Nathan managed to grab the ferry to Malaysia on Tuesday and was re-united with Dot at the other end. But everything comes at a price, especially around Indonesia, so Nathan wasn’t suprised when the chap at the port demanded an additional £60 to take Dot out of quarantine and hand her back to her rightful owner.
Well, he wasn’t going to go far without Dot so he swallowed his pride and paid up.
But no sooner had Nathan got back out on the open road, Dot started to splutter and wheeze. She needs a doctor, or a mechanic, fast.
Enter Mr. Hong Chye, mechanic extraodinaire and the saviour of the trip.
Contrary to the hassle and heckling of Indonesia, Malaysian Mr. Chye seemed to take a shine to Dot. He took a glance at her 110cc engine, tickled her valves and tinkered with her poorly bits, until she was back to her normal self.
And it seems Mr. Chye was so taken with Dot that he didn’t want a penny for the pleasure of stroking her engine parts. What a pleasant suprise, thank you Mr. Chye.
So with her engine roaring to go, Nathan and Dot carry on into Malaysia. To the unknown and beyond…
Tired from his travels, with dodgy spots on strange parts of his body and bright red eyes from all the riding, Nathan seems glad to be leaving Indonesia.
Oh, and he’s gone a little crazy too…
Due to leave Indonesia on Sunday before his Visa expires, Nathan makes the final journey to the port. When he arrives, he follows the guidelines and strips Dot of her panniers and empties her fuel tank. After an hour of scraping the skin from his knuckles emptying the tank and splitting the fuel loot among the circling hyena-like locals, Nathan was annoyed to learn that the ferry is actually delayed until Tuesday and that there is a new rule that no bikes are allowed on board.
After tapping on his calculator furiously though, one of the crew decides there is actually a lupole after so many zeros are added to the price. ‘You pay 1 million rupee’. About £58. It’s painful, but Dot has carried Nathan this far – there would be no abandoning her now. He pays.
He re-builds Dot and wheels her out of the port. The sharks who circled for fuel find it quite hilarious that Nathan has been reduced to pushing his wheels. The smile was wiped off their faces when Nathan magically revived Dot’s engine. Reserve fuel tank my friends, reserve fuel tank.
Dot’s a little bit under the weather, her valves are rattling, they’re noisy. She needs a mechanic. She humbly carries Nathan back to town, to the heckling of ‘hey mister, where are you going?’.
Nathan and Dot, his humble little Honda CT110 ‘Postie’, are making great progress. So much so that Nathan actually had time to quench our thirst for photos.
Take it away, Nathan…
Speeding along a road, with a rather triumphant expression…
And then a well deserved rest…
Back to being triumphant again, here is the Millward Trademark Handstand with Dot keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings…
Giving Dot some much needed fuel…
If Nathan makes it home without Dot’s engine giving up it will be a miracle…
Nathan and his humble Honda CT110 Postie moped cruised through the picturesque island of Bali over the weekend.
The views are amazing, riding past rice fields etched into the hillsides and through the magnificent Bali volcano. Blink and you miss something wonderful.
It's a great place!
But everything has a downside, and unfortunately in Bali it is corruption in the law. Nathan was pulled over as he was riding up Bali Volcano by a policeman who asked to see his international driving licence. When Nathan could not produce the flimsy cardboard I.D, the policeman instead asked for 50,000 rupees ‘for his friend’. Later, as Nathan scooted into Kuta, the main tourist area, another policeman told him that he had just ridden over a red line and that he would have to take him to the policestation for the authorities to deal with. Or he could give him another 50,000 rupees now and call it quits.
So, with the bitter taste of corruption in his mouth, Nathan caught a ferry and headed on to Java.
Taking a pit stop in one of the tiny garages on the side of the road, Nathan treated Dot to a new back tyre. Fitted in a matter of minutes for only four pounds. Bargain.
A boy making wooden crocodile. Make it snappy!
Back out on the track with a newfound sense of grip emmanting from his rear, Nathan found the locals drive like utter loons. Friendly utter loons though. They criss cross, overtake into oncoming traffic, and undertake if all else fails. But there is no road rage. As Nathan put it, it’s ‘controlled chaos’. Even Dot had a bang as someone crossed her path, and it was just a quick thumbs up and on we ride. No road rage, just road love.
We re-join Nathan and Dot Cotton on a far flung Indonesian Island.
They have successfully made their escape from Timor aboard a ferry, and now Dot is running like a dream, her tyres lapping up the island soil. In fact, she is ready for her second tyre change after 7000km. Engine problems and ferry delays not taken into account, Nathan and his little Honda CT110 ‘Postie’ should be well into Malaysia in the next fortnight.
Read more here…