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Published: November 9th 2007
Melaka Paradox
Standing in a Portuguese Fort, looking at a Dutch Gravestone, in the distance British Colonial architecture, and sitting in the steps - a Muslim couple.Day 294, 21st March
Melaka
This is it - I’ve come this far… It’s the last real stop on the odyssey…next big stop is the culmination of 10 months of Blood, Sweat, and Tears - Singapore. By pumping the pedals day after day 13,000 miles brings me to Melaka. I now have the first inkling of how those first Portuguese, Dutch or British colonisers must have felt after such a huge voyage of stress and hardship. I can’t imagine a journey by sea, would it have been easier to do than overlanding it? I have to pinch myself - am I really here, and under my own power…that fact is just sinking in and as I look at my sun-baked and wind-scorched face in the mirror I begin to smile with elation and a sense of pride. This cracks my skin, bits flake off, a drop of blood appears… I’m alive. I think for a skinny, binge-drinking, un-healthy eating, stick-insect like me to do this….well, if you’d said 10 years ago, “Andy - you’re going to cycle from your mum and dad’s house in England to Singapore via Siberia in ten year’s time”, I would have said, “Bollocks”! “I’ve
Old Melaka
Well kept and intriguing buildings keep the photographers happy in the old heart of the town. got a job for life and a family to keep”….. You just don’t know what the future holds….Really!
As in every town I find myself alone in, I decided to laze about most of the day and took a big nap in the afternoon. I know it’s a waiting game now. The guys are out there, they know this is the meeting point for the last leg, I hope we can all get it together to be here, I’m just going to have to chill and wait it out.
Later on I emailed Kathryn in LA to let her know about my desparate cash situation and that I may not be able to get to Hawaii…or even to LA! It’s really that bad. I had a mail from Rory detailing what he’s arranged for Singapore, the guy’s been busy arranging a bloody media-circus or something. A great big bloody welcome party! Hmmm…not sure I want it. What about low-key? I really don’t know my feelings about this. Apparently, we’re being met on the 27th at the Singapore immigration checkpoint by cycling and sports associations of Singapore, and being escorted into the city centre via The British Council. There’s
Melaka Creek
Running through the middle of town to the sea, home to friendly rats. complementary ‘Singapore Slings’ waiting for us courtesy of the ‘Raffles Hotel’, and a meeting with the British High Commissioner - Bloody Nora! And the following day - more stuff Rory says! Well, what can I say…I’m Gobsmacked!!!
Back at the hostel I made pineapple sandwiches and swapped my book “Fatherland” for “Bridget Jones’s Diary” which turned out to be very funny. Went out for a walk later with Lee, a guy from Jersey, to the touristy and un-imaginative pier. Great skies, a superm sunset, a rainbow and a storm with super lightning! On the way back I stopped at a supermarket and bought a 2 litre tub of Jackfruit & Coconut ice-cream, and tried to devour the lot with the travellers back at the hostel, yum…belch!.........tummy aching…….arrrghhhh!!! Not recommended!
Day 295, 22nd March
Melaka
Was up early to read my book and drink some tea. Spent the morning finishing off postcards and writing cards to my mum and dad - it’s my mum’s birthday soon and my parent’s anniversary too, mustn’t forget! Went out to use the internet, probably the last time for a while cos I’m so skint. Checked emails - Kathryn is so
That's Hollywood!
It didn't look like Hollywood on the bottle, it didn't taste like brandy, but it cleaned up my oily bike gears a treat! understanding. Yesterday I wrote that I felt trapped because of circumstances, and that events were conspiring to keep us from our destinies - how poetic! I just felt, like, in a hopeless situation, and she sensed it in my mails. She said that she understood and suggested that I go back home to sort my shit out. It isn’t fair to expect my folks to bail me out all the time…how many times have I said that before on my trips???
I went back to the hostel full of thoughts after replying to Kathryn, knowing that an all important decision had to be made in the ned week or so. It seems a real possibility that I’ll have to resign myself to the fact that I’ll have to fly directly back home and to work for a while until my money and my house is sorted out. Kathryn has also suggested that she can come to England in 3 months and that we can do a trip then… Later on I went off to the pics to see the recent re-make of ‘The Time Machine’, which was even more loosely based on the original H.G.Wells novel than the 1960s
Portuguese Fort
The first Europeans to set up a base here were the Portuguese who successfully went on to colonise Macau and East Timor. movie version - which I think is far superior.
