Saffa's Thoughts

Northern Farms Ride with some Hubbers

2007-02-19T14:19:00.000+08:00

Great ride today, was absolutely perfect, except for the heat...otherwise it was a great ride....

Arrived bright and early as was requested by Michelle, 7am...argghhh, but nevertheless I was in a chirpy happy mood and was greeted by the familiar Dirt Rider as I entered the parking area of the Northern Farms....good to see old acquaintances after such a long time.

Michelle was horribly Wink late and only arrived 30 minutes after we all arrived, but the good thing was that no one had to wait for me to get ready like they normally do....."didn't I feel good"

Riders that were there:
Morgan
Cannondale dude!? Name again - i forgot :(
KenMamba
MichH
Dirt Rider
The Thug
Shaun
Angela
SaffaG

The farm wasn't so busy today, nice to see all the families riding out there with kiddies right up to old grannies.....who incidentally were not impressed with Dirt Rider....something he said? Not sure, but all I can tell you is that this old granny shouted back at him "it's because of my age".....nevertheless it was on on and off into the distance, we covered some nice ground and I enjoyed the single track immensely. Most of the ride was pretty much stop and go, but still was quite fun playing catch up on the hills....

We had some bike mechanics "bush style" when MicH realized that she couldn't "uncleat" due tot he fact that she had a screw loose....hehehehe, no pun intended...she was missing a cleat screw....I managed to get her smelly shoe off her pedal after she undid her laces and then we managed to loosen the shoe and the pedal from the cleat! Lucky for me I had a spare screw for her....and we were off in no time.....only to stop 100m down the drag due to me having some broken spokes....dammit!! None of those stops dampened the spirits of the rest of the riders, Dirt Rider, Shaun and The Thug from bunny hopping the telephone pole/log int he path...nice boys.....

The ride ended off pretty much after about 2 hours and we decided to head to "the drop" and then on towards the single track......some were keen to ride the drop, but for some it just wasn't their day and they opted out.....just after I made the drop we headed into the fast single track heading back towards the car park....I guess I was over enthusiastic and heading off after The Thug and Dirt Rider....somehow I ended up jumping a small root, landing and then not being on the correct path.....**BASHHH** that was me did a nice "endo" hehehehe landed head first in the ground and then stumbled around before putting both shoes in the water

Thanks for the great ride and hope we all make it back again soon soon and maybe make it a longer loop LOL or 2.......have fun and have a great week.....Saffa

Where did he go?

2007-02-09T14:43:00.000+08:00

Almost two Months and no posts....what a shoddy blog....well, not entirely my fault, but yes, some of it can be placed on me :( I have been so busy working, riding and working and spinning and riding! I have decided to try lose some more kilos and up the fitness level proportionaly...so far so good...lets see how i fair at the next race hey.

For now I am back in SA, Tanzania was a torrid trip, it just pissed me off, the place, the project, the people, everything was just so irritating. Nevertheless I got on the plane, lifted my chin and headed home, back to good old beautiful SA. The house is coming along well, with renovations planned soon, but this depends on the $$$$$....so lets see.

Have a splendid year and enjoy it to the max, work hard, play hard and for all the MTB'ers out their, I hope you don't fall hard :)

The Urge to ride

2006-12-01T20:29:00.000+08:00

Hells bells, but I have been battling to contain my excitement for the last few weeks.....I only have 15 days left before I get to go home and ride!! Been in Dar for about one and a half months now and boy has it been difficult. Feels like a year since I had a numb bum and aching feet and legs.....since I was covered in mud and dirt, blood dripping.....

I hope I can hold out until I get back...planning on going for a good ride the weekend i get back, I sure have missed my mountain bike and here in DAR there is little on can do for excercise , especially if you work all the time like me! So first things first when I get back! Hugs and kisses to the loved ones, and then off for a ride...planning on heading out on the usual Pretoria East route but with a bit of variation due to having moved further from the trail starting points.....but it might honestly be a little more interesting and I am sure I will find some new routes too!

For now I can only surf the net, and read the great write up on the Fakawi website and related blogs....Oh, and not to mention the fact that I have fallen in love again with the new Giant Reign range.....so so nummy......

Lets see, maybe Santa brings me a Christmas present, if not this year, then early next year! Am so amped for a full sus bike!!

Ciao for now......

Tent Pitching School

2006-11-30T15:20:00.000+08:00

I was driving back from lunch in Dar es Salaam two days ago and came across this funny sign.....so funny in fact, we had to turn back and go and take a photo of it!

There is no way I am sending my daughter to this school!! NO WAY IN HELL!

Enjoy!

The Irish at the Q Bar........and Paddy McOhShameYouPOES

2006-11-12T17:48:00.000+08:00

Well last night was not what I expected.....the Springboks lost to Ireland. Terrible, but shit happens.....and the most obvious reason for the loss was the fact that the Bokke seemed to forget how to tackle....come on boys, pick it up for next week.

Apart from the battle on the TV we had our own battle in the pub here in Dar es Salaam. about halfway through the game I hear something about "bloody South Africans", so I reckon , "oh great, someone is going to taunt us, hell, no problem....always fun"

But what really made me mad was the attitude and rude comments about South Africans and not the game itself. I agree that during a big match, there will always be taunting about the other teams player,their skill, their mistakes etc, but don't attack the country and all the people....thats just pointless. You're there to watch the game, not try start arguments with other patrons. I ignored this bunch for while, but then I hear "please sit down we can't the screen". I turn around and cannot believe my eyes.......the taunting was coming from a table of Geriatrics, thats right, several wrinkled, pee smelling olden goldies. I am pretty sure the alcohol was doing the talking and not the brains....which, from the look of these wankers were pretty pickled. This old cow waddles back to her chair and they continue with their taunting.......

