Day 19 - 21 Nov 2 - 4 Teluk Intan Part 2

I cycled back to the bike shop after lunch so I could get proper tyres fitted. Amir, who ran the shop, was nice young fellow, very earnest and helpful. We went through the stock of tyres and I eventually settled on some Kenda knobbly tyres. Being proper mountain bike tyres, they would be more resilient on rough surfaces and should last the distance.

As we were in the shop, a lady and her son came in - they had been shopping for bikes for some time and finally settled on, not just one, but two bikes. I helped convince her she needed two locks per bike because of the quick-release front wheel and even tried to encourage the purchase of front and rear lights but when the young boy asked for the reflectors to be taken off - more 'style' - I knew I'd failed in that area. Follies of youth...

Amir and a friend worked on my bike, then Amir's younger brother, Amy (pronounced 'Ah-Mee') turned up as well and they gave my bike a bit of an oiling and adjusted the gears and brakes.

The Kenda tyres are much bigger so I had to change the tubes as well. I later went back to the shop with the former front Maxxis tyre which Supriani had wrapped for me as a spare, as well as the other spare tube which didn't fit the new tyres. Amir was kind enough to swap my old tube for a new one.

I ended up spending hours in the shop - Amir is a very friendly chap and a Manchester United Supporter to boot so the hours passed pleasantly. His father set up the bike shop and Amir has been running it since 1999. They stock the better quality bikes and seem to know what they're doing. The tyres were fitted expertly and the bike felt much better for the oiling and adjustments.

Don't you sometimes wonder at coincidences? Or the chain of events which lead you to a person or thing? By having a reluctance to pump up the tyres surrounded by mosquitoes, I'd had a blowout, then met two people who exemplified the very values I've been looking for on this ride. Then, here I was with a new friend in Teluk Intan, talking about business, bikes, cycling, people, small towns and so on.

Amir wasn't even supposed to be in the shop that Friday. And if I'd chosen to pop by during lunch, I would have found the shop closed and would have gone off. I do believe in fate and destiny and that by being guided by happenstance and instinct one frequently gets where one needs to be.

Amir asked me to call him if I needed anything else or if I had any problems on the way out of Teluk Intan. In return I made him promise to call me if he ever got to Singapore so I could show him around the bike shops there.

Dinner that night was back at the same place. I ordered another beer and decided to have some cooked dishes this time. A lady came over and I asked her for her recommendations and she eventually brought me rice with a sliced fish with onion, ginger, shallots and dried chiliies and a dish of vege in garlic. Yummy!

I was beginning to like Teluk Intan very much... Even when I returned to the hotel and found my laundry had not been collected, I didn't feel so bad as it meant I could stay another day in what must be one of the nicest small towns in Malaysia.
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