Previously on “2Up and Overloaded”.
Marisa: We crossed through the entirety of the country of Brunei, going along one of the world's longest bridges.
Tim: After the bridge, we kind of cruised through the rest of Brunei to the border. A bonus fact is that you cannot get gas in Brunei if you are on a Malaysian motorcycle.
Marisa: That's correct, apparently the government does subsidize their gasoline there. And so I think the rule is if you are foreign and you are not from Brunei, you are not supposed to be purchasing gasoline.
Tim: This is true. But we were out of gas. And so I pulled up into a gas station, and he said, “You know, your bike is… you're Malaysian. So we can't give you gas.” And I told him, “Do we look Malaysian?” And he said, “No.” And so I found a loophole.
Marisa: For this one guy.
Tim: He gave me gas with a confused smug look on his face. But we got the cheapest gas we had ever purchased. And happily moved on. But...
Marisa: Don't do that.
Tim: A lesson to the wise, yes.
[Music]
Marisa: Now that we were back in the East Malaysian part of the island of Borneo, we were ready to head onwards. But what we didn't know was that we were about to come across a natural wonder of Malaysia that was unexpectedly incredible and sent our hearts racing.
[Tim makes heart pounding sounds]
Tim: Sound effects for the podcast man.
Marisa: Oh yeah.
[Marisa and Tim make heart pounding sounds]
[Music]
Intro: Hey everyone! Nice to have you here. We are Tim, and Marisa Notier. I ride in the front. And I’m in the rear. We travel the world and we pack too much gear. Oh, all the places we’ll go! Through rain and through sleet and through mud and through snow. Oh, all the things we’ll see! We’ve been to a country or two. Or three! Oh, all the fun we’ve had! To have you along, would make us real glad. So give us a like, and hit subscribe to join us along our epic ride.
[This episode is dedicated to our Virtual Support Vehicle Patrons.]
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[Miri - Malaysia]
Marisa: So once we crossed the border, we were back in East Malaysia, back in Sarawak, which was super exciting for me, especially because I love this one meal that can only be found in Sarawak called Laksa Sarawak.
Tim: It's got its name all over it. This is true.
Marisa: And sure enough, right after the border, we found a little place to eat. We were super hungry, and they had Laksa Sarawak.
I'm excited for the laksa. Also, it's just nice to get off the bike for a moment and relax. I'm still not 100%.
Tim: So we are back in Malaysia, yay. Marisa is feeling better, yay number two. But we only have like an hour and a half to get to the place we're staying at tonight. And then we have some cave exploration tomorrow. But we can make that as easy as a day as we want it to be. But hopefully, I don't get full-blown Marisa sick because that was poopy. But onwards and upwards.
Marisa: My laksa was too spicy for me to eat! So sad! I love laksa so much, but this one was particularly spicy.
I tried.
It was too spicy for me to eat.
Tim: Her Latino blood, Latina blood…
Marisa: It let me down.
Tim: Yeah. The Spice Islands defeated her.
Marisa: But I'm glad that you were able to eat your meal.
Tim: Yeah, it's important for me to eat meals sometimes. Marisa has facts, and I also have facts, alternative facts.
Marisa: But you're the motorcycle driver, so you need sustenance.
Tim: I’m Mr. Motorcycle Man. I do.
Marisa: It's very important to keep that concentration up.
Tim: So we headed through the city of Miri, which is like this Malaysian resort town, if you will. It's got beachside property with really beautiful houses in it, these long stretches of remote beach.
Marisa: And then directly after the city of Miri, this beach continues on, and you're kind of getting glimpses of it as you ride along this oceanfront of the South China Sea.
Tim: After having seen a couple inlets of just little single trail motorcycle paths that lead to the beach, I said, “The next one of those bad boys I see, I'm turning down.” And sure enough, we crawled that little KTM 250 Adventure onto the beach. And it was everything we could have hoped for.
Marisa: Oh my goodness!
Tim: No, you're good, love.
Marisa: So it is a little bit of a challenge to get onto the beach sometimes because there is that...
Tim: Berm?
Marisa: Yes, that sand berm where the sand is pretty deep and very loose. But you got through just fine, and then the sand firms up, and it's just beach heaven.
[Music]
Wow! What a beautiful beach!
Tim: A little beachside paradise. Hey beautiful.
Marisa: What are you doing?
Tim: I'm recording you.
Marisa: Aw.
Tim: Yeah.
Marisa: Southeast Asia has some of the greatest population densities on the planet, making it one of the most crowded areas on Earth and making this beach a true rarity. Undeveloped, unpolluted, untouched, pristine, vast, and empty, this beach is something you just don't find in Southeast Asia anymore.
Today we are riding a motorcycle along it, but 100 years ago, people would have ridden horses down this beach, looking out at the wooden galleon ships anchored far offshore. And 100 years before that, this beach wouldn't have looked much different, with the only people ever laying eyes on it being the indigenous Dayak people, the stewards of the island of Borneo. They might have come to fish or dig for clams or simply enjoy it just as we were, basking in all its natural glory.
Tim: Which is really nice because a lot of beaches we have ridden down in Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, the United States, sometimes it's a hot spot and it can get pretty dirty pretty quick. And garbage coming up on shore and all through the tree line before the sand is beer bottles and pop cans. But yeah, this beach was pristine and it was a really, really epic ride. And we love getting into nature, respecting nature, and just being able to ride and be a part of it.
And I think a really good example of that Stateside is Emmaus Moto Tours where you ride down the BDRs, the Backcountry Discovery Routes. They lead you into some of the most pristine, beautiful parts of the United States, let it be the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast. There's craziness in Utah, there's California BDRs, and you just get to places where you look around and you smile, and you get that same warm feeling that we had here on a sunny day in Malaysia.
