Got the bike organized to go to Kuala Lumpur. Beau from Hellmann in Darwin has been a great help,no problem at all. We organized a Dangerous good certificate and a inspection of the bike and within 2 days the bike is ready to leave for KL.
No crate, no dramas, no worries.
We left Darwin on Wednesday the 7th Jan. on a flight to Singapore, arrived late afternoon and stayed on Geylang Road in a Hotel. Geylang is the red light district of Singapore it's a very happening place. After checking in to the hotel we went for a walk to check out the neighbourhood and find a place to eat, after a short stroll and a few offers ( food and other) we settled on a street corner eatery and enjoyed a great chines meal with a Tiger Beer to wash it all down.
Across the street from the Hotel was a row of shops with " Dance Studio" signs above them and lots of guys hanging around, must be popular to learn how to dance in Singapore ? Hmmmm...........

The next morning we put on our walking shoes and went into town. we started of with Orchard Road, Maggie was in shopping paradise all the big labels and brands are there ( too bad the bike is already full to the max) after a good look around we went on to China Town and then to Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling.

China Town, Rafffels an down the river in Singapore

After a long day walking around town we got a taxi back to the hotel, had a meal and colapsed in bed, a 5am start for the next morning was on the list to get on a plane and fligh to Kuala Lumpur.

Maggie in the Orchad garden

Markets and Food stalls in KL

Kuala Lumpur is buzzing with life, we staying in China Town, went to the Night Markets, soooo much stuff.....
All is decorated for Chinese New Year it looks great.

Monday the 12/1/09
Today we pick up the bike from Kl airport. we arrive at Cargo terminal at midday, we leave at about 4.30pm.
First you go to office no 1 to get a pass to get in the gate, now to office no2 for a stamp and a piece of paper, then its of to office no3 and another stamp and then back to office 2 for some more paper and more stamps, by now its 1pm and everything shuts for 1 hour. We start again at 2pm and go to office no 2 to to get another stamp
and we can know proceed to office no 4 to get paperwork witch needs to stampt by office No 2, then back to 4 and we finally get the bike out of the warehouse. we unload it from the cradle reconnect the battery and go back to office no2 to get a clearance stamp witch we have to take to office no 5 to inspect and sign the paperwork, now we go back to no2 for the final stamp, we are out of the gate and all is left is to go to office no1 to collect our passports and just one more stamp for good luck. How easy is that.
We leave KL behind us and drive into our first Asian thunderstorm. WOW can it rain over here. We are forced to pull over into a service station and wait. lucky for us there is a motel and we end up sating there for the night.

The next morning we head up to the Cameron Highlands

Ringett

Thara Ranta

Tea Fields Around the Cameron Highlands

Cup of Tea on the road ( our bag)

After the highlands we drive on to Georgetown on Panang and stay in a small Guest house right on the beach.

Bridge to Georgetown

From Georgetown its a long and boring drive to the Thai border, the crossing into Thailand is easy and we are trough in no time at all.
from the boarder we head north and arrive in Krabi in the afternoon where we are staying for a few days.

From the Malaysian boarder we Head north towards Hat Yai we have been told that the very southern part of Thailand is not to save to travel in so we just keep going. The scenery has changed the moment we came across the boarder, it's very busy and the pollution is quiet bad. From hat Yai we head we ride towards Phattalung and then west to Trang and finally Krabi. We end up in AoNung a beach suburb of Krabi, we find a hotel and set of to check out town. The place is overrun by tourist, there is shop after shop after restaurant's and so on. The whole place has a very resort like feel about it, you can get newspapers from around the globe, drink in Irish pub's and if you feel like it have some German sausages with Sauerkraut, its all here and then some more.

Ao Nong

Cove on Phi Phi Island

The following day we booked in for a speedboat trip to Ko Phi Phi. We set of at 9 am, first stop Monkey Beach on Phi Phi Le there we for a snorkel over the coral reef, next stop "The Beach" where the movie was shot, as we come across the corner into the lagoon there is dozens of boats and hundreds of people on the beach ( spoils it a bit)

The Beach

The Beach

We head of to Phi Phi resort for lunch, on the way there we are told that 10000 people died here in the 2004 Tsunami and all buildings were destroyed, it's amazing what can be done in 4 years you would never guess that anything ever happened here.
From AoNong we drive in a north- west direction towards Than Put and then on to the coast to Khao Lak. The beaches here are as long as you can see dotted with Resorts and Guest Houses but not as overdone as in other parts of the coast.

Sunset at Khao Lak

From Khao Lak we travel along the coast as far as Ratcha Krut and then head into the mountains towards Lang Suan, just north from Sawi we encounter our fist police control point, all they wanted to see was our drivers licence but we were surrounded by about 6 policemen taking photos and checking out the bike.

Pink Bungalow
From Cha am we follow the national Highway up to Bangkok, the smog is hanging over the land like a thick fog, trucks blowing out black clouds of diesel and everybody has a fire in front of there haus to cook on.
the traffic is getting heavier but we are going OK until a sign tells us that motorbikes are not allowed to drive on tollways our freeways, so we have to stick to normal roads and that's what got us lost. We pull into a service station to fill up and ask directions, as I talk to a taxi driver to get directions I feel a tap on my shoulder and a Aussie voice saying " you look lost mate" Robert from Chon Buri , east of Bangkok, just happen to be in town and pulled up behind us to get petrol when he the aussie flag on the bike and me looking confused at a map with the taxi driver he came over and offered us to follow him to the ferry that will get us to the main road leading out of town. THANKS ROBERT
A few more hours and we arrive in Pattaya where we look for Siam Reap Racing a big motorbike shop on the main road to organize some new tyres, Scott the owner greets us and its no problem at all we have them in the morning.
Pattaya is a full on party town full of Clubs and Bars, you cant see the beach for umbrellas and sun chairs. we end up staying in a guesthouse just of the beach and join the party atmosphere for the night.
the following day we pick up our tyres and head of south to a little fishing village for a bit of peace and quiet.

wharf near Pataya

Fishing Fleet

The following day we visit the Botanic gardens.

guess witch one is us ??

Maggie feeding elephants

Botanic Garden Pattaya

After a visit to the Botanic gardens we continue our travel down the coast and aim to get to Ko Chang a island of the coast from Trat, its taken us a bit longer than what we had planed so we don't arrive on KO Chang until nightfall, with out a map and no idea where to go we drive of the ferry and turn left ( sounded good at the time ) after about 15min i notice a sign on the side of the road naming a lodge i remember from the travel guide so we on going until another sign directs us along, after about 45min the road turns to gravel, by now we are in the middle of nowhere and getting a bit anxious to get somewhere to rest, I lose my concentration for just a second and the front end slides out and the two of us end up tumbling in to the bush. luckily we where going very slow and nobody got hurt. We pick the bike up and continue or journey, after about another km we finally get to the Lodge only to be told its all booked out. One of the staff members takes us along to another lodge where we get a Bungalow and the best Phat Thai we had so far. the next morning we wake up and find our self in the most beautiful spot so we book ourselves in for a few days to chill out.

Long Beach Paradise found!!!!!!!!!

4 days of this " tuff "

Tree House

Lunch at the Tree house