Northern Touge Road Trip - Cameron Highlands

Pre flight checks are a pre-requisite before any road trip to ensure your vehicle will get you there and back in one piece. So I popped over to Hyper Racing to check my engine and miscellanuous lubricants and radiator water displacement to ensure all's well. I got my wipers swapped out since my old ones were crap and I got these new model kinky blue ones from Fer! Nice!
We were blessed with a cooling morning sun and cloudy skies for a beautiful drive up to Simpang Pulai.

It was an awesome drive amongst smooth flowing traffic and everything was just in place.

We eventually reached the Simpang Pulai exit and turned off for some Kuey Teow Soup and lemon juice (to wake our minds) before blasting up the hills to our destination in Brinchang. We drove past some of the best roads I've ever had a chance to drive on, sweeping corners and smooth lanes. Met with Dennis from TKA, on a photography trip with his cam buddies, halfway up the highlands... Until we hit Kg. Raja, where there was a super massive jam, and Soon and Fer were stuck behind me.

We got past that with stinky clutches and worn left feet and arrived at Raju's Strawberry Farm (right opposite Equatorial Hotel) where we were pampered with freshly picked strawberries in cream and honey.. Sweet! I managed to meet with a former colleague of mine here.

We then retired to our pre-booked apartment style accomodation in Brinchang to cool off and refresh ourselves. We managed to squeeze three adjacent parking lots amongst the super filled parking bay.

And here's Soon doing some calisthenics to warm up and stretch out... Tom's Stickers Pg was kind enough to wrap my spoiler in 3M carbon look sticker for my trip and it looks awesome!

The crew and I were famished after such a long drive, we decided to have a simple lunch at the nearby cafe and adjourn to the star at Cameron Highlands, the strawberries... And Strawberry Moment serves up some of the best concoctions of this flavorsome fruit.

As we had our fill of desserts and could fill no more, the team decided to retire to the hotel room for a good rest before dinner. On the way to get our cars, Soon picked up something out of the corner of his eye. It was a pristine example of an AE86 front conversion on a TE72. Having driven one before, I have nothing but love for this car!

I finally got to taking a pic from our balcony and the view looks superb! Our room was overlooking the entire Brinchang area along with the pasar malam and all the food outlets. We rested well that afternoon, lounging about in the cool highlands breeze.

We then went for an awesome and fulfillingly hot steamboat (hot pot) dinner with free refill veggies (good for me, I'm quite the vegan) and mind you, these were hydroponic organic vegs! The night view from our room is just as nice, Soon and Charlton brought back a couple of beers for the cteam to enjoy and we just kicked back to some movies.

We woke up bright and early, got prepped and checked out from our hotel to catch the drive down in minimum traffic, but we were hungry and we had to fill our tummies first. Nothing feels better in the morning than the familiar, so we went over to the eatery next door serving wan tan mee and kuey teow soup where I spotted this beautiful Perdana finished in flat black.

I loved this eatery as they served up loads of chillies prepped in diff styles, and since the place was full, we ordered some hot Milo to keep us warm whilst they prepped our meals.

A little friend also visited me after my filing breakfast, this fella was huge but missing one leg. I would love to see the beetle that did that to it.

We left after our beetle charming breakfast and made way to Simpang Pulai in good pace. But not before refilling at the local petrol kiosk where I met Boy from Balik Pulau (this is turning to be an interesting trip meeting so many fellows along the way). As we descended, I managed to capture this Garrett bus! Imagine if it was actually powered by that... Hmm...

What visit of Cameron would be complete without a tour of its many tea plantations? Our team stopped by to check out what all the fuss was about our local black teas and it was a scene new to us all. Terraced earth and plantations as far as the eye could see.

We were once again keeping the touge spirit alive and as we progressed downhill, Soon's turbo was right on my butt with his wastegate screaming (I could only distance him with some daft LFB). As we passed a beautiful left sweeper, I spotted this wonderful area for a pic to remind us of the awesome trip thus far.

Soon's temperature rose suspiciously and found he'd got a burst water pipe, so Fer immediately swapped in a replicate hose to sustain until we got to Ipoh where Soon got it swapped out for a replacement. See my el-cheapo gloves? Those helped keep my hands dry in the heat, and warm in the cold during our highlands run.

