Blue skies & everything nice

(please click on the pictures to enlarge)

“Until next week, here’s wishing you blue skies and everything nice” said the DJ to his listeners in the 70’s English radio program. This was his signature closing note. Listening to radio programs was about the only in house entertainment for me then. We did not have a TV nor phone. But those were the happy, carefree days of my youth. In the 70’s blue skies were common everyday sights.

Fast forward to the present day esp. for the Klang Valley, I sometimes see grey sky instead of blue, even when it is a sunny day. This is due to the pollutants in the air that we have introduced over the years, in the name of progress. So you can appreciate my delight when I saw blue sky, white clouds and vast arrays of green at the Bertam Valley of the Cameron Highlands. This is also the site of the first tea garden in Habu, Cameron Highlands when BOH Plantations was founded in 1929 by J.A. Russel. This is also where our Malaysian Nature Society have their dorms and chalets, the place where I and the rest of the bikers would be staying over.

On the 9th May 09, a group of bikers including me started out from the Rawang R&R and headed towards Cameron Highlands from Klang was via the NS Expressway, exiting at Simpang Pulai. The riders were Roberto Yeoh, CM, Terence, Graham, David, Jalil and I. Terence’s friend, Joe joined us at Simpang Pulia.

While riding the NSE, Roberto took the lead at a steady 150 kph. CM’s EN500 was almost at full throttle but he managed to keep the pace. Me? I was the guy behind the EN500, trying to play sweeper. But someone else though that this apek need some looking after, so David (?) was usually behind me. All this was fine until we started to climb towards Cameron Highlands. The younger ones were soon zooming away and eating up the bends and curves as if there’s no tomorrow, and were all “outta sight” in no time. But hey, no problem man. That’s what this ride was about…to enjoy the bends and curves!

We rode up to Cameron Highlands, passing thru Kg. Raja, Tringkap, Brinchang and Tanah Rata. While making our way up thru these places, we chance upon groups of people on the road and some were carrying kavadis celebrating Wesak. Though not a big as we would see in KL, they liven up the ride with their colors and sounds. And of course, our bikes were able to squeeze thru the traffic jam that the celebration had created.

After having arrived at Cameron Highlands and still on the way to our destination, I somehow found myself tin the front of the group. This was probably because the guys waited for me near the turn off to Kg Raja and due to the jam, I managed to get ahead of the other riders. Taking lead, I turned off towards Sg Palas, thinking that this was the way to go to our MNS chalet. But Yeo, who came later told me that this was the wrong way and we all had to U turn back to the main road. So it was while doing this U turn that I made my famous “red jacket tumble”!. Those of you who have seen me fall from my bike before would know what I am talking about. My famous “red jacket tumble” is when I started out from a standstill position, then when I tried to maneuver the bike to another position, I then loose the balance due the weight of the bike falling on one leg. At this point, I had to let the bike fall, with me taking a tumble. Usually, there is no or minimal damage to the bike, e.g. a minor scratch here or there. So far, I have been very lucky to get away with just a bruised ego. And luckily (as always) I have had the help of my fellow bikers to help me pick the bike up. Thank you guys. You know who you are! Why red jacket? Cos I usually wear a red riding jacket, and somebody else that I know did the same thing on a Fazer, and also wore a red jacket!

Continuing the journey, we soon came into Tanah Rata and decided to lunch there. CM and I decided to buy a few pieces of cooked chicken from a Malay stall as take-away. It would serve as part our dinner that night. After lunch, we continued with the journey and arrived at Habu within a very short while. Turning into the road that would take us into the tea plantation, we could see the neatly arranged rows and rows of tea planted along the slopes at the sides of the road. This road was narrow and undulating with lots of bends and blind corners. There were road signs asking us to use the horn at these corners…and my horn died. Why? I dun know! So I have to make sure that I follow another bike who used the horn. The road had loose gravels so we had to be careful so as not to slip on them. Soon, we came to a bend and Joe noticed that Jalil’s white ER6 rear tyre looked a little flat. So all of us stopped and everyone tried to help. It was here that I got to demonstrate my skills in repairing a puncture. I even took out my air compressor to pump up the deflated tyre! (Actually, this was the first time I was doing it, but don’t tell anybody! Hehehe)

After the puncture repair, we continued with our with journey and Bertam Valley soon opened up to us. The view was really something and this was when it struck me, that “blue skies and everything nice” feeling. It was a take-me-home moment, back to the time when I was much younger and life was simpler. Country side was really country sight and not concrete jungle! Some call this déjà vu. Even the road was a part tarred part gravel track and it snaked along the slopes of the hills that created the valley. This winding road soon came to a place that had some orange spokes planted vertically near the edge of the slope, marking the place where we would park our bikes. The group got off and started to admire the view. Roberto pointed to a eucalyptus tree nearby and told that group that koala bears eat the leaves of the tree for food. He even plucked some of the leaves, rubbed them and passed it around for us to smell…like eucalyptus oil (ahem..I think the oil came from the tree lah).

After a while Jalil decided to pump up his tyre again, and thereafter the day trippers (Jalil, Terence, Graham, David and Joe) departed for their ride back. As they rode their way down the slope, they appeared like little dots in the distance. Roberto, CM and I grabbed our stuff and proceeded to climb some steps to the MNS chalet. For those who do not exercise regularly, climbing this flight of steps would probably require a couple of stops before one can get to the top. I stopped twice.

