VIDEO DESCRIPTION:
Welcome back to Planet Doug.
I’m in Melaka, Malaysia, and today’s video is a classic example of what happens when you try to run ordinary errands on Planet Doug.
First: I tell the story of falling into a ditch full of what can only be described as comic-book-origin toxic sludge. My pants may never recover. That meant an emergency trip to the laundromat… which is where things got truly strange.
This laundromat has brand-new Electrolux machines, signs that say “use coins,” but token machines that are turned OFF unless you send a WhatsApp message to a stranger and ask politely. No QR codes in sight… until I was literally walking out the door.
Then: money changers, customer service miracles, a deep dive on why camper-van life stresses me out, and a surprise boba delivery from a mystery benefactor.
Oh, and I’m leaving for Sumatra soon. Visa expiring. Bicycle coming along. Chaos preferred.
📍 In this video:
– Toxic ditch origin story
– The WhatsApp laundromat (yes, really)
– Why people take over entire benches
– Touch ‘n Go vs. token machines
– Money changer happiness (and why that’s sad/funny)
– Thoughts on Tread the Globe’s mega-complicated truck life
– Lychee watermelon vs. mango milkshake review
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome back to another morning here in Melaka, Malaysia. And I don’t know where this chunk of video is going to fit into the overall flow of my videos lately because I’ve been all over the place. And I’ve shot little vignettes here and there, buying a new kickstand, going to the dock to buy my ticket to take the ferry to Sumatra, which is tomorrow. Little errands here and there kind of spread out. And I’ll probably just put all those little video clips together or this will be a completely brand new separate video. Only you know because at this point I don’t. Yeah, I’m just outside my hotel again. Just stepped outside. There’s the Mahkota Vibe Inn where I’ve been staying in Melaka. And as I’ve talked about before, there’s a whole bunch of similar style hotels here. Kind of low budget in tone. Got an OYO over there. 707 just on and on and on. And right across the road is the Greenwash Laundrette. And if you know Planet Doug at all, you know that I have laundromat stories. In terms of like interacting with the modern world. I guess I can go this way. Laundromats are one of those places where you have no choice but to get shoulder-to-shoulder with the modern world and other people, and it always always leads to some sort of crazy Planet Doug adventures. And this laundromat was interesting. Really nice machines, brand new washing machines. They’re Electrolux, which I had never seen before, so that was kind of new. They’re one of these machines that says big signs, you know, laundry. The soap is included. You don’t have to add soap, but then a lot of people add soap anyway, at least a little bit, because you don’t know is it really adding soap or not. And the automatic soap that laundromats add, it doesn’t froth. You don’t get bubbles, so it doesn’t look like anything is happening. Anyway, I put in a little bit of my own soap because I had some left over, and I’m kind of glad I did. And the machines added lots of water. That’s a real pet peeve of mine. Most mats that I use, they like they use like an eyedropper. You put all your clothing in and they put in a couple of drops of water and it’s just like your clothes go around in a circle perfectly dry. Like I want water. Like give me a Niagara Falls flood of water. I want bubbles. I want turbulence. I want to see something happening. And in these machines there was enough. They were going around. There was sufficient water. Since I added my own soap, there were bubbles. So, I was like, “Okay, cool.” And interestingly enough, the main reason I was doing my laundry, well, I mean, it was time, even my Canada shirt, I really noticed a difference between I was, you know, the day before wearing it and then when it came out of the wash, it looks so much cleaner and brighter. I didn’t even know how dirty it was with dust and dirt. But the main reason I was doing laundry was because of my big adventure right here. This is where I fell into the ditch. So over here there’s a piece of cement that broke when I stood on it and I fell into this and my pants got covered in this stuff. And this is just horrific. I mean, this is the kind of liquid where in a comic book, if you fell into this, you would turn into some sort of a superhero. And this is where I fell in. And this wasn’t open before, it was actually it looked like everything else, but when I stepped on it, it broke into pieces and I fell in. And all of that toxic goo covered my pant legs.
