I came through Johor Bahru a number of times on my trip. The first after I accidentally came over the Tuas Checkpoint into Malaysia (failing to get my carnet stamped on entry) and stopped at a 7-Eleven to get some directions through driving rain to Mersing. The second, the next day, I came back from Mersing to Johor Bahru to the Malaysian Customs complex to get my carnet stamped as required.
Unfortunately, I got myself very lost in Johor Bahru and unable to get to any of the sights I had intended, like the Sultan Abu Bakar Museum and the Arulmigu Sri Rajakaliamman Glass Temple, among other temples in the area. I had also intended to get a look at the South China Sea, but the chaos and my poor navigation left little time in my day before I had to get to Melaka, so I got to wonder in amazement at the city, stopping only to turn around or ask for directions.
I stopped at Johor Bahru for a few days toward the end of my trip before heading north again to Penang as I waited for a contract to come through that would have seen me in Singapore and back to Australia promptly, but it didn't come through that week (or, indeed, the next). This time, while I waited, I took some time to travel out to Desaru Beach after being told it would only be 20 minutes drive. Even on my maps before I left it looked more like an our and a half, but I am in it for the ride as well, so an hour and a half did not daunt me. The weather tried to.
Desaru Beach, Johor - looking North West
The drive to Desaru Beach, interrupted only by toll plaza and a stop for fuel, took just over an hour but the brown signposts were easy to follow. The bridge across the Sungai Johor (Johor River) is impressive and rose up from the plantations a good distance before it towered over me across some of the cleanest water I had seen in Malaysia. The small road out to the beach itself had a fair amount of traffic on it - almost as much as the highway, and the Public Beach was difficult to find among the private resort beaches, but my MYR$1 handed to the parking security was well spent - my motorcycle was there when I got back.
Desaru Beach, Johor - looking North East
While I walked up and down the beach, a young man carrying a small round faced little girl talked to me. He is in the photo above on the right. A local from Bandar Penawar, he had been in the area all his life and spoke with a lisp, which made his stilted English very difficult to understand. He offered me a meal with his family and although I gracefully refused initially, he insisted and so I sat down with a family of about a dozen from grandparent to babies for a talk. No one else in the group seemed to speak English, so the young man tried to translate with his speech impediment making the entire experience surreal and quite challenging at times.
Desaru Beach, Johor - looking South East
The grandmother gave me a bowl of something that I think was a local laksa - a fishy broth with noodles and other things that were unrecognisable and did not translate. It tasted great, if a little hot, but I ate every mouthful to the joy of the family who asked me many questions about myself, my trip and Australia. We even spoke of politics in the local area briefly before the grandmother explained that talking politics in Malaysia was like undressing in front of a stranger - an interesting analogy, but I didn't push it any further.
They also pointed out to me that I was the only white guy on the beach, which I had not even noticed, but they were correct. The young man told me that it was an honour for his family to have hosted a foreigner and that many of the other local families were jealous of them. They would not accept any reimbursement for lunch. The trip back, much faster as I knew the roads and pushed the speed up a little more into the 130kph, I was stopped briefly by a police roadblock but waived through when they saw I was Australian.
I came back later when I was heading home to Australia and tried to get to the museum (which was under renovations and inaccessible to tourists) and the glass temple (which I tried to navigate to for several hours, but finally gave up only to see it on the opposite side of the road with no way to turn around). I will have to make another attempt to see these the next time I pass through, perhaps in October.
Kuala Lumpur is a cyberpunk city, mixing incredible clusters of buildings with affluence and massive infrastructure that creaks under the strain while ramshackle buildings lean against each other in the shadows of impressive architecture, like the Petronis Twin Towers.
Night skyline showing Petronis Twin Towers
I first drove in to Kuala Lumpur from Kuantan and could see the smog and haze as I approached, obscuring the city skyline until I came quite close, but then out from the grey familiar landmarks appeared. Even before I arrived in the city, I recognised the towers.
An example of a good day with minimal haze
On my way into Kuala Lumpur, I stopped at one of the rest stops to stretch my legs and found myself the object of a bus-load of Chinese tourists who decided I was amazing and crazy to be doing my trip. They all lined up to take individual photos with me by the motorcycle, and all wanted me to put my arm around them and give a "thumbs up" signal. I joked later on my Facebook page that because I had not shaved, they might have mistaken me for Charley Boorman.
