Friday 6 February 2015

Rest and Recuperation in Penang NOT!!

The day was meant to be a relaxing day taking in the sights, dipping in the pool and just recharging the batteries ready for moving on into Thailand tomorrow..

But it didnt quite go like that..
We lounged around and had a late breakfast caught up with some other competitors and reflected on yesterdays events and mishaps...


Then we strolled up to the car park on the 3rd floor where usually all the action is. Lots going on and the support crews were hard at it. Some crews had flown in friends and family with parts to replace their broken bits..







Then after snapping a few interesting pics meandered down to the old girl and rolled back the cover and after hammering the brake lever back into place (after the little incident on the test) shot off to the Petronas garage literally 0.20 metres across the road. 

David could see the oil in the shop so decided to fill up the tank. So spent 5 minutes fiddling about to get access to and then waiting for the attentant to fill up with 95. We waited and waited, the attentant then went back into the kiosk to see why our pump wasnt running and came out saying that we could only have 97 as we were tourists.!! If you please... Apparently it is the rule here. No way was he going to sell us 95. 

David was not impressed as you could imagine and so we just packed everything back on and fired her up and trotted off to the next garage.. 
But in turning the corner the old 'buggar' cutbout. David re turned the handle and nearly chopped his finger off as it snapped back at him. So finger now was pouring with blood and temperature was rising from all directions..

We were right on a flaming corner in the middle of all the traffic. We packed her all up again and marched back to hotel. By a stroke of luck. Our luck!! Denis in car 37 was at the roadside waiting to be towed to a garage to do some repairs offered us his can of petrol.. That saved up a huge hassle so we lugged this 25 litres of 'gold' back the 2 km to the old girl where a huge crowd had drawn. All snapping away with their iphones.



One guy explained that the 95 petrol is subsidised by the government so is only sold to locals as tourists/foreigners come over and sell it elsewhere lol ... 
So we filled her up and off we sped to the Shell garage. Car # 9 in the Ford Model A were in there doing a full service and mot :)) and said this garage was 3rd generation owned and very friendly. The attendant here was about to refuse us but then the owner came out and gave the nod and all was ok. Filled up with petrol and 24 litres of oil (we have covered 2000 kms so far) so we have shared 24 litres evenly across Singapore and Malaysia :(( lol

We left relieved but boiling over from the heat. I could see that  a shopping trip around Penang was not going to go down well so we opted for a 'Trickshaw/Rickshaw' and spent a leisurely 2 hours being paraded around Little India, Cannon Street and the rest of the sights of Penang.. Although
A little cramped in the 'basket' it was actually quite relaxing even tho a little hairy at times weaving in and out of the traffic.
Back at the base a dip in the pool and a soot of lunch was the grand finale of our rest day. Now watching the sun setting over the town yet again..
Looking forward to our next location -Thailand and hopefully spot an elephant or two..






Tea with the President..








Garlic peeling and putting them in a bag 'made in china' lol








Smelly shoes off in the Temple..








Arriving in style back at the E&O - not a spot on Singapores 'Raffles' - like a butlins holiday camp ooops did i say that..


2 comments:

  1. Feel for you guys it’s not as if you arrived with a mask & stripped shirt.
    I’m sure the relaxed ride helped reduce the tension a little.

    Thanks for the news & pics Karen great job as always.
    Chill as much as possible ready for the next part of the adventure.

    Atb t ..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha yes the 'trickshaw' did the trick methinx. Took the weight off Davids pins for a while. Interesting way to see Penang.. Will try and keep you updated. Wifi permitting. Has been spot on at this hotel. The only thing that has!!
    Not sure what the Thai tinternet lol will be like tomorrow in the budget hotel. Said it was a budget one on booking.com but it looked ok so....

    ReplyDelete