So, I needed to do laundry and I waited until the next morning to go to the laundromat, which I guess it was kind of a mistake. I soaked my pants hoping the stain I guess there wouldn’t be a permanent stain. So, I tried to clean them on my own at first and then I went to the laundromat in the morning. But then even after washing the lower my pant legs are now covered in yellow stains. They’re permanent. It’s baked into the material now. But yeah, as I said, if this was a comic book, I would have superpowers today because that is toxic sludge in there. It doesn’t move. It doesn’t flow. It just sits there and just becomes more and more toxic over time. You do not want to fall into that. Anyway, that’s why I went to the laundromat. And then I get there and then of course there’s the usual confusion. I got to read all the signs and up on the wall it says, you know, the steps. Open the door, put in, you know, and insert coins. So that, oh, this place takes coins. So they must have a coin dispenser machine. So I’m looking for a coin dispenser, but they don’t have one. What they have is a token dispenser. But I think it used to be based on coins. They updated to tokens, but then they never changed the signage. And that’s a Planet Doug pet peeve, of course. I’m a firm believer in accurate manuals, guidelines, instructions, signage. And if your sign says coins, but the machine doesn’t take coins, you’re confusing your customers. So, that was one point against the laundromat right off the bat. And then I go to the token machine. There’s like two machines in the wall. You put in money and you get tokens that can only be used in these machines, but they’re both off. There’s no lights. They’re basically not working. You can jam money in all you want, but it doesn’t take your money and it’s not going to give you any tokens. So, I’m like, “Well, now what the heck? The place is open, but I can’t get any tokens.” And there was actually above the token machines there was a big sign with all kinds of mobile payments you know and Touch ‘n Go was in there and said oh I can use Touch ‘n Go but there was no QR code like there was no instructions I said well looks like I can use Touch ‘n Go but there’s nothing I can scan there’s no instructions about how they scan so the token machines were not connected to Touch ‘n Go so that well I have to get tokens and then it turns out they have a sign on the wall that says to our dear international guests or our dear international customers something like that if you wish to get tokens please WhatsApp this number and ask us to turn it on you know so you’re standing there reading this sign I’m like what the heck so that it has a WhatsApp number so you have to type the WhatsApp number into your phone, go into WhatsApp and send this phone number a message and say, “Can you turn on the token machine,” and then you just sit there and wait, you know, and you’re just waiting for your message to be read, received. I don’t know what’s going to happen. Like, are they going to come and come with a key and turn the machines on or but it turns out they do it remotely and I don’t know why it isn’t on all the time. I’m at the Samudera Museum, by the way. There’s the big ship behind me. But anyway, that’s the system they use where in order to get tokens, you have to send them a message, wait for them to read the message, somehow turn on the machine remotely, and then you have to very quickly get your tokens. And of course, you have to calculate in advance how many tokens you need? Like how like one wash cycle, one dry cycle, or will it be two? How many do I need? Because if you don’t get enough tokens, well, after you get your tokens, the machine turns off because it’s only open for a limited time. So, I’m like, what a weird world. Why? Why does it operate this way? So, I did all that and I waited and I waited and I waited. Some other people came in. They knew about the system. We chatted about it. How weird it was. I’m going to the Google Maps pin for this site. Well, got to wait for the music to go by.
