It was another happy reunion at breakfast today. When Re walked to Yasmeen for roti and coffee, Mohammad was overjoyed. After breakfast, I exchanged a couple of emails with Cam, of the good news/bad news variety. The good news was that he could get me an entire replacement clutch and side cover gasket mailed today. The sort of bad news, was that he couldn't get a clutch adjustment bolt until later in the week. I decided to have him go ahead and ship the clutch and gasket, and I would find a bolt locally. In between emails, we spent the morning working on a “to do” list of things we need to get done while we are in Georgetown.

One of the things we needed to do was restock some of our toiletries, so after a lunch of Hainanese chicken and rice, we walked to Mydin with our shopping list. Later, we walked to a local motorbike parts store, where I bought a new chain for my bike. The o-ring chain I put on my bike before we left the States has developed one nasty tight spot, so it's time for a new one. When the store owner told me that the price of a new RK 420, 96-link, non o-ring chain (o-ring chains are very uncommon here) would be less than 12 ringgit (4 USD), I bought two of them. It's always good to have a spare, and it's even better when they're four bucks. While we were there, we also priced replacement Yuasa batteries and rear tires. They did indeed have Yuasas in stock in the right size, and they are only 12 USD! Ours are still working okay, but they have been refilled with tap water several times, so it might be a good idea to buy an inexpensive replacement and promise to treat it right this time. Our rear tires are both holding up remarkably well, considering that we installed them in Ooty, India, almost 10,000 miles ago, and they still have about half the tread left. However, we can't get this type of Dunlop in the US, so we may buy a couple to take home with us, especially at 16 USD each.

Re was coming down with another bad headache, so we headed back to the room and the A/C. I left Re to take a nap and did some more posting online. I'm a little embarrassed to say, but in a city where we are spoiled for choices, we went to McDonald's for dinner. After dinner, Re talked with her parents on Skype for a while. After that, she needed to go to the corner bar for a cold one.

When Re returned with roti this morning, she also came back with the news that May Day/Labor Day is celebrated seriously in Malaysia. Many of the businesses are closed today, so some of the things we need to do today will have to wait until tomorrow. After breakfast, we decided to combine one task with getting some exercise, so we went out walking in search of a money changer. Before we left on our trip, I checked to make sure that all of our credit cards we valid until at least the end of this trip, but of course, the one card I didn't check was our ATM card. It expired yesterday. Modern banking is a wonderful thing – we've relied almost exclusively on our ATM cards to get cash. My father, who has been taking care of our “affairs” while we've been gone, received our replacement cards in the mail last month and mailed one of them to us in care of the Star Lodge, and it was waiting for us when we arrived here. We were concerned that there might be a problem, so we stocked up on Thai baht in Thailand before the cards expired. Consequently, we are walking around with a large quantity of money that needs to be exchanged. We've tried not to exchange too much foreign currency, since the rate is often bad, but we knew from our previous trip that the exchange rate on Thai baht was good in Georgetown, and the loss was less than a percent.

Since today was Labor Day, virtually all the money changers were closed. We did eventually find one open, and fortuitously, it offered the best exchange rate we'd seen in the last few days. It only took a few minutes to make the swap and then it was time for lunch. Since we were on the edge of Little India, we opted for the always excellent banana leaf meal at Sri Ananda Bahwan. After lunch, we headed over to Prangin Mall to see “The Avengers.” For some reason, Malaysia (and I guess other countries) got the movie before the USA did. Since it was a school holiday also, the theater was packed, and we ended up sitting in the third row, staring directly up at the screen. We both enjoyed the movie, but were a little surprised to find that they raise the ticket price on weekends and public holidays. We had to pay 20 ringgit (6.66 USD) for two tickets! (the theaters here could be mistaken for any theater in the US, with stadium seating, cold A/C, and THX sound systems) After the movie, we wandered back to the room for a while and then went back out to the hawker stalls for dinner.

