Disclaimer: We carry no insurance. All participants are warned that they run at their own risk                               

   Alan and Dave's excellent Adventure. Singapore - Malaysia bike ride 2010.   

   Plans for the trip were not exactly nailed down months in advance. In fact they were still changing out on the road. They changed that    rapidly that I flew into Kuala Lumpur and the ride ended up starting in Singapore.

   Okay Dave and I are not great at planning but fortunately we are great mates and cope well with last minute changes. After a day in K.L I    caught the train 8 hours down to Singapore carrying my bike in a cardboard box. That box caused a lot of interest where ever I went and    particularly with Customs Officials.

   I was in Singapore for two days prior to the start of the ride and Dave felt that an 800km ride wouldn't be enough exercise so we headed    off to join the Uni running group for a 12km jog. A group of 6 runners with one from Singapore, one from Malaysia, a Russian, a German,    Dave and I through the hills behind the Uni. Fortunately the pace was moderate but my Red Man Runners singlet was soaking wet by the    end of the 12k's.

    (IMAGE) Dave and Alan ready to ride from the National University of Singapore. (Not arm warmers - sun protection).

   When we finally got the ride underway the weather was warm and muggy. (What a surprise!). We traveled about 40km up and across the    island to the causeway joining it to peninsula Malaysia.

   (IMAGE) Looking across from Singapore to Malaysia with the city of Johor Bahru centre and the causeway in the far distance.

   Even border crossings are more fun on a bike and a bit of a novelty for the customs/immigration staff. We rode with the numerous small    motorbikes / mopeds that dominate the roads in this part of the world and were quickly across the causeway and into the town of Johor    Bahru in Malaysia. The first real turn we had to make a decision on and we got it wrong... After a quick chat with the locals we were headed    back in the right direction and on our way toward the East coast. The town was a lot larger than I expected and the traffic a lot busier. It    took most of the morning to get clear of both and up to Kota Tinggi for the first of many chicken and rice lunches. At the road side stalls    two tall white guys in lycra did surprise the locals a little but they are a very friendly lot and they were nothing but helpful.

   From there onward the roads were quieter and in good condition and even the weather was behaving itself. Yes it was hot and by early    afternoon it was really too sweaty to be on the road so we started to head off as early in the morning as we could and try and be into our    next stopover by about 2pm. That also allowed us time to enjoy the countryside and the sites and do most of our riding in the perfect    conditions in the morning. It also meant if the afternoon downpour came we were sitting by the pool. Yes we stayed in some pretty nice    places with the A$ getting us 3.3 Malaysian ringets and hey, this was a holiday.

   (IMAGE) Desaru Beach Resort. Doing it tough in the tropics.

   (IMAGE) Desaru Beach

   We pedaled further up the east coast toward the township of Mersing. One afternoon as the conditions got very warm I took the    opportunity to rest under the shade of a couple of trees that were leaning out over the road and surprised a troop of about 50 monkeys    who had been eating fruit in the canopies. Well i'm not sure who was the most surprised. We regularly saw monkeys crossing the road and    the other animal we saw often was a massive monitor lizard which grows up to about 20kg. The first one I saw was dead on the road I    wasn't keen to come across a live one, but they were always scurrying for cover when we came upon them.

   (IMAGE) Dave on a quiet back road amongst the Palm Oil plantations.

   (IMAGE) Alan with reminders of WW2. Concrete turrets facing North. (Note the very fashionable nose guard).

   (IMAGE) Mersing.

    Alan relax's over lunch with the most popular form of bike in Malaysia in the foreground.

    (IMAGE) Mersing.

   When we rode up to the road sign below which reads "Caution Elephant Pass" I got very excited and a little worried. Sure I wanted to see    elephants, but perhaps not close-up from the seat of a bicycle. Unfortunately we didn't see any elephants.

   On a very hot afternoon Dave lost concentration for a second and had a tumble off his bike and ended up sore and bruised. Fortunately,    apart from some bruises and a buckled wheel there was no permanent harm and after a rest day we continued. The buckle cost AU$1.50 to    fix. While Dave recovered we caught a bus up to Kuantan and spent Chinese New Year there.

   In the end we only covered about 550km on the bikes but we had a tremendous time and spent most of the last day discussing where we    should ride next ? If you fancy joining us on our next badly planned bike adventure you will find details on this site as we make them up.

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