Dec. 9-Of all days, I have to wake up late today, despite KM7 knocking on my door. When I finally woke, they had all breakfasted. Mine was sitting on the table at the patio getting cold. I hurried through, got dressed, and load up, just in time to not delay departure. Didn’t check the phone for location of the next hotel. Just mount and go, hoping that either Orh Cheow or Bongee have the details.
KM7 send us off, riding from the hotel to the junction a few km away. From there, a nod and a wave, we headed south while he, West.
It was a horrible ride to hadyai on the 41, and 4. It rained most of the way, stopping briefly at Phattalung, then rain again to Hadyai. Also, there was several major roadworks, causing slowdowns, with the rain adding to the misery. The three of us, unsurprisingly, got separated. On the other hand, it will be very frustrating if we have to wait for each other through the congestions. At about 70km from Hadyai, I stop for fuel and at the same time, retrieved new hotel info from the ‘groupchat’ and load the destination into my Nav5 via Smartphone Bluetooth Link. I was the first to arrive at the hotel and Bongee about 30 mins later. Orh Cheow followed, some time later, as his rear tyre was wearing thin and he was kind of nursing it along.
Anyway, we made it to Hadyai safely despite the traffic and the weather. I sent KM7 a text to inform him so. He too has arrived at his destination.
So there you go. Day 21 for me. And Day 22 was just as bad.
10 Dec. ’22- Hadyai to SG – Homeward bound. The 22nd day of this trip. Bongee wanted to Stopover at KL. So, he will start out mid-morning. Orh Cheow with Lady P.Lien will break their journey at Ipoh. They will leave Hadyai after he had new rear tyre installed. Could be the next day. I left early to ride the 880(thereabout) km in one go. It was a mistake.
Left Hadyai, crossed the border into Malaysia, had breakfast, and got going. By 1pm, I was at Sungei Besi topping up. As I left the petrol station, it began to rain. I didn’t know that it was the start of the school holidays here and the normally heavy traffic is now worse; bumper-to-bumper. Families were travelling across Malaysia to their holiday destinations. It seemed like everyone who owns a car in Malaysia is here on this expressway. Because of the rain and slippery condition, traffic was barely moving. All 4 or 5 lanes were jammed. Condition was like that for up to 250km, until after Pagoh. It rained continuously until about 50km from the SG border. It took me 12 hours to do what normally is a 8-10 hour ride. I was so sore.
But anyway, Home. Total distance covered from carpark-to-carpark is 7,739km. over 22 days.
Jaywalker, in SG, 10 Dec. 2022.
2 wheels and an engine 