Americans find a Hidden Beach in Malaysia. Then they Ride a MOTORCYCLE through the WAVES šŸ‡²šŸ‡¾ [SE E36]

Previously on ā€œTwo Up and Overloadedā€ – It was our first day on the road in East Malaysia,Ā  making our way across the huge state of SarawakĀ Ā  on a small and squished motorcycle, aĀ  KTM 250 Adventure that we had rented. This new motorcycle we had, it hadĀ  power, it had suspension, it’s KTM,Ā Ā 

So we felt at home, but it was squished. Not theĀ  motorcycle itself, but cramped this way. Us on it.Ā Ā  And I didn’t have a top box on it, but our luggageĀ  situation solely consisted of the back bag,Ā Ā  a tank bag, and our backpacks which we alwaysĀ  ride with. And even with that,Ā Ā 

It was quite squished. My backpack was like wayĀ  up high, and I was feeling very uncomfortable. As we settled in for the night into theĀ  town of Sibu, we knew that if we wereĀ Ā  going to be traveling every day for a monthĀ  on this motorcycle, something had to change.

This is the story of us transitioningĀ Ā  from being overloaded to slightlyĀ  minimalistic. Minimalistic plus. Hi! You’re so sweet. Hey everyone! Nice to have you here. We areĀ  Tim, and Marisa Notier. I ride in the front.Ā Ā 

And I’m in the rear. We travel the world andĀ  we pack too much gear. Oh, all the places we’llĀ Ā  go! Through rain and through sleet and throughĀ  mud and through snow. Oh, all the things we’llĀ Ā 

See! We’ve been to a country or two. Or three!Ā  Oh, all the fun we’ve had! To have you along,Ā Ā  would make us real glad. So give us a like, andĀ  hit subscribe to join us along our epic ride. [This episode is dedicated to our Virtual Support Vehicle Patrons.]

[Join for as little as $1 a month. See link in the description below.] [Southeast Asia Journey – Day 117] So we stayed at this really niceĀ  hotel that night, but it had oneĀ Ā  weird quirky thing about it—the window. It hadĀ  a window, which was great. It let in light,Ā Ā 

But it faced this concrete wall right there.Ā  It had to have been an addition atĀ Ā  some point because we were definitely lookingĀ  out at what used to be its roof. Good morning,Ā Ā  everyone. We are once again getting on the road onĀ  our KTM 250, heading to Brunei. We’re not going toĀ Ā 

Quite get there yet, it’s still going to be a longĀ  day with a lot of miles. This is a huge island,Ā Ā  but we’re going to get that much closer toĀ  Brunei, which is really, really exciting. Oh, the view from our window is amazing. OhĀ  my goodness! Wow. Mold spores! Mold spores.Ā Ā 

Oh my God, The Last of Us. We are in The LastĀ  of Us. Yeah, but it was a very good hotel,Ā Ā  a very good hotel room. We got lots of rest,Ā  which we really needed after, you know,Ā Ā 

After you haven’t been riding for a long timeĀ  and then you start riding again, it’s a littleĀ Ā  bit rough that first day. You need toĀ  get back in the saddle, your butt needs to kind ofĀ Ā 

Adjust itself. So that was a problem. But theĀ  biggest problem that we had is that we are very,Ā Ā  very squished on this motorcycle. And it’s mostlyĀ  because all of our luggage is in the back bag,Ā Ā 

So it’s like huge, and the way the rack is,Ā  it’s way up high so it pushes me forward. So today we’ve been trying to pack it so thatĀ  it is not as pushed forward, and I’m takingĀ Ā  some stuff out of my backpack. We’reĀ  trying to experiment here to make sure thatĀ Ā 

It’s just a little bit more comfortable because IĀ  was squished. So we’ll see if that works today.Ā Ā  For us to both be comfortable, I had to try toĀ  shimmy the back bag back a little bit further.Ā Ā 

Okay, so this is what we’ve come up with for theĀ  back bag. We want it to be as far back as possibleĀ Ā  so that my backpack and my back isn’t hittingĀ  it way up here. So Tim did a really good job ofĀ Ā 

Pushing everything back. But the other thing wasĀ  there are these little bags on top of the backĀ Ā  bag that we use, one for our shoes and one for ourĀ  rain gear. And so you were genius-ly able to kindĀ Ā 

Of push them on the back end of the back bag soĀ  that I had more space for myself and my backpack.Ā Ā  The backpack on her back was going smack againstĀ  the back bag, so I moved the shoe bag to the backĀ Ā 

Of the back bag so that her back wouldn’t go smack…Ā  In the back. In the back. So that’s that. Alright,Ā Ā  we’re going to go. But again, there was notĀ  a lot of like places to grab from. Yeah,Ā Ā 

