Marina’s Bloggariffic

On my trip to the Bike Asia a while back, I took a copy of the Freewheeling Magazine and while flipping through, I noticed a small article inviting all lady vespa riders for a day of fish spa.

Having already been to the fish farm about a month ago and thoroughly enjoying myself with the Vesporeans, I was definitely interested in attending this convoy. Plus, it is always nice to meet new people :-)

I reached the Piaggio Showroom pretty early and watched the people streaming in one by one. I saw familliar faces like Leonids and Moon_Star from the Vespa Club as well as many other new faces.

I’m actually a little surprised at how naturally easy it was for us to bond with each other even though many of us are meeting each other for the first time.

One of the first ladies that I met was Azizah, whom I admired the embelishments on her ET8 Scooter. It looked so royale!

Azizah tells me that it was a handmade job where she bought the stickers at DIY shop and sticked the embellishments herself.

I also met Glynis, whom was one of the winners for the Coke contest. The flowery decoration on her blue LX scooter was quite recognizable.

We headed in the showroom for the registration of the event and I looked around the area with all the Vespa related items.

After registration, we got a free goodie bag! It was pretty nice loot, considering that we only paid $10 for the fish spa admission alone.

Free perfume vials! Free Vespa notebook! Spa voucher! Awesome Vespa Tshirt! Woot! I couldnt wait to change into it :D

The organizer of the event, Sera, later briefed to all of the participants on the itenerary following a short message on the procedures of the convoy.

And soonafter we were off! It was such a beautiful morning, blue skies and fluffy clouds made the journey lovely.

For some reason, we were also accompanied by the media crew of Asia One which made me feel as if we were part of a reality series.

Not sure if you can see it, but the dude on the right is carring a humongous video camera

I couldnt help but notice them whizzing along crazily on the road. Slowing down at one point and then speeding up. Good thing there is no traffic police working on the day :P

In any case, in no time at all, we reached the Qian Hu fish farm:D

This is what happen when ladies get together. We take pictures!

We did not explore much of the fish farm area due to time constraints. Instead, we proceeded immediately to the fish spa area and waited for our turn to use the facilities.

As it was a public holiday, the area was more crowded than usual, with families spending time together. I saw dads trying to catch little fishes in the pond, children looking at the turtle pond and even more people at the fish spa area.

We dipped our feet in.

For some reason, the ticklish feeling was not as strong as the first time that I was here, even with the larger nibble fishes. Maybe I’m used to the sensation already?

Regardless, I did not even hear anyone screaming, which made it anticlimatic :P

After the fish spa, we proceeded to convoy to the Bollywood Veggies Farm where we were welcomed by the owner, Mrs Ivy Singh-Lim. What a treat!

She was larger than life with her crododile dundee outfit, complete with a huge hunting knife. It was scary! She joked that she was the reason as to why Mas Selamat would not dare to hide in her farm.

We were treated to such a sumptious lunch. I’m not sure whose treat it was, but thank you so much! There were so much food that my eyes boggled at the sight of everything

I felt so stuffed at the end of it and we were still given desserts after that.

It was a mix of various types of cakes. One of my noted favourites was the Banana Cake as well as the Jackfruit Cake. They were both so rich and flavourful. You could tell that it was homemade.

Lucinda immediately bought 3 loaves of Banana cake for herself!

After lunch, a couple of us proceeded to enter the farm area to take a look around. I’ve never been inside here before, so I was most excited to explore the place.

There were plentiful of different types of plants and crops around. The area was divided into different plots of crop. There were many signs showing the names of the plants.

There was even a eco-toilet. But I dont recommend that you enter the place. Its a little … ehm …

As we explored, we stumbled upon plentiful of props there that we had so much sillyness and fun with!

Rinaz, Glynis, Deanna and Azizah salutes Bollywood Veggies

Meichun and Azizah playing on the mini-tractor

In the end, we were just chilling around and enjoying the scenery.

I think that it was a most tranquil place. Even with the sun shining harshly at us, the surroundings still looked serene and peaceful.

I bet this place would look gorgeous when the cooler season comes and the red lillies bloom.

It was such a spectacular day. I find myself bonding with the others as we spent the day together that we were sorry to leave each other at the end of the event.

Thank you so much organizers and thank you everyone! I’m definitely looking forward to our next convoy! :-)

Have you been to the Qian Hu Fish Farm and Bollywood Veggies before? What do you think of it?