I am not generalizing here but those Irish swines last night were enough to upset anyone....even if you weren't South African. A point in case was the football game going on between Blackburn and Man United. As soon as Blackburn got the advantage and the Man United (all the viewers, except the Irish) fans showed their dismay, the Irish Super Stars decided they would rather cheer for Blackburn (not out of support, but merely to piss the Man U's off).

I really couldn't see the reason for this. But the message here is that if you are going out to look for trouble some of the time you may get away with it, but only because most people don't see the point in sinking to SUCH a low level.....so you group of Irish supporters that were behind us last night....watch out......someone is gonna lock you wheelchair brakes or even worse remove your piss bag........and being the whiteys you were, I wouldn't act like that in a country where you are the minority, not only in colour but in IQ.

So Paddy McShameYouPOES.....enjoy the victory because as far as I can remember it was the first one in a long time against the bokke......

Tanzania - Dar es Salaam

2006-11-05T17:25:00.000+08:00

Well, as can be seen by the weather report, I am in Tanzania, Dar es Salaam to be exact. for those of you who don't know where this is, it is on the east coast of Africa, between Kenya and Mozambique. Hmmmm, Africa, well it is a far cry from the bustling built up Kuala Lumpur or Pretoria for that matter, but this is where my home will be for the next two months or so.

Tanzania is home to Kilimanjaro, a mountain with the highest point in Africa. I have been here for only two weeks or so, but I can tell you that in my opinion this is the only thing that the country has got going for it, apart from Fanny Bar, I mean Zanzibar. This place has a huge amount of potential. Long wide beaches and also some seriously hot land on the beach front that can be developed!

Dar itself is a small city which gets more built up as you leave the airport and head towards the coast. The airport is a complete f&*( up. I bought my VISA at the embassy in Pretoria and they told me it would save me time on arrival. So I pay Mr Swahili Tan his fresh USD$50 for my VISA at the Pretoria Shop, I mean embassy. He then informs me that when I get to the airport I should pay another $100 due to the fact that I am here for reasons other than pleasure. This was all good, and I understand the costs involved, the government wants to try get every cent out of the foreigners that keep the country running! On arrival we were forced to wait in a long queue, I suspected this was just to check if you had something they could try and get a bribe for....but this wasn't the case. It was actually the line for the VISA applications, it was a mixed line for both applications, be it business or pleasure...and can you believe it, they take your passport and then give it to a group of people sitting behind some armour plated glass shields. I assume these are the immigration officials....they are half asleep, overweight and look as corrupt and arrogant as a government official. So they line all the foreigners up in front of this and then they go about stamping, writing, and stamping again....boom bang and slowly but surely they start trying to read the names of the passport holders, this is so they can collect their passports and move on to collect their baggage. This entire process took around 1 hour...crazy if you ask me.....and the worst things is that the government doesn't offer a multiple entry VISA, you must pay your $150 again in 2 months.....great money making scheme! you would think they would make the entry cheap so that tourists would come and spend money here?

Go figure

There is a typical African driving style here, this style almost falls into the MDK category. The MDK category is a highly sophisticated driving technique that is easily adopted even though it consists of a complex series of technical moves.

MDK is an abbreviation of Make Don't Know. I first learnt about MDK in KL.

MDK stands for MAKE DON'T KNOW. What this simply means is that you ignore the presence of other drivers that are approaching you from any direction and you simply continue on your course as if you "don't know they are there". It is effective if you have the balls.....the only bugger up is that if the other drivers are practicing MDK then you have a collision. But this is rare cos they usually chicken out! So, for me, I say a MDK keeps the traffic away!!

The city seems very old and run down, most buildings in desperate need of repair, this goes for the roads as well. Pot holes are the order of the day here with every street having hundreds ranging from small ones to Hilux swallowing monsters.

They have a serious power problem here. During the hours of 7:00am and 7:00m they turn off power and only feed it to the industrial areas, this results in most places running on Diesel generators for most of the day........but this is the norm here, so I guess nothing is going to be done to try improve the situation.

Food and drink is quite costly here, not as cheap as was expected and the quality of the food is not good, either they are washing the food in the shit-house or there is a serious bug going around. I think I have spent more time in the toilet than at my desk. We have a major shopping centre with the main anchor shop being Shop-rite. They stock all South African food and drinks, so this is the place to get what you need.

You can find an ATM in most places, this is convenient and stops the hassle of having to go to a money changer.

Lets see how Dar turns out over the next month...........

Women's Day - 9 August 2006

2006-08-08T14:17:00.000+08:00

So it's women's day again in South Africa? What does that really mean in our wonderful land? Well most probably, to most blokes, it means a Wednesday off and a Tuesday night to booze it up and get with some ladies in search of that perfect guy! So be it, but I honestly feel it is pointless to highlight one day for the ladies that are special in our lives......one day only? I really and truly feel that ladies should be treated with love and care every single day...take for instance your mom! Yes, I know she has a mothers day, but we can use the MOM as a great example of a women and how she should be treated equally any day, I guess it also goes for your wife or even your wife to be...you get my drift....?

You gotta respect the fact that some women take huge amounts of shit from men, yes men can be bastards...absolute pricks, but the women in their lives still stand by them and never give up on them, well, sometimes they do, but then that skank wasn't worth it anyway....now was she? Or was she just a smart lass? Never mind, I am getting off the point I am trying to make.