The Northern Touge crew were blessed as we once again drove in cover from the sun on our return trip, someone up there must LOVE us!

We stopped by Soon's home town in Taiping but Silver decided to run away and keep in supercars' company... But we pried it away from the intoxicating bunch!

After Silver's ordeal, we drove around Taiping to take in the sights and its lake was a wonderful sight of man meeting nature... And to catch a glimpse of my kinky blue wipers :P

The trees here have been carefully nurtured and each creates an arch for drivers to pass under whilst taking in the views of the wonderful lake.

Soon then led us to the Bukit Merah Laketown Park, where he worked as a part timer in his younger, non-grinder wielding days, for a guided tour and shakedown of the area. I managed to ty my hand (no pun intended) at a panning shot with my handphone cam through a wonderful touge strip somewhere in Taiping.

We eventually arrived in the Bukit Merah Lake area and the park seems like a nice place to plan the next Northern Touge road trip! Soon will of course be the guide then as well :)

We went about the park and took in a few rides before closing time. Beated and bushed, the lot of us decided it was time to head home to a hot bath and some well deserved rest. En route, I saw another TE72 at the Jawi toll plaza and I just wondered... Could this be a sign of things to come? Stay tuned...

I got home with half my right arm sunburnt, which was pretty unusual in my book...

And a 568km trip that cost me RM110 of petrol, including touge-ing up and down Cameron. I love my fuel consumption on highway drives :)

Phew... That was a lot to digest... See you readers next time, check back for more road trips in the future.

Cheers!

Of weekends past

I know.. I know.. I've been neglecting my blog again, BUT with fair reason! The past couple of weeks have been fun filled with activties and charities that I lost track of time. Let's flashback to two weeks ago...

I came home from a terrible day at the office to a comforting home made dinner of "bak chang" which are rice dumplings filled with a variety of savory items. What makes this special is that my grandaunt made them and there's no other taste like the taste we grew up with aye?
I then dropped by Hyper Racing to see Fer (I haven't seen him much since kicked off my current job) for a change in engine lubricant and to finally personally test out the Ultrex Ultimate (red) high temp pads.

These bad boys are the second highest grade in Ultrex's range of brake pads and I have to say kudos to them for an awesome product at VERY competitive prices. The initial bite and progressive feel of the pads are awesome after a very tedious bed in process. Lots of smoke and heat involved... I shan't go into that.

Fast forward to the next morning.. Don't worry... Of course touge sessions were compulsory to test out Ultrex's ultimate street pad (thumbsup).. and I'm sitting under a shroud of trees with my gal waiting for our Pan Mee breakfast. We ordered some starters (nyonya otak-otak and a dish of dumplings)...

Before the main attraction arrived to be deliciously devoured.

You can see from the expression (or lack thereof) how contented she was with the meal :P

The following week was spent with Chew Kongsi members (yes I'm a Chew [surname] and my family is steeped in traditions) performing charity at Relau's old folks' home whilst celebrating a 105yrs old man!!! Imagine that... I misplaced my file and am sorry I can't share his pic :(

We were then off to the Penang Snake Temple (which was my first time there believe it or not) for some sightseeing and fooling around with our reptilian buddies.

That dude actually KISSED a king cobra.... And I had only found out that its called King Cobra because not only is it large in size, it is also immune to other snakes' venom~!!! Awesome innit? After the very chatty fellow's reptilian lovin' the Chews duely adjourned to Balik Pulau for some local Durian at a personal estate. Imagine living here with a personal orchard in your back yard. Awesome!

Soon, Pin, Daniel and myself had an ad hoc (albeit VERY short) touge session before having a drink to finish off my wonderful weekend. Daniel's tires were not so fortunate and we had a keepsake to prove it :P

The usual suspects...

And then some...

Oops... I missed out on my wonderful dinner that my dear girl had prepped for me. She cooked toufu in savory sauce, pan grilled mackerel, daikon radish soup, and some tauge before my touge :P

I went home to my parents' on Sunday and caught a glimpse of my treadmarks on the pavement and thought to myself... I wonder how it'd feel to drive something with tires that would make those wide marks!?!?!?

Monday night was when I finally removed my Federal sponsor sticker (this was the largest one mind you... at 44".. albeit slightly trimed) for a new sponsor.

Hope I kept you, my dear readers, up to date... I'll see you all in the exciting months ahead. Northern Touge is planning a road trip in the coming weeks... Check back for more details!

