Quit our jobs, sold our home and everything in it, gone riding...

[Lightcycle]

From talking to my relatives, this heat wave is not usual weather for Malaysia, even at this time of year. They've been hoping for precipitation for a few weeks now, which reminds us that although we've been very hot and sticky, we really haven't ridden through a lot of rain in the last 5 months. I can count the number of times we've had to don our rainsuits on one hand while in SE Asia.

Very un-RideDOT.com. After almost two years of riding underneath a constant rain cloud across Central/South America and Europe, have we finally turned the page on our streak?

We celebrate a successful laundry run with some Murtabak and Nasi Lemak and more Mee Goreng

So happy we are staying across the street from a hawker centre. It's like being in Wonderland, walking from stall to stall and picking what we want to eat everyday. Murtabak is roti that's stuffed with meat. Nasi lemak is fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaves. All food from my childhood.

Start off every morning with a shot of liquid sugar: Teh Tarik

Malaysia has been all about the food for me. I remember when we met up with our friend Marco in Portugal when he was visiting his home country, he was eating all of his childhood favorites non-stop. I couldn't believe the amount of food that he was putting away the time, but now I know exactly what he was doing... Culinary nostalgia.

 

[Lightcycle]

Today, we're on a bit of a road trip, heading south out of Kuala Lumpur to visit a couple of sites. First on the list:

Sepang International Circuit!

It's only about 45 minutes away from KL on the highway. The site of some amazing motorcycle (and car) battles over the years. It's unfortunate that we are not here when there's a MotoGP race on. And we're about a month early for the Superbike races. Still, it was interesting riding the circumference of the facility and seeing the famous grandstand and track in person. In my mind, I'm replaying that epic clash between Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez late last year!

We tried to get onto the track with our bikes but we were turned away by security...

Had to visit it like normal people do "Don't you know who we are?!?"

They had a small museum with a MotoGP sign, but there were no motorcycles there, just cars. Boring.

 

[Lightcycle]

We didn't ride all the way to Sepang just to see an empty racetrack though. One of my family's enterprises is soya sauce production. My cousin who runs the operations offered to take us on a tour of the new facilities and it's right next to the racetrack!

So we ride over there for a tour and some family history

My great-grandfather, who founded the sauce factory back in 1910

My great-grandfather came to Malaysia from China at the turn of the last century. The first wave of Chinese who arrived here were traders that came in through the shipping ports in Penang and Mallaca in the 1500s. My great-grandfather was part of the second wave of Chinese that started to arrive from the mid-1800s. They came to mine the rich deposits of tin found around Kuala Lumpur. He invested in a tin mine and also started the Yuen Chun sauce factory in KL in 1910.

Tin-mining in Malaysia was a booming industry all the way to the 1980s. But due to depletion and high mining costs, that industry has tapered off quite significantly. In 1979, Malaysia accounted for 31% of the world's tin output. Today, virtually no tin is exported out of Malaysia.

The original sauce factory is in KL, but my cousin moved the bulk of the operations to Sepang

He showed us all the different stages of how to make soya sauce. From cooking the beans, to fermenting them, then creating the brine, all on such a massive scale! It can take several months to brew the highest quality batch of soya sauce.

While the sauce business is good in Malaysia, the plans are to court more overseas customers, offering to re-brand our soy sauce as well as other products like oyster sauce, chili sauce, etc. The Sepang facility is state-of-the-art (and secret so I wasn't allowed to take any pictures , and is a great showcase for attracting an international audience. He showed me the skids full of Yuen Chun products that were re-labelled with the names of some pretty well-known western retailers. Impressive!

Thanking my cousin Choong-San for the tour and then off into the sweaty weather back to KL

I've picked up tidbits of our family history from my dad over the years, but talking to my cousins in Malaysia has revealed much more background into who my ancestors were, their personalities and the old family dynamics. It was like hearing gossip from over a hundred years ago! So interesting!

