Medan, Indonesia
With every cloud having a silver lining we made the most of our delay in Medan and found one of the orphanges we're raising money for - SOS children's villages, Medan. Sooo lovely to spend the afternoon there! 100 children have made this really well run orphanage home. We sat round eating duku (like a mini and sweeter grapefruit) with the 'mothers' learning about the support and education they provide. We played with the children, learnt a few funky dance moves and songs... adorable. It was just perfect to spend time there, made it so relevant to be amongst some of the children that the money we're raising will hopefully help x
Medan, Indonesia
With Daisy at the Mechanics overnight last night we thought we may as well hit the town and see what Medan has to offer. Uh oh, Messy. 6am we come strolling home, how did that happen??
So today once we got our arses into gear and grabbed a less than appealing Indonesian brekkie we were disappointed to find that the mechanics were getting nowhere with Daisy. They came to the same conclusion we already knew... the engine was completely seized. Less than impressed that it had taken them until the afternoon to tell us what we already knew and were reluctant / unable (hard to tell) to source a new engine. After being told these tuk tuks were Indonesian (which was the whole reason we waited until getting here to get her 'healed') we've now learnt the parts are from China, of the worst quality, and aren't sold locally. Excellent. Looks like another night in grubby Medan.
Medan, Indonesia
Flew to Medan this morning (flight delayed) went straight to the port to wait for endless hours for our wee Daisy. The Golden Lestaria delivered her safely in one piece across the Malacca Straits to the port at Belewan. Went and had a sneaky peek as the troops unloaded the cargo and there she was nestled cosily between her fave big bros.
Of course she still didn't work so we had to get her towed (by a people carrier) 30km at night - through red lights and across lanes of oncoming traffic - one motorbike drove over the bloody tow rope. There's us hanging out the side waving at a herd of bikes to STOP! All a bit hectic. The streets came alive as a few of us travelled in convoy, locals waving us along - mainly all smiles and cheers, unfortunately one tuk tuk had rocks thrown at them and another had their luggage stolen off the roof. But everyone ok.
We eventually got her dropped at the mechanics with 2 other tuks and have everything crossed that hope that we can move on from the chaos of Medan tomorrow...
George Town, Malaysia
Said goodbye to Daisy today as we pushed her to the port at Butterworth to get shipped across to Medan overnight. She's in good company with her tuk tuk brothers looking after her (and the vegetable cargo). Still no life in the beast, gutted but we've decided to leave her sleeping and take her for healing when we pick her up in Indo tomorrow.
With no Daisy to keep us entertained and severe Captain Morgan after-effects the 3 non blondes have taken themselves for an afternoon of massage, reflexology and pedicures in Georgetown...@
George Town, Malaysia
OMG OOOMG! Indonesian TV crew have chosen two tuk tuk teams to film for the last leg of our route through Indo... They've only gone and bloody chosen us!! Fame at lastl! wtf!! This is going to be ridiculous! JoJo where's those hair straighteners?!!@
Fooooook!! We were doing...
Fooooook!! We were doing so well and then we've gone and fooked our starter motor. We thought the battery died on the hard shoulder of the E1 highway but after 2 hours of locals and servicemen stopping to tinker with our machinery it seems a little more complicated. We've had to surrender to a tow. Right now Al and La are safely secured in the front cabin, whilst Jo is suspended out on the back of the truck. And dang it's raining. Jo Jo we're buying the whiskey tonight ;-) x
, UK
(in the tune of The Hues Corporation's 'Rock the Boat')... sing it...
Rock the Tuk,
yeah rock the Tuk baby, Rock the Tuk,
don't tip the Tuk over..!@