So come on guys, make it a special day for the ladies and try and follow it through every day for the next year!! I sure will try.

Crime Expose or is that Crime Expo SA??

2006-07-10T15:33:00.000+08:00

I stumbled upon an article on one of the online news websites last week....they were complaining about a website that was exposing our crime problem in SA. They said that it was bad for tourism and that it would cause travelers to rather go to other countries to spend their hard earned dollars/euros or pounds.

The website in question is

CRIME EXPO SA

Created and maintained by Neil Watson

I honestly haven't read every news article, but the particular article actually encouraged hackers to attempt a hack in order to shutdown the site. Basically this gives the idea that people want the horrors of crime hidden, swept under the carpet, so no one from overseas will know about it! It is evident that in SA we have a crime problem. I travel all over the world and the common theme question that people hit me with is “do you have to carry a gun?” obviously they also ask if we have lions in our gardens....but the answer is no to both! In most cases carrying a gun will result in you being killed by your own weapon, with the trigger being pulled a by a nervous 16 year old who was trying to steal your cell phone from the living room table......imagine dying for a cell phone, or for even a few South African Rands....

In some countries the news headlines are about school children beating up other kids and the fight being caught on a camera phone!! Oh no what an outcry, but this is sometimes the most violent thing that happens. In SA murders sometimes don't even make the front page, unless you’re a high profile person. The rest is forgotten, or has become so common that it is taken for granted. Oh, so and so was hijacked last week...blah blah. It is sometimes not even worth the hassle to report a stolen bicycle or garden tools etc, where the cops take hours to respond due to other more violent crimes taking priority, well that is the only reason why I could think they can't respond to more minor calls?

What Neil Watson has done is to highlight a major problem to the world and even to some of our overpaid, under worked government officials who sometimes are totally oblivious to the fact that there is a serious problem.

I support Neil in this effort!

I understand that if the international community to take this seriously it will wake the government up to the fact that there is a problem. The initial repercussion of such a website will be that there is a lack of tourists, therefore less income for our beautiful land! There may even be an upward spiral of unemployment due to this especially at the coastal regions.

There could be two scenarios which will spring from this, maybe the crime will increase due to this lack of employment OR (and I am hoping for this)

the government will think about what could be causing this?? **BLING** (on goes the light bulb) only then would the government realize that foreigners are not prepared to travel to SA due to the high level of violent crimes.

It is high time that the government started to setup some serious forms of justice that would stop the killings and the murder. One quick on would be to have the death penalty put back into existence. It would clean up some of our prisons; cost the tax payers less to support these murdering bastards.

The government needs to crack down on drugs too, maybe also have the death penalty applicable here.....in ASIA this works, and the availability and use of drugs is far lessened when you know that you are going to die if caught selling or using. In SA the guys go to jail, where they get food, shelter and even a chance to form a great gang behind bars!! Meanwhile the drugs market still flourishes. We all know that most crimes are driven by the lack of money for drugs, especially with the outbreak of TIK, or Meth! Druggies need to feed their habit and what better way to do it than to steal someone else’s stuff, and if they die while you are doing it, then so what? At least you get your hit and you can feel all warm and fuzzy again!

Maybe some of the government officials should go around with a our police officers, wear a small chest and back covering bulletproof vest and go and try arrest some of the criminals out there, getting shot at, being ambushed, all for the shitty salary they have to receive. Come on government, it isn't all about fast BMW's and huge houses....it is about the people too! Yes, the ones that voted for you, yes the ones that pay taxes. Do something to show you are a government! Make us want to vote for you. I have moved away from Neil’s website and its aims, but it is time for me to express how I felt too.

I also believe that education is a big part of the reason why there is crime. Poverty is a problem. Simply too many kids to support, this is driven by several factors, people are having too much unprotected sex, either there are kids born to girls that are too young to care for them, this can result in theft for survival, or even prostitution to support the kids, followed by a possible drug habit, which will in turn lead to crime by addicts, sellers, etc etc. There are loads of scenarios. The point that needs to be made here to teach the people, get it across that unprotected sex is a no no. Too many kids are a no no if you can't even afford to feed yourself.

So yeah, government I guess you need to start teaching your people how to live, what is wrong, what is right, and maybe put some serious laws in place that "guide" people in the right direction.

And no the attitude should not be to get up and run away to another country.....wake up and smell the coffee you have a problem and it is going to get worse if you do not stop it now!

Good luck with your endeavor Neil.

Pirates of the Golden Triangle??

2006-06-22T22:00:00.000+08:00

Hmmmmm, strange having the thought of pirates in the middle of a city centre, maybe more along the lines of car jackers? But no this isn't South Africa, it's Malaysia, truly Asia!! The pirates I am talking about are the technological kind....no they don't rob normal people, but rather big businesses of Millions of $US per day!

These pirates ply there goods all over KL. You can find them anywhere, but the problem is, prices vary...and unbelievably, so does quality.....you wouldn't expect this with pirated goods....the said good vary from: Music CD's to computer software, right up to the latest movie on DVD9. Some prices vary:

Music CD: RM 4
Software (on CD): RM 5
Software (on DVD): RM15
DVD Movies: RM8

But the idea here is that these items, cost the same, maybe a little more, than buying blank media.....and people love it. These pirates do a roaring trade...they are so busy sometimes, that there are queues around there make shift shop counters...that’s right, make shift. They don't need a well laid out, air-conditioned shop with advertising graphics and all that shit....these guys have a product and it sells. It sells because it is loads cheaper than the originals......

