Ducati Hypermotard 796
Yep! Just the two of us :)
As I was having a weekday off, I decided to meet a friend up for lunch.
"Sure" he said, as he was also having his off day.
"Great. Where to?" I asked, thinking of places that aren't crowded during lunch time.
"Malacca" he said, and told me he'll meet me at my place in 15 minutes before moving off.
"Wow Malacca! For lunch? Okayyhayy sounds great. Sounds far too. Probably the furthest place I am going to just for lunch" I thought. But it's the rideee, not just the destination, right? So, let's go!
I've never done something like that so I decided to try. We weren't going to some famous place in Malacca to eat where the food was to-die-for, it was more for the ride. Besides, since I conquered Penang before, I thought Malacca would be nothing.
Moving Off
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| First refuel |
We moved off at 11:45am, by the time we cleared Singapore Customs and reach the first Petronas station in Johor Bahru to fuel up, it was 12:50pm. Meaning?
IT'S GONNA BE A DARN HOT RIDE, literally.
The sun was scorching and I was sweating profusely under my Komine waterproof jacket.
Mesh jacket would have been a better option but if it rains, I'll get drenched. Oh well, this is part and parcel of riding.
I pumped full tank of about 11 litres and off we went on North South Highway to Malacca.
Before moving off, my friend told me it was going to be a slow and relaxed ride, just take everything easy. So I thought, okay, our average cruising speed should be about 140km/h then. Malacca is not very far too and we ain't in a rush.
Lies.....
Before I know it, I find myself traveling at an average of 170km/h. That is not exactly very comfortable on my Ducati Hypermotard because:
#1: It's a motard set up. Sitting position is upright, meaning my body absorbs all the wind blast.
#2: There is no visor or wind shield so, again, my body absorbs all the wind blast.
But because I don't want to slow my dear friend down, I kept up with his speed. My riding position is no longer upright. Instead, I'm ducking down, shifting my body towards the rear and basically I'm resting on my fuel tank with my chin very close to the handlebar. That was how I rode all the way to Malacca. The best riding position I can think of to minimize my body taking all the wind impact because it can get really tiring!
With the sweltering heat at noon time, it just made me wanna go faster so I could reach my destination where there will be AIR-CON. Safety is always Number 1 when it comes to riding/driving so despite our speeds of up to 215km/h, we never freely overtake vehicles or change lanes abruptly. Keeping our right signal on throughout also tells other road users that we are going at high speed, please give way if possible - which they usually do.
Honestly apart from the big trucks and buses that change lanes without checking, I feel that generally Malaysians practices better road courtesy compared to arrogant Singaporean drivers.
In Malaysia, when you signal, people usually give way to you whereas in Singapore, when you signal, you find yourself having difficulty changing to any lanes because the message that is received by the other road users is "don't give way, he is trying to cut into my lane".
Interesting road cultures huh.
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| Refueling in Malacca |
At about 2:20pm, we reached Malacca in about 85 minutes, covering approximately 240km without having to stop at all until entering into the main city area (ya we didn't need to stop for toilet breaks also) Both our bikes have pretty good fuel consumption, I must say!
Traffic in Malacca can get very heavy so we were prepared, but luckily as when we entered and left it wasn't very bad so our bikes wasn't overheating.
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| Hard Rock Cafe Malacca |
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| Fooood |
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| Sago with coconut and Gula Melaka |
Food and drinks were served shortly, and after gobbling up like we haven't eaten in days, and the drinks still in our hands, both of us just slung back against the comfortable chairs and "ah.... don't want to move ah..". I could just fall asleep there because though the journey wasn't long, it was the heat from the sun that took up a lot of energy. Hence, it's very important to always hydrate yourselves before, during and after a ride.
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| Posing before we leave |
After spending 2 hours resting in Hard Rock Cafe and properly hydrated after many rounds of free flow iced tea, we were recharged and ready to make a move, back to Singapore.
I thought to myself, "Yes! I can do this! I can survive the heat!" and stepped out of Hard Rock Cafe feeling determined. But the minute the sun touched me, and I feel the heat surrounding me, I felt like Edward Cullen in Twilight, I quickly ran back into the restaurant to hide under the air con.
My friend shook his head and shouted "Let's go! Or I'm leaving without youuuuu!"
So as the staffs were laughing, I got my sorry ass out and off we went, back on North South Highway, towards Singapore.
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| Sun burnt back ankles |
The skin behind my ankles were sun burnt from the ride because my jeans rode up and I was wearing low cut socks and shoes, so that area was not covered :(( sobs. It was a bit sore and painful.
But just before we headed back into Singapore during sun set, we had to stop by for some good Thailand massage, to relax my slightly aching muscles from the ride! (Ok, my muscles don't ache that easily. It's just always nice to have a good massage after a ride hurhur)
We went to Siam Legend Spa (46 Jalan Molek 1/28, Taman Molek 81100 Johor Bahru) for our 90 minutes Traditional Thai Massage. The initial female masseur arranged for me had major attitude problem - didn't smile, didn't greet and handed me the spa slippers like I owed her Thai family money. So, I got her replaced (thank god). My new female masseur was really courteous and experienced as she knew the correct points to press and appropriate pressure to apply.
You know how some masseurs who are not that experienced, they either anyhow press with their hands feeling like some dead fish, or the way they press is too hard you feel your skin is about to tear. It's not that easy to come across a masseur who you think suits your needs so it's good to take down their staff number (each of them are assigned a staff number instead of calling by name).
Refreshed and hungry as it was already 8:30pm, we went for some yummy seafood near Taman Sentosa before heading back to Singapore safe and soundly.
Malacca day trip completed! :D