A Sunday Outing

[nik.hisham]

Hi all.

I got an opportunity to join some friends for a short ride yesterday. There were 7 of us, on six bikes. We took a jaunt south of Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Kelawang, Seremban and Sepang. Here are some of the pics from the trip. Hope you enjoy them.

Meet Peter. He rode the ER-6f today. Brand new bike and only been out twice.

This is Paul, doing his bike a final once over before we push off.

And finally, Liju and his wife Jenny.

Of course, there was Feizal, Botak and myself as well.

It had rained at around 4 in the morning, so when we were about to start our trip, the roads were still wet. So we took it easy for most of the morning.

We began our ride on highways that took us around the city. I managed to get a few shots of some skyscrapers. This one is the Telekom Tower.

About 30 minutes later, we hit some twisty bits. Apparently, many cyclists use this road for practice. Lots of bends as well as steep inclines. And not many cars.

The road was still damp at this point so we were taking it easy.

But as easy as we were going, we were still going fast enough to drop Liju and Jenny. So we waited at this intersection for them to catch up.

This is Tasik Semenyih. The scenery was beautiful so we stopped to enjoy the view and take pics.

Peter, Paul and Feizal were talking about some scary moments they had through the mountains courtesy of the damp road

While Liju and Jenny? They were inseparable. Married for four years and still behaving like newlyweds.

More to come...

 

[nik.hisham]

Part II

We were soon off again for more fun! I dropped back to get a wider view of the twisty roads and the elevation changes.

Although most of the road was twisty, there were some *yawn* long, straight stretches...

Our blast through the hills left us thirsty so we stopped for drinks at this place.

Once rehydrated, we continued our journey.

Liju was complaining that he was not confident through the turns because he had been away from riding for a few years. I thought he was doing just fine. But of course, I'm still new at this myself, so what do I know?

A random house along the road. A ginourmous one too. (yes, the one with the green roof)

An hour later, we got hungry and decided to stop for lunch.

I got bored waiting for the food so I took some snaps. That Schuberth C3 is mine, by the way. Awesome lid!

(uhm, as an aside - does anyone know if the Sena bike comm system fits on the C3? Its supposed to be mounted on the left side but the slider for the sun visor is there.)

Peter and Feizal cracking jokes about me and my camera because I never sit still when I have it in my hands.

We parked our bikes across the street.

Jenny and Paul's turn to make fun of me.

Finally the food arrives!

As always, lunch is simple fare. Don't want to get upset tummies on a ride. However, not sure about how healthy all this fried stuff is...

Our stomachs filled, we returned to the bikes to continue our ride.

But not before Peter gets a snap of himself with the bikes!

Part III

We continued our ride on the main highway for a short stint.

But we soon got back onto the back roads and ran into one of the locals.

About 40 minutes later, we made a stop here. This is a replica of an old (18th century I think? I don't know my history) palace. It is actually a museum with lots of personal effects used by the royal family in this state (Negeri Sembilan). Unfortunately, they wouldn't allow cameras inside so I only got snaps of the outside.

Notice how the entire palace is built on stilts. They used cement pillars for this replica as this is a replica. The actual houses built during that era had wooden pillars. The reason they are on stilts is to keep safe from wild animals and floods from heavy rain. Further, in those days, they did not have nails so the entire palace was built sans the use of nails. Some village houses are still constructed this way today - of course, nowadays they also use cement and nails to hold the structure together.

There's a bunch of stuff under the palace too.

Not sure what this contraption is. I think it has something to do with harvestiing paddy for the rice.

Yes, this was under the palace too.

We got back underway and passed through this town. That gold structure is a 'Keris', a traditional Malay dagger. Its unique because of its crooked blade. The actual size is normally around 7 to 10 inches long.. (ok, I know some of you will see this as an opening for wisecracks. )

This is what it looks like unsheathed. I borrowed this pic from (https://sariwibowoaang.wordpress.com). Not sure if that is within the rules of this forum. If not, let me know and I'll remove the pic and leave the link.

In every village, there is usually a mosque. And this one is no exception.

Part III

We went off the main village road and went onto this small 'road'

Which lead us to this spot.

During high tide, that would be an island completely surrounded with water. We got to this place at low tide so we could walk all the way to the island. Here is peter doing his best impersonation of Moses, splitting the ocean and all...

Jenny found something interesting to photograph while walking to the island with Liju

We could actually ride our bikes all the way to the island and were quite tempted to do it but one of us had enough sense to think that that was the dumbest idea for the day. So we left the bikes where we parked them.

From there, we took a very short, 3 mile ride up the road to stop for drinks.

