Ride to Phuket

No time to ride.

No time to ride.

Booooom  .....biggest ride ever .............so far  ; )

As its the Chinese New Year holidays i managed to get a few days off , and me and the mrs decided to go to the island of Phuket in Thailand.

Funnily enough instead of my wife flying down while i rode , like we did last year to Krabi ,she wanted to ride along with me and see all the places on the way that i showed her via pics from  my other rides.

So ,since she is coming along i broke the trip up into stages and the longest distance travelled a day would be 600km. The plan was to leave home and ride to Songkla Lake(Thailand) - 1st night.

The next day ride to Phuket and spend 3 nights there  and on the way back stop in Hat Yai for a night.

Its has been raining the past few days here but we were very lucky to have the whole trip in bright sunshine throughout.

Overall the ride was lovely , The bike was packed for 2  ,and the side boxes and top box was full.

And even with a passanger and all the luggage it was a blast to ride. The highways were smooth and between Krabi and Phuket especially there were some lovely twisties and it was a blast.Strong winds were blowing all through Southern Thailand but the bike was planted even at speed.

I've owned a few bikes so far but , in terms of all day comfort, stability , speed , power and handling  the FJR is a clear winner.   

  Early morning weather sighting...looks ok so far.

                                              
                                
                                                 All that fits in the side bags and top box perfectly.

Lovely early morning sky. No editing at all.

A fully laden FJR on a long ride.............What its made for  ; )

Wanted my wife to see the hills of Ipoh. 

At the usual Gurun rest stop to get the border paperwork done.

Its popular with the bikers.

After the border formalities we took a nice 100km ride to Songkla lake.

Look at the weather...makes you want to ride huh? 

Stayed at the Rajamangala hotel. Very nice. look at the bed...

Closer.....  its just a folded towel  .. very cute  ; )

Nice lobby.

Uber cool statue

Guess who gets parking in front of the lobby  : )

After freshening up we took a ride around Songkla and Samila beach.

Chalatat beach.

Nice and quiet......esp when compared to Phuket later on..

2 lovely ladies

And of course the Naga...

                               Its quite big.                           

                                    

This time the fountain was on.

Early the next day we set off for Phuket.

Probably wondering why she didn't fly down   : )

After a couple of hours....finally.

Big smile now  ; )

                                                                      

                                             Nice room  again.

A short walk along Patong Beach that night before we passed out.

Busy roads.

The next day it was time to explore.

Nice hotel.

Bike gets to rest as this is a bum rest day  : )

First we went to a viewing point.

Such a cool blue........

Then we met some local bikers  : )

                                                               

                                   30 HP and 30 mph  .......... interested  ?

After all the tarmac yesterday....we did a bit of off roading today   : )

Adios my friends...

Next we visited  ''Big Buddha''. That is  on a hill BTW 

Smaller Buddha.

A beautiful Buddhist temple.

Look at the detail.

Fantastic everywhere you look.

Over the Entrance gate.

Here there be dragons   : )

                                                                            

Nice huh?

Inside one of the temples.

                                                                              

Painted cellings.

Beautiful......

And quite big

Later we visited an old Chinese Mansion in the heart of Phuket town.

Nice decor.

Actual antique furniture.

So this was what they used before cellphones  ; )

In the evening we took a sunset cruise around Phuket.

Thailand's flag flies high.

Nice boat.....

SWMBO happy.

I liked this shot with the fisherman and the lighthouse.

                                              Calm seas....                                                                                  

Did i mention dinner was served with drinks   : )

Post dinner smile  : )

Twilight.

And so the sun sets over the Andaman sea.

                                                                               

Priceless.

The next morning we took a walk along the Patong beach.... Early...

Peaceful for now.....

Endless expense of sandy beaches.

Nice.

                                                                 

                                                        The main touristy area of Patong.

by mid morning the beach looks like this ........a freakin fish market      

Lots of big bikes for rent ...

                                               

                                                      After lazing the whole day we watched our last sunset in phuket

Early the next day on the way to Hat Yai.  

                                     Rest and hydration along the way                                                                

                                                                                 

            
Lovely Thai roads with minimal traffic.

After some hours we reached our funky hotel in Hat Yai.

