Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Back to the real world

A mosque and Mirjam



The van Praag content of the team has now doubled. We welcomed Wal's cousin Mirjam on Saturday night in Kuantan, and spent Sunday getting his Zoco adapted to fit her (Van Praags come in different sizes) and going on a test ride out to the black rocks beach so she could get the hang of it, which she did in no time, being terrifyingly fit and strong. Walter, meanwhile, was riding…… his new mountain bike! He went shopping on Saturday, with Mark as technical advisor, planning to buy a road bike and, as so often happens, came back with something else - but he is well pleased with his new back and brown Raleigh, and will no doubt put the specs on Facebook…

The plan was for Wal and Al to share the mountain bike, but we were going along at a fair pace when we realised that Mirjam didn't even have her motor turned on. Told you she was terrifyingly fit. So after lunch she took over the MB and flew along. We made the 50km or so to Pekan without a hitch, though it was particularly hot, and even the slight reduction in speed was noticeable in reducing our personal aircon. Karina also sped along all day without battery assistance.

Google maps lied to us about the location of the Melati Inn, but at the second attempt it was easily found. Bags had made it unscathed and it's a small and friendly place, back down to our usual standard, where we don't expect things to work too well so are rarely disappointed. The Malay lady in charge has been reading the blog!  Mark has now joined the boys' dorm, with extra bed installed. There are the 2 biggest mango trees I've ever seen in the garden. The fruits just fall everywhere - you couldn't possibly pick them - and they gave us some, and very scrummy they were too.

The walk out to dinner, advertised as 'short' turned out to be 'long' as we ended up walking right into town a good 20mins away, but eventually had a good Malaysian Indian job with extra nice lassis.

Tomorrow will be a more serious test of the MB and, more to the point, its pilots, as we have 90km to go. Watch this space...

3 comments:

Connie said...

Thanks for this interesting report
Alastair. You are a highly talented
author.Good luck to all of you this last week!I admire you greatly!

Anonymous said...

Very impressive ladies! You will soon be towing these wily rascals. Thought of you guys today as we taught a bunch of kids to ride a bike at Weston Park. Al you could write a great book on teaching kids to ride. No help from my boss but it could sell well anyway!I'll send a bare bones outline when you have got your breath back.This is better than watching Le Tour! Jim

Unknown said...

Connie you are too kind, thank you. I hope you are feeling well again

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