North from Singapore, part II

This was originally published on www.advrider.com in March 2008. Text and photos copyright Geoff Leeming.

My rest day on the beach turned out to mean only half a day on the bike, as it would be rude to come to Pulau Penang and only see one place, wouldn't it? A quick lap round the island seemed in order.

First stop was the Buddhist Temple of the Azure Cloud, improbably set in the middle of an industrial estate south of Georgetown.



The Church of England is worried about constantly declining attendance, and now I know the reason why: they don't have Pit Vipers!



Buddhist temples do (well, this one does, anyway) and Buddhism doesn't seem to have declining attendance. This must be the reason. Being confronted with one of these things would certainly keep people awake during sermons. Apparently these ones are the descendants of snakes tamed by the monk who founded the temple, and seem to have grown accustomed to camera flashes and the occasional manhandling by an overzealous photographer (not me, I don't entirely trust the claims that they've all been devenomed) in return for a steady supply of tasty eggs.

Further on round and a brief stop at the Titi Kerawang waterfall (gotta love these names)



...and a pause to inspect a hitchhiker I picked up somewhere...



...then back to Batu Ferringhi ("Foreigner's Rock") for an easy afternoon by the beach.



Yes, that upside-down thing above the horse is a parrakeet/macaw/parrot/bird-thing. It was tethered to a branch of a tree by the bar, but regularly fell off and swung there, squawking, until it could right itself and regain what little was left of its dignity.

One thing I will say about the Malay bikers is that they all seem to have remarkable bikes and riding ability. The barman here can apparently make it the 1,000km from Penang to Singapore in six hours, which is not bad for an old Vulcan, and a guy I spoke to on Saturday had a friend who would ride the 1,600km from Singapore to Bangkok in 10 hours, just to have a coffee. And then turn round and do the return trip. Remarkable. I clearly have a lot to learn.

Tomorrow? Up to Thailand, probably, to see if I have the right documents to be allowed to temporarily import my motor vehicle. Wish me luck.