Now don't get me wrong, but I do think that piracy is wrong, it shouldn't be allowed (not that anyone is legally allowing it here) ....but it honestly is the only way people can actually afford anything that falls in this range of product. You may argue and say that people should save up and all that hoo haa, but come on, you wanna watch the latest flick, you wanna jam to the latest tunes and you wanna play the latest games on your PS2...or your XBOX or your Game Boy...and I am damn sure you aren't going to be able to afford RM200 for a PS2 game, when you can get it for RM4.

I read in the newspapers, quite regularly, that the "authorities" are going to clamp down on these illegal sellers.......so you get this idea that Malaysia is going to take a stand against this?? Sounds good, the pictures in the paper look good too, cops standing around looking their usual buff and very fit selves....in front of them on a table there is a whole bunch of DVD's...they made a difference and managed to close down one of the hundreds of stores, probably because the seller didn't get warned in time, or maybe because someone wasn't paid their protection dosh :(

This is the reality, it goes on like this...but the strangest part for me is when you go to shopping centre, like, lets say.... LOW YAT PLAZA in Bukit Bintang....you often see the DVD guy sitting in his normal place....then all of sudden he tells the customers to hurry up as he has to pack and go because the "authorities" are on their way....now this interesting to me:

1. How do they know the cops are coming? Psychic?
2. IF someone has warned them, then the cops need a better plan
3. if someone saw the cops, then the cops should use plain clothes...
and the list could go on.....

I reckon the cops are in on the deal, they make these surprise visits to show face and to show the businesses that the government is doing something to rid the economy of these pirates....ooohh well done bloody done, what a good little group of "authorities". But what pisses me off the most, if they are going to nail people for piracy, why the hell don't they nail everyone?? A fake Microsoft Windows CD, is just as bad as a Brokemyback in the Mountains DVD? Isn't it? I am sure Billy boy would agree?! So yes, the authorities should nail everyone equally, unless I am missing something! I am writing from experience, I have been there when one of these "raids"/"shows" takes place....lemme set the scene:

DVD guy sitting with wooden desk, with DVD's laying around
Behind DVD guy is Mr Soft with his fake software CD's displayed on a 5 meter wall area
In front of Mr DVD guy sits MR PS TOO and his mate MR XB OX
Next to MR PS TOO and MR XB OX is another MR Soft with the same setup

You get the idea.....but for some unknown reason, someone enlighten me if you know, the cops only nail the DVD guy? Maybe as I stay here longer I will figure out why? And when I find out why, I will let you all know!

But, here's a message to the big boys, that's you MR Billy Boy and Mr Movie Star, and MR MusicMan......why not try sell your stuff a little cheaper, so that it is available to everyone, not only the richies? hmmm, it is an idea, you could push more volumes with lower prices and maybe make more than if you sold one unit at your stupidly high prices....by doing this people wouldn't support the likes of DVD Guy...so think about it...if someone started, the rest are sure to follow...or are you all going to be pricks and keep ripping everyone off? If so, then go for it pirates........feel free to make our lives more enjoyable with some cheap entertainment!!

Oh yeah, and to the authorities, if you going to bring down the baddies, bring em all down.....and maybe if the government paid the cops more they wouldn't need to get "protection money" would they?

June, it's here already?

2006-06-21T20:40:00.000+08:00

I must admit, that I haven't updated my bloggie in a while....yes I am guilty....sentence me to a slow internet connection!! What’s that? There is no such thing as a slow connection in Malaysia?? Well not where I stay. Now, I don't really want to mention the name of the place that I stay in for fear that they might.....OH BUGGER IT. Here at Sunway they offer internet connection 24hrs a day.....what they don't tell you is, that it is damn slow, sometimes so bad that it totally disconnects....and guess I think I am the only bloody idiot that complains......

Now I am not sure if it is the language barrier (I didn't think there was one) but for some reason the people operating the telephones at TAJ 2. Yes, you read that properly, TAJ, as in TAJ MAHAL, they answer the phone by saying:

"TAJ 2 hello" And since I have arrived, I have never understood what the hell they are saying TAJ 2 for? I went outside had a look at the building, and blow me over if I was wrong, but this place looks nothing like the TAJ MAHAL, so how could they call it the TAJ 2?? Anyways, I eventually found out that "TAJ 2" was actually an attempt at saying "TOUCH 2"
Meaning: Touch button number 2 on your phone (the service number:2)

So after finding that out I felt like Einstein, except taller, and I haven't got as much hair as him.....but nonetheless, I proceeded to try explaining to them that the internet has a problem. But that turns into a 3 hour drama......gee wiz. Now I have decided that I will refrain from speaking at fast pace....and I am also trying to pronounce my words properly...well I always thought I did. After a long day at work, it gets quiet tense when you get these dof responses.....like did you plug in the cable....and did you click internet explorer......what do they think? I sit staring at the screen hoping the porn pages pop up? Just kidding, I use the internet for research....porn is bad and should be banned!!

I guess at this point the Hotel is seriously pissing me off, and I could go on for yonks complaining, but I won't!! Lucky you!

I was Ronaldo for a few minutes about two weeks ago....we had a futsal (indoor soccer) game for the guys in the office, it was fun until.........twist...creak...pop.....and there went my right ankle! No that kinda pain is not fun....so I was outta action for a week and a half....but slowly getting back into it and have started cycling in the gym at night....still sore, but I will get it right. I have to get it right...I have the Camerons Epic on the 1st July 2006.

Well peeps, this is it for now...I am off...and lets hope my Ma's move up to Pretoria goes well!!

