Initially I thought it would be fun to be wee spontaneous, so I was all jacked up ready to go to Kukup and take a ferry to Tanjung Balai, Indonesia. Then a quick google on where can I pitch a tent or where is cheap to stay turns up never ending information on illegal prostitution on Tanjung Balai. Turns out the whole place is just one big brothel island. So, I reverted back on the original Pontian - Johor Bharu - Singapore plan.



Gosh, it's only 11am and the weather was already motherfiretrucking hot to a point where it was trippin 38 - 40 Celsius. After about 30km on the saddle, I decided to stop and take a roadside break under a shady spot. One thing leads to another and I accidentally dozed off. Watch says I dozed for a good 30 minutes. Nice. When I was packing up and ready to go, I realised a car suddenly making an emergency stop onto the grassy shoulder would have easily ran my silly sleeping ass. Note to myself - next time rest somewhere safe.

After the roadside nap, I continued on and reached Skudai city. Realising that I probably need more than the RM50 I had on me to cross into Singapore I stop by at a Petronas petrol station that has a cash dispenser. But that's when I realised that my wallet was not where it was supposed to be.

Suddenly I was this guy in the middle of the parking lot who was jumping up and down, turning sideways here and there smacking my pockets my ass all over as if I got red ants crawling up my balls. Turned my panniers, handlebar bag, rack bags inside out, spilled everything out on the pavement. Nada. Zero. Then (god bless his soul) this Petronas cashier dude, Fahmy was his name - inquired about my predicament and gladly let me use his motorbike to retraced my steps. Oh man. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I biked all the way back to Pontian, stopped by where I slept and zilch. Takde.



After the initial hysterical hair pulling exasperated overwhelming whathefuckery floods of emotions, I calmed myself down and did a police report. What went missing was abuncha cash, MyKad, driving license and ATM cards.

With only RM20 bucks on me, I wondered if I should just camp out, catch fishes with my hands and howl bareass naked beating my chest when the moon is out. but then I realised am a giant pussy so I send out a distress signal to my Johorian friends and graciously, kawan saya yang baik hati Cik Izahanim and her husband who were staying just a few kilometers away responded quickly and offered me a place to stay. Also thank yous loads to Mutter, Azmi Zakaria, Karen and Sk Lah for their very kind assistance.



I've learnt two things from this incident. The first is to take my own advice wei. I always tell cycletourer and backpacker friends to split up their cash in two and hid it in multiple places through out their baggage. also NEVER put your ATM, identity cards and cash together, because just like my case - you loose one shit, everything's gone.

The second bit, is to ALWAYS bring a pair of smart casual clothes whenever you're touring longer than a week because like in this photo, I was invited to Izahanim's family gathering and I had to wear my cycling jersey and track chute. Awkwarddd sangat.



So alas, the missing wallet fiasco has forced me to take a bus back home to Kuala Lumpur and postponed the trip after 5 days of 421km. I need to sort out all this ugly mess.



But what a pleasant "hey-im-in-the-papers! im-in-the-papers! im-in-the-papers!" surprise. The interview for this NST article was done before I left and coincidentally published when I was back home. Rasa macam artis, sila la cium tangan saya. Nak saya sign tetek anda? Hahaha



A second round of surprise pulak is when Ayam Brand agreed to come onboard as sponsor and help provide loadsa delicious canned tuna, mackarels, baked beans, peaches, sweet corn and VE Juices for my cycling trip. Even for the Turkey route, there will be checkpoints in Thailand and China where I can restock my Ayam Brand supplies. Awesomee

Although I dont subscribe to the silver lining axiom, these two are certainly it.



DONE. WOOOooo. So anak anak sekalian, jangan lah cuai and take things for granted. It was a grave disappointment on my part to postpone my trip and a major pain in the buntut to replace these cards, but credit to JPN, JPJ and CIMB in making the process quick and as seamless as possible. Not you Maybank. You guys made me wait for 2 hours while your branch manager wanted to contact Kuching branch for verification? What wanking shit was this?



So after two weeks of KL and fattening up myself up with soul recovery food aka KFC, Mcdonalds and Carl's jr, I was back in Johor and ready to continue my trip and enter Singapore. Like yeah. Totally. Totes magotes, man.

• My 2240km Peninsular Malaysia Routes
• Day 1: 97km UPM to PD
• Day 2 - 4: 324km to Pontian
• Day 5: 60km of Skudai and then shit hits the fan
• Day 6 - 8: The first 500, Singapore and back.
• Day 9 - 11: 852km so far