This just had like a sport bike tail stickingĀ  up in the sky with nothing to tie it down to. YouĀ Ā  didn’t tie it to the muffler? I didn’t tie it to…Ā  You know, I could have tied it to the wheel,Ā Ā 

But that wouldn’t have worked for very long.Ā  With elastic, it’d be perfect. That’s true.Ā Ā  With enough elastic… You’re on to something. That’sĀ  why I bring her along. So much better! I have so much room now! But once I gotĀ  on the motorcycle, I immediately felt lessĀ Ā 

Squished and much better. But our luggage setupĀ  problems on this motorcycle were far from over. So much better with this back bag with allĀ  the things kind of pushed back. Good. ItĀ Ā  feels really good. I had more room because Marisa had more room,Ā  so the trio of man, woman, and machine were quiteĀ Ā  happy. Yes! We passed this cool Chinese templeĀ  thing on the right. It was huge. It did lookĀ Ā 

Really cool. Yeah, but there was no U-turn placeĀ  to get back to it, and we’d had such aĀ Ā  long day the day before. I didn’t really feelĀ  like making a bunch of pit stops. Mental noteĀ Ā 

To maybe on the way back if I saw it, we’d pullĀ  in there. I also noticed as we were going alongĀ Ā  that we were passing these very modern-styleĀ  long houses. It’s almost like motels…Ā  But permanently lived in. Yeah, apartments,Ā  sometimes on stilts. But the main thing about itĀ Ā 

Is you have just one long structure, usually madeĀ  out of concrete but occasionally you’ll see someĀ Ā  wood involved, and it’ll just be rows of doorsĀ  leading to the separate individual apartments. And I get your motel analogy now. Yeah.Ā  Like the ground level, one floor. Yeah.Ā Ā 

But raised up. Yes, and this is based offĀ  of the long houses that the indigenousĀ Ā  people of Borneo would build. So they’re justĀ  taking that idea, which is a great concept ofĀ Ā  communal living with your own private spaceĀ  as well, and applying it to the modern world. [Bintulu – Malaysia]

In the town of Bintulu, we madeĀ  a lunch stop at just a randomĀ Ā  place that we found. No sugar. [Kopi kosong.] No sugar, no milk. [Tidak gula.] Saya tidak mau kopi. [I don’t want coffee.] Hello! What’s your name, my friend? My name’sĀ  Scott. Scott. Hey, it’s a good name. Tim.Ā Ā 

Gosh, everyone here is so friendly. We’veĀ  been experiencing this all throughoutĀ Ā  Indonesia and then here in East MalaysiaĀ  as well. But people are just great. TheyĀ Ā  all want to say hi. Yeah, big smiles. Yeah.Ā  All right. We’re getting some mee goreng. No,Ā Ā 

It’s bihoon, which is tiny noodles fried withĀ  chicken. Oh, they have dumplings? Oh,Ā Ā  they have bao. Maybe I’ll get some of thatĀ  too. Yeah. So they had these little foodĀ Ā  items called ā€œpao.ā€ I had known themĀ  more as like baozi in Chinese. Um,Ā Ā 

They’re like steamed buns. Yeah, go with steamedĀ  bread, not “food item.” We ate a “food item.” All right, so this is pau. Do youĀ  remember what it means? Uh, satchel.Ā Ā  Yes. Apparently, pau means satchel, whichĀ  makes sense. And it’s a steamed bread withĀ Ā 

Wonderful things on the inside. And thisĀ  one is sweet barbecue chicken. But yeah,Ā Ā  baozi is what they’re called. They’re steamed buns,Ā  and they usually have, hopefully, if you’re lucky,Ā Ā  you find one with some like barbecue chicken.Ā  Yeah. Or some other stuff. MajorityĀ Ā 

Of them are like bean paste, which is not… AĀ  sweet version. Not necessarily good… It’s good.Ā Ā  Yeah, Great Brittish Baking Show is like, “Oh…”Ā  “Mung bean paste, again!” This part… not as flavorful. But when we went back to the motorcycle afterĀ  lunch, we saw that the Mosko Moto bag wasĀ Ā 

Kind of drooping to one side. AndĀ  again, just the tilt of the motorcycle,Ā Ā  even with our little block, we needed a bigger block toĀ  put the kickstand on. And then we needed a betterĀ Ā  way of tying the bag to theĀ  motorcycle so it wouldn’t droop over. Yeah,Ā Ā 

And the other thing is that back bag is nice andĀ  wide. It’s really our only luggage. We have to fitĀ Ā  everything in there. So that’s great. But theĀ  little tiny rack is like this wide. So you’reĀ Ā 

