The day has come. The day to eat some dirt and when I say eat, I mean it.
About 8.15am, we arrived at Changi Point Ferry Terminal for the bumboat to Pengerang. Go down the stairs, and hand your passports over to the elders at the counter (I guess they are the bumboat owners?)
Registration for the boat ride is rather slow but I cant blame or complain as they are so used to their way of doing things, as long as I get on the boat, I am ok with it.
A slow 45 minutes later, we arrived at Tg Pengelih Ferry Terminal, called Tristan's staff for a pick up to Tristan Park.
This is the beginning of the ''fun''............... And what do I mean by ''fun''?
A quick 5 minutes from the terminal, we arrived at Tristan Park, the sight of all the scrams simply excites me. Initially we opted for the WRs but was told that Kawasaki KLX was assigned to us intead? I am ok with the KLX as I've never ride for a period of time. But for him, its definitely a no no as KLX simply do not have enough power. Good thing that we brought the email with the confirmation on the booking of WR. So, it is definitely good to have a form of black & white. :)
After putting on all the protective gears (elbow, knee guards, helmet, gloves), I hop on the KLX for a short quick warm up up and down the roads around the area. I must say, a skill will never be lost even though I haven been riding a manual bike for the longest period of time. 5 years? Yes, 5 years.
I was quite put off by the condition of the gloves as most of them were torn with holes here and there. How can one be protected by these gloves?
Oh yes, please remember to bring your sunglasses as they do not provide riding goggles. One thing that I totally regret not bringing, the ride was disrupted by the sands getting into my eyes.
Off we go........ we headed off to the plantation with other 6 guys from Singapore (their first time as well).
Everything was going on well initially, but our ride was disrupted from the bikes breakdown and each time it can take up to 30minutes. During this 30minutes, we can only sit around and eat more dirt each time a car/motorbike pass by.
Our 1st round took us more than 4 hours........
Some photos taken while we were waiting.................... this is the ''fun'' of it................
I am not a poser! I did ride the WR up and down the sandy road!
A stranded biker fallen and injured, thinking of hitching a ride from anyone that passes by......
What a view.... another break from another break down....
Did he had an accident from the ride? Nah.... just some dirt from the long wait from yet another break down.
Zebra sun burn pattern.... something I thought I will never see again after graduating from SSDC riding school....
This is where all the FUN begin....... with 2 guides to us riding up the hills for a 2nd time.
Up and down slopes filled with gravels and dust, we reach the top for a short break after 30-45minutes of thrill.
Some photos before we headed down and back to our ''camp''.
This is the only part of the day (1hr or so) that we truly enjoyed and had fun without all the breakdowns and hiccups... just some true hardcore dirt biking!
Sunset at Tanjung Kapal Beach Resort
Our standard chalet. Definitely not worth the money paid for.
Not forgetting the ''photographer's'' habit, this time without my DSLR. :P
11.30am the next morning, we called Tristan for our transport back to ferry terminal and was shocked by the number of people at the registration counter back to Singapore. Apparently, all the bumboats are fully booked till 7pm. Even at 7pm, they cant confirm 2 seats for us as we're placed on waiting list.
We decided to call for a taxi to bring us back to JB checkpoint instead. Without even asking how much is cost us to get back via taxi, we approached Tristan for help but was brushed aside, then we approached the security guard over at terminal and fortunately one of them has the contact.
20 minutes later........................
Taxi arrived and wants to charge us RM180 for the trip, having provided the information from Jason that we are only 30-40km away from JB, I thought that RM180 was simply too expensive and bargained to RM150. Driver accepted it hesitantly...
Off we go in the taxi...... To my surprise, we were actually more than 160km away and that explains the RM180 that the driver wanted to charge. Therefore, we decided to pay the driver more than we initially agreed on : RM100 + SGD30 (insufficient RM in our pockets).
With all the walking, bus rides, waiting time for taxi after Singapore checkpoint, we finally arrived home at 7pm. Imagine we were to board the bumboat at 7pm (if we were lucky enough to get a seat), we would only arrive home at about 8pm or even later.
This was a trip filled with highs and lows, frustrations and excitements.
It is the experience that makes it priceless.
Total Spending: SGD360 (approx.)
Tristan ride: SGD180 (2 bikes)
Bumboat to Pengerang: SGD20
Chalet: RM160 per night
Transfer: RM30
Transport back to SG: RM160
NEXT STOP: GENTING HIGHLANDS, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