Cam shipped my new clutch via the Taiwanese postal system on Monday, since shipping via Taiwanese EMS was only 23 USD, compared to the DHL rate of 114 USD. The online tracking system showed that the package arrived in Kuala Lumpur (the capital of Malaysia) last night at around midnight and was awaiting Customs clearance. Hopefully, we'll have it in the next day or so. Since the clutch was on its way, we decided to do some other work on the bikes today. We walked out front to look for a shady spot to work, but didn't see any likely candidates. Robert, who manages the Star Lodge, pointed out that the medical clinic across the street is closed on Wednesday afternoons, and they have covered parking. We decided to wait until after lunch to get to work. We lazed away the rest of the morning until it was time for pork and rice at the Sky Hotel.

After lunch, we rolled the bikes across the street and under the awning in front of the clinic. While I got to work on changing my chain, Re started cleaning her bike. A month ago, she found the “Super Sunday Sponge” at a small store in Nilai when we were there for the F1 race. It appears to be some version of the “Magic Erasers” they sell in the US, so she thought she'd give it a try on our bikes. We have occasionally washed them with soap and a rag, and while this works on most of the bike, it doesn't touch the scuffs and stains on the white plastic leg shields. When we were in Georgetown several weeks ago, Re took the sponge to her white plastic parts, and the results were amazing. It removed virtually all the scuffs, and the bike looked almost new. Since then, she's added a few scuffs that she decided to take off today. While we were working, a young German guy stopped by to chat. He and a buddy bought Xinha 100cc motorcycles in Vietnam and were riding them around southeast Asia. That seems to be the smart move here, in that, while you can't ride into Vietnam on a foreign bike (there are a couple of exceptions), you can ride out, and sometimes, back in. Considering that they paid the princely price of 400 USD each for the bikes, spares, luggage, and gear, it wouldn't be too great a tragedy if they had to abandon them somewhere. Even though we were traveling on similar bikes, their experiences were very different, in that they had many mechanical problems with their bikes. The German guy told us that on the ride from the ferry from Langkawi to Georgetown, his chain came off the sprockets every mile or less, due to the fact that the teeth on both sprockets were so worn. Of course, in Georgetown, they were able to find new sprockets and a new chain. After I finished installing my chain, Re got to work cleaning my bike.





You can see the dramatic difference in the before and after pictures. They look like new bikes!

While Re finished up, I walked down the street to have a look at the Xinhas. Re joined me a few minutes later, and while we were “admiring” these fine specimens, we were surprised to see the Swiss bicyclists we met on the ferry ride from Koh Phangan. They had just arrived around 2:00 pm today and were spending a couple of days in Georgetown. When I compared the fact that it took them 4.5 days to cover the same distance we covered in one and a half, I was reminded of the feeling of when we first got our bikes out of Customs in Cape Town, South Africa. After spending several days walking everywhere in Cape Town, we were very happy to get on our slow, little bikes, because slow wheels are better than no wheels, and motorized wheels are better than pedaled wheels. That said, I certainly am impressed by the distances some bicyclists can cover in a day. This couple told us they ride between sunup and 11:00 am, and then again from 3:00 pm until dark, and they typically cover 90 miles in that time. After catching up with them for a while, we went back to the room to shower and clean up before going out to dinner. After another fine meal at Kapitan, we spent the rest of the evening chatting at the “Corner Bar.”

Like the title says, it was a lazy day. Neither of us felt like doing particularly much after breakfast, or really, after lunch. In the middle of the afternoon, we wandered over to the theater in the mall again, this time, to see “Battleship.” It was an okay movie, but I was glad it wasn't a holiday, because the tickets were only seven ringgit each. I would have hated to pay nine bucks to see it, but for 2.33 USD it was alright.

I think the problem that both Re and I have right now, is that the end of our trip is in sight, and we're both a little depressed about it. When we crossed from Thailand into Malaysia, we realized that this will be our last border crossing before heading back to the States, and since then, we've been reminiscing about all the places we've gone.