Bouncing this whole wide thing on something likeĀ  this. And it’s just bound to fall to either side.Ā Ā  So my brain, I like to think of potentialĀ  solutions. We just needed a better base toĀ Ā  put the bag somewhere to give Marisa the room toĀ  make sure the bag was stable, and all that goodness.Ā Ā 

As we went along towards the town of Miri, we didĀ  hit some inevitable Southeast Asian rainstorms. I saw that we were right on the coastĀ  and the ocean… I didn’t know what ocean it was,Ā Ā  it was like right there somewhere.Ā  I saw a little road that lookedĀ Ā 

All beat up and nasty going to theĀ  left towards the ocean, and by God,Ā Ā  I take every little beat up nasty road that looksĀ  like it potentially goes to the ocean. And we did. And we bumped down this little sandy knollĀ  ridge from where the asphalt turned intoĀ Ā 

Sand, and skidded our way to… the what ocean? You’reĀ  the nerd. The South China Sea! South China Sea. [Kampung Beraya Beach – 4.2086Ė™ North 113.8950Ė™ East] Wow. I got down to where the water compactedĀ  the sand, and it was firm, and IĀ Ā 

Wanted to ride up and down the beach with theĀ  beautiful sun setting. And IĀ Ā  love riding on beaches. It was smooth riding.Ā  Yeah, we had a little photo shoot with nature. That is amazing. That’s a very cool picture. Stay right there. Ah, where we were loving it! It was amazing.Ā Ā  All right, so we made it to one of the Seas,Ā  we’re not even sure. Yeah, I don’t knowĀ  if it’s the South China Sea or what,Ā Ā  but this is a beautiful beautiful beach. Yeah.

And this beach, there was nobody there!Ā  Yeah. Nobody! I rented it for you,Ā Ā  I didn’t want to say anything. ThereĀ  were no structures, there was no nothing.Ā Ā  And it was pristine and perfect,Ā  and it was just us and the crabs.Ā Ā 

And we’re on a rent’s motorcycle, so you know IĀ  was riding in the… the surf. It wasĀ Ā  awesome. So we want to dedicate this beach ridingĀ  experience that we had to Emmaus Moto Tours. Emmaus Moto Tours takes people on the BDRs, whichĀ  are the Backcountry Discovery routes. They’re someĀ Ā 

Of the best roads in the United States. TheyĀ  are incredible riding experiences, and you getĀ Ā  a lovely tour so you won’t get lost. ThisĀ  was our own BDR, this was our Beach DiscoveryĀ Ā  Route, and the first time we had been offroad on ourĀ  KTM. Yes! Emmaus Moto Tours does a great jobĀ Ā 

Of guiding you, bringing you to amazing places.Ā  So be sure to check out EmmausMotoTours.com andĀ Ā  check out their whole lineup of all the BDRsĀ  they offer. It’s a guaranteed fabulous time. Good job! Whoo-hoo! And as we were pulling into Miri, this townĀ  is kind of like a beach resort area. A lotĀ Ā 

Of people come over from the nearby country ofĀ  Brunei, and so it had all these lovely housesĀ Ā  along the sea. And the sun was settingĀ  right behind the waves. It was gorgeous. We’re off to dinner. So that night, we hadĀ  our dinner and went back to the hotel andĀ Ā 

Went to sleep dreaming of that wonderfulĀ beach. [no motorcycle parking] Next time on two up and overloaded,Ā Ā  we visit the bizarre and mysteriousĀ  country of Brunei and come right upĀ Ā  to the golden gates of one of the richestĀ  men on Earth. There’s a guy right here,Ā Ā 

Can we just take a picture? And also,Ā  I make a very serious riding mistake. Usually, I’m the one to make mistakes. That should beĀ  my line. But that’s all in the next episode.Ā Ā  So we hope that you enjoyed this episode, andĀ  if you did, please give us a thumbs up and hitĀ Ā 

That subscribe bell below. Ding ding. I don’t knowĀ  next line. And we’ll see you next time. Yeah. AndĀ Ā  we’ll see you next time. And if you want to sportĀ  some of your own two up and overloaded gear, we doĀ Ā 

Have a couple of shirts, we got some stickers. WeĀ  have books, we have a whole plethora of adventureĀ Ā  motorcycle-related stuff. And it’s not just two upĀ  and overloaded merchandise. We also sell t-shirtsĀ Ā  that have some other really cool slogans. So checkĀ  it out at www.twoupandoverloaded.com/shop Indeed.