 

[Lightcycle]

Back in KL, a more personal piece of my history - my childhood home

When we were booking our hotel, I tried to find a place that was close to my childhood home. So we are actually staying less than a km away from where I grew up. One day, we rode up to the old house and I peered through the gate to see if there was anything that I remembered. It was exciting to be here, but the past is so vague for me -- I think I left too young.

The only vivid memory I have of the outside is rollerskating on that driveway. I was maybe only 6 or 7 years old, so I wasn't allowed out on the street, but I remember tottering around in that small area behind the gate. And the rollerskates weren't even proper rollerskates. They were these clunky metal clogs with four wheels on the bottom that you strapped onto the bottom of your shoes!

Well, now I'm back here on a different set of wheels!!! Surreal!

I didn't want to ring the doorbell, because I had no idea who the current occupants were. But after talking to my cousins, they informed me that my dad sold the place to his aunt, and she still lived there! My grand-aunt probably has no idea who I am, but one of my cousins offered to introduce us and take us inside for a tour!

Cool!

My cousin Tanya introduces me to my dad's aunt, current occupant of my childhood home

I remember a lot more of the inside. Over the years I've told Neda so many stories of my childhood and now finally I was showing her where all those events happened. Curiously, they were all stories about me getting in trouble, breaking stuff and hurting myself: "And over there's where I sliced my finger open while climbing that fence like a little monkey". "I broke the family TV when I was climbing that wall unit... like a little monkey". I did a lot of climbing when I was a kid...

We've visited Croatia so often and Neda's shown me so much of her youth while we've been over there. It felt really satisfying to be able to show her a bit of my past in person. I've come to understand so much more about her from meeting her family and seeing where and how she grew up. It was important for me to share the same thing with her.

 

[Lightcycle]

A little bit of culture: we visited a batik gallery in town

Batik is the traditional fabric art of Malaysia. It's cloth that's been patterned with a wax outline and then painted with dyes so the colours remain inside the waxed outline. When the wax is washed off, the borders reveal the bare fabric underneath giving it its distinct look.

Yellow outline is the wax. When you paint inside the lines, you can bleed the colours without worrying that the paint will run outside the lines

Batik can be made from cotton or silk, and the painted fabric is be primarily used for baju (clothing) like shirts, blouses, headscarves and sarongs. My mom had batik fabric covering her furniture, and you can make curtains or tablecloths from it as well.

The gallery had a workshop where you could make your own batik patterns. Neda signs up!

 

[Lightcycle]

The gallery doesn't want you take pictures of their products (they want you to buy them instead), but we were allowed to take pictures of other customers artwork:

These prints were still drying, so the wax outline is still intact

After the wax is washed away, this is what it looks like

Mass-produced batik utilizes a copper stencil called a "tjap" to apply the wax (inset), but the true artisans paint the pattern by hand using a tool called a "tjanting" or "chanting" like the label on this one says. It's a pen that uses a reservoir of hot wax to draw the outline. Very time-consuming though!

Neda really enjoyed her art project! Nice batik apron, by the way

While I've had the blog and photography to occupy my spare time, over the last few years, Neda has had very little creative outlet aside from her cross-stitching. She really took to batik painting and the results look fantastic!

We picked up her batik the next day after the wax was washed off. Awesome!

 

[Lightcycle]

To celebrate her batik, we went to Satay City, Malaysia...

Just like many regions are known for certain kinds of cuisine, like Assam Laksa in Penang, the city of Kajang just south of KL is known as Satay City. I remember as a kid, my dad would drive out to Kajang with my little brother and I for a satay lunch. My eyes would bulge seeing hundreds of skewers of meat cooking on the grills at the hawker centres. My dad would order something like a hundred skewers just for the three of us and we'd get well and stuffed on peanut sauce-drenched chicken, beef, pork and mutton.

I love satay!

Our last night in KL, dinner with my cousin Joo Khim and her husband Hanson

Joo Khim is my gateway to our family in Malaysia. She's been in constant contact with me over the Internet while we've been in SE Asia and she's organized all the family gatherings, as well as given me recommendations for the best places to eat in the city. We delayed leaving KL for a couple of days so we could spend some time with her and her husband and they took us out to Jalan Alor, a well known "food street" in Kuala Lumpur.

