People of Malaysia....

Location where I'm stranded. Click map for bigger picture.

There are lots of news reports of robbery , kidnaps, snatch theft and whatever negative about Malaysia. It scares the holy shit out of many Singaporean. Some swear to stay away at all cost, they rather spend their higher valued Sing dollar at elsewhere more exotic.

While I cannot disagree that some parts of J.B. are unsafe even by their local standard, but that's ONLY at certain areas. If we knew that those places are unsafe then just avoid this place and visit other nicer places (aplenty in Malaysia). Don't tell me that there is no robbery or theft in other parts of the world? Or do we think that everywhere in the world should be as safe as in Singapore to be walking around the streets at nightfall? Try walking in the streets of Amsterdam at night for that matter.

Ok so much for the ding dong robbery....The above picture was taken at somewhere near Penggerang around 7pm. I am supposed to give Joseph a ride up to Telok Ramunia in the afternoon to check out the chalets at the seaside and then head back home the same day. Just as we were rushing back before dark, my bike started stalling. Knn forgotten to top up before starting the ride back. So there we were, stranded at the above location, in constant drizzling rain. Cock-a-Nathan.

As this road is not a frequently used road by most motorist, very little vehicles went past. Waited and waited and the following vehicles showed up :

1. A Singapore registered car - Waved them and got it going faster than ever..
2. An Malaysian army truck pulled up - The men asked what's wrong.."tank empty"..sorry but their truck uses diesel...
3. At last we thought we saw some headlights, but to our horror a group of Malay bikers on their Cubs heading towards us, "siao liao"........................................................................... "Bang, takda minyak lah"...Without hesitation, they brought Joseph away and came back with a mineral water bottle of petrol (as above helping with my re-fueling)

Initially I was a little worried when they brought Joseph away and I'm left all alone with the rest of their group ( there's about 6-7 of them). I can't really speak Melayu with them, only some broken Melayu but they were curious of my bike and giving it a good checking all over, haha. After the top-up we decided to head back to Sungai Rengit town to stay a night (the bottle of mineral water petrol is just nice to head back there.).

After this incident of at least 10 years ago, I realised that many of their local villagers are very people. There are very eager to talk to you, curious of you and your bike, and always ready to help out. That's why I always wave at them whenever possible passing by villages.
Please, our neighbours aren't what you thought it is.

You think, I thought, who confirm???