Seeya's

Freaking French Renault Rubbish

2006-05-29T21:21:00.000+08:00

Hmmm, so yet another weekend flies by...yet another F1 race also flies by with the winner being Ren "O" again! Well done Fernando! Good race. Anyway to duck away from that glory I really wanted to voice my opinion on the Renault product itself. I had this encounter nearly 2 years ago when I bought a car, well that’s what they called it when the salesman showed me my test vehicle. Now, don't get me wrong, this little baby looked and felt absolutely awesome, the power was there and so was the styling, so of course being a hot blooded, racy little shite, I decided, this is the one. So of I went signed the papers and a few months later got the call to tell me that my car was ready. Ohh yeah, lumps and jumps in my tummy and heart....now I can really drive in style. So I thought....hmmmm lotsa thoughts for Saffa.

Walked into the garage, only to find that my car wasn't on the floor, upon asking where it was I was told that it was being filled up with fuel! Awesome I thought, this is gonna be a real blaster of day. So of I toddled, stood in the warm morning sun outside waiting for my beauty to arrive back. So in comes this Renault, at a speed might I say. The guy stops, jumps out and starts walking to the showroom with the Key Card (one of Renault's most terrible inventions), he see's me, not knowing I was the new owner and proudly tell's me that this car is, and I quote, "flipping zippy". Now, as a new buyer you don't really want to hear this..but being all excited I let is slide. Salesman comes to me and tells me that my car is ready....then he says that I just have to bring it back in about 3 weeks to get y door fixed. They dented the door on the ship....small dent, but dented nonetheless. I forced them to fix it that day and they did, not 100% but being the moron I am, well sometimes, only in certain situations, not all the time, well some would argue, anyway, back to the story. I let it slide, again. sheesh with all that sliding I should of opened a damn water, coulda made millions in "slides"...

So the car went fine for a while, then after about 3000km, I have a look at the floor on my garage floor, lo and behold someone must be using my garage during the day.....because there is no way my new Renault could be leaking oil, could it? Sure enough, it was my new Renault! My new Renault. My new Renault Megane. Your getting the idea right, the keyword here, being new, and yes that’s brand new. Of course I go into a flat spin, and head of to the dealer....they say the will take a look and of course I go in with them. So the guy checks it out and tells me, the gearbox is sweating. I think about this and even though it was a pretty hot I don't believe that a new cars gearbox needs to sweat. So he cleaned it all off and assured me that it wouldn't happen again. And yes, before you ask, the sliding affect took place again!

I left this and kept checking the car for leaks after that, and at around 6000km I noticed the oil was still sweating it's way outta the gearbox....so off it went back to the dealer, but this time I tried a different one, in case there other dealer wasn't "as well informed" as this one. They checked the car over a two day period and assured me that there wasn't anything wrong and they had tightened everything up. YES I LET IT SLIDE

I didn't bother checking for a while, until the car had some problems with the electronics failing, yes that’s right the electronics failed at around 7000km. This happened to happen at a crowded shopping centre, with me and my lady sitting in the hot car in the sweltering South African heat...oh, forgot to mention that since the electronics had failed, I was stuck in the car, couldn't open the lovely leather coated Renault doors. In South Africa, people have this ability to see people sitting in their cars in a crowded parking lot...now I had called Renault Assist and asked them to help out. They assured me they would call me back and that I should sit tight! So whilst sitting tight, literally tight, all the Saffa's are waiting for me to reverse out so they can take my parking. Since I wasn't moving, I was getting hooted at and trying to tell them that I wasn't leaving, you can just imagine....I wanted to get out the car and scream at these people, because by now the inside of the car was around 35 degrees, with me lady beginning to stress. Eventually the doors popped open and the car was drivable again.

So by 7000km I wanted to throw this car back at Renault! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that all this while I was fighting with Renault in Sandton's head office and telling them that I wanted my money back, or at least a new car. Of course they chuckled and didn't even entertain that idea. Instead, they simply quoted me the statement that "They reserve the right to repair the vehicle under warranty". Then when I heard that, I wanted to tell them that "I reserve the right to shove my foot up your......" But I kept my cool!

So I decided that I would book it in for them to check the electronics and also the gears, since they were sticking now and I was battling to get the car into gear sometimes! It went in and they assured me that they couldn't find anything wrong with the electronics and that they had tightened some loose gear linkages. So off I drove beleiving these swine’s once more! Guess I can be classed a moron for buying this hunk of junk!?

Next Day at the traffic light, in the rush hour traffic, my Renault decides to lose gears, I felt like a certain Red Bull driver on Sunday in Monaco! Hahaha. Not so funny though in rush hour traffic! So I had to slide the clutch in order to get the car to take, thanks heavens it was a 2 liter....the clutch started to stink, trying to pull off in the third gear is not easy, especially on a slight incline! So I ended up at the side of the road with a huge Renault Tow Truck, trying to put my piece of metal on the back! They ended up keeping my car for 3 days, trying to fix the problem...I got given a panel van to drive....not so good, I looked like an oversized postman pat!

Got the car back managed to drive it until the speedo cruise failed...yes, that’s right that failed and they had to have the car back for another 5 days while they waited for a part, which cost around R7000, lucky they were exercising their "reservation of the right to repair it under warranty" and I didn't have to foot the bill. All the time I had been sending email to their customer service and even there useless CEO--- he didn't even respond. Guess he had my money and had already bought his new Mercedes. ha-ha, can't quote me on that but I am pretty sure he wouldn't drive a shoddy Renault! The customer care kept responding with automated mails, I reckon they categorize their auto responses to the following structure:

The customer is a first time complainant - send friendly "we will look into your shite car problem" message

The customer is complaining again about the same problem - send another friendly mail assuring them that they are important and that Renault takes their concerns seriously? (Wouldn’t you expect that?)

