In March 2009 after Steve spoke to his father for the first time about the expedition there was one man Garth Moore recommended Steve speak to first, Simon Rowley.
This has proved to be excellent advice on a countless number of occasions as Simon and his company Fire Aid International have proved invaluable to the expedition on so many levels.
Simon has devoted so much time, effort, advice, expertise and materials to the expedition and has also used his national and international contacts to assist FTFE with great affect.
The old girl has been through so much over the last 96 days. Everything has been thrown at her. Back in London, Asset Co did an amazing job in preparing a 16 years old fire engine for a very tough journey. To keep her on the road, the crew have daily and weekly checks to run through. She has had 3 services so far in Lativa, Mongolia and Singapore. Each time, the engineers very excited working on this beauty.
High point: Singapore Slings
Low point: saying goodbye to APP (you know me)
No point: queue’s
Today was border day and by now, with this being my 3rd, the day was pretty much mapped out and we knew the drill.
We met with APP at a laybay on route to Johar Bahur or to be correct I sped past them and thankfully ever on the lookout for us, the guys spotted us and caught up. Only 3 of the team to escort us today!!; Julie, Ms Sathiyani and Mr Khosaini and it was nice again for them to guide us down to the border from Melaka. Our exit from Malaysia was probably the quickest yet and it was rather emotional to say goodbye to the APP guys as they have been fantastic and permanently on hand during our time in Malaysia.
I was wide awake at 7am which was odd because firstly I was in a double King Size bed which deserves a lie in in its own right and secondly I was very tired. This expedition lark surprisingly takes its toll, how I can’t really answer that but it just does. I made the executive decision from my executive room to get up and survey my estate and took an early lengthy morning stroll to the bathroom. En route I had plenty of time to ponder about the usual things that trouble me greatly namely world peace, nuclear proliferation and Petronas tower tickets……Petronas tower tickets! I still have honestly no idea what reminded me of these but in order to do our planned visit of the the towers later in the day we would need to purchase tickets in advance that morning!
High point: Discovering we had been given a room each at the most amazing hotel we have ever seen!!
Low point: No music! With the stereo out of action we continued with the fantastic Rubik’s Cube (only 1 though !)
No point: The multi-purpose room at Kellie’s Castle
Quote: “she’s a witch, she’s a witch, burn her!” The simultaneous chanting of the Monty Python line at the girls who saw into the future that it would rain.
High Point – Swimming in the beautiful Malaysian Sea
Low Point – Missing John Barnes who was just yards away from our hotel
No Point – The Malaysian ‘Pirate’ who robbed us in broad daylight
Over reaction of the day – Seve v the Monkey
So today was our first day off since the tubing in Laos and we were all very excited about the prospect of finally dipping our toes into the sea after being so cruelly teased in Thailand by Krabi, Phuket and Phi Phi. So after saying goodbye to the wonderful team at APP ( who were driving back to KL) we headed out of Georgetown to experience some of what the rest of Penang had to offer. Seve was the navigator for the day and while the rest of us were sleeping earlier in the morning he was busy sorting out our agenda for the day ahead – a prime example of navigation at it’s finest!
Game of the day: over complicated game of paper, scissors, stone
Up early for our 2nd and Steve’s 20th border crossing day. What was due to be a quick drive to the border, about 1hr, turned into a 3hr dash to get to the Malaysian border as we had missed a turning on our route which looked more like someone’s driveway rather than a road that Martha would be happy with.
Low Point : Every second before arriving arriving in Satun
Dish of the day : Chicken Pad Thai in the bathroom room sink
Chat of the day : Pathetic little noises
Number of different attempted seating positions : 42
We have a rota for everything on this trip. The ability to think is chipped away to an such extent where one must rely on checklists, rotas and schedules to function on complete exhaustion. My turn to write the blog is bordering on pointless as I spent the entire day in a puke fuelled mess.
We left Panang Beach on Phuket island in heavy rain that did nothing to wash away our disbelief at what we had seen the night before…I didn’t know places like that existed. It was a relatively short drive but the tricky conditions meant we didn’t roll into Krabi until mid afternoon but it wasn’t long before we had checked into our accommodation and were ready to explore. The ladies hit the markets, but not before they were asked if Martha had a toilet (a luxury camper van she is not!) and came away with some rather fetching t-shirts but Michelle’s magnificent fluoro pink watch stole the show – check the photos.
