallery to hunt down some precious stones. What was I left to do ?  Update myself with the goings on in Chiang Mai (not much really, the roads were to put it mildly, very slick) and see whether the former hippy hangout mountain town of Pai in Mae Hong Son was worth a return visit. It was. No crowds thronging the streets and cars with Bangkok plates jamming up the roads for kms on end.  Resort rooms at half the going rate, sometimes less. Just rain and misty hillsides. A full sus mountain bike would be fun to have.

It’s better to use the green one during rush hour in a city with narrow one way streets and the rain just seconds away

Now with the Bike Friday tikit folded in the boot of the rental car, I could be ready to ride anytime. Well almost. The best times were early morning from 7- 9am when everyone else was slumbering and maybe after dinner in the dark, to ride off dinner in the cool hours of the night, in search of midnight munchies. Mike’s Burgers ! Yes, I know it’s a vicious circle. Eating and riding.

Thankfully there was only one episode when I got really drenched, riding back to the hotel after getting some goodies from a hard to find bike shop. I had forsaken the nice dry Toyota Vios for the tikit, but did not refuse my wife’s advice to pack my raincoat, very essential for keeping the camera dry. Anyway with the evening rush hour traffic building up, the tikit was the saner choice wet or dry. The bonus if you can call it that was, splashing through the quickly flooded streets of Chiang Mai in semi darkness, while everyone else were practising their clutch control in 10 kmp/h traffic.

What traffic?

This certain bike shop near Wat Gate and the Chiang Mai railway station across the Ping River is almost impossible to find. Not only was their map inaccurate, the shop front was a huge wooden house from eons ago fronted by a hardware / grocery shop. There was space for 4 pick ups and more in it. The bike goodies were at the back, visible only after the owner switched on the lights. It  was more like a store room / office in a forgotten corner of a massive warehouse. At 6 pm it looked like he was about to close and head out to dinner, but uncannily 2 other customers walked in after me and they bought a lot. We were led into another room where some more exotic (for Thailand) stuff like Brooks saddles and imported race clothing were kept. As usual I was given a further small discount from the already good prices, without even asking !

Earlier on, a kind passer by took one look at the map and decided to call the phone number printed on it, telling him to stand outside and wait for me, on the street I had cycled up and down 6 times. Somehow telling me (on a previous trip) that his shop was close to Dr Wong’s clinic on such and such a street just doesn’t cut it. I got some saddles, a road tyre, nearly extinct 8 speed cassettes  and cycling shorts  AND a lot of moisture afterwards.

If I hadn’t made dinner plans, it would have been fun splashing about a bit more in the streets that resembled shallow rivers at sunset.

Bike goodies laid out like a buffet spread, yum !

With just about 6 kms to ride across town, I carefully kept my camera in a ziplock bag under my rain jacket and went out into a heavy drizzle. My shopping in 2 white bags was dangling from the handlebars and I blended in with the evening market crowds jamming up the already crowded streets. I barely rode for 2 kms before the skies really opened up and visibility went down to a few car lengths. Just in time I turned into a small coffee shop, dripping water all over a nice sheltered wooden deck as a resident cat gave me the evil eye as in ‘I was here first, go away!’

A nice young woman came out and sort of gestured me into the airconditioned shop. Dripping wet as I was I declined and mentioned that I’ll keep kitty company outside. She smiled, went in and brought out a small towel. I am planning a return visit in better weather

Bikes from a bygone era

* Chiang Mai  has a couple of pro bike shops with the latest and the ‘bestest’ from around the world, with prices to match and where cyclists congregate to check each other’s bikes out. I generally try to avoid these, as there are dozens of such shops back home, but it was fun to find one in a hip neighbourhood of  fancy spas, pubs and bars in Nimanhaemin Soi 13.  You never know when you’ll need some help in case of a bike malfunction.

Who knows what you'll find in the narrow streets of Chiang Mai's old town

Cutesy at the Sunday Walking Street

*If you’re really interested in this back of a warehouse bike shop, just show up on Sunday mornings @ 8 am @ Thapae Gate for their Chiang Mai Cycling Club Sunday rides. The enterprising owner of  ’Lek Bikes’ will have a pick up full of bike accessories ready for sale on site. Just ask him to redo his map !