Related links :

• More pictures in the gallery
• My first time at the Fish Farm and Bollywood Veggies
• Qian Hu Fish Farm Website
• Bollywood Veggies Website
• Vespa Club Website

Other convoys joined :

• Roadtrip to Pengerang
• TAA Charity Ride 2007
• Roadtrip to Malacca
• Big Bike Fest 2006

Updated : The web-video on the ride is up on Asia One :-)

The first thing on my mind when I was there was, “Sweet mother of Vespa. I’m in two wheeler heaven!”

On the 12th of April, I was at the Singapore Expo to see the different displays of motorcycles (and a couple of bicycles) at the Bike Asia 2008 event. This event was jointly organized by the Italian festival 2008, which would explain why there were more Italian brands there.

I was supposed to meet the Vesporeans but in the end, not being able to spot any members, I decided to enter the hall by myself. There were already a large queue forming at the ticketing booth. It was about $8.50 per entry and when I was just about ready to pay for my ticket, the lady at the ticketing booth said, “Ladies enter for free today 11am - 3pm”

Hooray for womanhood!

And the first display that I headed to was the Piaggio display where the Vespas were being displayed. There were a number of upcoming models like this LXV 125. This model was physically different from the LX 150 that I was used to seeing mainly because of the handlebar.

The entire front was much smaller. Aesthetically, I think that it will take some adjusting for those who are used to the GT and the LX, as shown below.

Moving around the back of the Piaggio display, I saw a couple of Gilera scooters.

This scooter was 3 wheeler, giving it that unusual look. I’ve even seen 4 wheeled motorcycle on the road before. I guess, this would be useful to have as it wont topple during those wet and slippery days which is a motorcyclist’s nightmare. But all I can think of when I saw the face of this scooter was the Brain Bug from Starship Troopers.

Not all of the bikes had an overly unusual look to them. This one looked as if it was going to transform into a robot.

There were most certainly many Italian motorcycles from what I can see. Like this moto guzzi two wheeler, as posed by this cute kid which in my opinion is more expressive than the paid models. Why are they called “race queens”. They aren’t even riding, they are posing on stationary bikes! :P

Other Italian bikes that I saw was a large number of Ducati - which is a rather sexeh machine

Man, look at that body. Sweet!

“We are the Ducati Avengers - protectors of evil”

This is the Aprilia

This is the Cagiva

And this is the Husqvarna

All of them, though sexeh, is a little too fierce for my personal style but admittedly, they do look pretty sweet don’t they?

There were also a number of non Italian two wheelers like this adorable Yamaha Fino. I saw this bike for the first time about last year and thought that it was superbly cute. This was something that I would own, but its just that the storage compartment was really small.

There was also a scooter that I noticed and I just cant help gushing at how adorable it was. I would not mind cruising down the road with this little cutie!

This is the Demak Beetle which at first glance, made me thought that it was the Fino. But upon close examination, there were some subtle differences in them. Both Beetle and the Fino are both made in Asia -  I’m guessing that these are quite affordable.

And there was the one motorcycle to rule them all.

Ph33r the official traffic police motorcycle - complete with siren! This motorcycle is even more powerful than some cars and small enough to squeeze through traffic and to catch offenders. You’d better drive carefully if you spot one of these one the road :P

Since, this is a bike display event, I’ll just put one picture up to show that I’m not too biased :P

This is a rodalink display with a simulated screen - probably the next generation of the Wii.

After gawking at the different two wheelers, I found myself at the stage area looking at two men practicing on their motorcycles. They were doing bike stunts!

These two guys, Sergio and Fergo(?) are from Italy and they called their team “Motorlife”. It was quite exciting to watch them doing their stunts, which would be impossible to do on a regular bike. I know my scooter will break :P

Here is a short clip of the stunts :

Bike Asia from rinaz on Vimeo

All in all, I thought the event was pretty sweet as I could admire the different motorcycles. But I prefer events such as the vivo vespa and the Bike Bike Festival as not only I could admire the two wheelers, I could talk to the owner of the motorcycles, which makes it more personalised and interactive. Nevertheless, I still had fun :)

Do you like motorcycles? Did you go to Bike Asia? What do you think of it?

Link :

• Blog report by Arman Ahmad

You may also be interested in :

• TAA Charity Ride 2007
• Vivo Vespa First year anniversary
• Singapore Big Bike fest 2006

Sidenote : On 1 May, there is an outing for ladies with vespas at the Qian Hu Fish farm. Sounds interesting. Anyone wants to go with me?

Pengerang is a town in the southeast of Johore, Malaysia, about 80km from Singapore. Being near the sea, it was rather famous for its seafood. Imagine being stuffed with all the seafood that you could eat and having to pay about only $20!

