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Mario's Malaysian Makeover
Hello from Malaysia, or as they say here, “Hello from Malaysia”! We’ve made it to our fifteenth country and as far as we can go before Mario is shipped to Australia.
When we last updated, 2 weeks ago - sorry for the delay SVW fans, but it’s all about quality not quantity – we were in Thailand and heading down the East Coast. The day after we updated, we were in contact with Richard & PooChian (Sprinter Crew in China) who had offered us a stay in their apartment in Penang, Malaysia. They said they were there till 19th Nov and would like to show us around before they left, so we decided to head straight there.
It was a relatively uneventful 3 day drive, just stopping in little bungalow resorts on the way down and a city centre hotel in Hat Yai. It was good to be off the tourist trail again and seeing more of the normal Thailand that we enjoyed when in the North East. We were a bit concerned about entering the Thai Southern Provinces as they are marked as “Advise Against All But Essential Travel” by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, with a warning about terrorist attacks against Westerners. However, when we got there it was the usual scenario we’ve experienced throughout our trip, as we’ve said many times: “everyone was really friendly and welcoming”!
On the 17th Nov we headed for Malaysia with the usual knot in our stomachs that border crossings bring, not knowing what we’d be faced with and how much bureaucracy we’d have to deal with. Yet again though, it was a pleasant surprise. Initially, there were actual real road-signs saying “International Border Crossing”, a first on our trip! Thai customs were very relaxed, not even bothering to make sure we were leaving with Mario. We handed over the temporary import paperwork, they asked where the van was, we said “In the car park”, they stamped us out – simples!
Crossing into Malaysia took a bit longer, but was also straightforward. This was the first time we’d use our Carnet, but this was just a case of it being stamped after the officer checking the details were correct against the VIN Plate. The most time was taken getting the insurance sorted as they couldn’t find a Mercedes Vario on their database – it took about an hour for them to jiggle the system to just say “Mercedes Van”, but they gave us free drinks while we waited, which was nice.
We then continued south, not realising it was a toll road – we hadn’t yet stopped at a cashpoint to get out any Ringgit. The charge at the toll booth was 2 Ringitt, about 40p. We did our usual dumb tourist act, apologised and offered the Thai Baht which we still had. The very smiley cashier was having none of it, so we offered him one US Dollar – more than enough - but he coyly asked “What about 2 Dollars?”, cheeky chap but deal done! He told us there was a cashpoint at the next services, but didn’t tell us there were other toll booths before we got there! At the next booth we found out they can just give you a card and you pay when you get off!
So then it was further South and over the bridge to Penang Island, through the manic traffic of Georgetown and around the coast to Richard and PooChian’s place in beautiful Batu Ferringhi. Their apartment is amazing, all mod-cons, but very homely and stunning views over the bay. We’re so grateful for their generosity for letting us stay here. It was lovely to see them again, especially in a much more relaxed environment than we all experienced racing through China. They were excellent hosts, taking time to show us around when they should have been packing to go back to London. We were introduced to Tony who owns the beach front restaurant - Richard’s daily haunt - and enjoyed his amazing chicken and mango dish. They showed us the night markets, the hawkers food court, helped us sort a local SIM card and on the last night took us into Georgetown for a slap-up meal and then back for drinks and whiskey tasting on the balcony. It was a great welcome for us and hopefully a good send off for them.
With the place to ourselves, feeling a bit like children left in the house on their own, we started chasing up our shipping contacts to sort Operation Mario MegaMove. We have finally made some proper ground and it looks like he’ll be going on RoRo (roll on, roll off - like a cross channel ferry, but no passengers) around the 16th December, with him getting to Oz about 2 weeks later.
There’s still a few things to sort, but that’s the current plan. With that in mind, we have now started Mario’s Malaysian Makeover, basically cleaning everything and anything. Australia’s quarantine laws mean any vehicle coming into the country must be free of mud, seeds, grease and live insects – if they find it’s dirty they will charge for cleaning, fumigation and even have the right to refuse entry, putting the vehicle back on the next ship at the owner’s expense. It’s a daunting prospect, both the work involved and the ultimate consequence of not doing it well enough.
So far we’ve emptied and cleaned all 20 cupboards in the back and made a start on scrubbing and disinfecting the items that will stay in them. We’ve had the dashboard out, the ventilation system apart, the front seats out, the door seals off and the seat bases and the floor scrubbed beyond recognition. We have still to tackle the boot and all the tools and accessories in there and then do some prep work before we drive to Kuala Lumpur where the underneath and engine will be professionally cleaned.
We had some reservations about doing the work in the car park of a posh apartment building, but Richard had no concerns and the security guys here have been more than accommodating. We have been buying them drinks to keep them sweet, in return they have let us hook-up to their electrics and they come over for chats to see how we’re doing. They’ve even started bringing us drinks, iced-teas in a plastic bag with a straw - just what you need when you’re soaked through with sweat in the hot weather.
It hasn’t all been hard work, we’ve spent a day in the capital of Penang, Georgetown, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There’s lots of street art here, so we picked up a map and did our own walking tour, concentrating mainly on the many cat pieces. There was also a motorbike festival going on, which was good to walk around as we haven’t seen any proper big bikes since Europe. However, our visit was cut short when we realised there wasn’t a bar. A bike-fest without a bar? What were they thinking? Being Brits, we had to visit the old Fort Cornwallis, built by the Brits in the late 1700’s. It only cost 40p each to get in, which was probably too much! Not much to see, mainly overgrown with grass and a big modern cafe built in the middle.
The weather is best described as “tropical”. Very hot, very humid and most afternoons or evenings bring tremendous thunderstorms, which we enjoy from the balcony. As a result, the environment is lush and green, with lots of varied wildlife. There is a jungle behind the apartment where we can see monkeys jumping from tree to tree. They venture out towards the beach, crossing the road on the telephone lines, we’ve even had a couple visit us in the car park when we’ve been cleaning Mario. Other visitors have been black giant squirrels, sea eagles and numerous insects being chased by everybody’s favourite lizard - geckos.
The food here is outstanding due to the many cultural influences history has brought. Traditional Malaysian, Thai, Chinese, Indian and of course Western, it’s got it all. Our favourite place is the hawkers food court - a big, noisy square surrounded by loads of stalls. You grab a numbered table, wander around the stalls, order what you want and they bring it over when it’s ready. A great way to taste lots of cheap, different dishes in a friendly, informal environment.
With us planning the jump to Australia and realising the costs involved, we’re starting to consider that we may be reaching the end of our trip, not so much in time, but in countries left to visit. We could stay in Oz for a year, so we have plenty of time left, but the shipping costs suggest we won’t be taking Mario to the Americas. More likely is that we will ship him home from Oz and decide from there how or if we do South and/or North America. What we currently think is that we could backpack South America, public transport the States and then hire a motorhome to cross Canada. Much will depend on how cheaply we can travel through Oz, so no definite plans yet, but it’s something we need to think about. As we’ve said before, the romantic ideal of just packing up and travelling is not realistic, at least not with your own vehicle – there’s so much planning to do, some of which you need to do months in advance and some of which can only be sorted at the last minute. Time will tell!!
Well we can’t sit around here all day playing on the computer, we’ve got more cleaning to do!
TTFN