And we’ll leave a link in the description below.Ā  So thanks for all the support out there, guys,Ā Ā  and we can’t wait to see you next time.Ā  Bye! Peace. But that back bag is heavy,Ā Ā  and you’re the one who always has toĀ  carry it up the floors. Because of these guys.Ā Ā 

They know why out there. Someone’s TV screen justĀ  cracked, couldn’t handle it. Put those away. Gosh…Ā Ā  Any motel though, I think that theĀ  Malaysian community are far less likely toĀ Ā  have crime and annoyance and…Ā  Way more karaoke machines though. Oh my God,Ā Ā 

I don’t know what would be worse. Wow, blew myĀ  mind. It’s got to be karaoke every night in oneĀ Ā  of the rooms at least of those long houses. Yeah.Ā 

We came to East Malaysia to find hidden gems, but we didn’t think we’d stumble upon this beautiful beach on our second day on the road.

A secluded paradise at sunset – just for us. Is Malaysia truly heaven on earth? After watching our experience on this beach, you can decide for yourself… šŸ˜‰

šŸŽ™ļøPodcast version of this video – https://www.buzzsprout.com/2165278/14038546

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48 Comments

  1. It's just superb, right?! I did a very similar exhilarating ride along the beach right at the gigi air (literal translation: water teeth, actual meaning: the brim of the seawater, as the waves hit the sandy beach) on the very wide, very flat, and very even pantai trombol (trombol beach) in kuching a few years ago, but not on a motorbike.
    Felt so good, and watching back the video of the experience, the wide flat golden sands, the occasional splashing of the water from the tyres, the rolling waves, the open south china sea, the vast blue sky, the scattered white clouds, and the distant mountains… It felt majestic!
    Oh man, you two lovebirds have reached the tiny city of miri! I am currently in miri! Man, I could have taken you two to dinner, or breakfast, or both!
    After brunei are you guys going to sabah? Or you can go to the duty free island of labuan first, from muara at the northeast tip of brunei, using the car ferry which you must book in advance, then from labuan ferry terminal take another car ferry to menumbok in sabah, about 150 km from kk (kota kinabalu). On labuan island, go to anjung ketam for crabs so fresh their flesh are so sweet and firm! šŸ˜‹

  2. Hello friends,
    You still look very cramped.
    Is there any room under the rack to strap your shoes and small bags?

    I hope that being cramped doesn't affect the handling of the bike.

    Feel free to ignore my paternal worrying!

    Take care.

  3. Salty KTM… they must love you guys! I'm quite suprised you'd ride in the sea on any bike tbh. I guess you must have your reasons.

  4. To stabilise the rear bag fix one or two pieces of wood ( branches, bamboo, whatever) across the small rear carrier before mounting the bagšŸ•Š

  5. Thank you Tim and Marisa. Here we are in Clermont, FL and we can’t see you this year but we are with you guys in spirit. -Pete & Lisa

  6. You should stay until the 14th January, to see the royal wedding of prince Mateen. There will be procession on that day throughout the city.(correct me with the date if I'm wrong)

  7. Happy nue year campers ..get some zip tai and thin bamboo and extend your carrier for your backpacks more comfort .

  8. The correct way to eat a PAU is

    1. Peel off the bottom paper (not eat it)

    2. Peel the skin on the PAU

    3. Then consume the PAU which is white.

    Many varieties of pau, the baked ones(siew pau), chicken , pork, vege, red beans, lotus paste(loved this), peanuts, etc etc

  9. It's would be more better and got more space if Tim use to hangout his backpack on his chest. Not in between yours..
    Have a nice trips you guy's.. ā¤ā¤ā¤

  10. I'm US born citizen, been here most of the time. There are a lot of hidden places of nature here in Malaysia that are worth to visit.

  11. Safe Travels you guys….Also be careful with The Storm and Heavy Downpour….they’re No Joke ..again Be Careful 🤘

  12. all beaches a long Sarawak really great. Only the problem was we don't know where salt water crocodiles will appear. So better safe than sorry.

  13. Great video. You two are great also. Please drive safely. I always keep my high beam on during the day. The idea is to be noticed by other drivers.

  14. I always enjoyed my many stays in Miri. We had an office there and also in Brunei. I always stayed in Miri and just traveled to Brunei for my meetings there and came back. I remember my first trip there and how surprised I was at that beautiful City. Cheers, and Ride On!

  15. Thanks for another fun video. Watching here in Connecticut, while I drink my coffee and watch it snow. Peace.

  16. boss.. don't you want to go to Sabah.. there are many beautiful beaches.. go up Mount Kinabalu.. lots of seafood..

  17. Glad you both enjoy yr journey around sarawak, miri is one of the small city found in sarawak, located alongside the seaside, along the coastal area, thankyou for sharing yr video.

  18. I think i saw both of you ride that ktm bike in miri, but i was forget when the date was. Anyway ride safe! Hopefully next time we can meet. šŸ¤™šŸ»

  19. Excellent!
    Riding on the beach two up and overloaded style.
    I'm glad you found a way to make more room.
    Did you try running the big back fore & aft and have Marissa sit on it?
    She would have a great view!
    Ride on!

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