The Hindu festival at the Batu Caves was slightly different party from those at home. Just imagine yourself on a vorspiel pushing a barbecue fork through your face, then walk all night carrying a jar of goat milk. Add a few fishhooks, scent sticks, fruits and flowers, blood and music and you’ll get the picture. The really interesting part is that the Hindu’s seemed to enjoy it.The Hindu festival at the Batu Caves was slightly different party from those at home. Just imagine yourself on a vorspiel pushing a barbecue fork through your face, then walk all night carrying a jar of goat milk. Add a few fishhooks, scent sticks, fruits and flowers, blood and music and you’ll get the picture. The really interesting part is that the Hindu’s seemed to enjoy it.

Party boy

After the crowds I was looking forward to some tranquillity at Cameron Highlands. Supposedly the landscape is stunning, but fog blocked the view, and I spent the night doing homework. Ah yes, I’m hereby a student. My first day at BI Nettstudier started a few weeks ago, so to improve my current degree. Very exciting indeed (check it out: www.bi.no). If all goes well I’ll do a couple of exams in Sydney. A few tips: When you’re motorcycling around the world while studying at BI Nettstudier you need lots of energy. The many food stalls serving fresh fruit juices are an excellent source. Add a cold shower in the morning and two tablets of Omega 3, and your ready to process international marketing management inside your helmet for miles on end.

Reading Harald Biong and Erik B. Nes would not be the same without this.

Malaysia is pleasant. I can recommend it to anybody. Yet my five weeks there were without those singular episodes – good or bad – that will stick with you forever. People were friendly, everything went smooth. It was all too straightforward to brag about to the grandchildren in year 2047.

If you're trying to read the book by Harald Biong/Erik B. Nes and see this guy, you’d better flee to another guesthouse. He will chat a hole in your head.

The ride ended in Penang, and I hooked up with motorcycle travellers Renata and Tobias from Germany. We met in Lahore a year ago, but the meeting was brief, and it was great to revive our acquaintance. All three were facing the question how to transport our bikes across the Malacca Strait. There are no ferries from Penang, so improvisation was needed. The solution became an iffy wooden boat shipping onions to Belawan in Sumatra.

The next question is how Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, will welcome a cartoonist from Norway