The customer is threatening to the dealer's head off - Dear sir, we have contacted the branch concerned and assure you of our best interest at all times...blah blah blah blah f%cken blah!

So what I am saying is that they are useless when it comes to service! Apparently that part of selling a car didn't cross their minds, let alone any of their training courses. Which from their technical workmanship, none of them attended?

So the car ended up at that grease palace again and this time I was told the rear main seal needed to be replaced....oh yes, didn't they do that at the first garage, or somewhere along the line they did. Didn't mention that above, but they did. So this was the second seal to go in to stop the oil! Eeek.....at 11000km this is what you get when you buy a shite Renault! I can literally go on more than what I have already, but it is honestly not worth the web space!

I ended up getting rid of the car, just before 30 000km, the radiator at this stage had a crack and they replaced at that service interval........

So people please read this and take note that no matter how convincing the salesman is and no matter how sweet a deal he offers you....DON'T TRUST HIM/HER/IT, until you have checked out the car and done some research.

The best type of research I can tell you to do is start looking at consumer websites that tackles customer satisfaction. These websites usually yield the consumer problems that we are faced with everyday! These problems are not always publicly known, but that’s why I am telling you via my blog RENAULT is not a good brand to buy, in South Africa anyway, this from personal experience that I tell you this. There are many other unhappy people too, you can just check out my favorite consumer website:

www.hellopeter.co.za

Very useful and it covers most products as well as services in South Africa. So remember that in depth research is very important!

Good luck folks!

.............and a warning to Renault:

You're gonna get caught out one day....you're a bunch of liars and you sell shoddy products! And you're also a slippery bunch too.....hmm we heading back to the slide thing again...!!

So bugger you Renault and I hope that the fleas of a thousand camels infest your MANAGEMENTS ARMPITS!

Viva Schumi Viva! P.S Alonso you drive like a demon! You go boy!

FRIM - Wesak Day Ride

2006-05-12T17:21:00.000+08:00

Another great ride in Malaysia, that’s how I can sum up today’s ride. There was a good turnout and I met a few new guys, Jason x2, Justin, CenseSense, and Yish. Pleasure to meet you guys and great riding with you! Ride started off at about 8:30am and we headed straight into FRIM via the Guardhouse entrance, we paid our RM1 and we were off, passing by the walkers, crawlers, runners, cars, motorbikes, houses and all the other things you wouldn't think of finding in the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia! Hahaha, I am just being a prick again. But it is kind good to see so many other people out on a public holiday sweating it up in the forests...some decent eye candy too, but that’s not coming from me, Josh and the other guys made that comment, wasn't me, I never said that , just relaying information..... ;). The beginning part of the trails are pretty packed with the above mentioned exercise bunnies and so you have to respectful and give a warning that you are about to pass, it also required some extra consideration due to the puddles etc that covered our paths...we made sure not to splash anyone! I enjoyed this section as it was a good warm-up stretch with some short small climbs followed by some short descents. Ooooohh, speaking of descents, the last part of the first part (hmmmmm sounds weird hey?) is slippery to say the least. I was in the middle and came down this stretch by myself and I noticed immediately that this tarred/stoned section was dangerous, pull the rear disc and it already started to slip and slide so I took it easy since there were some more bunnies in front of me! When I got to the bottom we started chatting then we heard the slipping and sliding as Yish had managed to go lefty down this slippery section.....it wasn't pretty, blood, skin, thorns....and bunnies of course, but no bunnies were injured during the making of this casualty department photo shoot. Yish was up and running shortly, I mean up and riding shortly after this mishap and we were then on out way to the rest of FRIM. The next stretch was pretty fun as we headed up on a sort of fire road...Jeep track....I guess it could be called. Was nice with a few little climbs and eventually came out at a crossroads sort of section which ended up being the "toilet"...I heard that I may have been caught on camera whilst "researching" at FRIM...hmmmmmm, I sure hope that I don't see any visual evidence --hahahaha. It was then off onto a side little track that was made of a welcome downhill section with rocks and little pebbles etc....some green slimy rocks too...we followed this all the way down, this track ended in the direction of Jalan Hospital in SG Buloh, and at the end we simply turned around and headed back up the track that we so enjoyed bombing down!!! Argggghh, the first of many climbs had just hit us. So it back to the crossroad area and then onto a bigger hill, in fact one of the longest climbs I have done in Malaysia so far....Steroid Hill (now I wonder why they F%^&ing call it that?? No prizes for guessing right) this is a BIAAAATCH hill, but nevertheless we all made it up to the peak to have a look at the Mango tree, oh gees, a mango tree. I must confess, I didn't look at the Mango tree, there was talk of Hornets and after last week's HASH
I decided against offering myself to the Hornets gods again! So it was off down Steroid Hill.....FAST-FUN-FAB, that's my description of this downhill.....really great, even though I was getting sun burnt at all the exposed areas! We ended up at the bottom of he hill in no time and our next destination was the car park where we came up from....the rest of the ride was calm and we relaxed on the way back to the cars.....here are my GPS Stats:

Total Distance: 18.7km
Total Ride Time: 2hr10min
Breaks: 1hr36min
Max Speed: 51km/h
Start Altitude: 74.2m
Max Altitude: 307m