Amazing architecture with background landmarks
This comment led to talking to him two days later after being introduced to Maznah Zolkifni, an intelligent and dynamic young Malaysian actress who had also just spoken to Charley while he was in Kuala Lumpur filming his next documentary. I managed to get contact details for is producer and director and, although there had been some discussion (when I had been mistaken as a local journalist) that I might meet him, a massive downpour of rain that he had been riding in meant that he really just wanted to relax and get back to his hotel. Having been caught in a similar rain attack days earlier, I really did understand, so instead, we spoke for about 15 minutes on the phone. It was the most rewarding experiences of Kuala Lumpur and a real buzz to talk to the legend.
I drove through Kuala Lumpur several times and got lost almost every single one. The GPS was no help at all as it did not differentiate between the upper or lower road. I found myself getting caught on the wrong one regularly. On my first entry to the city, I managed to get myself lost in Little India as a market sprang up around me blocking roads that I had initially driven down. I felt the markets growing around me and it took me a lot of effort to get myself out of the lanes shrinking like clogged arteries.
Front of the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur's National Mosque
I raced out on foot one afternoon before the weather closed in to see the National Mosque, which I did not find as spectacular as the mosque in Kuantan, but it was certainly larger. I didn't get a chance to look inside as it had been closed for prayers. This seems to be the time I turn up at mosques to take a look at them, actually, at almost all temples.
Islamic Arts Museum
Instead, I found the Islamic Arts Museum with an excellent arms and armour, tapestries, calligraphy as well as a Chinese vase display. It took me some time to find the entrance, but once I figured that out, it cost only MYR$10 for as long as I wanted to roam around and look at things. Although most photography was prohibited in the museum, and the displays were incredible, the ceilings were amazing.
Roof inside the Islamic Arts Museum
Inverted dome inside the Islamic Arts Museum
On my way back from the National Mosque and the Islamic Arts Museum, I spotted some street art on the railway line. I crossed the road to take a quick photo of the spot I had found, which suggests there is probably some other stuff in Kuala Lumpur that I just didn't find. Although the image is interesting, the more exciting story is that minutes later, I had two guys on a scooter attempt to snatch the camera off my shoulder, failing miserably and ending up hurting themselves in the process.
I took with me a small Contour Roam that mounted to my motorcycle helmet. It came with two mounts, but I only even attached one to my helmet. I assumed that at some point I would probably have to replace my helmet and then I would use the second mount, but it never came to that. As a result, all of the shots are in portrait when they would probably have been much better in landscape.
Regardless, this footage is really valuable for people wanting to drive through some of the areas I have driven through. The GPS is good, don't get me wrong, but there is no Google Street View in many of these areas (although Singapore had a lot), which I use extensively in Australia when I am navigating to a new location to get an idea of what the roads are like and what sort of landmarks or road markings I should be looking out for.
I also didn't realise the size of these clips initially, both in terms of time and bytes (or should I say Gigabytes). There were times driving where twenty minutes could pass without me turning the camera off and there were certainly times when I forgot to turn it off. Finally, they are raw footage, and if you don't like them, bad luck, as they are great memories for me.
First recorded drive in Singapore
My first drive in Singapore from RAM Racing Engineering to my hotel undertaken in the dark did not have any video associated, and lucky, because not only did I go to the wrong location, I also got myself lost and drove around in a circle. Glad I had my wits about me, I noticed I had been there before, and pulled over to check the maps that RAM had printed off for me. I am so glad they did. I found the point where I turned left instead of right and just stepped through them again.
This video is the first time I drove in Singapore with the Contour Roam on and it is about 25 minutes of footage. I have left the audio as recorded. Although I am not a great speaker and I sometimes stop when I need to concentrate, it is my first footage of what it is like to drive in Singapore during the day. Some of my commentary helps to show my own thought process and might assist in both placing it geographically and pointing things out. It might also be funny to hear my brain disengage from my mouth at times, if you have never heard that (some of my friends might say this is a regular occurrence, but I beg to ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long).
This video sees me drive past the Automobile Association of Singapore headquarters on River Valley Drive (and the lovely Rosie Chan who has really helped me out with all the paperwork in getting the insurance and carnet sorted out to drive in Singapore). It also shows the relatively tame Singapore traffic, but watch out for those taxis, and the Chinese New Year set up, like the big red dragon along New Bridge Road/Eu Tong Sen Street. I find out talking in the wind does not work on this first trial.