A tri going by. I don’t know the theme of that one. Demon hunters maybe. I don’t know. But any loud music. Can’t have it on a video. Copyright strike. Ha. So, you got to avoid that. Anyway, these other foreigners came in and I’m chatting with them and they says, “Yeah, they did it themselves.” And they said, “Yeah, you have to send a message to this number.” And they sent a second message just to remind the guy in case he didn’t see my message. And then again, I’m sitting in the chair and I’m waiting and waiting and waiting. Nobody saw my message. Machines are still off. And now I’m on Google Maps and I’m looking for another laundromat. like there’s maybe there’s another one in the neighborhood and I’m just packing up and I’m just heading out the door like all right I got to give up on this place and then I look behind me one last look the lights came on and I was able to get my tokens and then a few minutes later the light went off so then the next people coming in we’re going to have to go through this whole procedure all over again so that’s that’s Planet Doug in the modern world and then while I’m there of course I’m analyzing the people. You see how people behave in these public spaces and that always puzzles me. I don’t know why people do what they do. This laundromat had really nice seating. They actually had benches outside in the shade, right? And these benches were big enough for three people if they sat together. And it’s like, wow, that’s really nice. But there’s nowhere to sit because each bench was occupied by one person who sat in the middle and then they put their bag on the right and their food on the left. So each bench, one person basically took over the whole bench. And that’s what they did. And it seems like very impolite behavior to me because I mean later on when I was doing laundry and one of the benches was free, I sat down and I did what I think is normal. I sat on the far left edge so somebody else can sit on the far right edge. Right? Don’t take over the entire bench, but that’s what most people do. And then after I dried my clothes, there are folding tables and I want to fold my clothes on the folding tables. But all the other people who are in the laundromat when they came in and they emptied their bags, put all their laundry, they took their empty bags and just dumped them all on the folding tables. So you couldn’t even use the folding tables because they were covered in the bags of other people who weren’t even there anymore. They’d left while their clothing was being washed. And again, it’s just behavior I don’t understand at all. So, yeah. So, there I am. I do my laundry folded up. I’m heading out the door. And just as I head out the door, I take one last look around and I notice every single washing machine and every dryer had a Malaysia DuitNow QR code on the machine. And I never saw them up until that point. I was so upset. I was so disappointed because I love using Touch ‘n Go for everything. And it turns out you can use Touch ‘n Go with this laundromat, which would have avoided 99% of all of my problems there. But in none of the instructions ever said, oh, just scan the QR code on the individual machine. Like there’s a separate code for each washing machine. So you can scan it with your e-wallet, Alipay, you know, for Chinese tourists that are here. Any e-wallet that will work with DuitNow and then you can turn on that machine and pay for it without using tokens. And then I went over the history of this place and it turns out that’s what they did originally. So cashless QR code payment was the only way you could use this laundromat in the past. And then there were a bunch of comments on Google Maps from foreign tourists saying, “Ah, yeah, you know, one star because we can’t even use this laundromat. They don’t accept money.” So, in a reaction to that, then I guess they put in the token machines. They converted everything and activated token payment. Did that for our foreign, you know, international customers. But then they set it up such that you still need your smartphone and a WhatsApp account. That’s the only way to get them to actually activate the token machines. So yeah, these are the things that I run into. But yeah, I just kicking myself that I never even noticed the QR codes on every washing machine, on every dryer. Yeah, I almost want to go back and do laundry again just so I can scan the code and use a Touch ‘n Go. It’s pretty funny. I’m in downtown Melaka once again, the Dutch Square, the historic section. And I’m in the middle of, as I said, preparing for my ferry trip over to Sumatra tomorrow, which is all about extending my time in Malaysia. I have to leave Malaysia because my visa is expiring this week. So, the plan is to go to Sumatra, stay there for a little while, enjoy the lower prices. I’m really looking forward to that, even for a brief visit, and then return to Malaysia and continue on my cycling journey, which is my main focus right now. So, I’m trying very hard not to get distracted by Sumatra. Just go there and then come back, basically. So that’s what I’m in the middle of doing. One interesting thing is that since I am bringing my bicycle with me because yeah you’re on the ferry it costs 20 ringgit to bring your bicycle and then once I land at the dock in Dumai like I’m not