My family has been so kind and welcoming to us. It made us feel very loved and special. I get such a deep sense of belonging here that stretches back from before I was even born. I'm so glad I was able to share it with Neda.

 

[xfactor]

No, you'll have to take us there the next time you're in town!

As long as we don't two-up.

Nice to see the Sepang Race track, when we were there for the race last year, it took us about 2 hours from the airport shuttle bus to the race track and the real race was leaving the area after, much respect to KL Taxi drivers.

 

[Face]

It's so cool that you've been able to reconnect with your family & childhood home, and to introduce Neda to that part of your life. Nice!

 

[Wingboy]

The gallery doesn't want you take pictures of their products (they want you to buy them instead), but we were allowed to take pictures of other customers artwork:

These prints were still drying, so the wax outline is still intact

After the wax is washed away, this is what it looks like

Mass-produced batik utilizes a copper stencil called a "tjap" to apply the wax (inset), but the true artisans paint the pattern by hand using a tool called a "tjanting" or "chanting" like the label on this one says. It's a pen that uses a reservoir of hot wax to draw the outline. Very time-consuming though!

Neda really enjoyed her art project! Nice batik apron, by the way

While I've had the blog and photography to occupy my spare time, over the last few years, Neda has had very little creative outlet aside from her cross-stitching. She really took to batik painting and the results look fantastic!

We picked up her batik the next day after the wax was washed off. Awesome!

Neda,your color choice is so good.I would so love a Batik shirt you made.

 

[Lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/305.html

Malacca is a short two-hour ride south from Kuala Lumpur. We were already half-way here when we visited Sepang the other day.

Malacca is one of the popular tourist destinations for both locals and foreigners. When we used to live here, my parents would come out here on day trips for shopping or eating.

The Dutch Square in the old town of Malacca

All the buildings in the old town and some of the roads are painted terra cotta by the British after they took possession of Malacca from the Dutch in the 1800s. The locals now call it "Red Square" for obvious reasons.

When people ask me what my nationality is, I tell them I'm Malay-Gene.
And then they tell me that I'm stupid

 

[Lightcycle]

We walked up the hill above the Red Square to St John's Fort built by the Dutch

The fort used to be a Catholic church

Catholic church built by a French priest in 1859. So many different influences here in Mallaca!

Kids walking back from school.

 

[Lightcycle]

Bomba Melaka

Malacca was an important trading port and strategic centre in Asia and was under Portuguese rule from 1541 until the war with the Netherlands in the mid 1600s. We saw the sign on the firetruck above and it reminded us of the Spanish word for fire fighter, "Bombero", which is very similar to the Portuguese word "Bombeiro". It turns out that some Malay words are also influenced from the time that Portuguese occupied this part of the country.

Did you know Jamaica also invaded Malacca? Well, maybe not the entire city, just this one store. Irie Mon.

We visited this museum to escape the heat, and inadvertently learned a lot about Malaccan history and culture

I had to take a picture of this furniture in one of the rooms in the museum depicting Chinese culture in Malacca. This looks *EXACTLY* like our living room did when we used to live in Malaysia. My mom still has some of these pieces that she brought over to Toronto. I think she may have bought them here.

It's very funny seeing your childhood preserved in a museum. Makes you feel kind of old.

 

[Lightcycle]

The Red Square is a popular place for rickshaws to pick up customers for a tour of the old city

Brightly decorated rickshaws in Malacca has become a thing now. Hello Kitty! was popular, and we saw a Frozen-themed rickshaw as well

Lot of local tourists enjoying Malacca

In Malay, it's called Melaka. We love it!

 

[Lightcycle]

Malacca River is also a popular tourist attraction. You can hop on a short cruise for a couple of kms to see different sites along the river

Vendors selling watermelons along the shores of the river

Malacca River

Jonker Street is the epicentre for shopping in Malacca


Shopping and eating are the two most popular activities here in the city. We broke our no restaurant rule and sat down in a place that served Nyonya cuisine, cooked with traditional Malaysian spices. Delicious. We didn't do any shopping because, well... no money and no space on the bikes...

