Malaysia

Malaysia

The drive to the border was sunny and dry - just as well as our kit hadn't fully dried from yesterday. Border formalities were surprisingly swift. We simply drove across the Thai border - no hassle whatsoever - and then a brief passport check at a toll booth and we were in Malaysia! We could have just driven straight on but Goose took the precaution of checking out what insurance we needed. The bike was registered - for free - in a matter of minutes and third party insurance issued. And that was it!

Slightly bowled over by the efficiency of it all we set out on wide, smooth roads lined with more petrol stations than cars. The sudden transition to the truly modern world was accompanied by an obvious change in dress code. We were back in a Muslim country and although Malaysia has a diverse society and is very tolerant of different cultures, the majority of women were wearing head scarves.

Melaka

We spent the first few days in the city of Melaka, about 150ks south of Kuala Lumpur. This is a port town with a strong Dutch and Portuguese influence. We wandered round the antique shops of the old Chinese quarter admiring the ornate architecture, sat by the river listening to a very out-of-tune band sing European hits from the 70s and 80s, visited the maritime museum, ate Satay, got lost in the new shopping centre (the Malaysians love shopping centres), took a cyclo round what is left of the old fort (not much) and generally soaked up the atmosphere of this quirky town.

Melaka is also home to one of the most ridiculous forms of transport we have seen. The simplest way to describe it is a cyclo with fairy lights but actually this three-wheeled contraption is so over-decorated that you would be embarrassed to sit in it. The basic cyclo is transformed into a golden chariot using what looks like old Christmas decorations. Add to this flashing lights, furry seats, feathers and - just in case you hadn't spotted them already - a loud bell and you have the ultimate babe-magnet! Needless to say we stuck to slightly more conventional forms of transport. But it did make for an amusing site - especially when you get a coach party travelling in convoy!

Kuala Lumpur

We had arrived just in time for the Malaysian Moto-GP and headed to Sepang, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur to watch the rare spectacle of Max Biaggi beat Valentino Rossi to the podium. It was a fairly gripping race - even though Goose had to give me a quick introduction to some of the riders I was less familiar with. We left with ears ringing and arms full of motorsports merchandise.

Our Asian trip finished in Kuala Lumpur from where we were shipping the bike to Australia. We had thought of travelling down to Singapore but news from other bikers warned us about paperwork and tax hassles getting the bike across the border - coupled with the fact that Goose had heard from more than one (male) traveller that Singapore was just a glorified shopping centre with expensive beer - enough to put him off completely! So we looked, instead, at sending the bike from Malaysia. Surprisingly it was cheaper to ship the bike to Perth than to Darwin - presumably because it is a busier port. The bike would take two weeks to get there.

In the meantime we had a few days to kill in Kuala Lumpur before our flight to Perth. With the bike packed up and ready to go we had time to do a bit of sightseeing. A visit to the KL Planetarium proved to be more fun than we had imagined. The observatory has impressive views over the city; an amusing 3D 'Alien Adventure' left us feeling slightly seasick; the exhibits were informative even though they could do with a little modernisation. And then there's this room, deceptively built at an angle, and with nothing in it except a stream of water which appears to be running uphill. Leaning up against one of the walls, the angle of the room is soon forgotten as the brain adjusts but the moment you try and walk gravity takes hold - resulting in a sense of complete disorientation and some hilariously silly walks! We never established what exactly this room was supposed to demonstrate but it was highly entertaining!

We spent a couple of afternoons wandering round the Petronas Twin Tower shopping complex - a particularly impressive piece of architecture. A tour takes you only as far as the 42nd floor but you still get a good view of the city and this is the floor with the bridge between the two towers - and from where Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones dangled precariously in the film 'Entrapment'.

We then took a day trip to Gombak Park - rainforest and waterfalls - and the impressive Batu Caves and Temple just outside Kuala Lumpur. Our driver finished the day by taking us out to Kuala Selangor to see the Fire Flies. This is an after-dark event and starts from a small pier at Kampung Kuantan. We sat in a wooden boat and were rowed up the river in the moonlight - an enjoyable experience in itself. As the night closed in, the mangrove trees on either side of the river lit up like Christmas trees with the flashing glow of the Kelip Kelip (or Fire Fly). Even with a full moon this made an impressive display. Away from the noise and lights of the city it was a pleasant way to spend an evening - listening to the sounds of the river and watching Fire Flies having an evening chat.

Our last night in Kuala Lumpur we took a speedy lift up the Menara Telecom Tower to its revolving restaurant (or as our taxi driver put it - the removing restaurant!) where we did some serious damage to our diets and our budget!

Leaving Asia

The following day we flew from Kuala Lumpur to Bandar Seri Begawan (the Capitol of Brunei) which the citizens of Brunei have sensibly shortened to BSB. There we had a one-night stop over and lots of good intentions to get up early and explore the city before our midday flight. As it was we over-slept and all we saw of this very smart looking town was a quick glimpse of its new Mosque as we drove out to the airport - with the taxi radio bizarrely tuned in to Chris Tarrant on London's Capital Radio.

Eight hours and a couple of movies later we were crossing our final border!

Photographs

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