going to go riding. I’m not bike touring through Sumatra this time. So I don’t even need my bicycle technically but I like having it. I’m going to bring it along. And then I can ride my bike from the dock to my hotel and I can use it for a couple of days. I’m just roaming around. I’m going to the city of Dumai, by the way. So yeah, but because I’m not going touring, I don’t need all of my gear. So, I’m only bringing what is necessary, essential to my life, but all of my camping gear, my trailer, my stove, which yeah, I haven’t used for a long time to be honest, but I have a stove and fuel for that stove and of course all the spare parts and maintenance and all kinds of stuff that I have. I don’t need any of it for a short hop over to Sumatra. So, I was repacking, putting all of that into a separate bag. I’m going to leave it at the hotel here in Melaka and then pick it up when I come back. But man, I must say when I stripped down my gear to what is only the things that I need in a normal life when you’re staying in hotels, wow, it’s so much less. The bags I’m leaving behind here, which technically I said, “Oh, I don’t even need any of this stuff.” They’re huge and heavy. So I’m like, hey, if I don’t need any of this stuff, why am I carrying it around? It’s like, yeah. Oh, fish. There. Actually, a couple hundred fish were right here. But I scared them away and they went off into deeper water. But it was quite startling to see the difference. the pile of stuff I’m leaving behind and the pile of stuff that I think is necessary just to ride the bike, fix a flat tire, have a change of shirt, extra pair of pants and toiletries and GoPro gear if that’s all I need. Man, a much smaller, lighter package to put on my bicycle. So, I’m kind of looking forward to that. Yeah, I’m down at the river and this morning I booked a inexpensive hotel in Dumai where I’m going. I’m not entirely happy with it. I’ve stayed in this hotel before because I’ve been to Dumai before and it’s a good value. There are a whole bunch of hotels in Dumai on a really cheap like 11 ringgit per night. 11 ringgit per night. But trust me, do not book any of those because those are all connected with OYO and some of them are connected with RedDoorz. But none of those hotels will honor that price. OYO will set or RedDoorz will set the price at 11 ringgit per night. But obviously that’s way too cheap. It’s too good to be true. So, don’t trust it because if you book that and show up at the hotel, they’ll just tell you, “Nah, we’re not giving you a room at that price. You can stay here, but now you have to pay more. You have to pay the real price that we set, not the OYO price.” So, anyway, you can ignore all of the 11 ringgit per night hotels. Just go for the ones that look normal. And the one I booked is 36 ringgit per night. And that’s really nice because in Sumatra they don’t have the 10 ringgit per night tourism tax. They don’t have all of the taxes upon taxes upon taxes. So when you pay 36 ringgit you’re generally paying 36 ringgit for the hotel room. But anyway, this hotel is the best value that I know of in Dumai, but it’s a little bit out of downtown. I have my bicycle so it’s not a big deal but I would like there is another hotel in the downtown core where I it’s a get a lot of negative reviews but if you’re okay with things being broken things not working things being a bit stinky cockroaches big monster cockroaches if you’re okay with that stuff I kind of like that hotel it’s like one of the old classic buildings kind of falling down but a good price. Unfortunately, they’re not listed online anymore. So, I couldn’t book that place on Agoda and I didn’t want to just show up without any place to stay. So, I booked this other hotel for a few nights and then if I decide to stay a few more nights, then I can check out that hotel in person, see what they’re charging. Anyway, so that is what has been going on. And this morning, I went on to the All Indonesia website. You have to do, you know, the arrival card. Indonesia has made that a little bit easier now. There’s only one website you have to go to and you fill in your name and passport number, arrival date, exit date, how you’re arriving, where, you know, your address in Indonesia, your phone number, your email address. You put all that into one website. You go through like four or five different screens and then you get a QR code and then you need to they scan that QR code when you arrive in Indonesia that website so far I’ve had good experiences with it the Indonesian tourist visa website I’ve always struggled with that it’s a bit of a mess now and they keep changing the policies so they have to adapt the website and it’s just I don’t know I don’t trust it so I’m going there without a visa in advance. This time I’m going to pay for a visa on arrival when I get to the dock. Which brings me around to today’s errand because I’m here and the reason I am here on this side of the river is because there’s a money changer right here just like one kilometer away from my hotel. So I just took a stroll here. There’s this heron house and then there’s a Red Tebus cafe and hotel and according to Google Maps there’s a good money changer right here around the corner. So I have to change money so that I have money to pay for my visa when I arrive.
