It's Christmas morning and normally I have Greedy Fingers and want all the presents in the world. But with the 90 degree heat, soaked in sweat, and not being in a predominantly Christian country - (not to mention the biking), it feels like any other day.
The terrain is pretty flat, especially in southern Malaysia. So we're able to crank out a decent amount of kilometers while still doing our morning and afternoon breaks with the kids. However, it's really humid and I am soaked in sweat all the time and because of it, I've developed painful blisters on my bum even though I have biking shorts. Around 10-11AM it starts to get pretty warm but after 12 and 1PM it is hot and hard to ride more than an hour without taking a breather and finding some shade and a cold beverage to escape the heat.
The kids have fans in the trailer. We're not that mean.
We experienced our first bit of rain. I planned this trip during December/January because this part of Malaysia doesn't get much rain. Everyone's been telling me we're going to get rained on all the time. The weather has a forecast of 60-70% rains in the afternoons similar to Arizona summer monsoons. We've escaped it unscathed until our 6th day but we got shelter right away until it passed so all was well in Zion. Until later that night when it poured on us in our tent...
Leaving Mohd's camp.
See, it doesn't look like Christmas at all does it.
Why don't we have more of these neat mezzanines in our towns? I learned about the mezzanine principle in my recent MBA class, which is - high enough to see patterns and strategy, but close enough to the work to stay grounded in reality.
The first hill we've seen!
Riding through the jungle of whatever trees they are harvesting here. Palm oil I think?
She likes the mango. Also, I love her haircut.
Great soft play for the kids to interact and stimulate the mind. Who needs screens when you have these?
Finally, seeing some Buddhist temples. Reminds me of Taiwan.
We enjoyed this luxurious canopy for a few hours that provided great relief from the brutal afternoon sun.
Every sign will say selamat datang on them, which means 'welcome'.
These lightly salted plantain chips were so good and cheap. The perfect snack.
Had to keep monitoring the kids because this park was littered with trash. Somehow Lily Rose wanted to copy Joaquim and started putting garbage in her mouth too even though she never does that. "John never has a second cup at home." Airplane reference for those that are unschooled in the fine arts.
Bean made a very somber friend.
The Call to Prayer. The best. When I lived in Jordan over a decade ago this was music to my ears.
See the little fans above them. They're fine, I assure you.
We decided to splurge 20 bucks and get a hotel. She likes to get comfy in the bed.
Such good drinks!!!!
Laundry time!
Trying Durian for the first time - the fruit that smells like old socks or something nasty. Tastes OK.
I missed her reaction earlier when she yelled out "Chow!" That's Chinese for smelly.
See, we need to be a proper country like here.
Nice to have our own exclusive bike lane!
The kids take 2 - 3 naps during the day.
Look at that forest. The trees go so deep.
For you Seinfeld fans did you know this was a real restaurant? I didn't.
Look how huge the Durian fruit is. That's the Vietnamese version apparently which I liked more.
I gotta have Taco Bell in every country I go to. This one was all good. And so spicy 🌶
Super busy intersection. The traffic lights take forever here. They let each one have their own turn instead of both directions. The motorcycles will often jump the gun and go before it's green or just simply run them all together.
We need more high-risers like this.
There are loads of fruit stands and other things people sell along the side of the road. I want to stop at all of them but it's humanly impossible.
I noticed this unique shape of rooftop is very common here.
Even the bus stop has it.
The rivers are incredible murky and dirty. I did not want to swim in them.
We tried going through this road but it turned into a military base and they wouldn't let us through. So we had to make a detour. I was made because Google Maps didn't say anything about the pass or a possible road closure.
We're scouting out for our next camp site.
What do you think she's thinking right now?
A most excellent camp site! Right on the beach in a thicket of rare pine trees even.
We're having dinner on the rocks overlooking the ocean this evening.
"I love children. They give you such leverage in a case like this." - Liar Liar
It got muggy while it rained on us and these fans were very nice to have in the tent. I even discovered how to fashion the powerbank to it so it stayed on all night.
I didn't know they drove on the left side of the road here. Did you? I find that more and more countries were influenced by England than I realized.
I don't know if I had any expectations about this country because I don't know much about it at all. It was never my first choice to come here but since arriving I've been overwhelming surprised at how great it is.
First off: the drivers are excellent. Even though we're in a third world country they don't act like it behind the wheel. I've been to some awful-driving countries where they don't obey traffic laws, they drive reckless, they don't lay off the horn, etc. But here it's like I'm in Japan. And even better because a lot of the roads have wide shoulders on them for the mopeds that we gratefully use, also.
Even though the weather is in the 90's with 90% humidity during the day it's not nearly as bad as summers in Okinawa. There is a cool breeze and the temps actually dip down at night and the mornings are perfect for riding.
And finally these are the friendliest people we've ever experienced on a trip. People stop to stare, ask us questions, take selfies as they ride by on their motorcycles, they adore the kids in the trailer (that's prolly the main reason why we get all the looks and attention) and give us fruit and cold beverages to drink. They are so kind and warm towards us.
Leaving our Warmshowers host, Jin.
He's escorting us for a morning ride to get to the border.
It's a great day for a ride in Singapore!
Holly carries most of the gear and I carry the kids.
Waiting at a traffic light. The White Dragon, Joaquim, is supposed to be asleep.
Traffic is getting busy as we get close to the border to Malaysia. We need to merge to the motorcycle lane.
A nice border patrol agent helped us merge into the motorcycle lane. Even though the drivers are friendly and the shoulders wide, the roads themselves aren't the most friendly here we're soon discovering with large medians making it tough to cross amongst other issues.
I told Holly she's not allowed to take pics here at immigration control right as she snapped this pic🤣
We made it across!
Singapore didn't have very many mopeds as I thought they would until we got close to the border with Malaysia then they all appeared out of nowhere.
It took a while to navigate to a safe place for a late breakfast and rest.
Time to eat!
I love the tall buildings.
Almost every town and city has their name in big block letters here. They seem to have pride and a sense of identity where they come from.
She's eating raisins for her first time! She loves them.
And he's eating Peppa the Pig!
Stopping for lunch at a rest stop along the highway. They even had showers here!
I got my Batman glasses. I'm ready to go.
Someone's house. It's a culture shock being back in the Third World. Especially after being in such polished Asian countries as Korea and Japan, not to mention just coming from Singapore.
The southern most tip of Mainland Asia!
Now you know where you're at in relation to the world.
Our first monkey! Bean liked looking at it.
Potty break!
Found this gem of a campsite. The only issue is our camping pad had a hole in it so me and Holly had to make the Ultimate Sacrifice and sleep on the hardwood floor while the kids slept on the other pad that worked.
The campers next door invited the Bean to play and roast marshmallows (don't worry, we didn't let her eat any because we're strict parents that don't let their kids have any fun).
Night night!
Our friends gave us some fruit and drinks for our journey. Told you these people are the friendliest ever.
I love the mosques and Call to Prayer. I'll have to post a vid of one for you guys.
Tried to get a good pic of the shacks along the river.
See, look at that great shoulder. Excellent for biking.
The cemeteries are interesting here. Little monuments.
Our next Warmshowers host, Mohd, fed us three meals and made sure we were well taken care of.
Yum!
Doing a bit of laundry because you mustn't get behind in that while on the bike. The kids will go through their whole wardrobe in a day and a half before you know it.
Setting up our sleeping quarters for Christmas Eve!
The Bean likes the drone.
Mohd was a great host! We planted three banana trees on his property.
