It’s all happening…

Today was the first day of the trip, and also the one which I had the most anxiety over. Why you ask?

1. Red eye flight on Air Arabia (from Sharjah…if you know you know) arriving at ~10AM. (i.e no sleep)
2. Needed to collect, repack, and reinstall items disassembled for shipping on the bike before the warehouse closed by 12PM
3. I have a goal to ride to Singapore to get dinner with my friend Sunday night, and then get back to KL by Monday eve to be ready to set off up north.

Thankfully, I got ~6 hours of (light) sleep on the plane (zero rem/deep sleep according to Whoop/Apple)…and was able to get everything ready by ~1PM. Managed to drop Sandeep for the first time right after bolting all the parts back on. Ah well! At least I am no longer precious about dropping it.

(++ context - I gave my fiancé naming rights to my bike, and it is now named “Sandeep” - which is more masculine than “Sandy”)

**

For my efforts, I treated myself to a 2x Hainan chicken rice at a local hawker, before making a beeline south to see how far I could get before feeling too tired.

Riding was tough in the heat and humidity, and I was amazed by how much congestion there was on the single highway that leads down South to Singapore. Thank god for liking motorbikes rather than cars, otherwise I’d probably still be in the traffic as I write this. Apparently it is a holiday this weekend, so hotels are scarce, and traffic is plentiful.

By 4pm, I reached Melaka, and I couldn’t bring myself to soldier on to Johor Bahru (another ~250km). Booked a nice-ish place while these are still around, dropped my bike again(!) (I must be very tired; another standing drop) and wandered around town.

That’s all for today - I am tired & need rest.

Tomorrow; Singapore!

Today’s ride.

Some stats:

• ~204KMs ridden
• 31.4L fuel purchased (tank was empty upon arrival)
• 3 unique interactions
• 0g coffee consumed
• bike dropped twice (standing)