We tried a new Indian place for dinner, where we had an excellent banana leaf meal. This time, I got the chicken, and Re tried the mutton. After dinner we wandered around Little India, checking several stores in search of Re's favorite soap, Mysore Sandal soap. Before we went to bed, I checked the Taiwan Post website, and it appears that my parts are still sitting in Customs.

After we finished breakfast, we walked outside to check the sky and saw that it was a good mix of clouds and sun. Even though it was a little cloudier than we prefer, we decided to hop on the bus and head to the beach at Batu Ferringhi. I needed to get away from the computer for a little while, since I have been checking the tracking website just about every hour, and it still shows the same thing: namely, my parts are still in the hands of Customs. I am 90 percent sure that I will be able to fix my problem once I have the parts, but the other ten percent is just adding to my stress level.

After loading our bag with sunscreen, water, books, hats, and kramas (a large, Cambodian, multipurpose scarf) we walked over to the bus station and waited for the bus. The bus ride took about an hour and unfortunately, it began to rain during the final 15 minutes. When we got off the bus, it was still raining lightly, but it looked like it might blow over. Since it was nearly lunchtime, we decided to eat and see if the weather changed. Luckily for us, while we ate, the rain stopped and the sun appeared. We found a nice patch of sand and laid out our stuff.



We enjoyed a nice hour and a half before the sky grew dark again, and we had to make a run for the bus stand. A huge storm was rolling in off the water, but we made it onto the bus before the rain started.

When we got back to the Star, Robert at reception said there was still no package for me. Sigh. But just a few minutes later, when Re and I were in the shower, I heard a knock on our door. It was Robert, with a small box from Taiwan. Awesome! It felt like Christmas when I opened the box and found a shiny, new clutch inside. It seems like overkill to install an entire new clutch, when all I really need is the fiber plates. I could probably also use new steels, since my clutch has been shuddering a little bit on engagement (which in my experience, means warped steels). Cam explained that SYM generally doesn't like to sell individual parts and would rather sell entire assemblies. It should mean less work for me, and I am excited about getting it installed. This was the pick-me-up I needed today, since my mood is much improved. Later in the evening, we headed out for dim sum again, followed by a walk around town, and a nightcap.

After breakfast we walked outside to check the weather and saw that it was a beautifully sunny day. It would have been a much better day than yesterday to go to the beach, but it also seemed like an awfully hot day to be installing a clutch on the sidewalk in the direct sun. we checked the hours of the medical clinic across the street and saw that it would be closed all day on Sunday. We decided to put off the clutch installation by one day so we could make use of the clinic's awning again tomorrow.

Instead, we took the bus to the Botanical Gardens which are located near the foot of Penang Hill. The number ten bus travels through the main Hindu temple area on the way to the Botanical Gardens, and apparently, there was a festival today. When we boarded the bus, it was nearly full of Indian families, all dressed in their “Sunday finest.” As we made our way to the temple, the bus continued to fill up with more and more colorfully dressed people on their way to something fancy. There was a large celebration going on today, and it was a sight to see from the bus windows. Women dressed in colorful saris, people who had shaved their heads and covered them with gold powder, and even some people performing acts of penance by skewering their tongues and faces and running hooks through their flesh.





We didn't get any photos this time, but here are a couple of photos from the Thaipusam festival when we were here in 2010.

The Botanical Gardens were much more peaceful and were very beautiful.



They have a nice collection of waterlilies near the entrance, and many of them were in bloom today. We spent several hours wandering the grounds and admiring the different plant species.



Re got excited when she saw the sign, but was disappointed when she only found pine trees.



On the other hand, here she is with the plant that she's christened, the "Malaysian Rosy Palm.”



The other cool tree they have several specimens of is the Cannonball Tree.



It has huge, colorful flowers that smell nice and a seed that grows to the size of a cannonball.

In the middle of the afternoon we caught the bus back into town, where we had a late lunch of curry mee. After showering, Re looked through a guidebook of Penang food and found a few new dishes for us to try. We went out to a new restaurant, where we tried a couple of different noodle dishes, and then we had a dessert of fried dough and coffee.

