Singapore - Mission Accomplished

December 21 -- We made it, both of us safe and sound even if we have a few aches and cuts and such damage. Arrived here in pouring rain yesterday afternoon. Rae rode every inch of it - 7889 km - despite the injured leg during the last ten days. Ursula only missed a few kilometers, once when she hadn’t been able to keep anything down for a day and a half and she took the van from lunch because she could hardly stand up and the temperature was 40 degrees... good decision. She missed the last part of a day because she getting 12 stitches put in her arm after a fall, then missed a following day because she couldn’t hold onto the handlebar with the bad arm because of the pain when the arm was jostled by the rough road. She could easily have weaseled out of three or four days for that, but she toughed out the pain.

After Malacca, we had three riding days, mainly in rolling terrain, some tree-lined streets...

 

and palm plantations...

The last day - Friday December 20 - most of us wearing our new Bamboo Road bike jerseys...

...we set out on wet roads to ride our last 88 km in Malaysia. We have our last lunch stop...

...our last glimpse at the flagging tape that marked our turns and got us safely (most of the time, we all had a few missed turns) to each day's destination...

 

...the last of the wildlife at the side of the road...

...the last of the wildlife on  the road playing chicken with the scooters... slow learner!... heck, we learned to get out of the way of scooters when we were still in China...

Eventually we reach the water, the Johor Strait, which separates Singapore from the Malayan Peninsula...

Normal people would drive across the causeway and bridge at Johor Bahru, but not TdA riders, no sir. We arrive at a small marina that is actually east of Singapore and board some luxury vessels for a crossing of almost an hour, arriving in Singapore near the airport which is east of town.

Okay... it wouldn't be an adventure if it was really luxury, would it? Eight or nine of us to a boat... carry your bags and push the bicycles... carful of that step onto the boat because it's moving...

 ...not much room for everyone to sit, but not everybody wanted to sit below and breathe the fumes from the plastic jugs of fuel being carried...

Arrive in Singapore, carry the bags and bikes off our boat, across the next boat that is between us and the jetty, watch your step all the way, then Singapore immigration.

Then the convoy into town aided by a local bike club - we soon realized that coming across the bridge and riding into Singapore on the regular roads, that would not have been a pleasant ride, especially in the rain that was now falling. The boat trip was in fact brilliant, landing us beside a segregated recreational trail in parkland that followed the coast around and took us to less than a kilometer from the hotel...

...but not before the group photo that would have had the Singapore skyline behind us if it hadn't been pouring rain by now...

Time for the last dinner together, and a delicious one it was...

The next morning, bikes got packed and people were already scattering, some having had flights departing during the night.

After that, some of us felt the need to go down to one of Singapore's best-known landmarks, Raffles Hotel...

...and complete the experience with a Singapore Sling...

Before closing out this blog, here are the people on the Tour d'Afrique staff who worked so hard during the last three months trying to make the expedition a good one. Did they achieve the aim?... absolutely. All of our expectations were exceeded. The accommodation was on the whole clean and comfortable. Especially in smaller places, off the beaten track, it was basic, but we expected that. Food was good. The support was good. The people who made it happen were all absolutely super...

Sharita was tour leader from Shanghai to Bangkok...

Miles took over and got us to Singapore...

They dealt with flagging the route each day, sorting out room assignments and all the related problems, organizing transport for those who had injuries or other medical issues that necessitated going to a larger centre or returning home - I'm sure that doesn't scratch the surface...

Clare was our medic. She was one busy lady from the very beginning as we had several mishaps within the first days out of Shanghai. She did great work cleaning up Ursula's arm and stitching the wounds, doing it all in the van at the side of the road rather than taking the chance of worse infection had she waited until getting into the hotel.

Doug was the bike mechanic. Without him, we'd have had a lot more difficulty. He'd continually tweak things on everybody's bike to keep it running as well as it could...

Nieka, deputy tour lead, got to do everything that was left over. With the leader out in front doing the flagging and sorting out hotel issues, Nieka dealt with the stuff happening on the road and at the lunch stop. They took turns preparing the food at lunch and acting as 'sweep', last rider on the road to ensure nobody got left behind.

This being the first running of 'Bamboo Road', Henry Gold, TdA's founder was on board from Hanoi to Singapore, often riding as 'sweep'. Leadership style as exhibited on the bus shuttle out of Kuala Lumpur (he's in the back seat)...

