2019 - Phuket to Singapore by Bicycle

Fine but cloudy in the morning with a late afternoon thunderstorm, 26 to 33 deg Walk: 30km You wouldn’t even know it rained so much yesterday; this place is so well drained it was all gone this morning. I was out well before sunrise again, it’s certainly the best part of the day here, nice and quiet and “cooler”. Plenty of colourful lighting to make me a much better photographer than I am, with my trusty iPhone. A lot of very fancy camera people were out with their $1,000 cameras capturing the sunrise. Surprisingly, there were a lot of cyclists out too; must be the Saturday rides, I’m guessing. Back to the hotel for breakfast at 7am but didn’t run into the lads at all but caught up after lunch. After brekky went wandering again, this time to the Gardens on the Bay, which not that long ago was a marshland. Ran into Dogan and said our farewell as he’s leaving this evening to fly home to Turkey. Singapore is amazing for getting spectacular things done and “growing” their island. I the...

Fine in the morning with an early afternoon thunderstorm 26 to 36 deg, 80% humidity. The storm came just as we were driving into Singapore. Walk: 4km Another early morning walk for me along the river towards the Sultan’s Palace. Although you can only view from afar it looks pretty good and even the streets and parks around that area look neat and clean, unlike most of JB which is fairly ordinary. Massive building projects going on all over the place which add to the chaos. Breakfast in the hotel was passable, cornflakes, fried rice, noodles, white bread, tea or coffee and cake. Met up with all the guys and crew at 9:45am for farewells and a briefing on the day. As is the tradition on these tours we all tipped each of the staff (Ramish, Malay Guide, Heng, Cycle Guide, Amid, Bus Driver, Hok, Photographer and Hey Bro, Larry Driver) and presented them with their envelopes along with some words of thanks. They tried very hard, although I believe they lack the knowledge and training to c...

Fine and mainly sunny in the morning with a thunderstorm mid-afternoon, while we were on the bus thank goodness. A little hotter than previous days, 24 to 34 deg, we are edging closer to the equator. Ride: 80km; total: 865km Walk: 3km A nice early morning walk started my day. Not a great deal to see in Keluang, a little smelly and although littered with rubbish the workers were out sweeping the streets clean. Even before dawn the street food stalls and restaurants were already filling up with customers on their way to work. The smells were stimulating my appetite for breakfast. Breakfast for us was in the hotel today for a change. Eggs, toast, rice, curried chicken, and some really good coffee. Drove away at 8am for about 20 minutes before stopping to get on the bikes. The road we got onto initially should have been far too busy and fast to ride on, so we were all glad we turned off it after about 10 nervous km. The drivers are much more patient than most Aussie drivers, but the bi...