i often miss out on the sightseeing expeditions the girls take. for one thing i hate, fear and loath busses, not sure why but it is a real phobia of mine. Many attempts have been made to get me over this, but honestly i see no compelling reason. I will take a cab, walk, or do the hokey pokey before i will get on a bus. Really do not like the whole “tour” ritual at all. During the Sail Indonesia Rally so many great tours were offered, i took none of them. One intrepid couple i cruised with did not miss a one, twelve/fourteen hour bus rides did not detour them.
Ah but there is one form of transportation i cannot pass up. The words of Arlo Guthrie’s immortal song pop in my head; “i don’t want a pickle, just want to ride my motorcycle”. So when i found a motorcycle rental place in Kota Kinabalu the die was cast, road trip!
i picked up the Kawasaki KLH, on/off road 150cc bike, a brand new one at that and away we went. Anna had little experience on a bike so this was all new to her. i plunked on the “one size fits all” helmets, mine to small, hers too big, loaded up the luggage boot and away we rode.
the destination was the famed Mt Kinabalu, a 13,000 ft mountain inland from KK about a three hour ride. Second on the list was Poring Hot Springs, filling my never miss a hot springs agenda. i had googled the trip thoroughly, got a good deal on a room and kinda knew the map before we left. Ana was the navigator utilizing her GPS phone app and we made our way out of town almost without getting lost, almost.
the warm sun beating into the window of our cozy room got us going, again a great meal. We packed the bike and headed out. We took a circular route home along the mountain ridge and through yet another scenic park. We sped down the mountain towards KK, you could feel the air change as we headed towards the moister coastal air. This was reminiscent of so many motorcycle rides back home coming from the desert across the mountains and down to the coast.
The KLH is a great bike but not built for comfort, after a few hours my butt was good and sore and i could hear poor Ana groaning behind me. We put the jackets on and off as we summated the mountain range and stopped for some other stretching/getting blood back to the butt needs. We were both happy to get back to marina and crawl off the bike. After the circulation returned to our posteriors the joy of the ride came through, we toasted to our great adventure.