Arriving at the top of the steps, I noticed the MNS logo at the side of the chalet. Looking over the place, I noted that the roof had some green things growing on it. Wow, we were really this close to nature. There are 4 units of the chalet, all arranged in a long house style. Each unit would have 2 rooms and each room would have 2 beds. Entry to the rooms was from the common corridor share by all units. Upon entering the room, there was also a back door that would lead to a common kitchen and bathroom for each chalet. This meant that 2 rooms shared a kitchen and bathroom. There’s a fluorescent light in each room and a few at the corridor. There were also some chairs and tables at the corridor for us to use.

The floor and walls were made of wood, reminiscent of the buildings that I used to see in the smaller towns. The wooden railing at the corridor reminds me of my home when I was in primary school. Again, it was like a welcome home thing! And this would be our home for the next 24 hrs.

The cool weather was good, and we lazed around at the chalet, just admiring the view before us. The valley was in front of the chalet, and to the right was a flat topped hill. Roberto said that there was an airstrip up there and it was used during the colonial days. Not sure if it is still maintained or any plans landed there recently. All around were just tress and rows and rows of tea.

After about an hour, I saw a 4x4 drove up to where we were and I told Roberto that his friends had arrived. Sure enough, Roberto went down to meet them, and one by one, they came up the steps. Some were panting away. They were Eloisa, Lucy, David and “Melayu”. Very quickly, they settled in and we introduced ourselves. The rest of the afternoon was for lazing around.

After a while CM & I decided to ride down to the valley where the workers’ quarters were so we may recce the place. Saw a Tamil school, kindergarten, some children playing football, 2 sundry shops and a factory. Apart from these, it was mostly houses for the workers. It was like another world, isolated from the one that we are so familiar with. Slow paced, and very quiet. After a while, we all then went back to the chalet. Getting bored, Roberto went off to hike up the hill at the back of the chalet and I followed. It was a trek up the hill through the rows of tea. There was not proper path to trek, not as I had thought it would have with the neatly arranged rows of tea. I had to use a route which was a little drain created by the flow of water as it eroded away the soil. Sometimes the “drain” was deep, sometimes shallow. Sometimes the undergrowth obscure where the foot should go. Since I was on a slope, I was constantly aware that I had to ensure proper footing or risk rolling down the hill, like in Jack & Jill!

Halfway up, I decided to stop as there was a lot of “thorns” stocking to my shorts and shirt. These thorns were very similar to the “love grass” that we would find in the fields, only bigger; about 1 inch long. Not sure if these were from the tea. Looking up, I saw that Roberto was already perched on top of a rock that protruded out from the tea, as if saying he's the King of the Hill! After a short rest, I went, back to the chalet. Wanting to clean myself up, I went to the bathroom to try out the gas powered water heater. There were so many pipes running all over that it took some time for me to figure out how it worked. I also showed Lucy how their hot water system worked.

After having washed, I started to look into cooking dinner since the time was about right. I took out my instant noodle and found that the gas regulator for the stove was leaking. This made it dangerous to cook as the leak could lead to a fire, and I do not want to be remembered as the one to burn down the MNS chalet! So I went over to the next unit to use their kitchen. Cooked my instant noodle and heat up the chicken we bought from lunch. CM brought some bread and had the chicken with bread. One this was I forgot to bring along tea or coffee. So we had water with the food for dinner.

While we were eating, the girls were cooking dinner for Roberto and friends. Great dishes! CM and I were invited to join, but we declined ‘cos we already had cooked dinner. After dinner, I brought out a surprise, my little flask of whiskey. CM surprised me with a can of Royal Stout. So the two of us spent the evening sitting at the corridor looking into the dark, which was the valley. We chatted and I put on some music from my phone. Suddenly, I saw this “thing” next to me. Looking closer, it was a spider that was coming down via his string of web. I took my phone camera and started to take pictures, which startled the spider and he went up the same string of web that he came down. The funny thing was, when he went up there’s no web left behind! Hmm…does the spider use a reel system for his web, like a fishing rod?

Soon, my eyes got heavy and I told CM that I was going to bed…at 10.30pm. He too joined me a little later.

Early next morning, about 5 am, I heard people moving about. I got up about 6 am and peered into the valley. The sun was about to rise over the horizon and I could see the reddish sky from the sun’s light. But there was no mist over the valley nor the tea nor the trees! Bummer! I went back to sleep.

Got up again about 7ish and after having cleaned up, I started to pack. The girls next door were already preparing breakfast and again, we were invited to join in. This time, I gladly accepted. Had bread with sardine spread, some fried rice and even a warm cup of coffee. The best meal in the last 12 hrs! Once we finished breakfast, we started to discuss plan about getting home when CM said that he will be riding back to Penang. I decided to accompany down to Simpang Pulia while Roberto and his friends chose the Tapah route. With that, we said goodbye to each other and left the chalet at about 11am. CM and I rode to Brinchang and it was close to noon. So we decided to stop and have lunch. Finishing lunch and riding down to Simpang Pulai, CM and I parted ways. He rode north and I rode south, and I arrived home at about 4.30pm. Why does it take so long? Dunno. Maybe I ride slow?

Until the next ride…

-IHVR-