Team Mate - Kaiser Chiefs

I went back and re-read the very first blog entry... so in the spirit of the premiere meanderings, I present thee:

Slurpee of the Day: Vodka and Red Flavour, its my new favourite!

Movie of the Day: Goal 2: Living the Dream

Music of the Day: Has it changed in the last four months really, four months of non-stop play? No its still LCD Soundsystem, the new album is Brilliant!!!

Thought of the Day: Volleyball: If they definition of a back and forth play between the two opposing teams is called a rally...why isn't the game called Ralleyball....Discuss.

Music Is My Radar - Blur

So besides the animals what else was memorable about the bike tour...

Well to begin with, I'm gonna have to say the flat tires. Considering I got 4 of them in the first 20km of the trip!! Beginning with the one I changed the night before the trip I had to change a tube roughly every 5km, which put a serious damper on the start of my adventure. With no idea why I was perpetually flat, even after checking over everything, I managed to coast into the first major town and find a bike shop. After taking one look at my tire and handful of ruptured rubber in my hands the tech had a solution...my tubes undersized for the tire and weight I was carrying. These undersized tubes were the ones supplied to me by the bike company with the intention that I was to be cycling across Africa...I think someone dropped the ball on that one.

After replenishing my supply of spare tubes I was back on the saddle and pedaling with a vengeance to make up for all the lost time from that morning. Only problem was pedaling through the interior mountains during the middle of the day in the heat. In face the thermometer on my bike hit 40+ mark as I sailed along the asphalt on my 20km/hour pace. At one point I pulled into a roadside rest stop and walked up to the girl dripping with sweat and ordered a coke, a root beer, and an orange soda...then had to persuade the girl to give me all three at the same time, then she watched as I downed all three like I was doing shots at the bar. Thats the best part of cycle touring, you eat and drink all you want and never be full.

The worst part was sleeping at night in the tent, it was unbearably hot, I think I prefer the old method, throw a tarp on the ground and lay down. But the showers were much better this time around, at least one night when I slept in a police compound in the middle of nowhere. They even let me use the garden hose to shower, while all the cops kids crowded around giggling. Good thing I kept my shorts on...I don't think it would have been to good a place to be experimenting with indecent exposure!

And then there was the music...the music got me through it all, the heat, the flat tires, the ignorant islams waving me the finger trying to swear in English, the wonderful muslims buying me drinks and giving me fruit, the sunsets on the beach, the monkey attacks. Its always the music.

The Beast and the Dragon - Spoon

First I lay down news like that and then I disappear again, what the H?

Well most of you know, I usually have at least 2 or 3 projects on the go at all times to keep my mind entertained. Over the last month I have had absolutely nothing to do, and it was driving me mad...oh god...I just choked on a swig of milk and coughed it all over the computer screen...

Back...well after spending a week or so taking care of all the details needed for my Singapore employment pass I finally found myself in a position to do waste some time and leave the country for a bit, but with little money and lots of time I had very limited options. This is where the bicycle comes into play. Time for Malaysia Tour 2007, two years after the first.

Same route as last time, although this time I cycled through the mountains that we skipped our last time out. And instead of cycling all the way north, I only made it part way up the coast before meeting some friends on the beaches...so really, not at all the same route as last time.

The wildlife this time seemed to be much more abundant, here is a list of my experiences:
a) monkeys...monkeys everywhere, I was rushed by monekys not once, but twice for filming the baby. I even had three at one time try to surround me. I found that hissing at them with teeth bared and flinging your leg around like a tasered methhead works well at scaring them off.

b) squirrels...both of the giant black racoon size kind and the flying variety

c) flying foxes...or nasty rodent bats with wings the size of mini hang gliders.

d) monitor lizards...I almost ran over the tail one of these three foot long beasts as it scampered out in front of my bicycle.

e) and finally the baboon or other baboon like monkey! This thing was massive, I passed it as I flew down a hill and passed it as it sat along a riverbank just in front of the tree line. And after hearing stories of baboon behaviour and previous primate encounters...I decided to go back. To be safe, I got my camera out and decided to try and fire off shots as I slowly cycled past in case the thing decided to charge. Funny thing was when I whizzed by on my bike the thing didn't move, but when I slowly went by at first notice it jumped back and stared my down from the trees. That was my cue to leave.