those motorcycling days - (3)

from a road bike, i switched to a off-road bike, a scrambler. i bought a brand new suzuki savage from guan hoe motors. some time later, i was joined by mc wong who acquired a 250cc yamaha scambler.

managing a scrambler is slightly different from handling a road bike. it has knobbly tires and the centre of gravity is higher. the exhaust is also way above the ground. my toes could barely touch the ground when i was on the seat.

on some weekends, we would ride to an open area at clementi and take the bikes around the moto-cross circuit. we would do wheelies - just like school boys on bicycles - and we cleared humps, with the back wheel landing first. we did not take part in any race, though. for races, they used specially modified bikes. anyway, i do not think i was up to it.

some days, i would ride the bike into malaysia on my own. those days, no passport required, no toll charges but no north-south highway, also. i usually did not go far, may be to kukup and back.

once, fasalul, kok weng and i planned an overnight trip to jason's bay. we did not set out together. i went with kok weng, fasalul was to join us later. we waited and waited for fasalul but he did not show up. we used a tree trunk and started a bon fire by the beach. in the darkness, we saw fire lies and went about chasing them. it had rained earlier and our shoes were damp. we tried to dry our shoes by placing them near the burning log. the next morning, we found two pairs of partially burnt shoes.

when we came back to singapore, we learnt that fasalul had lost his way. he ended up spending the night in a malay village not far from jason's bay.