I especially like the attempts to turn right and then left into a one-way street. This happens a few times in the early days of driving in Singapore because I have been walking down the streets and failed to really notice the traffic is only one-way. After a lot of round town hunting, I finally get to my hostel and if you watch up at minute 23 or 24, I actually forget how large the panniers are and get stuck on two concrete poles just before parking. Worth it for the laugh.
Chinese New Year
It didn't take me very long to get the itch to ride around Singapore, which is not that big. Even then, I did not stray too far as I was still getting my feet (or wheels) around both the new bike and the new country. I have a process for learning my way around places and it works on foot as well as with the bike. I go around the block a few times and get my bearings, then I extend the block to two blocks, then three. If I have a map, I head off in a direction for twice the time I have taken to explore around three blocks, then try to find my way back, using landmarks and skyline to navigate.
This is what I did on the first day of Chinese New Year, but several streets had been blocked off for the celebrations and I didn't really count on how many one-way streets or how few u-turns were available. This meant that if I tried to duck down a side street to turn around, I found it was one-way (for better or worse).
I had been parking my motorcycle in a paid parking location directly opposite my hostel (Beary Best) on Upper Cross Street. I had my camera on the helmet, just in case, but once I rode down the street and saw the spectacle unfold in front of me, I had to turn the camera on. This shows me initially on Upper Cross Street and approaching the corner of Upper Cross and New Bridge Road/Eu Tong Sen Street. From what I could gather (and I could be wrong) New Bridge is one side of the street, and Eu Tong Sen is the other side. This stumped for some time and I am still unsure if it is correct. It seems that the locals consider this two separate carriage-ways, but for me it seemed that one side had a different name to the other side.
This clip shows South Bridge Road down to Neil Road during the high point right before the first night of Chinese New Year celebrations, past the Sri Mariamman Temple and the Buddha Tooth Relic and Museum. It also shows you how packed it can get before the celebrations and how many people are roaming around.
Gardens by the Bay
The Gardens by the Bay at Marina South were very hot and humid during the day, but once I got the bike, I could roam a bit more on my own and so, on Chinese New Year Eve, I decided to get away from the traffic around Chinatown and head across to the Gardens by the Bay to take a look at them at night.
This clip shows me heading out to Marina South Park, starting on Central Boulevard and turning into Marina Station Road, then Marina Street, Marina Place, Marina Boulevard, and finally into Marina Park and the Gardens by the Bay. The second clip, below, shows parking at the park.
Not going to Sentosa
No one told me that motorcycles aren't allowed on Sentosa. I had heard about how glorious the place is and the magnificent beaches. It also has the resorts and Universal Studios theme parks, but I was not overly interested in seeing them. I decided on the morning after the first night of Chinese New Year celebrations to head over to see for myself.
This footage shows what happens when you take the left fork in the road once you are across the bridge to Sentosa. I realised I could not skip lanes, so thought I would ride it out, not stopping and just doing a loop around to find that you have to go back across the bridge to turn around and try again. I wondered why the security were waving me through - because unauthorised motorcycles are not allowed on Sentosa Island.
This clip shows what happens if you take the right fork in the road once you are passed the bridge, but it doesn't show you much else as I was turned around quick smart. No unauthorised motorcycles are allowed on Sentosa, which is a shame because I decided from that point that I would not bother seeing the island if I couldn't do it on motorcycle. I am a responsible rider and don't see why I should be penalised because of the scooter punks. Maybe they should just ban scooters.
Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery
After being turned back from Sentosa, I travelled to the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery on the day after Chinese New Year celebrations started, not knowing this is a traditional time for Buddhists to visit the monastery. Initially, I thought there must have been an accident on the road ahead, but as I approached at a snails pace, I realised the monastery was the cause of the traffic.
Next clip, showing my ignorance, is where I realise it is a Buddhist Monastery. For some reason, I never bothered to find out before I turned up and then I seemed to be surprised that it was Buddhist.
The parking was incredible and on repeated occasions I was directed to ride on the footpath or around cars, but I was still new in Asia and not quite used to the disdain for traffic rules that all other motorcycles and scooters show. The following clip shows my travel through various parts of the monastery as directed by security.
