Motorcycle touring is a thrilling and immersive way to explore the open road, offering riders the perfect combination of adventure and freedom. It involves traveling long distances on a motorcycle, often over several days or weeks, to discover new places, cultures, and landscapes. Touring bikes are typically designed for comfort, with features like larger fuel tanks, ergonomic seating, and ample storage for gear. Whether winding through mountain passes, cruising along coastal highways, or navigating serene countryside roads, touring allows riders to connect deeply with the journey and the destinations. It's not just about reaching a place—it's about embracing the road and the experiences along the way.
And below is our original riding schedule:
Kuching – Sabah 16- 24 December 2023 (9 hari)
16/12 Sabtu (1+++ km) 13-14 jam
Kuching- Miri- Lawas
17/12 Ahad (619 km) 8 jam
Lawas- Sipitang- Beufort- Papar- Kota Kinabalu- Kudat
18/12 Isnin (495 km)
Kudat- Kota Marudu- Ranau- Kundasang- Pekan Beluran- Simpang Check Point Sandakan- Sandakan
19/12 Selasa (365 km)
Sandakan- Lahad Datu- Semporna- Tawau
20/12 Rabu (344 km)
Tawau- Kalabakan- Restoren Rimba Rasa Tibow- Sook- Keningau
21/12 Khamis (440 km)
Keningau- Tenom- Sipitang- Lawas- Limbang- Miri
22/12 Jumaat (459 km)
Miri- Sarikei
23/12 Khamis (352 km)
Sarikei- Kuching
This is the 2nd time I rode to Sabah using my Honda RS150 along with Mamat also riding his RS150 & my nephew Ajwad with his Yamaha Y16.
Me & Mamat waiting for Ajwad to arrive.
Day one! Leaving home before 4 a.m & meet at Shell Taman Hussein, Kuching. Good morning weather in Kuching that day! The day has finally arrived after a long plan. Initial numbers of riders were 6, 3 chicken out & only 3 left, me, Mamat & Ajwad.
Our first stop from Kuching was Petronas Lachau to fill up the fuel. Also stop to have Subuh prayer at the mini mosque at the Petronas itself.
The 2nd stop at Petronas Layar in Betong area, didn't stop for any drinks, just filling up the fuel, Mamat getting a puff & we move on to Sarikei for brunch.
Good menu!
3rd stop for brunch at Sarikei, it was around 9 a.m. The ride was awesome so far, no issues with the bikes and all & the weather is definitely on us! Alhamdulillah!
This is at Selangau Petronas, as usual to fill up the fuel to continue our journey. I think I had my Zohor prayer here. Right before this Petronas there's a Shell Station but we need to ride a bit further inside the small town to get there while this Petronas just by the side of the main road.
This is at Tatau Petronas, as usual filling up & getting some drinks to boost our energy to continue. Tatau is around 50 kilometers to Bintulu. The ride is getting better and better! No issues, great weather! However before Tatau we got caught by the rain for less than 30 minutes, stopping by the roadside to wear raincoat & continue riding.
We didn't stop at Bintulu for fueling due to technical issues on mapping, only just at the roadside on Bintulu- Miri Pan Borneo route to refill the fuel using the one that Mamat & Ajwad stored in their fuel storage/gallons. After that we ride on to Niah Shell station using the Jalan Persisir from Bintulu to Miri as Niah is our only chance to fill up the fuel to continue our journey.
From Miri the plan is to pass Limbang because we don't want to get checked at Malaysia- Brunei border anymore the next day, so we are going to ride the long way in Brunei land passing the 3+ kilometers bridge from Brunei to Lawas (longest in South East Asia). It was night time already plus the rain, so neither one of us managed to take any good pictures along the way. We managed to get to Lawas at around 10 p.m. We reached the Brunei- Lawas border at around 9:20 p.m that first day (nearly we have to sleep at the border that night!). It was raining in Brunei once we pass Sungai Tujoh Border at around 6 p.m. The day is Saturday & the border was cramped with people from Brunei & also Malaysians, well it's school holiday so what do you expect! Day one we rode for at least 16 hours.
The bed above is the first bed I put my body on for this ride! Feeling lucky getting this room because it's the only one left in the whole of Lawas town that night!
We just exceeded the time to 2 hours, well that's more to our time up time including rest, fuelling, solat, eating.
Good Lawas authentic menu! Well that night I ate something from Lawas authentic menu but I can't recall what the food call.