Good morning. Oh. Yeah, that’s better in the shade. Do you have rupiah today? Indonesian rupiah. So you pay in ringgit or pay in ringgit? Yeah. And do you have any like for 200,000? Do you have any small bills? Biggest 100,000. That’s the only one you have. Like I wouldn’t mind at maybe 200,000 in small bills 50 and 100,000. Okay. So I Okay. Because when I Yeah. Some small bills would be would be useful.
Thank you very much. That helps me when I get to the dock. But Indonesia like this. Yep. Yeah. I’ve been there before. So I know I know the money. It all looks very old. Yeah.
Okay. Okay. There’s Jonker Walk, Jonker Street right over there. And the money changer currently anyway is right there in house right on the corner. So, it’s pretty convenient when you go to when I went to Google Maps Street View, it’s not there. So the photo that was taken for a street view at that time when that photo was taken the money changing booth didn’t exist yet but it does today. So that’s all that matters. I have such a thing about customer service. It’s kind of weird. It’s like I fall all over myself with happiness and thanking the other person. And yet in reality all they’re really doing is the bare minimum. And yet I’m so accustomed to getting so much less than the minimum that it amazes me when things actually work out well. So you know I went to that money changer and I’m accustomed to a big lineup for one thing and then the person ahead of you is always seems to be some international financier that has 15 different transactions involving 30 different currencies you know things like that. So that’s my starting point and then I finally get up to the window and then they I can’t hear the person, you know, I’m putting my head in, you know, like what what what anyway there’s always confusion and it just things like that. So that’s my starting point normally. But in this case I could walk right up to the window. The guy was very kind, made eye contact. Normally money changers don’t even look at you. They’re just focused on the calculator. And they don’t even look at you, but he looked at me, he smiled. I was like, “Awesome.” You know, and I’m just overjoyed with relief that he’s being nice to me, which is kind of funny. And then in this case, you know, I’m landing at the ferry dock in Dumai and there could be some little purchase I might want to make 10,000 rupiah, 20,000, 50,000, whatever. But normally you only get a 100,000 rupiah notes, right? That money changers. That’s all they have usually. So you land at the dock and maybe a porter has helped you out and then you have to give him 10,000 or 20,000 rupiah for the service and you’re like or you want to buy a coffee on the ferry and it’s 10,000 rupiah. You only have a 100,000 rupiah notes so nobody ever has change. So in this case I just ask the guy say oh is it possibility to get some small change like 200,000 in small bills and normally every money changer in the world just nah and they just hand you the 100,000 rupiah notes or whatever the local currency is but in this case he says well best I can do I can give you the bulk in a 100,000 rupiah notes but I can give you some 50,000 rupiah notes. I’m like, well, that’s the best I can do, best you can do. Okay, that’s that. Yeah, let’s do that. But then while he was counting out the money, he actually counted out 50,000 in small notes. So he found two 20,000 rupiah notes, one 10,000 rupiah note that amounts to 50,000 and he gave that to me. So, I got 250,000 in 50,000 notes and then a couple of small bills and I’m like falling over myself. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Oh, that’s amazing. Oh, it’s going to help me. Like, why am I thanking the dude so much? Really? Because I’m, you know, that’s like the minimum. If I were running a money-changing operation, I would try to have a bunch of small bills that I could give each customer. To me, that would be the baseline customer service, right? But it’s just kind of funny that I react with such extreme emotion when really all I’m getting is like baseline customer service. I’m just so accustomed to hardly getting up to my standards anyway on Planet Doug.
