Fishing at Empangan Air Kuning, Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam

I've been bored out with fishing with bait. As The recent trip to Pulau Ketam met with a boring over night trip with nothing  but a cat fish.

Whenever this familiar situation happens, I would usually start to spend some time at Empangan Air Kuning looking for some pacus. Usually I would get some bran, pallets and bread to fish there but my recent trip to EAK have earned me some new friends who showed me that casting could be really fun there.

I decided to prep for my next trip to EAK with nothing but my Abu Garcia casting rod and my blackmax and my trusty Rapalas to hunt for some fun.

This was my catch with one of my Rapalas. This 2 kg Pacu (as per my lip gripper) put up quite a good fight.  

Casting is really tiring but at the same time, fun as there are no sitting around doing nothing time. And most of all what I like about casting is that I do not have to deal with the smell of fish bran mix stuck on my hand for the next few days.

Look what this Pacu did to my lure. Its sharp teeth broke my hook and bent the ring. I had to pay a visit to my tackle shop to fix this. 

My collection of Rapallas (excluding the green frog) so far. The one that caught the Pacu was the second on from the right.  

All pics taken using my Samsung Galaxy S II.

Day 4 South Thailand Ride Nov 2012 Au Nang - Trang - Hatyai - Sadao

I woke up at the Hasnah Palace with the sun beam shining on my bed. A slight headache reminded me of the few cans of Chang I had last night just before I fell asleep. Well, this is what all bike holidays is all about, at least for me.

A knock on Terry room door signaling him for breakfast and 5 minutes later we were at a small eatery across the street.

We sat down and ordered 2 coffees. Today was the second day I see local coffee being served in a small glass that is slightly bigger than a vodka shot glass. But the coffee here was strong enough to wake up a buffalo probably.

And for breakfast we had this fried bread. I do not know what its called locally but back in Malaysia we call in Yau Chah Gwai. A couple of these stuff and then I was considered full. I fancied another "shot" of coffee so I ordered one more, and then we walked back to our hotel.

This is how the cafe look like. 

The breakfast was completed at around 8 am and Terry explained that he has got a bad stomach and said that he would take some carbon and rest in his room for a while.

I on the other hand decided to pack my camera and hop onto my bike for some solo exploring.

It was a beautiful morning when the sun was shining on the beach. 

Not many visitors just yet on this Monday morning. 

Can see the island far away. 

The scenery here reminds me of Bali where I visited years ago. 

Clean and serene, and no garbage in sight. This is one thing the Thais do much better than home.   

A green path where a local jogger just jog passed me. 

I rode around and left the tourists area and before I know it I was already at the outskirt of Au Nang. This is obviously not a very big place. I turned back and head towards the beach again, parked my bike and take some more pictures.

This picture taken will the flash fired. 

I got back to the hotel, and oiled my chain as it was getting very dry. Oiling your chain every 1,000 kilometers is a very good practice as a good oiled chain can help you maintain your bike better and prevent a broken chain which can cause an accident. The app that I used to track

We left the hotel and within half hour ride I get to see the road in between the mountains. 

After riding through Trang where we stopped for fuel, we stopped by at this noodle place for lunch. 

The GPS location is at 7.384537,99.669934. 

We ordered noodle here. And yes, there are some noodle at the bottom of this bowl (the portion is not a lot due to the local's small appetite). 

After lunch, Terry and I had discussed and agreed that the way back was going to pass by the Thai border at Perlis. We are to find the place to stay for the night around that area, which I thought that was not the best idea as there were nothing much going on there and there were probably no place to stay. Terry's main idea was to ride through the border today and  on the next day ride back reaching home without the hassle tomorrow.

We decided that we were to take the fastest way back to the border and then try to cross it. Somehow, the decision was made that we will take the other way round and head towards Hatyai and then crossing the border at Sadao. We started our journey and on the 4, there were many roads that were still under constructions. We got dusted and ashed when red earth starts to settle on our bike and gears along with the rain.

By the time the rain stopped, I looked like I just rode through a desert. 

We stopped for coffee break and refuel hours later, 100 km away from our destination. Little did I know that the next few hours was going to be the wettest ride ever in my riding history. We rode all the way until Hatyai on the 4 and 43, then on the 4 again towards Sadao.

