Goodbye old friend

We all have bad days I guess and travelling is no exception. This post is a wee example for all those people who think riding round the world is just a huge lark involving sitting on nice beaches, drinking lots and chasing ladies.

Back in KL, I started my day by first riding to the Indian Consulate to generaly annoy the staff and see how my visa was coming on only to be told to keep checking their website as they didn't seem to know much at all, so from there I deposited myself in an internet cafe for a few hours. After I'd been there about 3 hours, I tried the Indian visa site once again and to my delight I saw the little reference number I'd been given last week now had todays date next to it indicating my visa had at last been approved.

Hotfooting it round to the Consulate again with vivid plans in my mind of leaving KL that very afternoon and hitting the highway north to Thailand, I presented my passport expecting a nice colourful stamp to be put in only to be told that if I left it with them, it would be ready after 4.30pm, THE FOLLOWING DAY. Not to be outdone, I suggested surely they could just wheek out their big rubber stamp and I'd be on my merry way but alas it was not to be, Indian beuocracy was in full control here and there was no getting around it no matter how much I whined and stamped my foot.

Right on cue, as soon as I left the consulte, this being Malaysia it started completely pissing it down so I stopped off at the fancy Petronas Mall to get out the torrential rain and maybe take in a movie but immediately felt scruffy next to all the clean and nicely ironed shoppers. Seeing that there were no movies taking my fancy, once the rain abated, I then tried the Times Square mall, much the same but without the huge sparkly towers above. Parking the bike outside next to all the other bikes, I stuck my helmet in the helmet lock and took a wander inside. Still not being temped with seeing ''Kung Foo Panda'', I manged to find myself a good Rough Guide (they're great as they are tough and waterproof) map of India seeing as I was now going there, and after a quick flick through some books, went out to get the bike. When I was about 20m away, that's when I noticed something wasn't right- my helmet wasn't there...

2 Strap buckles- All that remained of my Arai Tour X...

''Fuck! Fucking fuckity fuck fuuuuuuck!!!'' I said, mainly to myself but also to anyone else unfortunate enough to be in my immediate vicinity. The strap had been cut and all that remained were two metal hoops still attached to the helmet 'lock'. I began to wonder who was more stupid, me for not looping my bike lock through the helmet (as I normally do) or the bloody thief for stealing a helmet that will hopefully come off in an accident and smash his wee brain in. So I was standing next to my bike that I now can't ride in the middle of town thinking of my next move when it came to me. Another HUBB regular had offered to meet me for coffee the previous night but we'd just missed each other and I still had his number on me. A quick call which swallowed up the last of my change got me through to Radzi who worked nearby, and what seemed like only 10 minutes later, a guy on a Honda Dominator cruised past the coffee shop I was sitting outside and before I knew it, I now had a borrowed helmet.

Radzi saves the day!

After we'd introduced ourselves, Radzi suggested trying a shop near his house which might do a cheap MX helmet but first we had to go to evening prayers. Well actually he did, I just stood outside the mosque and had a peek in at the proceedures going on inside. The place we went to unfortunatelly didn't have anything I wanted but Radzi suggested a place in town he knew which I would try the next day. I ended up getting another helmet for 500RM (about 80quid) which I could really done with not spending that kind of money but while I was in the shop, I learned that they actually sell 2nd hand helmets here and even had an old Arai going for 1000RM amazingly enough. The shop keeper assured me that the thief would be able to get another strap fitted but I still really hope it comes off.