The fun begins!

Unsurprisingly, the delays continued and I had to wait a couple more days for the bike to arrive in Singapore. But the day finally came, and on an exciting Wednesday morning I caught the bus to the port and endured my final hour of Singaporean bureaucracy queuing for a port entry pass.

Finally I walked truimphantly into the warehouse where my bike was waiting for me. All the boxes were present, and everything was in perfect condition - joy! My arrival was apparently the most exciting event of the day at the port, because a small army of helpers emerged to help me. In less than an hour, we had taken the crate apart, lifted the bike with a forklift so that I could put the front wheel on, and I was on my way.

She lives again!

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful - inbound carnet stamp at the customs post, 30 minute bike ride to the border, outbound carnet stamped, inbound Malaysian carnet stamped... you get the picture. By the time I hit the road in Malaysia, it was 4pm, and after a thorough soaking, I scrapped any ambition of reaching Kuala Lumpur that day and peeled off for Melaka (again). The Travellers Lodge in Taman Melaka Raya that I enjoyed on my last visit was not available, so I opted for Sunny's Inn just down the street. At 2am I woke up to the now familiar feeling of bedbugs - so no recommendation for Sunny's Inn...

From Melaka, Kuala Lumpur is a two hour dash along the E2, which is an efficient (but boring) highway. The Malaysians are great engineers and have a fantastic network of toll roads which are free to motorbikes. At each toll station, there is a small sliproad about 3ft wide that peels off to the left for motorbikes - just need to remember to slow down a little for the 90 degree kinks...

KL was hard work - the GPS (which is proving to be invaluable) showed me exactly where the Travellers Lodge in Jalan Tun HS Lee was, but getting there was another matter due to the web of overpasses, one way streets and no right turns that is KL. To make matters worse, the traffic was appalling and it was over 30 degrees. At least the GPS shows me exactly where I have been with a 'breadcrumb' feature, so it was just a case of slowly zeroing in on the hotel. The Travellers Lodge offered the usual "prison-style" accommodation - concrete floor, bed and mosquitos - but after the previous night's misery, I upgraded to an A/C room to ensure a good night's sleep. There didn't appear to be many sights to see in KL, so I headed over to the Petronas Towers, which are pretty spectacular by night, and met up with Shy, a fellow couchsurfer, for dinner. I had to park the bike on the street overnight in KL, so I figured that the best form of security (in addition to the chain) was to make it as conspicuous as possible. I had been in two minds about putting the Union Jacks on the bike, but it immediately attracted a lot of (friendly) attention here which can only be a good thing - I'll worry about the Taliban later.

Petronas Towers in KL

Next day, I was ready for some "proper" bike riding. Most overland riders take in Fraser's Hill, which is about 100km from KL. I stopped for the ubiquitous breakfast of chicken broth with noodles at the roadside in Kuala Kubu Baru at what turned out to be the local police headquarters - no need to lock the bike then - and took off along the 55. At once, I was into some decent riding - open twisties up a gradual ascent, ribbon-smooth surface, very little traffic, and beautiful scenery. Some corners even had a few monkey spectators waiting for someone to overcook things, a bit like the Isle of Man... For a dual sport bike that (apparently) weighed in at around 250kg with luggage, the Transalp handles like a dream, especially with the new Conti Attacks that I put on in Brisbane.

Fraser's Hill was a trip - at 1,700m, it's nice and cool with great views. It's obviously where the great and good of KL hang out at the weekend, because there are some beautiful old colonial-era bungalows and a very tidy golf course. I had the first of a few lucky breaks on the way there, because the last 8km is one-way, with traffic going up hill on the odd hours and downhill on the even hours, and I arrived at 10:58am...

Here's one for all the bikers...

I then had a bit of a dilemma. I wanted to get to Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands by the end of the day, and there appeared to be three routes - retrace my steps to the E1 and take the highway, ride all the way to Gua Musang (which was a long way round), or look for a short-cut. Tanah Rata is only about 50km from Raub, and map showed a road that appeared to go part way, but then it just stopped... Consultation with the locals produced the usual range of 'impossible', 'impassable', and 'under construction', so I decided to try the short cut. But first of all, the road to Raub (55) was an absolute joy - about 25 miles of perfect blacktop winding its way through the jungle, shared with just a few logging trucks. As I was later reminded by Nash, this ain't no Australian style 'rainforest' covering a few miles, but proper jungle containing tigers, king cobras, anacondas and natives with blow-pipes - obviously I didn't actually see any of this, but I did see a 4ft lizard on the road which was not inclined to stick around for a photo.

