We made excellent time on good roads. The 1157 was a beautiful little stretch of road.
Here's a short clip-
http://contour.com/stories/riding-in...on-suzuki-gsxr
Check out the big logging truck at ~1:40. Logging is BIG business in Malaysia!
The 76 was bigger and faster and not particularly special but not unpleasant.
Wow, riding on Malaysia's civilized roads is quite a welcome contrast to the madness and mayhem I've grown accustomed to on Thailand's crazy roads.
Funny thing in Malaysia- people seem to know how to drive and are quite courteous, use their mirrors and turn signals and even yield to motorcyclists
I've grown so accustomed to speeding in Thailand and it seems my riding-mates have as well because we covered route 76 in good time, blasting past a police car in the process
Ooops! I really didn't realize it was a cop car until I was passing it- Malaysian police cars are little white sedans that look like this:
Well, they didn't give chase so we carried on
Route 76 is a great road for going fast as it's wide, divided (no Thai-style u-turns or street dogs to worry about) and you have excellent line of sight through the bends.
We did have some rain to deal with. The further south we got the more it rained. I gave up carrying rain gear in the tropics years ago. I prefer to get wet than to sweat like a pig in rain gear. 9 times out of 10 you're through the rain in 5-10 minutes and find sun on the other side. Personal preference, to each their own, but it does slow a group down when people have to stop and don rain gear every time you cross paths with a storm cloud then shed said gear when the sun comes out again
We reached the point where the 76 ends and the highway (tollway) E1 begins. Kinda funny- we've all become accustomed to Thailand's stubborn refusal to allow bikes on tollways, so it was with a little bit of trepidation that we entered Highway E1 via the bike lane that bypasses the toll gates. I was thinking to myself, "don't I have to pay a toll"?
Turns out no! Not only are Malaysia's tollways open to bikes; bikes get to ride them for FREE!
It's a shame I didn't have my bike cam installed for this leg of the ride. The skies opened up and we got soaked! Then we came to a tunnel somewhere north of Ipoh, and upon exciting that tunnel it was a seriously heavy downpour that had traffic backed up and moving at a snails pace because visibility was so poor.
That's no big deal, but what was really amazing where the hundreds upon hundreds of waterfalls descending the cliffs into which the highway was cut and the clouds of mist in the valleys below. I kept thinking to myself, this is where they got the inspiration for the Hallelujah Mountains in Avatar- it looked almost that surreal (minus the floating mountains and big blue men of course)
We continue on the highway south past Ipoh until we see the sign for the exit to Cameron Highlands. That exit has the funniest bike lane you could imagine- it's a 3 foot wide little path that takes you on a strange little winding detour and again, I was expecting I'd hit a toll gate, but no, it dropped us off back on the road after taking us around the toll gates and some buildings. Cool!
Now we're on the famed A181 / C181 to Cameron Highlands-
Unfortunately it's raining again so we have to take it easy, but wow, what a road! It climbs some 1600 meters in a rather short distance and the temperature drops quickly.
Here's a vid from the ride up-
http://contour.com/stories/riding-ca...zuki-gsxr-1000
It's a fantastic road- very well built and with some amazing views, and it just keeps going and going, bend after bend- sport bike paradise!
We stop to check out the views and snap some pics-
Brian's got a case of perma-grin
Hard to capture the views with the iPhone and all the clouds and mist, but trust me- it's amazing!
We carry on and come to this HUGE sign where we simply must stop for a few more pics-
Looking back at the C181- what a thing of beauty!
We ride through Brinchang and arrive at the Century Pines Resort in Tanah Rata shortly before sunset.
We're all wet and cold as the temperature has dropped to around ~20 Celsius.
Nice big elegant hotel with covered parking for the bikes, huge rooms, breakfast for about 300 Ringit (~US$100 or about 3000 Thai Baht).
http://www.centuryresort-cameronhighlands.com/
I go to my room and make some hot tea and take a long HOT shower which gives me a second wind.
Then we walk into Tanah Rata where we enjoy a good Indian meal. Random pic of strange durian beverage that is surprisingly good-
Neil goes to get a massage while Brian, Frank and I track down a bar (yes, there is a real bar in Tanah Rata!).
We're all tired from the long day and other than the quiet bar we found there's really not any night life in this town, so we're back to the hotel and in bed at a pretty early hour.
Tomorrow we're going to ride a loop through the Cameron Highlands and then continue on to Gua Musang and Kota Bharu on the east coast.
To Be Continued!
