Distance: 50.61 km
Max Speed: 28.9 km/h
Average while moving: 20.6 km/h
I found out from the front desk of the Hotel Panorama that there is a shorter route to Parit Buntar so I felt quite confident about leaving a little later than usual. The ride in was uneventful except for my encounter with Fook Onn which I have written about.
Locating David's place was much more interesting though - shortly after Simpang Lima, where I met my namesake, I saw that I was less than 10 km from Parit Buntar so decided to call David. He gave me some directions and I was going fine, beginning to realise that his concept of 1 km was not theconcept shared by cartographers the world over, nor by me... A little confused when I came upon the Perak State boundary and a sign proclaiming my entrance into the 6th state of my ride, Pulau Pinang, I stopped and called him again. He told me to go on through the border, despite there being two signs in quick succession pointing right to Parit Buntar.
It turns out that his place is a little between Parit Buntar and Nibong Tebal, the next town. And despite being nearer Parit Buntar, and David's insistence it is indeed in Parit Buntar, the street signs describe his home as being in Nibong Tebal...
He sat astride his motorbike, waiting for me me at a Mobil station, then took me to lunch at his wife's stall in a coffeshop nearby, and after that on to his place about 1 km in. Really.
His is a modest house at the end of a housing estate of many Indian families. He has added a room at the side of the house and that was where I was to stay. He left me to settle in and left to attend to something.
A few minutes later, Sunil contacted me, saying he was on the way back to Penang and would swing by Parit Buntar. My first mistake was in trying to get directions from David's wife. It seems she and her husband share a similar cartographic ineptitude. I decided to simply walk out to try and get my bearings and to guide Sunil in.
After all, I thought, Parit Buntar can't be that difficult to find someone in can it? How big is it anyway?
Big enough.
And confusing...
There is Old Town. And New Town. And Town Centre. I eventually walked out 1 km back to the Mobil station and got definitive directions from the attendant so Sunil and I finally met up and headed back to the coffeeshop for a few Tigers. OK, Tony, no Carlsberg this time - happy? heh heh...
That night, David put on a Diwali gathering to rival all Diwali gatherings. Despite being 5 months short of retirement age (55 here) he is a member of TWO chapters of the Hash House Harriers. That makes for a lot of friends. And as I discovered over the next day, David has a lot of friends outside of the Hash too.
So, over the course of the evening, there must have been 40 or 50 people who dropped by to have some of his wife's cooking and to knock back some Carlsbergs (there, parity is restored) and toddy, bought from nearby. It was also David's youngest sons' (twins) 10th birthday so a double celebration.
I couldn't communicate with most of them except in Malay as the majority spoke Hokkien, which I don't. It feels strange speaking to another Chinese person in Malay, but there you have it.
Being a little tired, I went to bed around 11, while the party raged on. Crackers and fireworks went off in celebration of Diwali, but I closed my eyes and sleep came within minutes.
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Max Speed: 28.9 km/h
Average while moving: 20.6 km/h
I found out from the front desk of the Hotel Panorama that there is a shorter route to Parit Buntar so I felt quite confident about leaving a little later than usual. The ride in was uneventful except for my encounter with Fook Onn which I have written about.
Locating David's place was much more interesting though - shortly after Simpang Lima, where I met my namesake, I saw that I was less than 10 km from Parit Buntar so decided to call David. He gave me some directions and I was going fine, beginning to realise that his concept of 1 km was not theconcept shared by cartographers the world over, nor by me... A little confused when I came upon the Perak State boundary and a sign proclaiming my entrance into the 6th state of my ride, Pulau Pinang, I stopped and called him again. He told me to go on through the border, despite there being two signs in quick succession pointing right to Parit Buntar.
It turns out that his place is a little between Parit Buntar and Nibong Tebal, the next town. And despite being nearer Parit Buntar, and David's insistence it is indeed in Parit Buntar, the street signs describe his home as being in Nibong Tebal...
He sat astride his motorbike, waiting for me me at a Mobil station, then took me to lunch at his wife's stall in a coffeshop nearby, and after that on to his place about 1 km in. Really.
His is a modest house at the end of a housing estate of many Indian families. He has added a room at the side of the house and that was where I was to stay. He left me to settle in and left to attend to something.
A few minutes later, Sunil contacted me, saying he was on the way back to Penang and would swing by Parit Buntar. My first mistake was in trying to get directions from David's wife. It seems she and her husband share a similar cartographic ineptitude. I decided to simply walk out to try and get my bearings and to guide Sunil in.
After all, I thought, Parit Buntar can't be that difficult to find someone in can it? How big is it anyway?
Big enough.
And confusing...
There is Old Town. And New Town. And Town Centre. I eventually walked out 1 km back to the Mobil station and got definitive directions from the attendant so Sunil and I finally met up and headed back to the coffeeshop for a few Tigers. OK, Tony, no Carlsberg this time - happy? heh heh...
That night, David put on a Diwali gathering to rival all Diwali gatherings. Despite being 5 months short of retirement age (55 here) he is a member of TWO chapters of the Hash House Harriers. That makes for a lot of friends. And as I discovered over the next day, David has a lot of friends outside of the Hash too.
So, over the course of the evening, there must have been 40 or 50 people who dropped by to have some of his wife's cooking and to knock back some Carlsbergs (there, parity is restored) and toddy, bought from nearby. It was also David's youngest sons' (twins) 10th birthday so a double celebration.
I couldn't communicate with most of them except in Malay as the majority spoke Hokkien, which I don't. It feels strange speaking to another Chinese person in Malay, but there you have it.
Being a little tired, I went to bed around 11, while the party raged on. Crackers and fireworks went off in celebration of Diwali, but I closed my eyes and sleep came within minutes.
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