A mere 7km...

It was great to assemble the Fridays at the airport here in Langkawi and then ride off. Cenang Beach is the epicentre of the island and we crashed here for the night. It is super peak season now and everywhere is full - restaurants, hotels, internet cafes etc.

.

The highlight was to capture a beautiful sunset with a full glass of Margarita in hand and a sirloin steak done medium well, kind compliments from my buddy Mike.

.

It was great fun too taking pictures of our foldies on the beach and some onlookers must have thought we were a little strange. But we didn't care!

With all these wonderful indulgences, we felt a bit guilty that the only cycling we did today was from airport to hotel in Cenang Beach - a little more than 7km or so. A most unimpressive start for a cycling adventure holiday so far...

However, all was not rosy and well. Our super budget Delta Hotel, the only available room that night was really grotty. But as they say, beggars can't be choosers and it was better than sleeping on the beach. So we thought...

.

To our horror, we had the honour of the inconsiderate presence of badly behaved African backpackers as our fellow budget hotel guests. They seemed to be constantly noisy, stoned drunk and smoking non-stop just outside our room throughout the long night. That really motivated us to get out on our Fridays at first light and made us wonder if sleeping on the beach was the better option.

.

Langkawi on Fridays

I've just finished packing my two Bike Fridays (Expedition and Tikit) into their respective bags, ready to fly for my last trip for 2009 tomorrow. My buddy in grime is Dr Mike Khor and our destination is the beautiful island of Langkawi, situated north west corner of W. Malaysia. Langkawi hosts the world famous Tour de Langkawi race each year so it speaks a lot about the quality of cycling. It helps too to have pristine beaches.

We have 4 days there before flying off to the Pearl of the Orient, Penang for 2 days. Highlights we can look forward are food, food and more food so I guess we better be putting in the time on the saddle prior to landing in Penang.

Stay tune on LTF for updates on the Tour de Fridays.

Update 26 Dec 09 1000am - Our Fridays in soft bags managed to check in without any hassles at the Air Asia counter. They weighed a total of 33kg and travelling with foldies saved us $60 per flight. I figured they would very much pay for themselves after 20 trips! Is this the way to go or what? I love foldies!

Christmas@OrchardRoad

Its amazing that the birth of a baby in an insignificant and remote town of the great Roman Empire 2000 years ago, still have the power to cause major traffic jams in the biggest cities in the world. Singapore is no exception and the whole of Orchard Road, the shopping mecca of the region is all "decked out" with bright lights and fascinating Christmas decorations.

I took the chance to savour all of these with Cil on 2 Carry Me foldies for the first time. Although it was past midnight, Orchard Road was chockers. Thronging crowds on the sidewalks meant more pushing than riding but we didn't mind as the CMs were so small and light to handle. We decided that it was safer to ride the clogged up roads and it was a blast to glide pass a yellow Lambogini sportscar stucked in traffic.


There was obviously keen competition between shopping malls in trying to outdo each other for the brightest and gaudiest lights to attract the big spenders for the annual "gift exchange" exercise. Which begs the question, why all the hoo har with beautiful wrapped presents?

When Jesus was born, he was presented with 3 gifts - gold, incense and myrrh. Gold symbolised his royal status as the King of Kings, incense signified his priestliness or holiness and lastly, myrrh (used for embalming) pointed to his destiny of suffering and death for our sakes.

If you can get pass all the commercial glitter of Christmas, its simple message for all of us today is God send his son Jesus Christ to save us from our sins because He loves us. This is indeed news of great joy because it means that we can be connected to our Creator through the Saviour and enjoy meaningful and purposeful lives. No wonder we have every reason to be merry!

Despite all the Christmas props of reindeers, fat Santa Clauses, snowmen, twinkling lights and yes, even massive traffic jams, I hope the true spirit of God's great love for us this Christmas will be keenly felt in your hearts and in your homes.

Merry, merry Christmas from LTF! Ride safely all.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:10,11

Rain rain go away...

I joined the boys today for their regular Wed ride along ECP. Unless it absolutely pours, these ardent mid-life cyclists will be there. I took a bus to Keong's home during the early morning commuter peak rush and my folded tikit gave no problems whatsover in the crowded bus. Later, I realised that foldies are not allowed at that time! O well... I must have met a very kind bus driver.

I've done this East Coast Park ride countless times and always enjoy it. On a weekday, its quiet and riding along the sea with fresh breezes is good for one's soul.

Then, it began to pour 10 mins into the ride and all 5 of us took shelter in a hut, only to be joined by Peter, a roadie who plys this route as well.

With my new Planet Bike mudguards, riding in the wet was not an issue as it kept the spray at bay and I pitied the roadies among us who had to ride really slowly. A wet bottom is seriously not fun!

It was great cycling alongside one friend after another, to catch up and see how things are going on with their lives. Riding in the wet is very refreshing and riding really slowly at 15-18kmh is great for conversations.

Breakfast today was a bit different from our usual Nasi Lemak spot. We had Indian today and Fish Head curry was on offer but it would have been too spicy for me. Instead, I enjoyed Masala Thosai, an Indian style pancake filled with potatoes, eaten with 3 kinds of savoury dips. That was washed down with Teh Tarik and it was very kind and generous of Keong to pick the tab.

The sun broke out on our return leg and it was great. I passed by a Hoovercraft parked on the beach and was told that it was there as an emergency rescue vehicle in case of aircraft landings in the sea. Its good to know that Changi International Airport is very prepared for any emergencies!

Jimmy, another roadie joined us and was intrigued by the tikit. He is an ardent cyclist and owns several top end roadies. I invited him to take the tikit for a spin and he came away impressed saying how smooth the ride was. And he wanted me to show him the tikit's 5 sec folding magic which I happily obliged.

All in, it was a wonderful ride as always with good friends and the monsoon rain finally going away...

Pootling around Malacca on 8" wheels

Its the summer hols in Australia and that means hello to horribly scorched days of nearly 40C at times. This is probably the only part of the year when being in Asia can actually be cooler!

One of my fav cities in this region is the historical town of Malacca in West Malaysia. It has recently been awarded the Unesco World Heritage status and for good reasons. Its unique and eclectic history of Portuguese, Dutch and British plus Malay, Chinese and Peranakan roots make Malacca truly a most fascinating place in terms of architecture, culture and food. I've been here more than 10 times and always discover new things that fascinates. Malacca truly is like a living museum.

I took the opportunity to take a short holiday there with my 2 Carry Me foldies. They fitted into the tiny boot of the little Yaris hatch and with room for 4 of us plus luggage.

.

Despite the ongoing claims of the Brompton being the smallest fold, the CMs are truly in a class of its own here. It was exceptionally fun using the bikes for our early morning photography exploration ride.

A group of Senior Citizens were practising sunrise Tai-Chi near the Portuguese Fort when we whizzed by. Some elderly ladies were drawn to our cute bikes and they asked for a joy ride much to our amusement. They kept telling us to keep a close eye on our bikes as they would be nicked in no time if left alone!

Using the CMs, the town of Malacca was instantly shrunk to 5 mins riding any direction and we could discover new eating places with no effort. We ended up at a coffeeshop for breakfast, it sold Chris's fav meal - Wanton Mee. It was US$.75 a bowl which thrilled us to no end.

Indeed, we indulged in all the culinary delights that Malacca offered and like all our bike trips, we over ate!

But somehow, we didnt feel too much guilt as we did some work on the saddle.

Malacca is about 220km north of Singapore and is an easy 3 hour drive on world class highways.

One particular boutique hotel that caught our eye was the Courtyard @ the Heeren. We are already planning another trip to Malacca next month, with foldies in tow of course...