Taiwan Camping 台灣露營

Oct 2003

Bikes: BMW Dakar F650GS and Honda NX650

Two days Bike Adventure Camping Trip with my sister and her partner. The idea was to ride deep into Johor Jungle and camp there for 2 nights. Somehow the weather was bad and the off-road had taken a toll on us.

We decided to detour to a nearby location when we found some new friends from Northern Johor, they were from Mersing. Ever since our meeting, they had called me a few times to go deer and boar hunting but I had to decline as it take 3 to 4 days of tracking and my work did not permit.

It was real pleasure meeting these Malaysian friends, fishing in the lake for priceless Toman Fishes (snake headed fish) and making us stew pork noodle breakfast. My only regret was I did not take their offer seriously, otherwise I would had experienced something a city bum would never experienced.

They were impressed with our bikes and camping gears but frankly I was more impressed with their cheap easy to do outdoor survival setup. Drove their vehicle there with home cook pots and pans, a cheap tarp overhead to spent the rest of their nights fishing.

That night camping we had real fun, I brought a bottle of Vodka and these Malaysian friends drove to town, lost them for almost two hours and they came back with a carton of beers. Merry Jolly and we chatted all night with drinks. They told us there were wild tigers in the area and be prepared to hear fire crackers, so we did at 6am in the morning.

It was through their experience, I soon realised having a quality camping is nothing but roughing it out brings back the memories and joy. Glad that we have met these Malaysian friends. Hope one day we will ran into each other again.