Patrol

I'm still nervous. Hitching at night isn't the wise thing to do but it's apparently close to impossible in Malaysia.

Anyways, I'm in a good spot: A brightly lit Petronas gas station in the outskirts of Jitra. After some minutes chatting with motorcyclists and Petronas staff I finally get a lift with two friendly Malay guys to Alor Star - Kedah's capital which is more of a provincial town. I'm enjoying our conversation in BM so much. This time it's much better than last year. I didn't forget too many words.

As we speed into Alor Star Dzivani offers to call my friend Bob. My Malaysian mummy gave me his number. I met him only once on a trip to Sibu island - if it's that person I'm thinking of. Yes it is: "Apa khabar Bob?" ("How're u bob?"). - "Khabar baik."

With Bob & Alor Star Police Patrol in Mamak Store.

Typical Malaysian Neighborhood

Bob introduces me to his colleges at Alor Star City Council. It's already 9 o'clock but they're still working.

I enjoy the atmosphere. Everybody is impressed by my Malay - except for me! I know I used to speak even better. Never mind. We go out for a police patrol on the night market. It's nothing really thrilling: Just check if the hawker have a license and so on. There are so many officers that I feel as if I had been introduced to half the Alor Star police personnel. We do one mor round then we go to a Mamak store. It's that special kind of restaurant that I like so much about Malaysia. Usually they're open 24 hours serving all the nice everyday dishes like Nasi Lemak (coconut steamed rice with spicy sambal and condiments), Nasi Khandar (rice with selection of curries), Roti Canai (calorie packed bred ;-)) … Terima Kasih Daun Keladi Semoga Kita Berjumpa Lagi Bob! It was a real fun time with you and your friends!

Direct lift to Ankara

We got up very early this morning, there is a long way to travel! With
2 bananas, some cookies and a water bottle equipped, we stand on the
O2, the motorway to Ankara.

Waiting for people to understand our sign, suddenly a public bus stops
in front of us and the driver tells us to get in. First we hesitate,
did he understand where we are going?

But we decide to try our luck and we succeed: The bus brings us to a
better part of the "otobahn", where more cars join in.

5 minutes later, we're lucky again: A friendly Turkish guy in his
fourtıes offers us a ride.



Another lift, another great life experience: Ayhan is an aquatic
engineer and builds huge aquariums for zoos, hotels and restaurants.
We are excited and ask a lot of questions. He has to go to Ankara to check
materials from China for his new project. We tell him about our
experience in the water tunnel on Sentosa, Singapore.

Out of the blue he offers us breakfast and aims at a gas station.
Inside the flat building a huge restaurant is located and we can't
believe our eyes as we see the buffet: Seven different sorts of
cheese, large cans with honey, olives, almonds and mountains of bread!
We carefully choose our food and enjoy our breakfast with "chai" and
fried eggs.



You'll never find anything comparable in Germany!

As we continue our journey, the landscape slowly changes from green to
yellow as we head to Ankara.

As we arrive about 4 hours later, it's 38 degree Celsius, so we search
for some shadows.

Der Zahnlose Igor

Diese Raststaette ist etwas kleiner im Vergleich zu den beiden vorherigen und etwa
die Hälfte der Fahrer sind mit dem LKW unterwegs.

Doch genau das sollte uns am Ende helfen: Während ich genüsslich mein ersten
Käsebrötchen verschlinge, fragt Craig einige Trucker und winkt mich
schließlich grinsend zu einem riesigen Zug herüber.

"Ich bin 56, ich bin Grossvater, das ist normal!"

Nach dem ersten Blick steht sein Spitzname fest: Der zahnlose Igor.
Bereits 11 Jahre auf allen Straßen Europas unterwegs, kann er dutzende
Sprachen sprechen und ist ein alter Hase auf deutschen Autobahnen. Er
ist bereits Großvater, seine Familie lebt in Slowenien und vor dem
Trucken hat er mit Kobold Großcomputer programmiert! Wir sind
beeindruckt und genießen die Fahrt in Führerhaus.