We stopped for the night at the cowboy town of Sadao, where its notorious for the Malaysian red light tourists area. After settled down at the Oscar Palace hotel for 800 baht per night, we rested and head towards dinner at Water View restaurant on my bike.

Our last dinner in Thailand. 

Glass noodle with prawns, my personal favorite. 

Look at the size of that prawn. 

We finished dinner and head back to our hotel and called in a night.


All pics taken using my Nikon D7000. Water View restaurant photos were taken using Nikon D3000 on my earlier visit this year.

Day 3 South Thailand Ride Nov 2012 Surat Thani - Rajjaprapa Dam - Au Nang

It was a sunny morning and we went downstairs of our hotel waking up to the morning busy traffic or Surat Thani just outside our hotel.

It was around 8 am in the morning and we went across the hotel and ordered each a cup of coffee and we signal for some food to the cook who seems to be cooking some porridge for breakfast. Minutes later a waiter sent over 2 bowls of porridge for our consumption.

Breakfast was cheap here. Both of us paid less than 100 baht in total for the porridge and the coffee.

We went back to our room and got ready. The feeling today is slightly different as I think fatigue is starting to kick in. Once the helmet is on and engine started, I could fee the difference of energy level today. Still I am happy to be on the saddle.

We follow the route on our GPS and headed towards the Rajjaprapa Dam. There were several routes to get there and we choose to turn in to the 4100 from 401 at a small town Ban Tham Niap. The roads were scenic and surrounded by trees and greenery.

You do not get to ride in landscape like this every day. 

There were no cars in sight and we carried on. 

The view of the road on the 4247. 

The view of the mountains and forest here was simply breathtaking. We passed by a small village Khao Phang and ride pass about 20 minutes of gravel. After the short drive on gravel we return onto paved road to our first destination. 

We arrived at this majestic dam in Rajjaprapa with a view that was enough to make us hold our breath long enough to turn our face blue. 

There were some local tourists pass by waving at us. The Thais are really a friendly bunch.  

I am proud of my small 250 cc that could make it this far. 

We went up hill another 500 meters away to see the view from the top. 

We stopped by here to have lunch as there is a small eatery here serving some local food.  

They have some stalls selling some fried meat and noodles here. I had a coke and some meat here and we went on our way. 

Today was the third day of our ride and it seems that my luck have nearly ran out. As we were leaving the dam I could see rain was upon us. I put on the rain gear and then brave the rain in my Givi rain suit which Terry regards them as non breathable garbage bags. When I stopped and put on the gears he was just waiting on the bike as he was fully rain proof in his Gore-tex jacket, rain proof pants and shoes and US20 Kreiga dry bag.

The next 1 hour was a wet ride and the rain was so heavy I could hardly see the road. Thinking back, I should have decided to stop to wait the rain out.

We reached Ao Nang beach in about 4 pm in the afternoon after a couple of stops for coffee, fuel and confirming our direction where Terry started his relentless nagging at me advising me to invest in better quality rain proof riding gear which at the time sounded like a great idea.

Once arrive at our destination, we were outnumbered by thousands of tourists at the beach and getting on tourists jeep taxis. We decided to ride away from the tourist area and look for a less touristy area for a more competitively priced accommodation.

We checked in a hotel about 2 kilometers away from the beach Hasnah Palace. I could not find any link on google of the place to show you but this is the view from the room with our bikes parked just at the entrance.

We took separate rooms and it cost us 700 bath per room after some negotiation. The room was new, nice and clean so there was no complain.

After 2 nights of Thai food, Terry has decided to have some western food for a change for dinner. He pointed to a place out of town in a tourist brochure and both of us hop on to his W800 in search of this mysterious steak house in the middle of nowhere.

On the road in search of steak in Ao Nang. 

Enroute to Thara Steak House we see the tourist spot selling probably I heart Ao Nang T shirts. 

The cockpit view of the W800. 

Miles of riding and some wrong turns later we reached our destination. It was a small place and easily missed. 

Only pork shop was available that night. It was a bit of a disappointment for me.  

I hope the owner of the kitchen did not buy these souvenirs at the local tourist spots at cut throat prices.

However, after a few rounds of beers and I was a happy camper. 

After some discussion of our next destination tomorrow, we headed back to the hotel with night sky start to drizzle on us. Our plan of exploring the night spots was cancelled and replaced with an early good night sleep.