A couple of weeks ago, the vesporeans announced in the forums about an outing to Pengerang for seafood. After the successful convoy to Malacca, I immediately jumped to the chance as soon as I found out about it.

Our meeting point was at the Jurong Bird Park. Prozzie was one of the first people there and we waited for the rest to arrive one by one.

Once everyone was assembled, we rode all the way to the Tuas Second Link Checkpoint. There were a number of other motorcyclists there already. I noticed a large group of scramblers with huge backpacks behind them. They looked as if they were going on a camp.

The custom check did not take very long. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that we did not need to fill up the white immigration cards anymore. That speeded up the process. In just a few minutes, we were out of the gantry and on our way across the sea.

And it was such a beautiful morning! It was just lovely to see the lovely blue sky with the fluffy white clouds and the glorious sun rays across the sea. At this point of time, I wished that I had a video camera installed on the scooter. I would have loved to show a streaming of the journey live.

We stopped at Gelang Patah for some breakfast. By the time we reached there, it was already crowded with people - people at the tables, people queuing up for food. It took us a good 15 minutes just to search for a place to sit.

Breakfast at Gelang Patah from rinaz on Vimeo.

After a sumptious breakfast, (Nasi Lemak for me!) we quickly topped up our scooter with petrol at the petronas petrol station. I met with the quirkiest cat ever.

This cat was sleeping right in front of the payment counter. There were a number of people whom accidentally hit it while making their payments. But the cat kept on sleeping and would not wake up! Maybe it was tired after working the night shift.

I noticed Kah Woon and Gmoh having the most interesting face covers. I’ve never seen anyone having these type of covers on the roads before. Have you?

Incidentally, Gmoh installed in a horn to his scooter. Not just any horn. But a bicycle horn!

Horn on a scooter? from rinaz on Vimeo

After our fill up, we were on our way!

Riding in the Malaysian roads is much different compared to riding in the Singaporean roads. For one part, the maximum road limit is 120km/hr while in Singapore it is 90km/hr. Imagine our amazement as we see the other motorists zooming by. They were really fast!

Prozzie watching the locals zipping by

It was a very long ride. For the next couple of hours, I amused myself by listening to the radio station on my ear piece and looking at the scenery. It was nice seeing all of the vegetation and plantation around. There were loads of palm trees, as far as the eye can see, at one point.

Halfway along the journey, we stopped by for a much deserved rest to stretch our legs. Riding for two hours straight is not very comfortable!

I met a few guys manning a roasted chestnut stall and they were quite amazed to see our Vespa Convoy. All throughout our conversation they were curious and kept asking me questions, since I was the only one in the group who could speak Malay :P

What nice looking scooters!
What club are you?
Where are you guys from?
Where are you all going?

After a couple of minutes later, we said our goodbyes and continued with our journey.

At length, we reached a sort of residential area. Even for being in the middle of the day, it looked kind of secluded. There were hardly anyone to be seen. We then entered a path to a village and finally saw a seafood restaurant.

We tried to park in front of the eatery, but as seeing that the parking area was rather small and there were quite a number of us, the kind lady who was working at the eatery offered to let us park in her verandah which is just a stones throw from the eatery.

By then we were very hungry! We ordered heaps of food to feed a platoon! Here are the food that we ate :

Stir fried vegetables

Sambal Cockles

Steamed baby lobsters

Fried Kang Kong

Heavenly Black Pepper Crab

Deep fried lobsters. These lobsters are really huge!

Oh I tell you, all of the food was so delicious! Its just heaven. I especially loved the black pepper crab and the lobsters. It was so juicy and succulent, that momentarily, I didnt care about risking to having a weight gain.

We ate everything and in the end we were all stuffed! I had to sit slumped on my chair for a long time, too full to even move. I just sat there in contented bliss.

When the bill came, I was mightily impressed as when divided with the people sitting at the table, each of us only had to pay about RM45 dollars. Thats about $20 Singapore dollars.

Nothing was left when we were done as seen below :

A long ride back to the customs. Such a relaxing day. I admired the beautiful fluffy white clouds among the blue skies. It was such a beautiful day.

Such a beautiful day from rinaz on Vimeo

It was nearly 6pm and for some reason, the group headed to the Woodlands Checkpoint. The good part about this checkpoint as there was no fees to cross the gantry. The bad part was that it was usually very crowded.By the time we reached there at about 6pm, it was already quite congested with cars. Fortunately for us, being scooter riders, we were small enough to squeeze through.

But it was when we were approaching the gantry that was the most trying. There must have been at least one hundred motorcycles(!!!) trying to get into the gantry. And the progress was so slow. It took a very long time for us to get closer.

