1st to 10th of November - Phuket, Hat Yai, Penang, KL, Melaka
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1st of November – Phuket to Hat Yai, ~500km
The first 150km went fast, then I heard that my bike got louder. I lost the sealing and the carbon cover at the end my exhauster. The titanium end cover (inner part) was still there but it had two cracks. In Trang I stopped at a car mechanic shop and they took me to a shop which was specialized on exhausters. They thought of welding the whole thing (but Titanium?) but I wanted some taping with fireproof tape or similar. So, they took me to the next shop which did customized Harley bikes. There I met Erwin from Belgium who stays already since 10 years in Thailand. Fireproof tape, not a thing easy to get here and the mechanic fixed it with two rivets. We had a nice chat but I had to leave. I started towards Hat Yai and after another 70km the thing really went wild, sooo loud. I lost the complete end part of the silencer. Embarrassing!
However, I reached Hat Yai as loud as I was and only with one minor shower. When I was in my room I heard heavy rain on the roof. Hat Yai is somehow like remote China…there are some bigger hotels like Novotel, Regency etc. but the rest is Chinese though the people speak Thai. I tried to find a nice restaurant and failed, after 2 rounds around the block I landed in the shopping mall in Sizzlers, food ranking medium to bad. After that I tried to find some Wifi Spot and I found a Pub…after 10min Karaoke started…no peace here. The next day anyway I wanted to leave towards Malaysia.
2nd of November – Hat Yai to Penang (also Pulau Pinang = palm island), 225km
With my “exorbitant loud motorbike” a made may way out of Hat Yai. 50km to the border... (in Sadao you have to hold your breath, coz all the cattle transports from Thailand to Malaysia go through here and one can smell the fear of the livestock on their last travel) ...and then it came, nobody stopped me until I was at the Malay control post. The officer told me that I need to get a stamp – yep, that’s what I thought of but where…against all traffic rules I went through no man’s land back to Thailand and got finally my stamps. If I wouldn’t have asked, ran around and insisted on the Thai side of the border…funny.
In Malaysia I saw quite a lot of local motor bikers (I mean, big bikes how they call it in Asia; Kawasaki, BMW…all nice and shiny, one can use the varnish as a mirror for a good shave:-)
At the 2nd toll box I had learned already how it should work:-) For bikers no toll to be paid and there is a special (narrow) lane on the left side which entry you should not miss. Of course the first time I missed it (maybe I was too fast??:-) so, I had to go back 200m back against the traffic...huuhuu.
Later on the highway two Kawasaki drivers overtook me and made their way through the cars overtaking left, right, right, left…I was a bit tired and meanwhile also deaf from my missing silencer, so I made a small hunt on them:-) I found my way more on the left side between the cars and it seemed I had the better eyes, I overtook them just before I had to leave the highway towards Georgetown. Jaja, men’s fun. :-)) I found the KTM shop right away and I met Philipp from Germany who is the technical director there. This world is small.
Pulau Pinang
mystic light over Georgetown
tja, after all this work at KTM... we had to go for a drink :-)
Still in Georgetown, Mews Cafe:
my bike and the "freak bike"...I shouldn't say this because it belongs to the shaman who consecrated the house/property the day before. They built a new house for the house angel (red, on the right hand side)
And actually this was the only cafe in Georgetown in which the WiFi connection worked constantly. In all other cafes it broke down frequently and the excuse was "the internet doesn't work because of rain". Hmm...never heard this before.
6th of November – Penang to Kuala Lumpur, 370km
Lots of rain and I was totally soaked when I reached KL.
even though it lost its title of the once highest building in the world already long time ago it is still one of the most impressive ones: Petronas Twin Towers in KL
9th of November – KL to Melaka, 250km
back in the desert? No, Golden coast beach on the way to Port Dickson
Palms, wherever you look. And then I saw the first aircraft above the palms: of course, I was right under the entry lane of KLIA ...how many times I landed here in the past and now I am here with a motorbike...that moment impressed even myself:-))
Oil industry in Port Dickson
nice, colorful houses at the road to Melaka
fancy..? yes, but also the price: they charge 40RM per hour; equals to 10Euro
After I asked around in the small harbour and in nearby travel agencies + something which looked like a forwarder I had to believe that the thread I read in "horizons unlimited" was really outdated. It said there 2006 but I couldn't find any better information.