Back at the Middelburg Bastion or bulwark. Never quite sure what to call these. Here they call it a bastion, the Bastion Middelburg. And it doesn’t look like it right here, but around Dutch Square and Jonker Street, it’s actually pretty busy for a Monday. A lot of visitors here today. I’m surprised.
Beautiful day. I’ve really been lucky with the weather since I hopped on my bicycle here in Malaysia to get to Melaka. There was a thunderstorm last night, but I don’t even know if any rain fell during the thunderstorm. All I heard thunder and I saw lightning, but nothing looks wet, so I don’t know if there was any rain at all.
Gorgeous day down by the river. What a great city. Great place to hang out. Has something for everyone really. History buff like me, more of a vacationer, looking for a nice place to stay and good food, river cruises. Yeah, it’s kind of got it all, especially on a beautiful day like this.
This morning, I was on YouTube and a friend of mine pointed out that the British couple, Tread the Globe, is back. I wasn’t aware of that, but I guess they completed one journey around the world with their van, right? They’re the kind of a van life couple and the van the name very famous van in YouTube circles called Trudy and they spent a lot of time in Malaysia quite well known here as YouTubers. Retired couple seem to have quite a bit of money and their YouTube channel is very successful, lots of sponsors. So, it’s yeah, it’s a real going concern for them and they went back to the UK. I guess they finished their journey, but they were planning a new trip. And I wasn’t aware of any of this because I wasn’t really following them, but they bought a Toyota Hilux, a Toyota truck here in Malaysia. And long distance they’ve been communicating with the company about converting it into a camper. So, it’s basically a Toyota Hilux pickup truck here in Malaysia, but then they found a company that’s going to convert it into a camper for them. And they’ve been making all these arrangements long distance and then they flew into Malaysia to do the final details and then they’re going to ship it to New Zealand I think begin their new journey in New Zealand with this new camper van and then go around the world again on a new adventure. And I get they posted four videos so far. I probably wouldn’t have tracked down their videos except that they are in Malaysia. So they’re starting their journey here. They’re going to do a shakedown trip around Malaysia just to make sure that the van, the truck, which they’ve named Trevor, is in working order. So before they leave Malaysia, they want to make sure everything is working, everything is up to speed. And I’m passing by the ferry terminal, by the way. Never seen these boats before. I have no idea what those are. Perhaps another tourism cruise or is that meant for transportation? I have no idea. There’s two of them over there.
Yeah. One of them just taking off. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely tourism, right? Those are tour groups. You can sit up on the roof. Maybe because it’s enclosed, they go out into the ocean or into the Melaka Strait where the water might be rougher. Yeah. I have no idea. I hadn’t seen that before. But that’s where I’m going to be tomorrow. My trip to Sumatra should be pretty well, knock on I really have to stop saying things about the future. So, I really have to knock on wood. I’m about to say knock on wood. Things are going to go smoothly because the ferry doesn’t leave until 2:30 and they close the gate at 2:00. So, it’s basically a very relaxed morning. In my you know it’s not like you have to get up at the crack of dawn and get somewhere by 3:00 a.m. which is the normal procedure for the ferry out of Tanjung Balai. So here, yeah, you can just have a relaxing night in Melaka, spend the morning packing up, getting ready, and then just wander over here on my bicycle very nearby. And yeah, I don’t have to get there until maybe noon, 1:00, something like that. So, I’m looking forward to that. But to get back to Tread the Globe, I watched 1 and 2/3 of their videos so far. And I have to say, yeah, it’s not it’s not meant for me that kind of trip. I’ve talked about this in the past where like going around the world in your own truck or your own car, even your own motorcycle, it just seems like way too much work for me. I can understand the motorcycle. I can understand the scooter. That’s still a lot of trouble getting it from country to country, insurance and permits and licenses and taxes and getting it across the border, shipping it by boat again and again. I mean, it’s hugely expensive. And then if you’re in a van or a truck, after all that expense, all that work, constantly working on this machine, paying