So overall it looked okay, except we need to cut out the breaks a bit more, but we must remember that we had to make sure everything was okay with Yish before we continued, so that was about 30 mins....not too bad considering his fall ---- ouch. We hope to see some pics soon! Thanks guys, had fun! G

Bangi Hash - 7 May 2006

2006-05-07T15:29:00.000+08:00

I really enjoyed this hash. Started out on time at 9:30 and surprisingly there wasn't as much mud as I thought there would be. The night before the ride was a wet one, a large amount of rain in a short time frame....so while I was lying in bed I was wondering to myself how I will get my bike back in the hotel AGAIN with half of Malaysia's mud on it. I found the site easily thanks to the Co Ordinates posted by Adil on the KLMBH Forum. Very accurate and I even got there early enough to be the second one there, I mustn't make this a habit...ruining my beauty sleep (and you know how I need that). Yeah, there was a big turnout, I am not sure of numbers but there were a lot of people. Even some new faces, that’s always great to see. I was looking forward to this ride and it makes a great break in a busy month. Ride was fun...nothing too hectic except the first part which consisted of the "Paper Trail Confusion" followed by some serious mud wall/ steep slope climbing..Not too much fun since the concept of biking usually involves actually riding the bike, but fun anyhow and made for some laughs especially when a wasp decided that my left temple was the place to park his sting. That really hurt and has left me with a numbing headache, I am sure I will be fine. The thing must have had a super long sting to penetrate my thick head. So yeah the ride was made up of a few slippery downhill’s....some grassy, bushy areas that were covered by trees and some muddy patches. The final part ran through some palm oil plantations. Over all the Long ride was about 17km. Not sure about the short ride, cos I did the long..makes sense doesn't it. I had a decent breakfast today so I was stronger than last weeks Mayday ride. I managed to track the route on my GPS so if anyone is interest in the track, then please comment that with your email and I can mail it to you. Oh yeah, must mention that I met three new people today.. Dirk from SA, Johan from Namibia and a "local Lady" - Rebecca who has the impression that us Fakawi's are a wild bunch or jungle monsters! Well we are, kinda, sorta, hmm maybe not....just jungle teddy bears :) Have a great week and you will hear from me soon.....P.S I attached a snapshot of the route!! G

8 Hour Kemensah Epic

2006-05-01T19:44:00.000+08:00

Well....this is a post to finish off a truly hectic epic day. Started off at 6:00am with the alarm clock, followed by a quick breakfast of Weet Bix and Raisins, which I would later regret. I picked up Joshie at his place at 6:45 and off we went to meet up with Long Con and Ong (Fakawichief) a the Zoo Negara where we would start out ride. The general layout of this ride took place over a jungle area with different areas being exposed as we ventured further in and deeper into the jungle. What is very interesting are the different types of trees you get as you go further and further into the jungle. Now all you SA boys, this is a real jungle..even with the threat of tigers!! Scary I know but we braved it for the sake of Going just over 22km in 8 hours. The beginning of the ride was very interesting and new for me, so I was looking around and taking as much in as was possible while Ong and the rest of the guys took photos. Just before the stop for some lunch Joshie managed to find every leech in Malaysia, in fact I think he found the breeding area for all leeches in the world. He had it so bad that they were even crawling in his belly button. From the shouts and all the salt getting thrown on I do believe that Joshie DOES NOT LIKE the little slimy buggers at all. They are pretty gross and they do cause lots of blood to flow but they are relatively easily removed and thrown on the ground. The only problem is that whilst you are picking them off, the new ones are busy climbing into/onto your shoes making their way up to some tasty blood. After the lunch break it was time to turn back. Since this is an IN OUT route we had to track back on our first route. It was at this point that I realized that I was absolutely stuffed, I started to lose energy and really battled along the route home, it was the least enjoyable part of the ride for me and honestly I can say that I need to get fitter. After discussions with the guys I also decided that what I had for breakfast was far too little. Over the entire ride was super great. I also managed to test the GPS, it went swimming and also gave great reception under the thick trees, I am really happy with that one. Well folks, I am off now as I am tired as hell, gonna go sleep. Till next time - Cheers

