My Borneo Ride by Dave Edinger (aka Factory Rider)

My Borneo Ride by Dave Edinger (aka Factory Rider)

I landed in Brunei, which is a country on the Island of Borneo. I had some time to kill, and a friend of mine who works there had two motorcycles. One was a Harley V-Rod but it had an oil leak, go figure. The other was his daughters Yamaha XT250X with purple rims and an FMF pipe. (Click on any photo to enlarge.)

Therefore, off I went after briefly looking at a very generic tourist map of this small country and studying Google maps for a bit. I was worried I would get lost but I was informed that most anywhere you go; you will see a sign that says Pusat Bandar. This means down town Bandar Seri Begawan, the capitol of Brunei. Another friend pointed out that behind our hotel was a radio tower on a hill, so when I did find the town, I could then work to spot the tower.

Therefore, I spent the day riding around, exploring and seeing much of the small oil rich country of less than 500,000 people. It had been 22 years since I was last in the country and at the time I was able to borrow a dirt bike and ride with some friends in the rain forest. This time I was on the street exploring and visiting places from my past. One of the places to go see was Jerudong Park, which is a country club, polo field and of more interest is an excellent amusement park built by the Sultan of Brunei over a quarter century ago to be the best in the world, and it is all free however few people ever attend. Unlike those long lines here in the states that take over an hour to get to ride on the roller coaster. Back then, I had to wake up the attendant, I was the only one on the ride, rode it twice and then wandered over to the equally empty water ride. When I asked the locals that stood by watching me why they did not try this, they shook their head in unison saying thanks, but no thanks.

Another stop was to a new mega resort hotel that was not built when I last visited called the Empire Hotel. I had to walk through it and down to the ocean; it was very opulent but not very many guests. It is a shame that a country on the South China Sea does not have more pristine beaches. I know that they have jelly fish that if they sting you, you could die without the antidote, so most people that do swim, wear dive skins.

I was surprised to see at one point about 35 BMW GS series bikes tooling around together and I ran across them several times that same day. The papers said the next day that they were from Jakarta Indonesia and were being escorted around by local Bruneian riders.

Brunei is a clean, safe and interesting place to visit. It is hot and humid all year around. There is a beautiful Mosque in the downtown area that is a must see and non-Muslims are allowed inside during certain times.

There is also a large river that flows through downtown and homes and businesses are built on stilts. There is a push by the government to build newer homes and relocate residents out of the older homes. However, for the people that live on the water, it is a way of live with multiple families in most homes and they are quite happy with their existing homes.

After Brunei, I flew a short distance north to Kota Kinabalu, which is still on Borneo but is part of the Sabah region of Malaysia.

In the distance, you could see the Kinabalu mountain range, and this is what I came to ride. I was met at the airport by Bryan Wade who is a five time British Motocross champion winning in all three classes. Bryan runs Borneo Biking Adventures and has a fleet of 2006 and 2009 Aprillia Pegasus 650’s that he uses for his tours and I found the bikes to be well suited for their purpose. He can support groups or solo riders, even with pillions.

There are several suggested options of places to stay, but I highly recommend staying at Sinurambi. It is a B&B up on the side of a mountain surrounded by the rain forest. The view from the deck where the pool is includes the mountain range; the city below and the ocean dotted by small islands, and the sunsets are photo worthy.

Terry runs the B&B with his wife Rose. Terry used to be partners with Bryan but now is just enjoying retirement, and the view. He had two motorcycles, a GS F800 which is a favorite of mine, and a brand new 350cc Royal Enfield Bullet which he was anxious to show me. I of course had to show him the picture of my 1916 Royal Enfield 770.

The next morning it was time to ride, so after some fruit and some coffee Bryan showed up and took me back to his place on the top of another mountain.

We eventually stopped at an open front restaurant this allowed some breeze to blow through. We enjoyed a meal of Pork and Yak with rice, vegetables and Dim Sum. A Yak is a longhaired domesticated bovid, a distant cousin of the Western cow. From there it was off to a regional park to see the Air Terjun falls only a short scenic walk up into the rain forest. Back on the road, we headed back up the mountain where we were met with more light rain. Eventually it was back to Sinurambi for cocktails and dinner with a view.

Day two started from the B&B since I still had the bike, so Bryan met me there. Just the two of us rode on the second day so after gassing up, we headed back to the mountain. On one road I was told it was called “shit road” and to keep my eyes open.

Sure enough, the road earned its nickname and in several turns, there were cows shading themselves on the road, so you had to be extra alert. I believe besides the cows on the road we encountered water buffalo who startle easily unlike the cows as well as a pig and a snake. The day was filled with more amazing riding, and stops for tea. We selected a typical small restaurant where no English was spoken. They indicated a young Muslim girl working in the small shop next door spoke some English so we were able to order some chicken and rice with hot sauce. Then it was back down into a scenic valley as we worked our way back toward town. The day was still only 300 KM’s but was 7 hours of twistys and I did not want to push it so we headed back. Once we hit the city, the traffic was significant and we had to split lanes to make it through.

Splitting lanes has its own challenges but here you had three lanes of traffic going both ways and it was roundabout after roundabout and of course, you are riding on the left side of the road. Good thing the bikes were equipped with a top case and not saddlebags.

Finally, back at Terry and Roses, to have dinner by the pool with that amazing view I keep mentioning and we were joined by another GS riding ex Pat and his wife. This was a great experience and trip, but it had now come to an end. I had to get up at 4:00 a.m. for my 28.5 hours of travel with a brief layover in Hong Kong and home to Waco Texas.