for it, shipping it around the world, you only see the world through your windshield. And I don’t know, it just seems like a lot of expense, a lot of work. And in the end, you just end up focused on the truck. It’s like your journey is all about how can I move this truck around the world and get it from country to you spend 90% of your time doing only that and the countries you’re in are just kind of a backdrop. So it doesn’t appeal to me as a form of travel but it does appeal to a lot of people. You can see on their videos like even they’re coming to Malaysia, getting their van equipped, getting it kitted out, getting all the alterations made. I mean, these videos are getting 60, 70, 100,000 views. They’ve got good sponsors. So, yeah, there’s a lot of interest in their journey. So I think what’s going on is I was writing about that this morning to a friend of mine that traveling around the world in a truck or a camper van, it gives the impression of freedom and independence. That’s what it looks like and feels like from the outside. But the reality of living that way to me doesn’t feel very free at all. Particularly when you consider that this couple sounds like they’ve been working on this project for 6 months already you know in Britain and for 6 months they’ve been planning and designing and communicating with this company about all the alterations spending tremendous amounts of money and then they come to Malaysia and they have to spend 2 months getting new tires, new suspension and I mean this truck is so complex. I couldn’t believe it that they actually put together such a complicated vehicle. I mean, really, it’s not even a it’s not a motor home. It’s a truck. It’s a pickup truck and they put a big square thing on the back and inside that thing is everything. Water filter system, you know, power systems, a bed, bathroom, hot water, air conditioning, motors to lift the roof up and down. And it is such a complicated beast with so much electronics. I just anticipate endless repairs, endless troubleshooting, trying to figure things out how things work and all the the more stuff you add, water filters, showers, toilets, giant water tanks, air conditioning systems, the heavier it gets. And the heavier it gets, of course, it overloads the engine, the suspension, the tires, everything has to be beefed up. And by the time you do all of that, you spend, I don’t know, a year of your life getting this thing ready. Spending, I don’t know how much money, you tell me, a lot of money. You could have traveled the entire world, seen the entire world in that time spending that much money. So, just traveling by train and by bus. And I guess I’m looking at it a little bit right now through the lens of being on a cycling tour of Malaysia. And even traveling by bicycle adds a fairly high level of complexity. Stuff you have to think about that you wouldn’t have to think about if you’re traveling by bus or by train or something like that. So I can relate to how having your own vehicle, even a bicycle can sort of be an impediment to your journey. But of course with a bicycle for me is different because the bicycle just puts you out there in the world. You really do get a sense of independence. You get freedom because of the bicycle that I don’t think you get from a giant Toyota 4×4 converted to a camper. Yeah. Anyway, it’s a I mean, I’ll watch the videos because I love to see people preparing for an expedition. I love gear. So, all the minutia of how they’re putting a bed into this thing. And when I stopped watching the video this morning, they were in the middle of like trying to figure out how to even get up to the bed because the bed is like one of these raised things and you got to climb up into it. But of course, the guy I don’t know his name from Tread the Globe, he’s an older man. He’s 6′ 3″ tall. He’s got a lot of stuff on him. He’s a big heavy guy and he’s like, I’m not getting up there, you know? I need a ladder. So now they’re going to IKEA and they’re shopping around to buy a ladder that they can fold up and then he has to climb up a ladder to get into bed and yeah, stuff like that. So I kind of enjoy all of the all the kitting out of the van focused on the gear, but it’s not the way I would want to live. It’s just too much too much complexity, too much expense, all that work they’re doing on this truck here in Malaysia. And then the first thing they have to do is ship it to New Zealand in a big container ship and go through all of the customs and licensing and insurance and exporting. I’m like, I’m watching their videos and I’m stressed out for them. I’m not even doing it. I’m freaking out because they have so much they have to do. So yeah. Anyway, Tread the Globe is back in Malaysia.