Line of stores and shoppers on Jonker St.

 

[Lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/306.html

We are heading to Singapore today. Brand new country!

The ride from Malacca is non-descript - the urban landscape flashing past our visors as we cruise down the main highway into the island city state. As long as we keep moving, the stifling heat bothers us (well, Neda) less. It's only when we stop for traffic that the humidity starts to build up under our motorcycle clothes penetrating all the way to behind our eyeballs.

The southern-most Malaysian city before the Singaporean border is Johor Bahru. My dad warned me that while it's a much cheaper place to stay than Singapore, it's not that pretty-looking and the crime rate is fairly high. Thankfully, I have a cousin across the border and we are staying with him and his family for a few days.

As we near the border, the highway splits and we are given our own motorcycle-specific lanes. Nice! Compared to Malaysia, the Singaporeans are very organized! We whiz past a long lineup of stopped cars, relieved that we don't have to wait in line in the sweltering heat.

I think I'm going to like Singapore!

 

[Lightcycle]

"Long Live the King"

We've heard that Singapore laws are very strict. No chewing gum or you'll face a harsh fine. No taking pictures at the border crossing either! While in line, a border official walked up to me, tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "Did you just take a photograph?"

Uh oh? Am I in big trouble? Are we going to be denied entry even before we get in?

I froze and muttered a weak reply, "Uhhhhhh...."

My Point-and-Shoot camera was out of sight and safely tucked in my fannypack. But he did inspect my dash setup and pointed: "Were you using your GPS?"

"Uhhhhhh.... yes?"

His eyes narrowed suspiciously but he seemed satisfied that he had instilled the fear of Singaporean corporal punishment into me. Which he had.

I don't think I'm going to like Singapore...

Okay, so I did take a teeny tiny small picture at the border...

I humbly apologize to the Singapore Border Authority. You can now officially blacklist me from your country.

Just so you don't have to cross-reference the license plate number to look up my name: it's Boorman. Charley Boorman: B, Double O, One R, One Man against the System!

 

[Lightcycle]

aaaand... the next hurdle

We successfully get ourselves stamped into Singapore with minimal hassle. Now we have to temporarily import our bikes into the country. We park the motorcycles and walk into the customs office.

I had done so much research on how to get our motorcycles into Malaysia from Thailand. I knew all the paperwork we had to have, all the forms that needed to be completed. But inexplicably, I had done absolutely no work into finding about the Malaysia->Singapore border crossing. Maybe it was because of our packed schedule, maybe laziness. But this lack of preparation was going to bite us in the ***.

The customs lady asked for our motorcycle registration papers. I brought out our Thai green books.

She looked at the squiggly Thai writing and shook her head, "I can't read this".

No problem, I presented her with the official Thai translated document in English. She nodded her head.

Then she asked for our International Circulation Permit. I was thankful we didn't blow past the Thai/Malay border like so many travelers do. I presented her with the proper paper. She nodded her head. We were doing very well so far.

And then she asked for a Carnet de Passage. uhhhhh, whut? We don't need one if we are a Thai vehicle? I challenged her, and she conferred with a colleague. Nope, I was correct. No CdP required for Thai vehicles, just like Malay-registered vehicles. It was just easier for their administration if we had one. *phew*

She asked for insurance. I brought out the Thai policy. She shook her head. Insufficient coverage. She asked for our Malaysian insurance. I brought that out as well. I was making it rain documentation. Everything she asked for I had. I felt like I was winning a video game, with all of our paperwork scattered over her desk an inch thick.

She studied the Malaysian insurance. Still insufficient coverage. We would have to buy Singaporean insurance. Ok, no problem. "How much?" I asked. $47 Singaporean. Each. For a minimum two week period. That's about $47 CDN. Wow, that's steep. That's like almost $4 a day to ride around Singapore! *IF* we stayed for two weeks, which we weren't planning to.

At this point, I really wanted to win this little game that we'd started. I just wanted to get in at any cost. We were soooo close.

