the film laboratory

He's back!

And yes, the trip is nearly all he thought it'd be!

But he hates Malaysia. He got really kind of homesick. And in a place with no beer and no chicks, there was nought to do but gaze at his navel.

That got old real quick. Heh.

So he decided to cut short his trip and come back a day early.

But more on that later.

He set off from home at 5.14am. And ironically, he didn't once get lost in East Malaysia but lost his way on the road to Changi Village.

As he made his way along the roads before 0600hrs, he turned on the radio and was inspired by retro-rock on the old people's stations, but then as it got brighter and busier, commercial radio cut into his holiday mood, so he turned it off.

Click each pic for more biggified goodness. Note: most of these pics are shot from a moving bicycle. Stopping to shoot is sooo touristy.

He rolled into Pasir Ris MRT station to ask for directions and finally rolled onto the jetty at time below:

Fifteen minutes later he was on the bumboat. Although he wished he was on the plane overhead instead. But give it time. He'll be touring Europe some day.

The captain turned east and they were sailing into the sunrise.

Land ahoy, and there's the boat he rode in on.

Well he got in at about 9am and spent 14 minutes peeing and poo-ting on sunscreen.

Sunscreen is so gross. Now he remembers why he hates it. Greaseless his ass. Still, it must have worked, and soon he rolled out.

He then proceeded to get lost right away, but actually he wasn't lost; he'd just underestimated Google Earth images. He had figured on turning south towards the main road, but the jetty he had landed on wasn't marked out in his map, instead it was the one on the far left corner.

So there wasn't a need to turn south at all - coming out from the jetty, was the route exactly. It was a good 5 click and more before he realised that the road he was looking for, he was already on it.

Story of his life, wot?

Also, that yellow route? That cuts vertically south from the other jetty? It goes through a fenced Navy training compound, he realised later, on the way back. Don't trust everything you see in Google Earth, children.

As he rode down the road coming out the jetty he smiled. He hadn't felt this free in years.

He was doing it, really doing it!

Anyhow, as he rode along, he took pictures.

He didn't really take that many pictures; at the back of his mind was the fact that he had no accomodation at Desaru, and that if he got there late he won't have a place to sleep. He' never been overseas on his own before and knew jackshit about Malaysia.

So he took fewer pictures, and when he finally realised which part of the Earth he was on, he made good time.

Until later.

The worse parts of the ride were going up north from the edge of the continent. Not only was there a fierce headwind and crosswinds which buffetted his front wheel, making steering tough, let alone maintaining a good pace, the sun was also unrelenting.

And then once that stretch was over, there were undulating hills, slopes after slopes to climb. And when he climbed one, there was in the near distance, another one waiting.

But he made it. Eventually.

And solved the problem of accomodation by taking over a chalet that someone else was giving up. It was more like a shack, really.

Desaru really isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Nice waves, though. Gave him an idea for a story named 'The Murry Men'. He will write it soon and put it in his book for teens 'My Boyfriend is a Magician, and other stories."

And here is the only friend he made in Malaysia.

He went to sleep watching Jackie Chan on TV3 and feeling way out of this world. The waves on the beach lulled him to sleep and he called Anne in Malaysia just to have a chat. It was way windy outside too and he slept in the living room because he felt vibes in the bedrooms.

Next morning the alarm woke him up at 8 and he took these shots of the dawn, all bleary-eyed and shit.