Riding 2Up

Riding2up News Update, Sunday 7/12/2008

We're writing this update from Pascal's iPaq connected to WiFi in the comfort of our room in Tanah Rata a small tourist centre in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia. Apologies if there are typos or missing text...

The first day on the road

Well it felt like a long time coming, and even though we have managed to fit in a lot over the past couple of weeks, there is nothing quite like hopping back on the bike and going for a spin, which is exactly what it felt like -
except that we're in Maaysia!!

Before setting of on our first day of riding we were sent off by all the wedding guests staying at our hotel in KL, the obligatory photos, some video footage and a couple of small wheelies along the hotel driveway to mark our
departure. It was a relatively hassle free ride along the A-road highway (not the boring freeway where you don't see
anything) for about 200kms and a quick roadside lunch stop in Bidor before heading up the mountain road to Tanah Rata. Malaysian drivers have an annoying and sometimes dangerous habit of cutting corners and running wide,
this isn't such a problem as most of them drive quite slowly, give way to other trafic and have well maintained vehicles (ie. Good brakes) which won't be the case for other countries we'll be travelling through. Best to keep
our wits about us and that's the main reason for not wanting to ride too far today, even just 200kms on unfamiliar roads can be very fatiguing.

It truly felt great to hit the road and have the importation all behind us now (even if it isn't the last of the red tape it's a start - only 24 more countries to go). I think that the reality of the dream has now started to set in as we come
to terms with the idiosyncrasies of travelling on the road.

Best Regards,

Pascal & Arja

Sent 2 Dec 2009

Riding2update - Malaysia

 Waiting for Francois

Our motorcycle has been blocked by the Thai airport blockade which while it sounds strange is in a way a lesson for us. It has meant we've already had to get help from several locals and have visited places we most likely wouldn't have seen with Francois. The delay was due to the air freight originally having an itinerary for Francois (BMW R1200GS) flying by Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur and with the blockade a change in plans was needed. This took some time to convince Australian customs but with the right people on the case we've hopefully managed to secure him passage tonight on a Malaysian airways flight. All going well with customs in Malaysia we should be able to pick him up, unpack him and ride off tomorrow or Thursday.

With Francois being delayed for over a week we've finally got the good news just yesterday that he will be arriving in KL late tonight for us to collect him from customs either tomorrow or Thursday.

  Riding2up on the Wireless with 2RRR - again

That's right, were back on the wireless with 2RRR next Tuesday early evening from 5-6pm with Rob from RideRage Radio. Tune in to 88.5FMon your way home from work as we talk about our motivations trip preparations and our imminent departure on November 25.

Best Regards,

Pascal & Arja

© Copyright 2008-2011 Riding2up.net. All Rights Reserved.