Cosy.

Secure parking...

In Hat yai we visited a Buddhist temple complex to see the reclining Buddha.

Check out the size of that Building and the Buddha statue.

My wife is actually about 30 feet infront of it  .

                                               Huge and awesome.                                                                       

Lovely details.

 Another lovely shrine.

Cool huh?

More dragons.

The last rays of sunset.

Early the next morning we left for home.

A break near Sadao.

Another break after completing the border formalities.

In the hills before Ipoh.

Its not much , but for us its a lot.... 

Overall the ride and places visited were excellent. And doing in on an FJR which is built for this type of riding makes it all that more fun..

Where to next ????     : )

Cheers.

I got my driving license on the day i turned 17.That means i've been driving for 22 years now.

With that in mind , my wife wanted to attend the BMW advanced driving course held at the Sepang International Circuit (she just got a new Audi ). So of course i had to go along la...

The event was done in a very professional manner and participants were taught a lot of advanced driving techniques which i wish i had learnt when i first started driving.

After a great lunch it was out for more driving and the day ended with a lap around the track.

You  can always learn something new and the course was extremely worth it.

White team or Black team? 

During registration we could hear cars revving.Turns out there was a track day for supercars. 

Nice 

Very nice. 

SWMBO happy.

Pick one. We picked no. 8 

High speed lane changing. 

Understeer control.The road has oil and soap...  ; ) 

Fun. 

In every single exercise no brake is used.Only throttle and steering.  

Break for lunch. 

Not too shabby. 

Catered buffet. 

Mmmmmmmmmmm  fooood.... .  There is 4 different types of meat there  ; )

After lunch it was back to the excerises.Here its oversteer control.

The shots are in sequence. 

Look at the smoke from the burning rubber under the car. 

Want more ???

Got out of the oversteer nicely... 

Assesing the white team. 

They are smoking also   

Here its the high speed slalom. 

And finally a blast around the track. 

Before leaving ,  a group pic. 

You CAN  teach an old dog new tricks.

A very worthwhile experience.

Cheers. 

A couple of years ago when i was riding my Ninja650R i joined a  Kawasaki ER6 group and we have an online forum which is a great place to share ideas and organise rides etc.

Eventhough i now have changed my ride the friends you make are still the same.Keeping that in mind a couple of riders arranged a closed trackday at our very own Sepang International Circuit for current and past riders of the ER6s. An open track day is like riding the freeway at 200kmph and a closed track day will be so much better as there are limited participants and at times you would have the whole track for yourself.The day was bright and sunny and it was great to see old friends and make new ones.Most of the bikes were the ER6s but there was a Duc 990, Suzi K6, a ZX6R  and of course my road train. 

After a safety briefing we rode a slow(ish) lap to warm up our tyres and then it was every man for himself.

I had a great time ,  bringing up the rear  ; )  .........as the bike is still newish ...........and i know my limits.

Even then it still was a blast esp when you are alone on the whole track.

Towards the end of the session it started to drizzle and on the way back i had to ride 70+km in a full blown tropical thunder storm where even the cars were doing ~ 50-70kmph.

Good times... 

Banner commemorating the clubs 1st track day.

Riders arriving. 

We took up 3 full sized paddocks. 

Empty  for now. 

Nice and sunny.........again , for now. 

Gearing up. 

Note- the next few shots are courtesy of the Ferno photographers.

Thanks guys.

Getting onto the track.

Trying to hustle this big black baby.

Grainy... 

Closer..

This shot is not of me but to show you why we ride here.   look at that track..... 

Hard on the brakes .......

Look left , go left 

Starting to get darkish

lining up my approach 

Down the front straights...220+ kmph at times

Towards the end of the session you could see dark clouds ahead.

Before  -  Chicken dish ...not chicken strip.   ; ) 

After  -  A bit  less  but still a ways to go.No hurry though.

After the track session we had a few group shots and said our good byes to each other.

It was a very nice day and riding home 70+ km from the track to my house in a full fledged tropical thunder storm in my non water proof leathers ,and where cars were moving at only 50 - 70 kmph due to the visibility and water on the roads i still had a grin on my face all the way.

Thanks FERNO.

Cheers.