Surprise snack on the way. I have to rush downstairs to greet the driver.
Always make sure you have your key in your pocket before you officially close your door.
The last couple of times that a food delivery came to one of my hotels, I was trying to track them online and then they just get here much much quicker than I realize. So now I just got the notification that the it is a drink this time, but a special drink that it is on its way. It’s out for delivery. So rather than waiting for the guy to get here or get close to here, I’m just going outside right away.
So that’s where I am, of course, the red dot on the map. And this is my driver. So they’re already extremely close. And they could be, based on past experience, they could be here on my street already. Yeah. I don’t know if you saw the sequence in my last video or one of my recent videos where I stepped off the road to make room for a taxi and I stepped onto one of these cement covers and it broke underneath my feet. Like I stepped on the middle and the whole thing snapped into pieces and I fell into the ditch. But now that that happened, I’m always I look all over the place for these dangerous holes that are everywhere. And then I wonder if every one of these missing cement covers means at some point somebody parked their motorcycle on it or stepped on it and it broke in half. No idea.
Getting closer and closer on a Yamaha 135.
Something I’ve learned recently with the Grab map, it isn’t as up-to-date as Google Maps. So, with these low budget hotels, the owners change quite frequently. So, they keep changing the name of the hotel every time they get a new owner. But sometimes they keep the old sign, but then the the name updates on Google Maps, but it doesn’t update on the Grab map. So, these poor Grab drivers end up looking for hotels that don’t even exist anymore.
Here comes a driver. Seems to be looking for something.
Delivery for Roy. Roy, that’s me. That’s you. Thank you. 453 this one being so ah thank you you came so quickly. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
There he goes. So yeah, this is different. And I knew the order was coming from like a boba place, like boba boba tea, but this is very different. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. I can I can read through. Mango milkshake. That’s amazing. And this one is a lychee watermelon. So maybe it has boba in it. I’m not sure. So maybe instead of a boba milk tea, we’re getting a couple of fruity drinks here.
Time to sample the drinks and do a quick review. When my mystery benefactor was talking about this order, we were talking about like boba, like milk tea boba, but at the last minute, he decided I guess I needed more fruit in my life. So, as I said, we’ve got a it’s labeled mango milkshake. This smaller one looks very thick. And then the other one is a lychee watermelon large normal ice 50% sugar. So
I watch enough YouTube videos in my life to know that you have to be very careful whenever you’re handling drinks. Like even turning it over. I make sure I’m holding. I mean, it’s sealed, but you never know. So, I’m making sure that I don’t go too crazy with these things. And oh, yeah, it came with like the giant boba straws.
And on YouTube videos, you’ve always got the people doing this and the whole drink explodes. So, I try not to go too crazy with that. All right. So,
Lychee watermelon refreshing. Makes me feel like I’m on a picnic all of a sudden. I’m just here inside Planet Doug Studios and it’s nice to have the big thick straw because there’s a lot of watermelon in there and you can suck up the chopped up watermelon. 50% sugar. That seems about right.
It’s not overwhelmingly sweet. Yeah, it’s pretty good. That was pretty darn good. And now mango milkshake, normal ice, normal sugar. There was discussion about sugar levels as well, like how much sugar because a lot of people are pretty concerned about that. Like a lot of foreigners like me, we find local drinks in Asia to be too sweet. So they always say like no sugar, less ice, whatever. I just always say whatever is normal, like whatever you do for the local people. That’s fine with me. So if this is 100% sugar, normal sugar.
Yeah, it’s nice. A little bit thicker. Like that one is more of a a liquid like juice. Watermelon juice. This is a little bit more like a smoothie. Not quite like a thick McDonald’s shake or anything like that, but it’s more like a smoothie.
Very nice. I mean, what could I find to criticize, right? Something like this. You just can’t. It tastes really good to me.
Thank you to my mystery benefactor.