"Do you take Visa?"
"No. Only cash."
"Ok. Malaysian Ringgit?"
"No. Only Singaporean dollars."
"US Dollars? Euros? Canadian?"
"No. Only Singaporean dollars."

ARGHHHH!!!! I had everything but that. Where were we going to get Singaporean dollars? We hadn't even entered the country. We were caught in a Catch-22.

I've read a lot of SE Asia motorcycle ride reports. Many riders have *come* from Singapore, but I have not heard of one single moto-traveler that has successfully *ENTERED* Singapore because of the stringent documentation requirements. We were so close! And now we were going to be denied entry despite having *ALL* the paperwork except for Singaporean currency.

So frustrating.

The customs lady had an idea. We could ask other travelers crossing the border to exchange our Malaysian currency for SGD. So Neda went out begging at the border. $95 is a lot of money and she had to ask two different motorists who were going in and out of the customs office, but thankfully we were barely able to scrape together the needed Singaporean cash.

YESSSSSS!!!! We are in!

 

[Lightcycle]

Our ordeal wasn't over. Now that we were all officially in the country, us and our bikes, we were told that we had to purchase an electronic toll device that automatically deducted from an account that we had to set up with the road tax people. Okay, we set up an account and got a "credit card", now where do we buy or rent the device that mounts on our bike?

The customs lady told us because it was a weekend, the place that sold the toll transponders was closed.

Seriously? We just jumped through a million hoops and begged for SGD from passerbys to get into the country and now we're not allowed to drive on the roads? I couldn't believe it. This totally sucks.

There was a bit of a silver lining. The transponder store might be closed on weekends, but so were the gantries that communicated with the transponders. The roads were toll-free during non-business hours, so we could at least make it to my cousin's place this evening. However from tomorrow (Monday) morning on, we were forbidden to ride the roads until after rush hour.

We paid all that money for Singaporean insurance and we were only allowed to ride at night...

SMH.

Racing through the toll-free Singaporean highway. Did we just pay $100 in insurance premiums for this one quick jaunt?

Since we were very delayed at the border, we had to rush to get to my cousin's place. No time to explore even though the toll gantries were turned off. I was happy that we had won the game of Get-Our-Bikes-Into-Singapore, but at what (literal) cost?

Singapore is tiny. About 50 kms from east to west and 25 kms from north to south. It was a quick ride to get to our destination. From what little we saw of the roads, they're very modern, clean and efficient. And not only compared to SE Asian countries, but they would rival any western country!

My cousin welcomed us into his house. We met his wife and his teenage son and once again, I couldn't help staring at a face that I only remember from over 35 years ago. After an evening of catching up, we retired to bed, exhausted but happy that we were able to ride into Singapore. The city awaits us tomorrow!

 

[Lightcycle]

Because we weren't allow to ride our motorcycles during the weekends, my cousin's wife drove us into town the next morning

Walking down the main street, we felt a bit dejected. After all that effort and money getting our bikes into Singapore, we were basically backpackers in this country. Should we have left our bikes in Malaysia and took a taxi in? I don't know. it probably would have cost the same amount of money...

Too hot outside, we duck from one air-conditioned mall to another

Singapore is ritzy and expensive. On its sidewalks, citizens pace forward with an intense sense of purpose not seen in any other SE Asian country we've been to so far. Orchard Park is the street that many tourists visit. It is *THE* shopping mecca boasting fancy-brand stores selling super-expensive luxury products that we could never ever dream of purchasing.

We walked around for a couple of hours, watching the parade of Mercedes and BMWs file past us on the street and I got a sense of what the city state was all about. It seemed to be the perfect treadmill of commerce and consumerism, fueled by the desire for success and status. Nothing got in the way of this constant cycle. The city had a million rules and laws put in place to forbid littering, loitering, lounging... any kind of delinquency that would clog the forward motion of everyone's treadmill.

Strolling around the boardwalk along the Singapore river

We couldn't afford most of the restaurants in the downtown core, but ended up paying a princely sum for a couple of hamburgers. They were really good, but expensive...

"The River Merchants" a statue depicting the negotiations between European, Chinese and Malaysian traders while indigenous workers toil in the background.