I just realized I don't have a pic of my bike yet this entire trip. So here's one.

We got back on the road and headed up to Sepang for our last stop of the day. Along the way, we came across these buffalo.

We got to Sepang about an hour later for some fun group shots.

We were about to head back home when Liju insisted that I get in front of the camera for once. So here's a pic of me on the far left.

We thought the fun ended there, but as always in Malaysia, Rain is never far away. So we stopped by the highway to suit up and I got some last few snaps.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed the pics!

Nik.

 

[user 213]

Great ride report and pics. Thanks for sharing what looks like was a great day of riding with friends. Be careful, Jenny looked pretty happy with the big Feej between her legs. Liju may need to upgrade from the Versys soon.

 

[Happy Rider]

Great report and pictures. I can't wait to return some day with my wife.

 

[bikerskier]

Excellent! Thank you very much for sharing. I love your photos with some different tones and angles.

Looks like it was a great ride.

 

[Kasey]

Thanks for the great report and I love the pics - it's nice to see a part of your country.

Kasey

 

[James Burleigh]

I love your pictures--not just the content but the style. And it's so cool to see another country for a change, and an education. And unlike some of us , you know how to be economical with the descriptions.

Thanks!

 

[tmc]

I love your pictures--not just the content but the style. And it's so cool to see another country for a change, and an education. And unlike some of us , you know how to be economical with the descriptions.
Thanks!

Totally agree. Some of those pics were phenomenal. The first one of the ER6f was good enough to be the bike's catalog shot.

What are you shooting with nik?

 

[nik.hisham]

Thanks all, for the kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the pics.

Great ride report and pics. Thanks for sharing what looks like was a great day of riding with friends. Be careful, Jenny looked pretty happy with the big Feej between her legs. Liju may need to upgrade from the Versys soon.

Thanks! Lol! Actually, over lunch, Liju was suggesting I swap bikes with him. I actually had no problem letting him use my bike. I was more worried about riding that Versys for the first time in the middle of a ride. It just feels too tall for me and the controls (clutch, brakes, throttle, etc) seem very soft compared to the FJR. Considering we were about to run through some killer twisties after lunch, I opted to chicken out.

I love your pictures--not just the content but the style. And it's so cool to see another country for a change, and an education. And unlike some of us , you know how to be economical with the descriptions.
Thanks!

Totally agree. Some of those pics were phenomenal. The first one of the ER6f was good enough to be the bike's catalog shot.

What are you shooting with nik?

Thanks! I shot with a Canon 5D2 and I had 3 lenses covering focal lengths from 17mm to 200mm. I'm glad the FJR has got them panniers. Let's me carry all that stuff with relative ease, plus drinks, spare clothing and other stuff the other riders wanted to put in a dry place during the downpour.

 

[Bigbeavk]

Thanks Nik!!! Another nice trip with awesome pics.

 

[TCMike]

Love your ride reports. It's nice to see that part of the world, and you take some good pictures.

 

[CAJW]

Great ride report! I agree that the "cover shot" of the ER6F was a great one. My wife enjoyed the colored drink pics and wanted to know what you all were drinking? Were they actually all those different colors or was that some more artful colorization? Funny thing, most ride reports wherever they're written in the world contain food pics.

 

[vabrzn]

Great pics! Thanks

 

[wheatonFJR]

Wow...I love the color. Those photographs are stunning!

Thanks Nik for sharing the trip report and the photos. :clapping:

 

[Slab Pig]

These shots are simply awesome! You've given me something to strive for as I continue to attend my Riders Anonymous meetings.

 

[BrettB]

Awesome Photos!!! Composition in many are really really good. I'd also love to know more about how you are doing the colorizing effects. Also, if I ever get back to Malaysia, you'll have to tell me where to rent a bike and then show me around

 

[FantasticJohnR]

Nik,

Are you using an HDR/tone mapping plug in for photoshop or are you using photomatix or something similar. My HDR images are no where near as nice as yours! (see

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jrimages/sets...57602587592982/ )

 

[SacramentoMike]

I always click when I see a ride report by you, Nik. They're always a treat for all the reasons already stated. Someday, I'd like to be able to say. . .

I , , , took a jaunt south of Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Kelawang, Seremban and Sepang.

I was wondering if it ever doesn't rain there. I suppose there are wetter and dryer seasons, but still. . . But it's sure pretty. By the way, too bad. I'm guessing some of the forum ladies went through your pics carefully, looking for your studly young friend from the last set. Too bad, girls. Jenny, OTOH, was pretty cute. . .

Good job again, Nik.

 

[Panman]

I may never post a picture again, you have a great eye for using a camara!

Thanks for the ride.