It's really cool to be a part of a community that likes a challenge and the beauty of nature. Emmaus Tours has professional guides that take you out to tried and tested challenges. There's bypasses if it gets too tough, but just an incredible, incredible tour company back in the United States. Please do check them out at EmmausMotoTours.com.
High five! We're going to go further down because it's a sandbank that I'm not going to mess with.
You want to go back to the main road?
So getting off of the beach was a little bit more challenging. We couldn't find the precise little location that we had entered.
We're looking for two wheels going right.
Marisa: Yes.
Tim: But we saw a little path in between some grass that looked like someone had gone.
Yeah, I need you off I think.
And so yeah, I gunned it. Marisa thankfully got off.
But with Marisa on the back pushing the little KTM 250, I'm doing the little rooster tail. We got it over the sand berm and back onto solid ground.
Marisa: Yeah, I had complete faith in you. I mean that motorcycle is small, it's light, it's nimble, it's maneuverable, and you are very talented and skilled with the motorcycle.
Tim: You're making me blush here.
Marisa: Okay!
I just wanted to make sure that there would be from then on a road leading to the main road.
Tim: This is not where we came in, but it's where we're going out.
Marisa: Because who knows who had gone in there and been like, "Oops, this isn't right," and then turned around. But there was a path that led to the main road.
Tim: A slight path. There was a thing that led to the road.
A bit of a slime patch.
All right! And they're off!
But we made it back onto the road after our little beach escapade.
Marisa: Yes, and what an incredible time we had. That's what makes it all worth it. Anyone can just ride a motorcycle from point A to point B, but it's all the little points in between that make the journey.
Tim: This is true.
Marisa: So we had a great destination that was coming up, and that was going to be Niah Caves.
Tim: Bam!
Marisa: And we wanted to stay right outside of the Niah Caves because we wanted to spend a full day exploring these caves. These caves are super famous in the region for being incredible and having an unbelievably long prehistory to them. They are not just caves, they are an archaeological site and they are a UNESCO heritage site.
So of course, we wanted to really delve into the caves, spend a full day there, but that meant we had to be staying close by. There is a little village near the caves called Batu Niah, and in that village there is one hotel, Niah Caves Inn. And that was where we were headed that night.
Tim: Yeah. As we got closer to our hotel, we could see these huge limestone cliffs in the distance. You know, with erosion, that's where caves are birthed, if you will.
Marisa: Yes, limestone is so corrosive to even just water. And so when you see those beautiful cliffs, you know there's going to be caves somewhere.
[Batu Niah - Malaysia]
Tim: We got into our little hotel.
[Niah Cave Inn - 3.8027˙ North 113.7550˙ East]
Tim: Durian is prohibited.
All right, we got the love bed. That's nice. A prison shank mirror. And a regular mirror.
And from our window we saw a very equally wonderful sunset.
Marisa: I don't know why these wires aren't full of birds.
Tim: Yeah, right?
We went out to go get some food, and that was at the Bruce Lee place, right?
Marisa: Yes! What an interesting little restaurant.
Tim: And my steak that I got, very Bruce-esque like, it kicked [butt].
Marisa: You can't say that.
Tim: Sure I can.
Marisa: I can't undo this.
[Southeast Asia Journey - Day 137]
Tim: Hey Robin.
Marisa: Hi.
Tim: Where are we going, Robin?
Marisa: We're going to the cave.
Tim: To the Bat Cave! Come on!
So we woke up the next day and just because it was going to be a short ride to the Niah Caves and back, we didn't need our rear bag and all of our stuff.
I do miss our Dynamic rack. Yeah, we tried our best with this one but it just can't compare.
You can see my exposed Frankenstein creation that was my shoe rack and cutting board and zip ties that is our rear rack. Which I'm slightly proud of.
Marisa: Yeah, you should be.
Tim: Yeah. I can collect odds and ends and make something that is odd on the end of the motorcycle.
Marisa: So I think Dynamic Racks could use this awesome design on the cutting board.
Tim: But what we do miss, I do miss, and a huge shout out to Dynamic Racks. Back in the States, Dynamic Racks made us a motorcycle rack that is the rack of all racks. With a pillion seat! The whole back rest.
Marisa: I mean your rack is great but it cannot compare.
Tim: Yes.
Marisa: Don't say anything about my rack.
Tim: No, I won't.
So we got on the little motorcycle and we headed towards the caves, and man, were we excited for what we were to see that day.
[Music]
Marisa: Beautiful day, beautiful short ride, and before we knew it, we were there at the Niah Caves National Park.
Next time - We head into one of the largest caves on Earth with a Paleolithic history that dates back 40,000 years regarding one individual in particular called Deep Skull.
But that will all be in the next episode. So thank you so much for watching this video. I hope you liked it. If you did, please give us a big thumbs up and hit the subscribe button below.
And if you are enjoying these videos and you think, hey, I would love to ride a motorcycle around in Borneo with these two fools as well, then you should definitely check out our Borneo tours web page. Because we are going to be hosting a motorcycle tour here in Borneo. We've had a lot of people already sign up. In fact, we've already sold out two tours, which is super exciting. But we have a third one still that we put on the schedule.
Tim: For March of 2025. I think that's going to be our last tour in 2025 for Borneo, and we do want to make it an annual thing. Yeah, check out our website at 2upAndOverloaded.com/BorneoTour. And take a look at the itinerary of all the amazing places that we go to, and we would love to have you riding by our side as we explore such a beautiful part of the world.
Marisa: Thanks so much for watching and we'll be seeing you next time.
Tim: Stay safe everybody.
Marisa: Bye!
Tim: Peace.