I did it, I got a Tat

2006-04-30T20:58:00.000+08:00

Well can you believe it? First it was the eyebrow ring about 5 years ago after I just got my first job.....but that didn't last because I just couldn't handle having this blooding thing above my eye. Every time I washed my face I would forget that it was there and oooppps with every upward wipe I almost ripped my left eyelid off, along with half my face, so that wasn't for me. After 4 months that one came out. Now I have moved onto something that I have always wanted ....... .... and I have it now. It was a great design that Tam did for me, she really is a talented young lady and will go a long way...woops, back to the blog entry -> So yeah I met up with a nice Chinese guy here in Summit shopping mall and he was willing to poke me full of holes and the fill them with ink that can never be removed and he was willing to do it for a good price so I was game :) I had never had a tattoo so the whole experience was quite a thing for me, most of the preparation was quite logical..clean the leg, shave the hair off...oh wait, I didn't mention that I was having the tattoo done on the right side of my calf, well that's the best place I reckon...now back to the story, dammit I keep drifting off....no wonder I got such shitty essay marks at school. So he started by shaving and cleaning it and then he basically copy and pasted the design onto my leg with some special carbon paper...and ink. Next stop was the little tattoo room behind the front desk. I checked this place out, it was clean, welcoming and it had really great scamps hanging off the walls, obviously of past customers tattoos. So I sat in the chair and watched as Simple Lim (the tattoo guy) prepared himself and his flesh stabbing, ink ripping, buzzing "art tool". We took out some clean needles and adjusted them to fit his machine, there were two guns, one was a fine detail version and the other was a "lets colour in the leg" gun. Very S&M looking in fact with wires hanging out running down to a DC power supply. Just before he starts he tells me to "Get leady for the pain"...and was he right! Freaking hell, it was sore, the worst part was the outline....that was worse than the shading...so if anyone tells you that tattoo's aren't sore, they are lying or they have a problem with there nervous system and they didn't have feeling in their tattoo are from the word go. I hung in there and the result was just great....a good job indeed and very professional...he stopped as soon as I whined :) The funniest part of this whole thing was the music and the sounds that I heard while I was getting inked. You must bear in mind that his wife and his two kids were in the back room of the shop..... The HIFI was on and it was playing some nice heavy rock music, so the whole scene was set..harcore music..getting a tattoo and I thought to myself, this is great, pretty awesome in fact....until the CD finished...then I heard the educational DVD in the back ground..it was teaching his kid to count or read or something but freaking hell what a put off and to top it all off, Simple was whistling along " 1,2,3,4.5,6,7,8 lalaaaalaalaaallaaa" I really thought I was going to smash that TV and then the kid started screaming for mama who was in the front with another canvas, I mean customer. So yeah......I had an eventful tattoo experience..and I can say for sure now.... IT WAS SORE , check it out 5mins after Simple Finished. If you want a nice tat and a good job give him a shout at Summit on the top floor near the billiards room...

My new Toy --> GPSMAP 60CSx

2006-04-30T12:18:00.000+08:00

I found a great website that provides free Malaysian and Singapore Garmin GPS maps for most Garmin products.

Free GPS Maps for Malaysia and Singapore

I have recently acquired a new GPSMAP 60CSx. It is a nice handheld GPS that has a new sensor for receiving signals in poor coverage areas, like jungle areas with overhead foliage cover as well as deep canyons.....I don't
suspect the deep canyons scenario will affect me at all, but the jungle theory is a good one. Most of the biking trails in Malaysia are found in the jungles and you can get lost easily....especially if you are a ferringi and you are new to the area!!

I haven't had a chance to test it yet but tomorrow I will take it along on our May Day ride. We will go for about a 5 hour ride so hopefully we can test it, get some good photos and
have a lotta fun. This same GPS costs about R6500 in South Africa. Managed to pick this one up for RM2500 which is about R4000. So not such a bad saving if you think about it, plus I need it to get around here, works a lot better than the car rental's map book. The map book is about 500 pages in total and is as thick ass the telephone directory for Gauteng. The best feature of the map book is that the spine life (you know, the part holding all the pages together) is about 2 and a half minutes. That's right, you open the book, search for your Jalan (Street in Bahasa Malayu) and as you are flipping through to page 386 and looking for section GH67 all the pages start to fall out and the spine disintegrates...then you get horribly lost and also realise that in Malaysia they aren't big on linking the off ramp of the freeway up with the on ramp on the other side. So the next step is to try and find an alternative route...this obviously becomes semi-impossible due to the fact that the first 385 pages are now lying around your foot well area of your car......so the bottom line is YOU GET LOST!!

My new GPS however solves this problem and it is working very very well. I just need to get a windscreen suction cup for it so I don't have to hold the GPS in my crotch area!! Must look quite funny driving along with my arm down in that area with me looking down all the time and "fiddling" there. I reckon they gonna arrest me for indecent acts in a public are whilst driving a rental car. Another great Feature of this GPS is that it is super Duper water resistant, well so they claim! It is rated as IEC 60529 IPX7. I looked this up and it has bugger all to do with the
International Electoral Committee :)- Seriously it means that this unit can be submerged for 30 minutes in no more than 1 meter of water. In the event that a boat sinks and you have your GPS this means that you have 30 minutes to get rescued or else your GPS is gonna be buggered. Hmmmmm, somehow I don't think you will really give a shit about your GPS if you are in the sea and you don't have a boat anymore! Well I hope the link is useful and I will post some feedback on how useful the GPS was in the jungle tomorrow!

G's New Blog

2006-04-30T10:11:00.000+08:00

Good morning and welcome to the new Saffa_G Blog! That’s right another blog...from another South African......but not living in SA. I am staying in a great place at the moment, it is hot, fresh, weird smelling and cheap and that’s just the food....Kuala Lumpur is a bustling city with lots of things to do to keep you busy...and of course empty your wallet. What is strange though is that things are so much cheaper than in good old South Africa. It seems that we just enjoy being ripped off back at home. Obviously the economies are very different and the tax, but still it really does hurt to pay so much for things in SA. I guess as long as everyone keeps buying them and doesn't boycott products then the manufacturers and the resellers will continue in the current trend of ripping all consumers off ;)

So yeah, you guessed it, I am living and working Malaysia, not based in KL, but in a state called Selangor and the town is called Bandar Sunway....lovely place with many Mountain Biking Trails nearby. Malaysia is a very humid and hot place and mostly experiences some countries annual rainfall every afternoon in a space of about 3 hours...crazy I know, but it doesn't seem to phase the locals...they just carry on as normal, if you can call it normal. 4 people sharing a motorbike? Father in the front, 4 year old brother behind him, 5 year old sister behind the brother and the mother at the back....all this on a 125cc Kriss Motorbike that looks like it was designed in the late 70's. The best part is that the old man still thinks he is Valentino Rossi and he takes corners like him too. But don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, just trying to paint the picture for you.....keep checking the blog as I will update it whenever I get a chance. Cheers for now G