Please, please, please can I have my bike back?

4 weeks without the bike has been a bit frustrating, but on the bright side, it gave me a chance to explore Bali which I would not otherwise have had. It's a very cool place and far exceeded my expectations. With hindsight, I wish I had shipped the bike to Timor and ridden the length of Indonesia, but it was hard to research because very few people have done it. Turns out the sea crossings between islands are short and frequent, so it would be very doable (although Indonesian ferries don't have the best safety record).

My Bali wheels - economical

I managed to cover most of Bali on my trusty Yamaha Mio with my backpack between my knees. Very nippy and practical, although I think the Transalp just edges it in terms of power, speed, carrying capacity, off-road ability... My borrowed helmet had the structural integrity of a margarine tub, although it was good for keeping the rain off (and when rains here, it really rains). Overall, the quality of driving in Bali isn't bad - there's plenty of mad overtaking, especially by the cars, but the roads are relatively quiet, the speeds are low, and people are very courteous. On the crazy scale, I'd give them a 4 (for calibration - the English score a 2 and the Australians a 1, which is just plain boring).

Traditional dancer in Candidasa (where child labour laws are clearly fairly relaxed)

I finally submitted to my tourist curiosity and went to a restaurant offering a display of local dancing. At 10pm, out came a dancer that couldn't have been more than 11 years old, which smacked a little of child exploitation. But on reflection, when I was that age I was out at 6am doing a paper round in the filthy English weather (thanks mum).

Alex in Sanur

But all good things come to an end - the $4 massages were losing their novelty, as were the endless plates of Nasi Goreng. I got back into Singapore on Thursday (thanks once again to Shri for putting me up), only to discover that the ship carrying my bike to Singapore be a couple of days late and not arrive until Sunday 8th - I felt like a kid who'd been told that Christmas was being postponed by a couple of days. So I took myself off to Melaka for the weekend - it's only a couple of hours from Singapore. On the way, I was able to get 15 quid bike insurance, instead of the 60 quid that they wanted on the Singapore side of the border, which pleased me no end.

Melaka is a lot of fun - I'm staying at the Travellers Lodge which is a clean and trendy backpackers hostel. Some of the tourist attractions are a bit lame - the "sound and light" show consisted of a couple of spotlights and a voice-over that is cheesy even by SE Asian standards. However, the bar scene is good, and at Pure Bar the locals soon took me under their wing and plied me with brandy. People in Malaysia seem to be completely obsessed with the English Premier League, to the extent that practically every bar and restaurant shows a constant stream of games, which provides a very easy icebreaker... I ended up at a peculiar karaoke bar where the girls were given sashes after each song with '$100' or '$300' - the 'hooker' alert was sounding, but it was all very surreal, and I'm still not sure exactly what was going on (although the brandy probably has something to do with that).

Pimp my ride - Malaysia style

The food in Malaysia is a bit more challenging than Bali - in the spirit of adventure, and also to toughen the old system up, I ordered the chicken livers for breakfast yesterday, which was a mistake... on the plus side, the traditional cuisine in Melaka is called Nonya, which is excellent - can't beat a bit of shrimp paste and chilli!

So... fingers crossed that the bike (and all the accessories) are waiting for me in Singapore tomorrow. First of all I've got to tackle the ridiculous Singaporean bureaucracy - I think I've outsmarted them with the Malaysian insurance, but I still need to get the carnet stamped by customs, pick up an International Circulation Permit from the AA and an Autopass card from the Land Transit Authority - just to ride for about 20km to get the hell out of Singapore.