Day 296, 23rd March
Melaka
Had another easy morning in the hostel… At mid-day Rory turned up! He had caught the bus from KL with his bike because he was feeling rough. Rory looked really bad, very thin and with some kind of scaly eczema around his neck, like a warty-backed toad! But it was great to see him after so long. I heard stories of his recent conquest(s) and he was worried about this for two reasons… Firstly: he hadn’t used a blob!...again!! And Secondly: she was arriving tonight at this hostel, probably along with another girl he’d met on the trip previous to this latest conquest! Man! Crazy Guy….
And then…Scott arrived shortly afterwards looking just as thin and tanned. He’d been to the Surin Islands for a few weeks just-a-chillin’ and diving. There were loads more stories to tell…
And then… Toby arrived later too - the group was almost together again. It seemed like we’d never been apart, we were locked in our own world of crazy stories, incomprehensible tales of wild times. We babbled on like lunatics as the other
Horny Goat!
Try selling this stuff in the west with a name like that! By the way, it was crap! travellers just looked on in bewilderment and sometimes in dis-belief! One thing I noticed was how the guys had changed. I’d never noticed this before travelling with them every day for countless months. But now…I could see the difference in them from the day we set off on that cold morning in England - oh so long ago… There was a sparkle in their eyes, a satisfaction that they’d nearly completed what must be a trip of a lifetime. A proudness, a life-changing time had happened in these past months - a time that would shape our future lives. And it was Toby who had changed the most! At the beginning he was a bit shy, unsure, lazy, and sometimes helpless without the rest of the group. At one point I saw him as ‘the weakest link’ and thought he’d be the first to cave-in and head off back home. But, I was wrong! This guy has become a dynamo of self-confidence, a fighter, a true adventurer - this has been Toby’s struggle and he’s made it through….
Later on we went for an Indian and talked about Stephane - nobody had heard a thing from him. We’d all
Sick Stickers !
I'd seen some sick Osama T-shirts in Malaysia but these World Trade Center Attack bathroom-tile stickers took the biscuit! been sending eachother block-emails, so he must be getting them. A thought occurred that something terrible might have happened to him since I last saw him in Ko Lanta, Thailand. Surely he would reply to the emails? Perhaps he was really pissed off with us? Perhaps because he joined us in Beijing, he didn’t feel that he should reap the benefits of Singapore? Perhaps he’s fallen in love and living in a jungle hideaway? We hoped he would turn up, we want to see him again…lets wait and see.
Roma, a lady from the British Council in Hanoi who was interested in our trip, turned up later with her bike to join us on the final leg of the trip. She’d flown from Hanoi to Singapore, and then come by bus to Melaka. At the hostel we drank beers and continued our tales until the wee hours before drifting off to sleep.
Day 297, 24th March
Melaka
It was great in a way to wake up and see a load of familiar, if not weatherbeaten, faces of the original group of four. We ate breakfast together and chatted about Singapore and what we’ll be doing with our lives afterwards. Scott says he has to leave on April 2nd, his flight goes via Taipei and New York, and he’ll be meeting up with friend briefly in both places. Rory’s not sure whether to just carry on to OZ via Indonesia and Timor, or to go back to work for a few months. Besides, his brother Rowan gets married to Klara this summer and he has to be at the wedding anyway. Man! It was a summer ago on this trip that we stayed with Rowan and Klara in Prague - lives change. Toby has ideas about going to Taiwan and teaching English to earn more cash. And it looks as if I will be giong home around the 7th April to celebrate my birthday a few days later.
Rory went off to check his email to see if Stephane had been in touch. A cryptic message said that he would be at one of three places in Melaka. I checked them all with Roma - no Stephane. We did a bit of shopping and at a bathroom accessories shop I saw something utterly sick: There was a kind of postcard rack selling assorted bathroom-tile stickers - Butterflies, Flowers, Sea-Shells, and…US Under Attack! A set of four stickers depicting the two planes crashing into the twin-towers last September. Nobody would believe me if I told them about this, so, I bought a set! I did also buy a set of batik paintings back at the hostel from resident painter, Yen.
We spent the evening eating at an Indian restaurant and later in the hostel drinking. I still had some dodgy Hollywood brandy which I’d bought for R10, and had it with cola. It tasted nice - but not that nice.. Gave me a bit of a light head and helped the conversation to flow ever more. We chatted about tomorrow when we set out on the final leg. How we’ll have to do 2 sixty-mile days in order to get us to Johor Baharu, our last stop in Malaysia. Then it’s just a short ride into Singpore for the home run….
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Tim S.
non-member comment
Wow!!!
I can't believe it's almost over...it almost feels like the readers(I, at least) have been there with you, through it all...I can't wait for the grand finale and I'm hoping there'll be more blogs of your previous adventures, or maybe even your current one.