2nd February
I feel good. Better, more relaxed and excited about the riding than I have for days. 128 miles today but it’s a squeeze more and replaces the ride on the 31st January by two miles.
Riding 130 mile days
Conditions calm, cool at 7am, hot and humid by midday. Cloud cover comes over and I ride well. Handling the traffic easily, definitely in a good rhythm. I start to notice things again, the detail alongside the highway. Hang Fatt and his Auto Spares shops has started to appear along with steel fabricators, small engineering workshops, motorcycle repairers, cafes selling cappuccinos, just nice to have a sense that cafe culture is there if I need it. Malay towns don't appear as swish as inThailand
A Bit of Information
Allianz's 14th edition of its "Global Wealth Report", puts the asset and debt situation of households in almost 60 countries under the microscope. With net financial assets per capita of EUR 9,830 for 2022, the report said Malaysia has advanced two rungs and is now the 39th richest country in its ranking.
But the Mini Markets, 7-11’s stores, local business are devoted to sell, buy, paint, fix, weld anything for the car and similarly feed the notion that cars are seen to be an essential part of South East Asian life. New builds advertise 3 car places under the porch to inspire new purchasers.
So much for addressing climate change. 3 car families are appearing across Malaysia
Plastic wrapped individual tangerines
Shop Front Malaysia-style
Does anyone wear helmets on motorbikes anymore?
Here's A Thought
mindfulness
/ˈmʌɪn(d)f(ʊ)lnəs/
noun
the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.
a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.
Am I being 'mindful'? I think I want to be. The present moment, living each breath, resisting the need to look for any other state than I am in when I ride alone for 10 hours each day. Setting up unconscious resistance to what I have against what I think I want. For most days I don't speak. Not in South East Asia. English is not a common language with Highway people; in academia, higher levels of business and the professions perhaps English is more perfectly understood but not where I'm cycling. Whatever I do say has a pedestrian vocabulary related to needing sustenance and finding somewhere safe to sleep. Anything spoken more meaningfully is an exception but halfway around the world it hasn't happened yet. For anyone to survive requires a response tailored to the specific situation - I can't speak to be understood so I've reduced the need to.
Taking a Different Way
"The Miracle of Surrender"
I cannot do the same thing and get something different, but what if I do something different what do I get then?" Is cycling around the world different enough? Maybe not ...
So I ride and I ride from before the sun rises to just as it sets. I don't know where the nest day takes me or what will unfold. It is a lack of perfection, a spike of chaos, that which Nietzsche says gives birth to a dancing star. I take deep breaths, I am using up large parts of my life staring down the abyss until it stares back at me. What do I see? The Road. No answers just interpretations. I have thoughts and I have shadows, one is emptier and simpler than the other but I don't know which.
But this ride is significantly about the bike. Still performing brilliantly. It's had no servicing since I left the UK. The chain has been oiled chain 3 times. Replaced the tyres in Athens. Rear brake shoes in Phnom Phen. No increased battery discharge, no decreased power levels.
Map of the Day
Postcard from Home