Leaving and Malaysia

The coach to Paris was pretty amazing. There was nearly a riot getting on in London since they decided to try to cram 2 coach loads of people onto one.

Then it turned out that the seats had 0 inches of leg room (not an exaggeration. I still can't feel my knees.) After 10 minutes in one of those I was actually looking forward to the economy class plane seat.

Later we spent a fairly serious amount of time lost and stuck very late at night, on a very large coach, on the very small streets of a housing estate somewhere on the outskirts of Gillingham.

At Dover the coach in front of us managed to crash into the immigration building.

Then there was the ferry. It left at 1am-ish and I foolishly thought it would be a very quiet journey. Not so. There were approximately 150,000 people on it, 149,000 of them were German teenagers wearing "I heart London" hoodies.

Eventually we got to Charles De Gaulle.

I learnt a bit of French at school and am very overconfident in my own abilities.

Check-in Girl: Bonjour.
Me: Bounjor.
CiG: Combien de sacs avez-vous?
M: Deux
CiG: ????? ?? ????? ?? ??? ????? ??? ???? ??????? ???? ?????
M:
CiG:
M:
CiG (best condescending voice): Would you rather speak English?
M: Yes, please.

Then I sort of slightly forgot a little bit that the clocks are different in France so I nearly missed the plane because I was in McDonalds thinking I still had an hour before the gate opened.

But we got there in the end. To make up for the lack of space on the coach I managed to blag a front row seat for the first flight and an entire row for the second. Score.

I arrived early on Saturday morning giving me 2 days to sleep off the jet lag.

First thing Monday morning I ran down to Sunny Cycles, who had been looking after the Tranny while I was away, excited to finally be reunited with him/her/it.

It was closed. Monday was a public holiday in KL. Fail.

First thing Tuesday morning I ran down to Sunny Cycles, who had been looking after the Tranny while I was away, excited to finally be reunited with him/her/it.

It took 2 days of work but the bike was brought back to life. 2 new tyres, new brakes, probably some other stuff as well.

The hotel I was staying in was a fair distance out of the city centre and away from public transport. That meant that when I was without the bike I didn't do much because I couldn't face the heat. But I chose it specifically for the parking. Can you get much more secure that guarded by a tank?

After I had said goodbye to friends I was able to leave.

It was great to be back riding again. While I was in the UK I had bought another bike, a massive 1200cc sports bike - pretty different to the Tranny. Although I think I prefer the Tranny, not out of sentimentalism or because of its raw power, but just because it actually works. I only rode the Bandit maybe 4 or 5 times because it was in a constant state of broken. I say that I had a Bandit, but really it was more that the garage had a Bandit.

I went up to Bukit Fraser, not far from KL. There isn't much there but the ride up was great through the mountains. A bit wobbly, I've sort of forgotten how to ride in all this time. Too much luggage, I seem to have acquired more somehow.

At the top I met 3 guys from KL, Atoks, Fitri and Shuhe on a weekend ride around. We were heading the same direction so teamed up and ended up in Cameron Highlands for the night. A place I've been to many times in the past and despite the commercialisation I still love it partly for the climate but mostly for the endless tea plantations.

After breakfast of nasi lemak and chicken tea we all said goodbye, they headed back to KL and I went towards Penang.

The road out of the mountains was fantastic. There was a giant group of bikers pulled up by the side of the road at one point. I waved going past and not 10 minutes later every single one of them raced past me. Even the 2up GS. Slightly embarrassing.

And then there was the first run in with the satnav. I knew it wouldn't be long. I went miles and miles in the wrong direction only to find the road that the magical Garmin was insisting I take actually doesn't exist. Then I nearly ran out of fuel.

Lee Moustache provided some welcome entertainment.

The woman at the ferry shouted at me because I can't read signs.

At the hotel in Penang I met up with Ingo, a German on a Tenere and 2 Kiwi cyclists. I went to Penang to find a guy that might be able to help with shipping in a few months time. When I arrived I couldn't be bothered so I drank beer and slept instead. After a few days of doing little and being delayed due to the rain I took off in the general direction of Thailand.