A Little Break with a Little Errend

Flying back to KL, the mini adventure that started on November 2023 ended. It was a good run backpacking through China then continuing with a bikepacking through Vietnam. I had practially no choice but to go home by Feb 2024. There was a few crucial things that needed to be done.

Firstly it was to be back home for Chinese New Year. While I had skip this important family gathering previously, there was no reason to skip it since I had to be back during this time anyway. 

A picture of Me & My Niece Back in 2020 where COVID-19 was still restricting travels. 

Meeting family and friends catching up it was a good mini holiday from my holiday. A different type of feeling and one that had two types of stories everyone was trying to extract from me.

How as your trip and whats the next trip ? This was generally the questions asked.

After CNY I bassicly had to run a few errends.

1. Apply Visa for China

Slogging through the endless forms to fill for China Visa application then making an appointment at the Visa Center, this was the most important errend of all. Everything else I did in between but this was the key.

2. Tune up Bragge.

The top Cam shaft had a leaking oil seal so I had to get back to the dealership to fix it since it was still under waranty. Then it was a modification of the spokret ratio and chain. I change up the ratio to 15-41-428 instead of the original 13-38-520. 

Bike Jargon I know to most people, so the basic principle was that I made the bike faster by sacrificing power. I could now cruise at a higher top speed but climbing steep slopes would be slow with lesser torque.

3. Shopping & Packing up.

This time round I had new side pannier bags that I successfully shopped in Vietnam. My friend helped me carry it back since he had more carry on capacity that me and after meeting up during CNY I now had a new toy. 

I did much shopping as well buying sleeping mat, side jack, food container, canned food, and all sort of stuff to be packed for the long Central Asia road trip.

While I did No.2 and No.3 in between the process of obtaining No.1, I can say that effectively once I gotten the Visa for China, I had hit the road a few days later effectively starting the trip for a long long journey.

Traveled on: Feb 2024