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MURRAY'S DIARY for the complete story.

MALAYSIA

Mar
2004-09-14 16:33:03

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after 155km we come into a town where several people direct us to the beach. There seem to be various bungalows at the beach, and after our longest day (164km!!) we reach the first. The owner explains that due to New Year everything along the coast is full and we ask for a corner of his carport where we can lay down our air mattresses with our mosquito net above. And so we spend Chinese New Year night only 10 meters from the beach.

While we start our 40km to Malacca, we notice a lot of tents on the beach. Maybe we shouldn't have sent ours home? Malacca is an old Portuguese/Dutch/English harbour town. The 'Stadhuys' still remembers of the Dutch period and is now a museum about the three periods. Chinatown of Malacca is not so interesting during this time and we laugh at the thought of the Tiger beer commercial that plays here in the cinemas (A man from a western bank calls the Chinese stock exchange, but the phone isn't answered. Some other western men, knocking hopeless on the closed glass doors of the Singaporean chamber of Commerce. Slogan "Now its our time!")

Singapore a 'fine' city

26/01/2004 "Stop!" shouts Raymond, and we both make another emergency stop. It seems that Raymond's gear cable is broken after 8000km. We sit ourselves next to the road and Raymond fixes it in 30 minutes. In the mean while an old man on a motorcycle stops and makes a conversation. He tells us that his son studies in Europe and that he has just visited him. He drives off, and after 5 minutes he returns with two coconuts from his own palm tree. Raymond washes his hands and drinks thirsty the quarter litre coconut milk that's inside, not my favourite. Finally the man cuts the coconut, we scrape out the inside and climb on our aluminium horses again.

In three days we reach Singapore and cross the border at 'The Second Link' the second bridge that ...