Cheers and have a wonderful week!

Monday morning blues

Monday morning blues... Blue skies that is. Or at least that was when I left for work early Monday morning. I decided to have a drive up to Tun Sardon's vantage point to keep Silver's strides in check.

I arrived to wonderful scenery and crisp morning air filled my lungs. At that point, it all felt right, it felt as if its going to be an awesome day ahead! *amazing what a little touge and clean air does to ya*

I drove by idly Balik Pulau and decided to take the Teluk Kumbar way to the office just to see how the elevated highway was going on. I got loads of earth on my car from the construction going on there and everything is coming along quite briskly.

Took a photo at my favourite spot, where you can see the old road that'll be closed once the new highway is done.

I got a call at the office and met up with Kang at Smart Tint in Bukit Jambul to check out his new baby after selling off his L200 Kancil. His new project is a luxuriously large Nissan Cefiro in silky black paint.

We got his tints chosen (legal spec of course) and installed and I intro'd him to Chian Soon Tyres where he'll be getting his 18" rollers installed this week.

And yes... That badge tells it all... He got the 3.0 V6 model with the full shebang! See the owner standing proudly by his babe in black?

Cheers buddy!

And a great week ahead to all my readers.

Of pathways and crossroads

I know.. I know... There's been a lot of complaints and bother on my lack of updates, I'm really sorry guys, but the past few weeks were really hectic and I just couldn't find the time and mind to update my wee blog.

There were a couple of incidences and some self improvements happening over the past weeks, and I'm currently blogging from my new office! That's right, I've changed jobs and am currently attending to a customer issue whilst blogging. Kena mental block liao ma!!!

Anyways, I had a great touge last Friday and I hope to meet all my buddies again when time permits. Thanks for all he fun guys, maybe I'll bring around a new Type-R friend in the next few weeks ;)

Cheers all! And have a productive Monday.

Ya Would If Ya Could

As I'd promised, further updates are in order after the month long slow down in my blogging. Without further ado, I'll kick off our list of activities that you know ya would if ya could!

Leng got us a sweet deal to celebrate in a VIP room at a friend's joint. The place was huge with awesome facilities. Everyone was hyped up for the celebration... But who's that in the background?
Being the ever dedicated mech and workaholic, Fer was using the free internet access to search out some tech specs whilst we partied outside.

Kai Xing was having a ball on stage along with our dancer for the night...

Mr. Daniel "the horny" Civic!Cake cutting is always warranted no matter the location, and being the dedicated people us Northern Touge kakis are, we even included our sponsors list in this pic.

Leng was our silvertongue for the night... This dude could belt it out all night and still keep his voice! Kudos buddy!

During the CNY holidays, Soon had already opened shop to kit an Innova as his initial customer depsite the festivities.

Beautiful job done... Note the red crackers still on the ground as part of the Chinese festive tradition.

A spoiler was later added to complete the look.

Soon was still doing final checks on fit and finish as we were closing up. Diligence ultimate!

On the fourth day a bunch of us decided to have an auspicious touge + makan2 trip in the afternoon. As usual, we met up at Relau Shell, whom graciously allowed us to park and pose for some pics.

We then pushed off for the first stop at the peak of Jln Tun Sardon where we met up with an old friend from Balik Pulau (Blue KE70) and to get some refreshments and "jeruk" (pickled fruits).

We then traversed Balik Pulau and on to Teluk Bahang, through all the beautiful scenery and ending up at the Tropical Fruit Farm for some ice kacang and rojak. Plus, the scene there was awesome and the atmosphere serene.

After a refreshingly relaxed pit stop, the gang continued downward to the Teluk Bahang dam for a photo op.

It was a bright and sunny day out so I thought WTH, why not take a silhouette pic with all the beaut water and scenery surrounding us.

We ended the trip with Daniel (Civic), Soon (Wira GSR), Ewejin (Satria GSR), and Kenny (Wira 4G91) going for a cooling dip in the beach just down the road. Leng (KE70) and Pin (Wira 4G91) traversing back through the Balik Pulau way, and Fer, Joven (Wira GSR), and myself going for a light dinner before leaving for home.

.

An awesome end to an awesome Chinese New Year. I'm now back in the office... So happy working all! Cheers!