After having a rather greasy breakfast of some leftover fried dough and coffee, we started getting our tools and tarps together. Once we had everything assembled, we rolled my bike across the street and under the clinic's awning. After draining the oil and removing the leg shield, I removed the oil screen cover and oil screen and then the eight bolts that secure the engine side cover.



A few days ago, I bought a plastic storage bin to use to catch the oil and any small parts that might fall out. I put it under the edge of the motor and then gently tapped on the engine side cover with the wood handle of my hammer to break the seal.



When I pulled off the cover, a fair bit of oil drained out, and a couple of parts fell into the tub. Once I had the side cover off, I removed the clutch lever and cam plate. After that, I removed the clutch outer cover and discovered that there was a gasket between the outer cover and the clutch assembly itself. Since I didn't have a replacement gasket, Re carefully used a thin knife blade to separate it from both pieces. Fortunately, we were able to keep it intact, because we will need to reuse it. With the outer cover removed, I could see our big problem of the day. The clutch unit itself is secured to the output shaft by a special “anti-loosen locknut.” The anti-loosen locknut requires a special tool which we don't have. Basically, the tool is a socket with four prongs that project from it that engage the notches in the locknut.



The locknut sits down in a well in the center of the clutch unit, so getting to it with any other tool is difficult. I unsuccessfully tried to loosen it using a hammer and screwdriver but couldn't get a good enough angle. I knew from viewing a Youtube video on replacing the clutch on a Honda Passport, that the Hondas use a similar nut. So while I worked on removing the gasket from the engine case and case cover, Re walked over to one of the repair shops we'd seen while out walking to see if they had the needed tool. I figured if we couldn't borrow the tool, maybe we could push the bike the five blocks or so to the shop and have them remove the nut.

While she was gone, Robert from reception asked what the problem was. I explained that we needed a special tool to remove the clutch. Fortuitously, Robert's friend, Jacob, happened to be visiting this morning. He came over to look at the problem and said that he had the tool at his house. About this time, Re returned with news that the shop was closed. Jacob said that since it was Sunday, every shop would be closed. I guess I am used to the schedule of motorcycle shops in the US, which are usually open on Sunday and closed on Monday. Jacob said if we could wait for about an hour, he would ride home and get the tools. While he was gone, we finished cleaning up the gasket surfaces and wiped up the oil from inside the cases. Jacob returned with the special wrench and an assortment of other tools and gasket sealants.



With his help, we were able to remove the locknut and get the new clutch unit installed. Since we still needed to get a replacement clutch adjustment bolt, this was as much reassembly as we could do now. We reinstalled the side cover temporarily and cleaned up our workspace. We rolled the bike back across the street and then got cleaned up.

Since it was now about 2:00 pm, we decided it was time for lunch. We took our adjuster bolt with us and walked over to our favorite chicken and rice place. After lunch, we headed up another street that had several motorcycle repair shops on it, but they were all closed. Since it didn't look like we'd get a replacement bolt today, we hit the grocery store for a watermelon. Back in the room, we had some fruit and then a shower. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading, and Re also did some sketching.

Later in the evening, we went out to Kapitan for dinner. On the way back to the room, we spied a GS with Texas plates parked on the main street. The couple who are riding it are Indian and are in the middle of their RTW trip (rideoverland.com). We spent an hour or so talking with Nick about their ride so far and the new problem of getting from Malaysia to Indonesia. Up until two weeks ago, there was an onion boat that would take motorcycles from Penang to Medan, on the island of Sumatra, inexpensively and easily. This was the route that most overlanders would use, but apparently, the Indonesian government recently decided to shut it down. Now bikes must be crated and go by a freight line. This has caught a lot of people out and is a big topic of conversation here on HUBB. Nick's plan was to head through Singapore and ship the bike from there, so we told him what we know about the difficulties and expense of that plan. Since they were touring India around the same time that we were, it was fun to compare notes with him. After saying goodbye and good luck, Re and I headed out to the Corner Bar for a nightcap.