Monday, January 11, 2010

My time in Malaysia. It is soon over. 199km to Singapore.


So, here is a summary from my time so far in Malaysia. Now I have only 200km to Singapore, that is two days. I think I will reach on Wednesday. When the cycling is tough it feels great that it is so few days left, but like today, when the cycling is so nice, it feels really sad. I will miss everything of course.

The cycling in Malaysia has been great. Couchsurfing was availiable again, and people speak English (unlike in Thailand). I will also show some pictures from one of the best things during the whole journey - my presentation at Ericsson.



Cute little one.



People in Malaysia always shout "Welcome to Malaysia" on the roads.



Nooo, one spoke got snapped again. Same problem that made me not being able to continue with the bicycle in India. However here I had an extra spoke and the Thai bike mechanics know their stuff. So much smaller deal than in thought.



Couchsurfers designer home.


Beautiful Taiping Lake.



Funny story connected to this one: I asked this man to take a picture of me. He then asked me where I started my journey from. I said Sweden. He asked: "How long did it take you to reach here?". I said around six and a half month. He then said: "Oooooh, so you're going very slowly".



OK, I will watch better how I park my bicycle next time.



Oh my god. The day before I just reached the place to stay one minute before a huuuge rain started. I was very nervous when I saw this coming closer. But somehow I managed to keep it behind me for the last 20km and it started just when I reached the place to stay again.



In Kuala Lumpur I held a presentation for Ericsson. My first presentation for a company.



Jan Signell, President of Ericsson South East Asia, held an opening speech, talking about the core values of Ericsson and sustainability.



Then it was time for my presentation. The audience consisted of the team of Ericsson South East Asia, customers and media.



I showed pictures and told stories from my journey. I also shared my reflections in goal setting, the importance of taking the step, identifying critical steps, overcoming setbacks and pushing the limits.



My presentation was then tied together with the three core values in Ericsson: Respect, Perseverance and Professionalism.



Signell thanks me and gives me the latest Sony Ericsson mobile phone. Woow, I got so happy.



After the session, media had time for asking questions and make interviews. I appeared in a couple of articles and a report in newspapers and a lifestyle magazine.



The same day but during the evening I met with a cycling magazine in Kuala Lumpur. They introduced me to Velomad, a couple who has been travelling the world on bicycle for four years and plan for another four. One part is the lady in yellow shirt and the husband couldnt participate at the dinner.



Passing by close to the Sepang F1-circuit outside Kuala Lumpur. OK, I like F1.



In Melaka I stayed with Anna and her family, who had lived in Sweden for some years. She made me Swedish meatballs from IKEA!



Anna also introduced me to the cycling community in Melaka. Here a dinner at her place.



They laugh at my bicycle. They couldnt believe I went from Sweden with that 550 Euro bicycle. It was crap for them. One of them had a bicycle as expensive as 4000 Euro. Insane.



Buddy by the road.


So when I get to Singapore I plan to stay there for slightly more than a week. Last days I have been busy fixing my schedule. I will meet a lot of interesting people, companies and a university.

The plans after Singapore has long been unsteady. However, it would feel very stupid to go 7 months to Singapore and then fly back 1 day. It would be very tough mentally to come back to Sweden even though I miss a lot from home - mostly people. But recent updates from family says it is very cold and snow. Noo, I will stay away until April. I will most probably go by bus/train to Kazakhstan and study Russian there for at least one month. Not that it is much warmer there, but at least the journey home will not be that fast. Well, I will have reason to come back to this issue, because I dont exactly know what will happen.

Now 2 days more and then the goal is reached. Let's see how it feels when I get there. Probably a mix. Happy to have reached the goal. Sad that it is over. I get back to that one too...´

You can leave a comment to the post here.


Viktor Predan

7 comments:

  1. Riktigt go lasning fran Spanien.

    /Bror

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  2. It was awesome meeting you dude. I'll let you know once the article's out.
    All the best in Singapore.


    Cheers,
    Amresh (NewMan Magazine)

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  3. Nice Predan! Riktigt imponerande! Jag bor numera i Singapore, har du någon tid över får du gärna höra av dig (är där från denna söndag till sent nästa fredag), så bjussar jag på en bira. Eftersom jag inte är där själv precis nu kan jag inte erbjuda sängplats för jag vet inte hur många inneboende vi har för tillfället!

    Mail enligt angivet alt. telefon +46-739525475 eller efter söndag kl 18.00, +65-82614980.

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  4. Hey, we met in Muar, I'm the dutch cyclist. I found your blog on google. I think you must be in Singapore now, so did they let you cross the bridge? I saw you cycled over 1200 km in 9 days once, that is really impressive! Congratulations with achieving your goal, I hope I'll be able to do the same.
    Hans

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  5. i like ur story with the uncle :]
    funny there :]
    he said u cycling slowly.hahaha
    u strong man!

    regards,
    mera(malaysia)

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  6. Shit Viktor. Jag blir helt mållös av att läsa om allt du har varit med om. Helt fantastiskt ju. Du är både den galnaste människa jag vet och min största idol. Nu har du väl nått ditt mål, bara att gratulera så sjukt mycket. Tänker tillbaka på när vi satt och fikade nån dag innan du åkte i somras. Och det jag var mest orolig för var hundarna som skulle bita dig i benen i Östeuropa. :) Det ska bli galet kul att träffa dig igen i april. Kram

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  7. I was looking for this information, very helpful to me in planning vacations in malaysia, maybe i will go there after bali cycling tour

    ReplyDelete