...looking like he's enjoying himself... which is exactly his philosophy whether for riders or staff. Congratulations, Henry and staff on a successful first edition for Bamboo Road. More views of the Bamboo Road at TdA's own blog -  http://tourdafrique.com/category/tour-blogs/bamboo-road/

It hasn't completely sunk in yet that it's over. It's hard to feel like Christmas is only a few days away when here it's 30 degrees in the shade and there's no snow on the ground, but that will change in three days when we're on the ground back in Canada.

Except for the memories and friendships that we're bringing back, that's it, that's all for this adventure. It's been fun sharing our experiences with you. Thank you for following and commenting either on the blog or directly to us... that's made it all worthwhile. We're more than happy to share our experience further if anybody wants us to. You can reach us at randu.simpson@shaw.ca.

We wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy new year.

Ursula and Rae

Malacca

Thursday December 19th... Internet connection problems delayed the posting of this entry. So as we are posting this from Kota Tingga, our last stop before Singapore. We'll ride into Singapore tomorrow. 7780 km behind us, 125 to go. Here is the rest of the blog, written a couple of days ago...

Two riding days out of Kuala Lumpur and we arrived in Malacca for the last rest day before our final three riding days into Singapore. Malacca is another UNESCO world heritage site recognizing its past as a trading port. It was successively under Portuguese, Dutch, and British control, and it was here in 1956 that the proclamation of independence was made after a negotiating team representing all of the Malayan provinces returned from meetings in London.

The town has a great mix of past and present. The town grew around a fort that was initially built by the Portuguese. That area has bits and pieces from all of the colonial eras, and there are a number of archaeological digs in areas around it where more recent structures, roads, etc were built and are now being removed.

We spent the day wandering the town, then in the evening had a delicious meal hosted by the Malaysian Travel people.

The river was once a transportation route. Now it houses
restaurants and small guest houses

The old Dutch area, narrow streets, shopping, small hotels, etc

The tourist district here is full of these bicycle rickshaws, gaily decorated, most carrying music that is sometimes loud and not necessarily music to our ears - in fairness, some have more classical and/or Christmas music and they play it softly. For 40 RM (about $13), you can get a one-hour ride. We didn't, so not sure how the ride is from the riders point of view, but as a pedestrian, it sure looks like the drivers are kamikazes - in fairness, probably some of them are not.

On the lighter side....

Main street shop display, Christmas carols playing
almost continuously, cute hats on the mannequins,
and all of this in a Moslem country where most seem
enlightened enough to distinguish between religious
beliefs and the commercial side of Christmas.



...and the sign of the day, posted behind the toilet in the hotel... All of our hotels on this trip have had toilets that you can sit on, something we rather take for granted, but for people who know only the squatter type of toilet...

 

Penang to Kuala Lumpur

We arrived in Georgetown by ferry in sunshine. We left by ferry in the rain. We had a police escort for the two kilometers from the hotel to the ferry which helped enormously as we had to cross a roundabout and negotiate a couple of uncontrolled intersections in the pouring rain.

...patiently awaiting the ferry...

...now waiting for it to get moving...

...and now enjoying the depressing rainy view as we cross.

It rained all of the first day. The next two days were dry during the ride but both days we had downpours in the afternoon after arriving at destination - that seems to be the normal day around here at this time of year.

When we're off major highways, we have a mix of farmland
and rolling hills...

...and always a lot of wetland - this seems to be characteristic
of everywhere we've been from Shanghai all the way down,
land that is almost underwater and is suitable for rice...

...and towns whose architecture reveals a colonial influence.

A rest day today (December 14) in Kuala Lumpur. Much of KL displays architecture from colonial times...

Moorish style of former British courthouse

The National Monument
by the same designer as the USMC
Iwo Jima memorial in Washington DC

...but it is also known for the tallest twin towers (452 metres) in the world, the Petronas Towers, which were completed in 1998.

Interesting that here in an Islamic country (67% Moslem, and most of the rest is Hindu or Buddhist), we are listening to Christmas carols in almost every public place we go, including in the enormous shopping mall nestled between the two Petronas Towers, and everybody actually says 'Merry Christmas' without offending anybody else.

The choir below is singing Christmas carols that
can be heard through the central area of the
shopping complex in the KL Civic Centre
between the Petronas Towers.

Just outside town are the Batu caves that has become one of the most important Hindu religious sites outside India.

KL is also home to the largest free-flight enclosed aviary in the world which gave us a chance to get close to many species that we had seen from a distance during the bike ride and a number of species that we saw only here and for which we've included photos just because we think the birds are beautiful.

 

Probably not what the aviary was built for...