Ready to order our first dinner along our ride. Mamat is updating status in socmed or maybe reporting to his wife.
Fuelling for tomorrow! It's gonna be Lawas- Kudat for the 2nd day! It will be tiring but not as the 1st day (16 hours plus riding)
The first place we stay in, Mexion motel in Lawas. We almost got no place to stay that first day because all hotels are fully occupied in Lawas due to school holiday, a lot of people from Brunei stay in Lawas that night & maybe locals too (Brunei & Malaysia share the same date for school break according to a Brunei guy that we met & talked with)
Safe & secure! Our bikes are just a nose away from our room.
The view in the morning from our room at Mexion Inn Lawas, it was Sunday morning!
Beautiful & blessed Sunday morning in Lawas!
Getting ready for the 2nd day ride!
Ajwad getting his ride fixed, the coolant got drained while we are at Brunei highway, luckily we managed to get to Lawas last night. Good thing there's one workshop opened in Lawas on Sunday but we have to wait for turn. Ajwad bike finally fixed at around noon & as soon as that we continue riding! Well the riding schedule was a bit off because of this but it's okay, as long as everyone is safe & okay, that's good enough.
Before continue riding we took some pictures at Lawas Waterfront.
Beautiful Lawas Waterfront, I've been riding to Sabah 5 times before but never got the chance to really see what Lawas is all about. I'm glad that we made a stop here instead of Miri.
Looks like Beaufort is the part of Sabah that still celebrates Hari Raya Aidilfitri for that year! Our ride was in December.
This is Kota Kinabalu everyone!
One for the road! Next location is Kota Belud as we are on our way to Kudat.
Kota Belud beautiful up on hill mosque! Masjid Pekan Kota Belud!
Street of Kota Belud Town.
Hotel Mozart in Kudat, this place seems very new, a very suitable location for riders especially according to my friends in Kudat.
Just beside the Mozart hotel there's this place to eat, open 24 hours known as Barakah restaurant, good food, good service!
My bike waiting for the rim to get fixed in local workshop. I'm lucky because I know some friends in Kudat to help me with the rim & get it done in time!
The night we got to Kudat maybe at around 8:30 p.m I was nearly involved in a terrible accident just as soon as we arrived in Kudat. On the way to Kudat town I passed Kudat hospital & while looking at the hospital on my left I was suddenly thinking about the Kudat Police Station just beside the Hospital, little that I can remember there's this small roundabout in front of the hospital & as soon as I realized that I almost hit one of the divider before the small roundabout with emergency braking, then I can't avoid the roundabout, hit it & my bike got on the roundabout. My front rim was bent but luckily I managed to control the bike without falling (thanks to my enduro training all these years). Mamat & Ajwad are far behind not knowing what happened to me. The tyre was completely out of air in seconds & I have to push the bike to the roadside, called a friend that works & lives in Kudat (Bang Ahmit) & tell him everything. Then he came to the rescue with all the tools needed but there's nothing that we can do about the bent rim since it really need a good welding & adjustments. So I asked Mamat to book the hotel first (Mozart hotel) & come back with Bang Ahmit in his car together with his RS150 front rim (since we are using the same bike) so I can take the bike to the hotel safely. The plan went well Alhamdulillah!
Now you wouldn't think that we are leaving Kudat without visiting The Tip of Borneo Simpang Mengayau wouldn't you! This is a must go place whenever you're visiting Kudat, this is the main attraction of all attractions in Kudat. My 2nd time with the RS150, my 7th time overall so far with my other bikes plus one time during my honeymoon with my wife using flight!
I hope the sticker is still there! Next is Kundasang! It's gonna take us the whole day because we started a bit late (after 1 p.m) from Kudat waiting for my rim to get fixed. Next destination of stay is Kundasang!
It was Pesta Kubis day!
We reached Kundasang exactly during the Maghrib Prayer, I still remember hearing the beautiful azan from the mosque up on the beautiful hill. As soon as we arrived, I immediately take out my phone & look for place to stay. During that day it was Pesta Kubis (Cabbage Carnival) at Kundasang & at the same time there are so many people there including foreign visitors, the place was crowded, so we have to be fast in looking for a place to lay our heads. The main mission now is to get a place to rest and I just can't recall if we had our dinner that night. I remember it was so cold that the 3 of us decided not to take any bath that night.