Pushing It to Pontian

Last minute adventures can be fun. The rush to plan, pack and most importantly convince friends to ride 100 kms or so into neighbouring West Malaysia for the weekend came up recently. Why Malaysia again? Why not, might be the easiest reply. Haven’t cycled down that country road since, well 1996. As expected that road has morphed into a 6 lane highway with irritating speed inhibiting strips (yeah right) that made it sound like we were being chased by a swarm of hornets.

A very late departure from home at 12 noon on a very wet Saturday meant our scheduled arrival at Pontian was going to be a dark one. 7.35 pm to be precise. As it was, we were waffling (undecided) whether to proceed or not the whole Saturday morning, as another La Nina deluge had flooded parts of Singapore a few hours earlier. It was a different story as we reached the causeway border at Johor State. The rain disappeared and our 102 km ride was in cool cloudy weather on semi dry roads. What a blessing.

The usual 500 car jam on the causeway into Jorhor

Now anyone familiar with this border will know that about 50,000 vehicles cross here daily and the motorcycle lane is a right place to blacken one’s lungs. Forget smoking, the carbon particles are thick and free here. We opted for the car lane with much less traffic building up and hoped that our 2 bikes will sort of make up for 4 wheeled transport. No such luck as we were duly frowned upon and escorted to a nice cosy office for some ‘counselling’ or at worst, a fine. Damn, not a good start.

The border police, were more than polite actually, and I half expected some hot coffee and biscuits than handcuffs.  No whys and wherefores, but actually light banter between 2 clueless officers who actually asked each other where the bicycle lane was. At least one of them was pretty. Apparently the first booth for motorcycles is also designated for bicycles, though there are no signs to confirm this. At least we know now, but this might change when I ride to Pontian again in say 2022.

Our 15 minute ‘detention’ in airconditioned comfort was way better than jostling in a grey haze for a possible 30 minutes, with 200 plus m/cycles. We can’t wait for the return journey. In case you’re wondering we were detained when leaving Singapore, and not whilst entering Malaysia. I always find the Malaysian customs and immigration a little less ‘uptight’ than their counterparts in Fortress Singapore.

Cookie cutter Malaysian highway

The town of Johor Bahru has developed at such a frantic pace that more roads are becoming wide laned highways and flyovers and bypasses are sprouting to channel traffic into yet another jam. After 25 kms of highway ‘bliss’ we turned off at Skudai town and rode due west towards Lima Kedai, Gelang Patah, Ulu Choh and Pekan Nanas. These were small hamlets and one horse towns which we so alluring well, way back in the 80′s and 90′s when we were cycling bikes with 5 and 6 speed gear clusters. Sadly the lush jungle, occasional monkey troop, wild boar attack, and shady rubber plantations that once lined the country roads here are long gone. In it’s place, housing, gas stations, factories, golf courses and more housing.

Halfway through the ride with Gunung (Mt) Pulai on the horizon

For us cyclists, there are 2 Shimano factories in Pekan Nanas, a town whose claim to fame are the large pineapple plantations in the countryside. Of  course, we were not allowed inside and could only gawk at some bikes and wheelsets from the locked  gates.

this kind of factory is thoroughly excusable

After the usual pannier explosion

Close to Pontian our legs and lungs were fading, what with gas station snacks for lunch and too many a rest stop. The low evening light and cool winds made for a more comfortable ride  There are some undulating hills betweeen Gelang Patah and Ulu Choh (13 kms) which made the ride more challenging, but I’m sure during my next visit, they would all be flattened out. Pushing it to Pontian the final 15 kms, in the dark we finally made it to, where else but the Pontian Hotel, slightly overpriced, at RM$121, but with nice amenities and a string of seafood restaurants along the ink black swampy beach. Breakfast turned out to be surprisingly good too, and I did all cyclists proud by eating enough for 3 people.

Straits of Malacca at low tide

Shopping @ Leong Thong bikeshop, Pontian

Remnants of a wild west town perhaps ?

Pontian's art deco bus station

With too much pottering around town after breakfast, and getting some old school Made in Shanghai stainless steel bells at an old school bike shop, we wimped out and headed for the bus station at 10 am. 60 kms later and about RM$20 / US $6 poorer each, but aha 3 hours ahead of schedule, we found ourselves at Larkin, close to downtown  Johor Bahru and a few kms from the border. I had to plod another 35 kms more in Singapore before reaching home just in time to greet another July ‘dry season’ deluge.

Our bikes are tired, or are we lazy ?

From Pontian, if one is so inclined, you could ride up the length of western Peninsula Malaysia all the way up to Thailand and beyond.

Ciao !