Riding MOTORCYCLE

It was a usual morning. I woke up at about 7:45 am. Then, I walked to the toilet, to find out, as usual, that somebody else was using it. So I skipped brushing teeth and went for the breakfast instead, as usual. Breakfast provided by Sinah Rang (homestay host) was never disappointing; I always looked forward to breakfast, because I got good food and was able to spend quality time with your batch mates, savouring breakfast together and grumbling about the long day ahead.

After breakfast, YES, I am a clean and hygienic guy, I never never forgot to brush my teeth. Thank you.

So after preparing myself for the day, getting changed and ready, I walked over to Aunty Tagung's place. And, I did not see her around. As usual, I acted like an inspector, I had to peek through the kitchen to catch a glimpse of her living room to see if she was there. The next step was to walk down the longhouse and checked if her bicycle was there. Then, I walked through the door to the garden, to check if her garden boots were there. Somehow, the both of us (Aunty Tagung and I) agreed to play 'hide and seek' mutually in our mind. A lot of times, I had to play the role of an inspector to look for her. It was not a bad thing, just funny that this was how we communicated almost every morning.

Me (the inspector) and Aunty Tagung (the missing suspect).

Today, yes she was missing. Her bicycle was not there. I had no idea where she was, and I waited for... for... for... 1 hour 30 minutes. And I gave up, I called Daniel, the coordinator, and asked for his permission to help other tepuqs. 

Then, I bumped into Uncle Julian and asked if he needed any help. He agreed to bring me to his tower. So he took his cool motorcycle and rode me there. Being a KL boy, never in my life had I ridden a motorcycle before, I asked Uncle Julian if I could learn to ride the motorcycle. Uncle Julian was like, 'huuuhhhhh, you KL people never ridden a motorcycle before?... Can can can...'

And straight away, he stopped at the paddy field near his tower and asked me to try.

His instruction was, first, step hardly on the clutch to start the engine, and throttle a little to keep the engine revved up. I did exactly what he said, well, except stepping hard on the clutch. I stepped the clutch three times and I still could not get the engine started.

Uncle Julian was like, 'Why you step like a girl? Step harder!' and burst into laughter.

So the second time, I stepped on the clutch really HARD. Yes, finally the engine started, but I forgot to rev it, the engine died again. Lesson learnt. I got the engine started and revved up.

So much effort to get the engine started, yet I had not moved a single inch from where I started. Next, his instruction was to change to gear 1 and throttle bit-by-bit. I shifted to gear 1 and yes FINALLY I MOVED. But, I was jerking a lot, due to my unstable and improper throttling skills.

Imagine this square bracket [] as the motorcycle, the three dots as my throttling power (...), An illustration of my first riding experience would be:

[] ... ... [] [] ... ... ... ... [] ... ... [] ... [] ... ... ... ... ... ... [] ... [] ... ... [] ... ... ... ... ...[]

As you can see, my distance with time was not consistent. Sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow.

A happy boy riding motorcycle for the first time.

After playing with the motorcycle for about half an hour, I helped Uncle Julian to carry bamboos up to his tower. Simple job, but tiring, because bamboos are no-joke heavy, and I was carrying the bamboo up the hill.

Just before lunch, Uncle Julian asked me to go to the nearest village, Pa Ramapuh alone on the motorcycle. I hesitated for a while, then I agreed to it later.

The road in Bario is very muddy. The road to Pa Ramapuh, for me was like Frodo going to Mordor, being very careful of every single step I take, as there were many puddles of water PLUS muddy road.

The first pool of muddy water, there were previous motorcycle trails. Very carefully and slowly, I rode through the first pool... successfully. Then I came across the second pool, the exact same thing happened, and when I thought I was about to reach the village safely already, JUST RIGHT before the village, there came the Boss, third pool of muddy water with NO PREVIOUS TRAILS.

So before I decided to cross the third pool of muddy water, before crossing, I was already thinking. Having GRADUATED with a degree in mechanical engineering, I analysed the matter... the worst that could happen was just falling into the pool muddy water. Come to think of it, it was not deadly. So yes, now I gathered my courage and strength to cross that third pool of muddy water. 

Praying hard to cross that third pool of muddy water, once I entered the third pool of water...

and...

and...

and...

and...

The right side of the motorcycle including the exterior, handle, part of the clutch and tyres completely sank into the mud. The handle of the motorcycle was covered with mud and became too slippery to hold.

First things first, I was not worried about the motorcycle. I was worried that there were people who witnessed such a disaster. I looked around the longhouse, luckily, no one was around. With much effort, I pushed the motorcycle out of the mud and rode back to Uncle Julian. Once again, he burst into laughter when I told him about it.

A very funny and memorable first time experience riding the motorcycle.

Riding motorcycle is now off my bucket list.

If you wish to ride motorcycle for free, without having to pay RM 1000 for licenses and bribery, well, Bario is the way to go. Meet Uncle Julian too, if you are lucky enough. 

Uncle Julian's jump shot at his tower.