The not so good room, 2 double decker, lousy power socket. If you want to take bath, you have to go outside stepping up a bit because bathrooms are built separately (and you'll share them with other unlucky people). The water heater not working, some lights also not working. It's creepy & really really cold at the same time!
OYO Mountain Resthouse, Kundasang. Mmmm, not recomended especially if you wanna bring your family to stay here.
Even my bike feels how cold the place is!
So we got this place to stay, it's one of the final option since every single rooms in Kundasang that night are already fully occupied. The place is known as OYO Home 90430 Mountain Resthouse, one of the not so good place to stay to me. It's up on a hill & you are very unlikely to see it if you pass by that area, still in Kundasang area, maybe 15 minutes ride from the Cabbage statue.
First location in the morning on the third day! Kinabalu park! This is where I believe the starting point of people start climbing the famous Mount Kinabalu. Not very far from the place we stayed last night.
We are here quite early, the Desa Dairy Farm, still in Kundasang area. The main gate is not opened yet & we couldn't wait as we have a really long way to go. We just managed to take some pictures outside the farm with a good view of Mount Kinabalu.
Mamat also didn't make it entering this farm in 2020 (can refer to my other post) & now there's another one which is Ajwad but he told me that he'll take his wife & kid there somewhere in mid 2024 & he did. Next stop is Sandakan!
Four Points Sandakan (well it looks like the word four points is written there up at the side of the building)
Sandakan city/town. The location of this landmark is near a big hotel (can't recall the name) + mall just beside the ocean. I was looking for the right place to create memories here & I look for "I love Sandakan" in Google & it take us straight to this place. I asked a security staff nearby nicely whether we can take pictures there for a while & he said sure & advice us just to be careful. After taking the pictures we immediately leave, look for petrol station, fueling up & go straight to the next location which is Lahad Datu!
This is the only picture (I believe) we managed to take somewhere in Lahad Datu. It was in the late afternoon, almost Maghrib & do bear in mind that Sabah prayers time are among the most early in Malaysia & it get dark quite soon too. So we have to move fast because there are more destinations to be covered! As always in Lahad Datu we look for petrol station & fill up! We'll stop when it gets really dark & that's the place we are going to stay in for the night.
After Lahad Datu we are so on rush that we forgot to enter the junction to Semporna instead we went straight to Tawau. Well it was (I believe) already late & the only thing that we have in mind is to get a place to lay our head on (body & mind already very extremely tired). I believe we have ridden our bikes for more than 12 hours!
The hotel that we stayed in Tawau, The Dream Hotel. It was a very nice place, easy access to place to eat, groceries shop, self service laundry & we managed to wash and dry most of our dirty & smelly clothes that night & while waiting for the clothes to get done we served ourselves some good foods & the one that I'll never forget is the Payau soup with rice, Payau is deer & it tastes so darn good! Really refreshing! Ajwad wanted to go for foods that we can find in Sarawak, Mamat too & I advised them to try what I'm trying & they follow me (well I believe they didn't regret their choice that night in Tawau). And in the morning at the same 24 hours restaurant & maybe from the same cook I had my Payau fried rice & it was awesome too!
Keningau is where we're heading today!
One time we passed by this kind of road with a really big & long potholes on it that I think can fit a normal human lying down in it but I didn't take the picture of it as we are rushing, not knowing how long we gonna face this route.
Once we arrived at one of Keningau's petrol station, we checked the time & it was still early at around 4 p.m (during Asar prayer) and I think to myself that we can take our ride further to Tenom since it was only another 30 minutes away. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures in Keningau & that's something that we regret so much!
Perkasa Hotel, Tenom. I believe this is one of the oldest hotel in Tenom by the looks & designs of the hotel itself. Kinda old school & creepy at the same time. Actually we were looking for other options of stay in Tenom that late afternoon but most of them are full, we tried a smaller motel with more affordable price but also fully occupied. This hotel is our last resort, well we actually went there first to ask about the pricing but when we think that it's kinda expensive we go to other places looking for rooms but finally ended up here since there's no other options. No breakfast provided in the morning so we have to get it ourselves downhill.
While waiting for Ajwad settling the padlock, I rushed myself to the nearest workshop to change my engine oil & soon after that we had breakfast at a restaurant nearby. Soon after, we continue our journey home!
This was the greatest ride that I've involved in & the most adventurous one! It was a great honor to ride with Mamat & Ajwad, these guys so far are the most badass riders I ever ridden with!
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