Kruzer | 24 Mar 2012: Kruzer AGM @ Tanjung Sutera

It is always a challenge to write up on a place which I’ve been to before. After all, everything about the destination is familiar – from the pool, to the food, to the spectacular sea view that takes your breath away. It is as if you are reliving an experience that’s been extracted from the intricate crevices of your mind.

Such is Kruzer’s AGM trip to Tanjung Sutera. Located just 100+ kilometers away, Tanjung Sutera resort is one of Kruzer’s favorite locations to unwind, chill, and relaxation.

And although it is a familiar place to many, there are some things in this trip that are different from the previous – like 3 new friendships that we’ve made, and an Annual General Meeting that was held in a spacious hall.. with our bikes!

Arriving just slightly before the meet up time at 7am, I was delighted to catch some sunrise while waiting for the rest to arrive.

The other early birds took this opportunity to catch up, check their bikes, and attend to some trip administrative matters like signing of the indemnity forms and receiving their info tags.

More bikes arrived as time passed

At about 7:50am, our pre-trip briefing began. As usual, Isaac gave us some advise about the waypoints and riding etiquettes.

As mentioned earlier, Tanjung Sutera is one of Kruzer’s favorite destinations, which explains the large crowd of kruzers who signed up for this trip.

Minutes later, we headed off to our next destination – breakfast!

By the way, there’s something about this picture that I like. Perhaps the misty view, bare roads, and the verdant slopes by the side make it look as if we are off to a mystical land.

CY waves to the camera

Usually for me, one very effective way to stay awake on a bike trip is to keep myself occupied, like practicing my photography on interesting subjects or other riders.

Kruzer crowd posing for the camera at a traffic junction

After riding through several trunk roads and squeezing through the morning traffic, we finally made it to our breakfast destination at Kiang Kee Bak Kut Teh.

Well known by the locals and other Bak Kut Teh aficionados, Kiang Kee Bak Kut Teh is an unassuming eatery that is located along one of the dusty roads of Kota Tinggi. With such fame locally and in Singapore, it is no wonder that the place is crowded even at 10am when we arrived!

However, I personally thought wasn’t as good as the one we had at Wing Kee, which located further up at Northwest at Rawang. The soup base wasn’t as herbal, and there wasn’t as many side dishes. More importantly, the ambience at Wing Kee Bak Kut Teh is air conditioned and provides a more cooling and comfortable environment for riders like us, who battle the raging heat of the sun when riding in the day.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not being atas (malay meaning for being ‘higher up’, and has the connotation of being snobbish). But which would you prefer? Having your meals in an air-conditioned place, or swatting flies and eating in the sun as beads of perspiration tickle down your forehead?

Kruzers enjoying their first sumptuous meal of the day

If you don’t know already, Kruzers have a big appetite and are passionate about food. Combine that with hunger and the watchful eyes of people who were standing around and waiting for a seat, we quickly finished our breakfast and made our way to our final destination.

What comes after breakfast, is a ride through more trunk roads, followed by a short rest-stop and photo-taking session at this bridge.

Sean, immersing himself to the surreality of the peaceful river

.. and others, who were engaged in (what looks like some serious) conversations

Having had enough rest and photos taken, Isaac signaled for us to move off. And since we were a stone’s throw from the resort, we arrived at our destination in about 15 minutes or so.

The hall that’s transformed into a makeshift bike parking-cum-AGM meeting place

Upon arrival, look what greeted us? Neatly arranged tables and chairs for our Annual General Meeting in the afternoon! Kudos to the resort owner for his nice gesture and effort.

Shortly after we parked our bikes and took out our luggages from the bikes, Jocelyne gave out our room keys, and we took no hesitation to go to our rooms, change into our casual beachwear, and head down to the resort’s cafeteria to mingle over our drinks.

By the way, I’m not sure if you can see, but in the picture above, some of us looks like we are having a beer-y blissful moment. Haha!

While the rest were happily chatting, I went to put my camera into good use.

Here’s the splendid sea view from the resort. The calmness and vastness of the waters just adds to the tranquility of the place, and what’s probably missing is a hammock, a book, and a cup of coffee.

The little suite beneath the look-out platform sure does look like a room with a view

The gentle sea breeze puts Richard into sleep

Apart from the stunning sea view, what I like about this place is their pool. It might look like an ordinary pool – perhaps less fancy and smaller in size – but try dipping in this pool and looking out to the sea. That’s just pure relaxation.

That aside, this pool is where Kruzers have helluva fun! From water guns to life buoys, we definitely know how to have a wild wild wet! time.

But before an afternoon of pool fun and drinks begin, Isaac decided to have the Annual General Meeting first.

Seating in a classroom arrangement with our bikes and having our AGM in a foreign land (for the first time), we Kruzers sure know how to rock an AGM meeting!

By the time we ended the meeting, it was lunch time. So we headed back to the cafeteria where a spread of local delights await.

Disconnected from technology and surrounded by nature, leisure activities are limited to sleeping, reading, and swimming. But with more than 10 Kruzers armed with water guns and heading to the pool, you know that we have a different definition of swimming, and that some very serious water battle is going to happen.

Zack, taking some pool action

Boys and toys

Jo, caught in the line of fire. I mean water.

The boys’ common target for the day: CY!

Unless you’ve got a waterproof watch, it is hard to tell what time is it, and how long we’ve been in the pool. But our marvelous bodies do know how to drop 1 or 2 signs to get us out of the pool: Shriveled skin and a hungry stomach.

Which is why Jocelyne ordered 30 donuts.

Anyway, these sweet, soft, and delicious balls of dough is (also) one of the things that I like about this resort. SERIOUSLY, THESE DONUTS ARE GOOD.

In a blink of an eye, the afternoon was gone and dinner soon approached. While waiting for our food to be ready, Jocelyne distributed the postcards for us to write.

By the way, I’m not sure if I’ve explained before but if I haven’t, these postcards serve as a memorabilia to those that join Kruzer trips.

Meanwhile, more chatter and banter continued

Alas! The smell of barbecued seafood and grilled meat filled the air at about 7:30pm. Judging from the long queue at the buffet counter, a lot of us must be famished from waiting.

Shortly after dinner, while the rest were having their drinks and busy with conversations, Jocelyne sneaked into the kitchen to prepare a birthday surprise.. with cupcakes!

Lionel gives Jocelyne a hand, and probably spreading cream cheese icing for the first time

The final product, with rainbow sprinkles sprinkled by yours truly. As to why the cupcakes are irregularly shaped, I’ll leave Jocelyne to give you an animated and amusing explanation. He He!

After all the preparation, we walked out of the kitchen quietly and approached our birthday girl – Racheal. You should have seen her surprised and oh-I-can’t-believe-this-is-happening look! Needless to say, the atmosphere evolved to one that’s filled with the singings of a slightly out-of-tune Happy Birthday song, and lots of clapping. Happy Birthday Racheal!