I decided to get some supper instead. This noodle pad thai was bought opposite the hotel.



See the GPS route below.

All pics taken with my Nikon D7000 and Samsung Galaxy S 2.

Day 2 South Thailand Ride Nov 2012 Hatyai - Songkhla - Nakhon Si Thammarat - Sichon - Surat Thani

With a clear target in mind, both Terry and I was looking forward to our journey today. It is the path where less travelled and we have not really hear many riders took this route before. The basic plan was to ride out to the beach near Songkhla on the 414, then follow the coastal 408 and head towards Ranot. From there, we would reach a town call Nakhon Si Thammarat, which at this point I did not anticipate a scenic route as it is an inland city, but hell it would be my first full day riding in a neighbouring Thailand. I hoped that after this point it would get a little more interesting again as on the 401 it is the coastal road again. We planned to end the day's ride at Surat Thani.

Our breakfast we had rice and herbal soup with meat. One thing I really appreciate during my stay in Thailand is how nice the rice here tasted. They are, indeed the best rice producer in the world, no doubt about that.

And I have this nice friendly fella came and say hi to me, bit camera shy though.

This photo was taken in the morning about 10 am. The sun was behind the trees and it was at the coast line of Songkhla. 

Both riders sort of posing. 

Was a little happy when I saw this sign signalling bends ahead. Bit turns out to be just a couple of unimpressive corners. 

Well, I took this photo after I told Terry that there would be plenty of stops when you ride with me as when I see beach, I stop. 

Terry did enjoyed the break after all, after taking off his gears which takes him at least 15 minutes to put on. 

Riding is indeed, therapy. 

Some of the most enjoyable things for me in life, is just riding. 

From the nice little beach, we rolled out and then proceed to our next stop. We did had coffee  at the petrol station. One thing worth mentioning is that in Thailand there are these PTT petrol stations with some of them with this nice little coffee shop call Amazon where they serve absolutely very delicious ice coffee. Two big cups of ice latte was enjoyed here. 

We reached our next destination at the town of Nakhon Si Thammarat. It was not that populated and Terry decided to stop by the shoulder and take a break. 

That our bikes just beside the red post box. 

Trying to be a tad too artistic here. 

Clear blue sky which is a good sign. 

After 20 minutes or so, tayar golek again. We reached the town of Sichon at about 4 in the afternoon, Somehow, I was getting a bit tired at this point. I was in front of Terry and I asked him to take a picture of me. If you have been reading my previous blog entry, you would know that I am a big fan of big arches. However, The photo was not taken, I rode on and obnoxiously left Terry behind. About half hour was wasted here and I got some nagging from him. Sorry bout that mate.

The beach was only few kilometres away and both of us sat down on our hungry asses and chill for a while.

Trying to make good use of my wide angle here. We are near to the jetty where tourists are shipped to the nearby Ko Samui island. 

View with the bike. 

Another good point of riding with another rider is that you don't need a tripod to take a good photo. 

And even better when the other rider is a part time pro photographer. 

We parked at the nearby resort cafe. 2 sandwiches were consumed here. I had a coke and I just noticed that the drinks here are still being bottled in glass bottles, which has some sort of vintage feel to it, and even some how made the sugary drink taste a tad better.

There were miles to be clocked so we hopped on after our quick bite (we didn't have proper lunch on this day) and head towards our last destination of the day.

We reached Surat Thani at about 7 pm and I was too tired to take any more photos. We checked in a hotel and got separate rooms at this location just right opposite from the Sri Wichai hospital. The room rate was 800 baht per room per night so it was OK. The hotel was not the cleanest but there was internet access so I wouldn't complain. We meet downstairs after we freshen up and went out food hunting. Terry suggested some street food, but I opt for better option. We walked away from our hotel and about 5 minutes later, I saw a Pepsi sign and it was a nice little local restaurant. This is what we ordered. What a spread... then we both digged in.

Another proof of the soda drinks here are in glass bottles. The restaurant's waiters and waitress were really curious of where we came from and came chatting away. Terry and I was kept occupied with their relentless questions about how we got here all the way from Malaysia.  

I must admit that after dinner, I was really tired and I went to the room and the next thing I remember was waking up to get ready. No more exploring that night and no more photos.




All pictures were taken using my Samsung Galaxy S II and Nikon D7000.