So, no way to ship my motorbike from here to Sumatra/ Indonesia.
The first 150km went fast, then I heard that my bike got louder. I lost the sealing and the carbon cover at the end my exhauster. The titanium end cover (inner part) was still there but it had two cracks. In Trang I stopped at a car mechanic shop and they took me to a shop which was specialized on exhausters. They thought of welding the whole thing (but Titanium?) but I wanted some taping with fireproof tape or similar. So, they took me to the next shop which did customized Harley bikes. There I met Erwin from Belgium who stays already since 10 years in Thailand. Fireproof tape, not a thing easy to get here and the mechanic fixed it with two rivets. We had a nice chat but I had to leave. I started towards Hat Yai and after another 70km the thing really went wild, sooo loud. I lost the complete end part of the silencer. Embarrassing!
However, I reached Hat Yai as loud as I was and only with one minor shower. When I was in my room I heard heavy rain on the roof. Hat Yai is somehow like remote China…there are some bigger hotels like Novotel, Regency etc. but the rest is Chinese though the people speak Thai. I tried to find a nice restaurant and failed, after 2 rounds around the block I landed in the shopping mall in Sizzlers, food ranking medium to bad. After that I tried to find some Wifi Spot and I found a Pub…after 10min Karaoke started…no peace here. The next day anyway I wanted to leave towards Malaysia.
2nd of November – Hat Yai to Penang (also Pulau Pinang = palm island), 225km
With my “exorbitant loud motorbike” a made may way out of Hat Yai. 50km to the border... (in Sadao you have to hold your breath, coz all the cattle transports from Thailand to Malaysia go through here and one can smell the fear of the livestock on their last travel) ...and then it came, nobody stopped me until I was at the Malay control post. The officer told me that I need to get a stamp – yep, that’s what I thought of but where…against all traffic rules I went through no man’s land back to Thailand and got finally my stamps. If I wouldn’t have asked, ran around and insisted on the Thai side of the border…funny.
In Malaysia I saw quite a lot of local motor bikers (I mean, big bikes how they call it in Asia; Kawasaki, BMW…all nice and shiny, one can use the varnish as a mirror for a good shave:-)
At the 2nd toll box I had learned already how it should work:-) For bikers no toll to be paid and there is a special (narrow) lane on the left side which entry you should not miss. Of course the first time I missed it (maybe I was too fast??:-) so, I had to go back 200m back against the traffic...huuhuu.
Later on the highway two Kawasaki drivers overtook me and made their way through the cars overtaking left, right, right, left…I was a bit tired and meanwhile also deaf from my missing silencer, so I made a small hunt on them:-) I found my way more on the left side between the cars and it seemed I had the better eyes, I overtook them just before I had to leave the highway towards Georgetown. Jaja, men’s fun. :-)) I found the KTM shop right away and I met Philipp from Germany who is the technical director there. This world is small.
Pulau Pinang
mystic light over Georgetown
tja, after all this work at KTM... we had to go for a drink :-)
Still in Georgetown, Mews Cafe:
my bike and the "freak bike"...I shouldn't say this because it belongs to the shaman who consecrated the house/property the day before. They built a new house for the house angel (red, on the right hand side)
And actually this was the only cafe in Georgetown in which the WiFi connection worked constantly. In all other cafes it broke down frequently and the excuse was "the internet doesn't work because of rain". Hmm...never heard this before.
6th of November – Penang to Kuala Lumpur, 370km
Lots of rain and I was totally soaked when I reached KL.
even though it lost its title of the once highest building in the world already long time ago it is still one of the most impressive ones: Petronas Twin Towers in KL
9th of November – KL to Melaka, 250km
back in the desert? No, Golden coast beach on the way to Port Dickson
Palms, wherever you look. And then I saw the first aircraft above the palms: of course, I was right under the entry lane of KLIA ...how many times I landed here in the past and now I am here with a motorbike...that moment impressed even myself:-))
Oil industry in Port Dickson
nice, colorful houses at the road to Melaka
fancy..? yes, but also the price: they charge 40RM per hour; equals to 10Euro
After I asked around in the small harbour and in nearby travel agencies + something which looked like a forwarder I had to believe that the thread I read in "horizons unlimited" was really outdated. It said there 2006 but I couldn't find any better information.
So, no way to ship my motorbike from here to Sumatra/ Indonesia.
