Second around the world tour.
"I shipped to Singapore this time because the shipping itself was dirt cheap but we knew this would be offset by the mandatory insurance (70$ for one week) and the port charges (100$) and a trip to the Singapore AA to organize everything before release of the Bike. Luckily, we were given a ERP machine by the local maddogs which is required while in Singapore. The radar-looking contraption is mounted on the handlebars and deducts money as you pass under the tolls. We decided to take our chances without it as the maddogs thought maybe you can use the tollways during certain hours without one. Ully and I crossed Singapore without incident.... probably the most civilized driving I've seen in years!
After four crossings of SE Asia, I finally found my favorite runs in Malaysia and Thailand! We were in the Cameron Highlands and we heard about a new highway that still had a couple of unfinished sections with dirt detours around them. It was the perfect two-wheeled adventure; a virtually deserted four-lane highway with perfect pavement, long mountainous sweepers going up and down under a canopy of rainforest trees of 200 feet plus height. The solitude and the views were so outstanding that I went back to make another run a week later.
Malaysian tea plantation.
This same section that descends West into Ipoh was closed due to avalanches so I descended off the other side, traveling East and crossing Peninsular Malaysia at it's widest point. The East Side was just as dramatic and I stopped several times to swim in rain forest rivers.
The Southern Part of SE Asia receives two seasonal monsoons instead of the single Southwest Monsoon further North, so this run was no different than all the others: I got drenched all the way to the Coast and into Kota Bahru! The yearly Muslim traditional observation of Ramadan was in full swing so many places to eat/drink were closed until six o'clock. And on four occasions I had the bad fortune to bed down on mattresses riddled with bed bugs. I spent the next week walking around soaked to the bone, looking for food and scratching the many red marks all over my body! Most mornings I awoke to find blood splotches all over the sheets. More later about the great runs in Thailand that I found..."
quotation: www.horizonsunlimited.com/newsletter/2004-03.shtml
