20090316 Vafa is where?
Due to a staff error at Emirates my crate containing Vafa arrived this day in Kuala Lumpur one day earlier than I expected and way before the 20th when I planned to check it out of customs. So the next few days are spent wondering how much the storage charges will be while organizing my personal things before leaving Sharjah and flying to Malaysia. Mainly this involved going through the stuff I am carrying and trying to persuade Stephan to have much of it. I leave behind various things I have picked up along the way including: no fewer than 5 extra t-shirts, an emergency blanket, a portable cooker, a couple of books, my three legged stool, a g-clamp, a car-tune up kit, a mini-voltmeter and more stuff I care not to name.
20090319 Malaysia!
N3.14416 E101.67074 Bukit Bandaraya, Kuala Lumpur
Being time-rich cash-poor, I had booked the cheapest flight so unlike Vafa I end up flying from Dubai to Kuala Lumpur via Jakarta taking nearly 12 hours instead of the 6 hours Vafa takes.
Kuala Lumpur seems smart clean and very modern with high speed smooth trains, WiMax being rolled out across the city and an impressive airport. As I look out of the KLIA Express train that glides me into the heart of the city I see lots of palm oil trees and much greenery, a real treat compared with dusty Dubai and India. But when the station doors open I am hit by a wall of humidity and heat.
David Tucker, a fellow VFR Forum member, had been very supportative of my trip to SE Asia and had kindly offered to host me for a few days while I got Vafa out of customs and also to allow Abi to arrive and get used to the time zone and weather. Luckily Dave had his air-conditioning on full in the car as we drive back from the central station to his pleasant house in Bukit Bandaraya, while he explains to me some of the idiosyncrasies of Malaysia. I marvel at a sign showing a motorcycle, a letter P for parking and an umbrella with rain on it. This I am told is where I should park if a storm hits whilst out riding for the rain will be very heavy and the roads dangerous. The significant size of the storm drains scare me even more about the possible rain.
With three bikes in the drive way, of which one - Dave’s VFR, is being worked, on suggests a perfect place for me to putting my feet down for a few days and bring my VFR back to tip top condition ready to explore Malaysia and Thailand with Abi.
20090320 De-crating
Dave had not only taken the day off work but had also arranged a truck to bring my crate home to his house so I could unpack my bike and build her up slowly. We arrive at the Kuala Lumpur Airport Services, KLAS, building (N02.73628, E101.71702) around 10 and a little after 12.30pm are on the road home with Vafa following behind on the truck. All it took to extract the crate was a signature from the shipper, me, payment of the storage charges (about £50) and for the customs guy to check the chassis number against the carnet. Amazingly not only did the customs guy know what a carnet was, there was a sign indicating which inspector dealt with carnets and there was no inspection charge. Further more he was most pleasant and happy to wait while I tried in vain to negotiate the storage charges down because of the Vafa being sent a day early.
At Dave’s I made a mistake of kneeling down on the truck’s metal loading floor, I jumped to my feet like a fly landing on the hot plate of a cooker as my knees burnt on the truck’s floor due to the power of the sun out here. Even after only 20 minutes in the sun the black seat of the bike was very hot to the touch I am hoping Abi has an asbestos seat lining in her new bike gear.
The rest of the day was spent in motorcycle zen as I slowly worked through servicing and assembling Vafa. Giving her new brake seals through out, an oil change, new spark plugs, pulling the front leaking fork of to take to a bike garage to rebuld and refitting all the bits I removed to get her in the crate. Actually it took more than 3 half days to do this lot as I found the heat tiring and the sweat dripping into my eyes did not help.
Amudha, Dave’s wife, returns from her business week away in Singapore and I learn they have been married just over a year and Dave is applying for his permanent residence. The enthusiasm and delight he has for Malaysia is very evident and together they have brought a plot of land on the east coast to build a retirement home for Dave has no intention to return to the UK with its cold weather and high cost of living and most of all the lack of wonderful, cheap and safe food to eat everywhere. To prove this we go out to a Chinese having visited an Indian the night before. This time I pay and the tasty meal of 4 dishes each plus numerous soft drinks costs less than £3/ head. This was my first Chrysanthemum tea, quite a delight but I have yet to take it in that the locals have a very sweet tooth and everything comes with lots of sugar.
20090321 Shocking news
Dave’s local bike shop happens to be the well renown, to motorcycle over-landers at least,
Sunny Cycles ( N3.17943 E101.70113). Sunny warns me against what I plan to do, namely replace the fork stanchion, bush, seals and oil in one fork leg only, but I persuade him to do so as having brought all the parts and carried them from my last UK visit I am keen to proceed to resolve the front end oil leak. In agreement though I do buy more fork oil so back at Dave’s I can at least make sure the same quality and quantity of oil is in both fork legs.
The last time I stripped the forks, I was grunting and swearing for some time as I tried to separate the stanchion from the fork tube. So I was rather impressed with Sunny’s son who quickly strips the leg pulling it apart as if it is a cheap Christmas cracker.
Dave and I then spend 2,3 4 hours working on our bikes - the time passes so quick in motorcycle zen that I had really know idea how long we were in the ’zone’. With the front end reassembled, the fork oil changed, the brake bled I began to move towards the rear of the bike and only then did I realize what the liquid on the floor of the crate delivery truck was. For the second time on the trip the rear shock seals had blown. A quick call to Sunny’s and a new one from Thailand was ordered but it will take a week to arrive and so will delay mine and Abi’s departure, a shame as Abi only has 4 weeks here in which to explore Malaysia and Thailand.
As the local food is so good and so cheap we again go out to eat, the norm it seems, this time to a Malayian restaurant. Before going to a supermarket for supplies. I am quite taken back to see there is a special section of the shop dedicated to non-halla produce even with it’s own till and big signs requesting shoppers not to take this meat, even though it is fully sealed, to the regular tills so that the Muslim cashiers avoid seeing/touching it.
20090322 Taffy’s racing team
After another morning of VFR work Dave and I go to a local car show to meet his mates who will be coming along with us to the big Thai bike show we are planning to see in early April. Roy and Kelvin have their own classic car race team, Taffy’s racing team. The show is small but neat with quite a variety of classic cars from British E-types to American Thunderbirds. But what surprises me more is the fans spraying water onto the crowd to keep them cool. The local girls dress in Western outfits but with head scarves tied tight to their heads.
The local night market is in full swing as Dave and I go about sampling the satay and spring rolls with what feels like after India, gay abandon, as I never would touch anything from a street vendor in India.
20090323 Arrival of the remaining member of the ViewFromTheSaddle road crew
After a heavy morning trying to finish the servicing, I take the train back to the airport to meet Abi. Going early as the weather looks bad and Dave warns me people will leave work early as the roads will jam when the rain starts. Finally she comes through into the arrivals lounge ready for action as she is dressed in new lightweight motorbike trousers to keep her packing smaller.
In the taxi back we catch up, while watching an ever darkening sky and lighting shooting over head expecting the heavy rain to hit at any moment though in the end it did not catch us.