Many of the people there were feeling hot and frustrated that they started to hit on their horns repeatedly. It was chaotic. The smoke all around, the loud horns. I kept my focus on to listening to music keep myself calm.

Big Jam at JB from rinaz on Vimeo

It was only after about 45 mins that we finally crossed over back to Singapore. I was just thankful that the entire ordeal was over.Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the trip today, solely for the beautiful view and the yummy food. I would love to do it again. Thank you so much for organizing this trip, Vesporeans :)

Links :

• Vespa Club, Singapore
• Kah Woon’s Blog Entry
• Gmoh Flickr Set

You might be interested in :

• Bikers Aid Charity Ride 2007
• Vespa Club roadtrip to Malacca
• Singapore Big Bike Fest 2006
• The Vespa Song (starring Rinaz and Malique)

In late September, the vesporeans, as well as other various biker associations participated in the Bikers Aid Charity Ride.

This year, in lieu of the Hari Raya Haji Celebrations, the Bikers Aid will be organizing the “Ibadah Kurban 2007″ for the tsunami and earthquake victims in Jogyakarta and Aceh.

The bikers aid are seeking your kind donations. These monies will be contributed for the purchase of live sheep to be distributed to the needy as food. With each sheep costing $170, you may consider pooling this amount as a representation of your association.

The last date for donations is on the 10th December 2007. For more details, please contact the Scooter Owner Group Club, Mr Ramle Ismail and Mr Wan.

Handphone : 9059 5292
Email : sogspore@yahoo.com.sg

P.s Please feel free to spread the word! Thanks :-)

As expected, the TAA Charity Ride was fun! It is always exciting for me to ride together in a convoy along with the other two-wheelers. Its a pity that the convoy was much too short though.

I was worried that I was unable to get to the Kallang carpark, which was the designated meet point for all the bikers. I had a tendency to get lost on the road and was still unable to read maps. Luckily for me, while riding on the expressway, I met up with a huge group of bikers whom I assumed were on their way to the carpark. It was so cool to see them and I felt proud to ride with them.

Eventually, I reached the Kallang carpark and was marshalled to a group of riders.

Marshall 1 : You can ride with the gilera group there (points)

Me : But I’m not riding a gilera! :P

Marshall 2 : Oh a Vespa, your group is at the other side.

Me : Thanks guys!

I knew I was with the right group when saw a large procession of Vespas - both classic and modern. I finally met up with the rest of the vesporeans who were present, Moon_star, Kahwoon, Natsume, Mengster and Un-Sith whom was representing the group.

I admired the multitude of colours and varieties of two wheelers. There were so many types - Harley Davidsons, Scramblers, Hayabusas, Ducatis and many others. There was a festive purring of engines everywhere.

At length, we got on our scooters and lined up to start the convoy. I turned behind and saw a facinating looking man with a long white beard on top of a Harley. He could have been Gandalf in an alternate universe if he becomes a biker.

As we rode in our convoy, I noticed the excited looking pedestrians as they pointed at animatedly at our convoy as well as the awed looks of the car drivers. It was so funny to see that I couldnt help but to chuckle. There was a road marshall who rode beside us to ensure safety.

Shortly after, we reached our destination and drove in the compounds of the Malay Heritage Center. Huh? Thats it? I wasnt satisfied! It was such a short ride!

We parked around the quickly filled compound went to explore the center as well as Muscat street outside. The area was lined with food bazaars selling all sorts of delicacies.

The gang chanced upon a pink drink and were curious to know what the black seeds at the bottom where. Mengster explained that it was Bandung Selasih, a rose syrup drink with milk with sweet basil seeds. It was refreshing and crunchy - wonderful to have in the hot weather.

And a hot weather it was! It exacerbated my thirst and I longed for a glass of bandung. We were supposed to wait till 5.30pm for the charity presentation, but with over 2 hours to kill, I persuaded the gang to enter the museum as it was cooler and much more entertaining than doing nothing.

Entry to the Heritage Center for the charity riders was a dollar and four for normal days. I revisited back my roots and marvelled about the facinating history and artifacts. Modernisation has made it impractical to use now, but these items are so intricate and beautiful, proof of our naturally artisan traits. I nearly forgotten about items like these :

I like looking at the display and the old photographs. I liked to imagine myself in the picture and transport myself to what the people in the picture were thinking and feeling.

Upstairs, I saw a tribute to some of the noted malays whom have contributed to arts like Zubir Said whom composed the Singapore national anthemn as well as P. Ramlee who was arguably the most talented and versatile man whom had sucess as a scriptwriter, composer, singer, filmaker, actor, comedian.