Welcome to the jungle

Having prepared myself for a jungle track from Raub to Tanah Rata, I was pleasantly surprised to find the C156 was actually a major highway with a number of major viaducts, and once again almost completely deserted. I was enjoying the ride, when it suddenly came to a stop - turns out the 'under construction' prognosis was correct. The last 20-30km involved riding through a jungle highway construction site, dodging dump trucks and excavators.

End of the road

After feeling slightly hard done by with the highway, I enjoyed some great dirt riding - gravel, mud, sand... At one point, I made a wrong turn and took off up the steepest dirt track I have ever ridden on, which ended up after a few kms at a locked gate and some very concerned locals. Now uphill was tough, but downhill was one of the scariest riding moments I've ever - it was so steep that the back brake wouldn't hold the bike, so it was engine off, first gear, both feet down, and gently on the front brake and clutch... I finally made it to Tanah Rata feeling quite accomplished - this area is fairly well populated, so even if I got the bike stuck, there would have been plenty of people to help out. Again, the Transalp showed what a fantastic machine it is - scratching at 100+kmh one minute, and chugging up steep dirt tracks the next.

How the hell did I get up here in the first place???

There's only one word for the Cameron Highlands - fantastic! It's a hill station in the middle of Malaysia with stunning scenery, especially the tea plantations that cover most of the hillsides. It's a local base for a lot of trekking, and with hindsight it would have been fun to stop a few more days and join one of the trips. The Cameronian Inn provides excellent accommodation - A/C isn't necessary because it's about 10 degrees cooler that the rest of Malaysia, and the rooms were spotless with great linen and running hot water... There was a BMW F650 with UK plates in the car park there, but I didn't get to meet the owner unfortunately. I left him a can of WD40 and some tie-downs - part of my effort to gradually shed a bit more weight from the bike. If I haven't used it for a couple of weeks and it's not critical to my survival, there's no space for it on the caravan... I met up with Nash from CS in the evening - he's a local guide and was able to tell me a lot about the area.

Cameron Highlands - officially the highest concentration of Land Rovers in the world

On 14 February I wished the bike a happy valentines day, and took off to explore the Highlands. The highest point is Batur Brinchang, which can be reached by motorbike, although there's not much view from the top because at 2,077m, it's still covered with thick jungle. I stopped at the Boh tea factory at Sungai Palas which was very interesting - very colonial, and still using the 1930s machinery. After that, another 50 miles or so of perfect biking roads - first the C7 to Blue Valley, and then the A181 to Ipoh. Again, the A181 on the map is unfinished, but this one is perfect tarmac all the way.

Boh Tea - puts the Ummph! in life, apparently...

From Ipoh, I took the highway (E1) to Penang because it was already 5pm, and I crossed the causeway to George Town at dusk. Other bikers had recommended the Blue Diamond on Chulia Street - it's an incredible old building that used to be the headquarters of the British Administration (although the decor's a little faded now). When I asked if they had a secure place for me to park the bike, they insisted that I park it in the lobby. I got a few surprised glances as I rode through the bar and reception and parked up in front of the shrine...

The Transalp takes its rightful place...

George Town is a bustling city with a ton of history and a really thriving backpacker scene. It's a far cry from the 18 year olds in Brisbane, and a lot of the backpackers here are in their 50s or 60s. Once again, I found a friendly local through CS, and Kindra introduced me to the local cuisine and the bar scene down at Batu Feringgi. Plan is to stay a couple of nights here - after such a long lay-up without the bike, I was keen to push on through Malaysia, but I'm starting to realise it's a fantastic country and there's a lot to experience here.

Note: for anyone importing a motorcycle into Singapore, here's the definitive process:

1. Get 3rd party insurance for Singapore. This is available for S$135 from the AA in Singapore, but is much cheaper if purchased in Malaysia. I got mine from UniAsia in Johor Bahru for 68RM (about S$35), but they only accept cash...

2. Take your passport, registration, carnet and insurance certificate to Rosie Chan at the AA at 336 River Valley Road. She will issue an ICP (S$10) and stamp the back of your carnet. But you must know the exact date the bike will be collected from the port

3. Take all the documents to the LTA at 10 Sin Ming Drive to collect an Autopass card (S$10)

4. Go to the office of your shipping company to pay various charges (S$170) and collect a delivery order

5. Take the delivery order to the Auxilliary Police Station at the port to obtain a port entry pass (S$4 - must pay by Singaporean CashCard, but someone in the queue should be able to lend one to you)

6. Go to the warehouse, hand over more money for further random charges (S$65 for forklifting???), and collect bike

7. Jump the queue of lorries at the customs post, get the carnet stamped, and hit the road