We have such a rich heritage. Even as a Malay, I was facinated and enlightened by what I saw.

I took my time looking at the display and at length and stepped out of the building to see that there was a lively crowd outside filled with visitors. Festive music was played and a host in a malay costume was emceeing.

I didnt stay for too long aftwards as I felt rather lethargic after the days activities, but to what I last heard, the TAA has raised about 34k which is not a bad sum :)

Here is a clip of the day’s activities.

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

View in youtube

Links

• The TAA (Tabung Amal Aidilfitri) Trust Fund
• Bikers Aid Charity Ride thread
• Pics of TAA Charity Ride 2006
• Vespa Club Singapore
• Malay Heritage Center
• Kahwoon’s entry about the event

And big thanks to our Goldwing friends for marshalling!

• Goldwings Webpage
• Video of the goldwing marshalls

Two weeks ago, I noticed a leak coming out of my scooter and I consulted the mechanic. After what he believed it to be caused by the metal washer, he repaired it and I got it back.

I still had the same problems the next day, but I had to bear with it as I needed the scooter to get to work and night class.

On monday, the leak was even more than what I anticipated. Engine oil was spilling out on the floor! I was so alamed that I sent it for repairs immediately.

After work, I went down to the workshop and the mechanic and I finally saw what was causing the problem. It was the engine chassis. It had a split!

Me : What could have caused the problem?

Mr Wee : I have a scooter of the same model as yours too. It could be caused by too much pressure - If you had a passenger and they shook your scooter, that could have caused cracks in the engine.

Me : This is very bad.

Mr Wee : There are two options. Option one is to replace the entire engine which costs about $700. But I’ll recommend you to take option two - I’ll use a sealant and cement the split together. This will be cheaper.

Me : Ok, lets go with option two and we’ll cross our fingers.

—

I got the scooter back yesterday and so far so good. No leaks after parking it overnight and after a ride to work today, its still dry. There looks like a patch there but its actually a stain from the leak and its actually dry.

Still, I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Sidenote : There will be a TAA (Tabung Amal Aidilfitri) Charity Ride this Sunday. There will be a convoy ride of approximately 1000 bikes and scooters to an end venue, where the presentation of donated funds will be held.

If you have a two wheeler, come and join us! Riding in a convoy is fun! :)

I was scooterless for the weekend.

For the past few weeks, there has been a trace of brown liquid and drops of coolant on the floor each morning when I take the scooter out of the carpark. And though it wasnt leaking much, I was still rather concerned. I didnt want to risk having my scooter explode on me!

I sent my scooter to Tong Aik on saturday morning and I met the mechanic, Mr Wee, whom handled my scooter the last check up. He promptly took my baby under his wing.

While waiting for Mr Wee to complete the check, I met Yaoming, a fellow vesporean. He recognized me from the Vivo Vespa event and approached me. I learnt that he was collecting his scooter.

Yaoming told me that he was on his way to go the Big Bike Fest and will be meeting the rest of the vesporeans later. Initially I contemplated on going to that event, but having already been there last year, I wasnt too appealed by its male-oriented activities.

There was a bike stunt performance that seemed interesting to me. But even that didnt make me feel all that compelled to go.

At length, Mr Wee told me that he could not trace any obvious flaws and needed time to inspect my scooter more thoroughly. I headed for home.

I took the bus.

After the convenience of my scooter, it feels so different taking public transportation again - sitting passively on the seat, blocking out the sound from the mobile-tv, staring at the scenery, and then finally lulled off to sleep and waking up blearily just in time at my stop.

Come monday morning, I walked to the bus stop to head to work. It was the same scene of over a year ago. The same listless people waiting for their busses. Some familliar faces. The annoying auntie pushing her way to the front to enter the bus.

I received a call by Mr Wee later at work telling me that my scooter would be ready for collection in the afternoon. Luckily, my brother has already finished his shift and was willing to give me a lift to Tong Aik.

Unfortunately for me, I was wearing a pair of skirt on the day. Though I was confident of wearing a skirt on my scooter, little did I know that I would re-enact the infamous scene as Marilyn Monroe in the seven year itch, being a pillion to my brother, all the way to the workshop.

Speaking of skirts, after collecting my scooter back from the workshop, we were on our way back home. My brother noticed that there was a guy on a class 2A bike whom almost fell off his bike when he saw me. Gosh! Has he never seen a girl wearing a skirt and wedge shoes on a scooter before? :P

I should wear skirts more! :P

But anyways, when I get to the carpark these this morning, I am greeted by this :

Just what is wrong with it?