Day 050 > Monday 21 October

Live TV is always a fun challenge and it was exciting that we had been invited to appear on Thailand's most popular morning TV programme. Nearly every newspaper had covered the story of the activities of the day before and it was obvious that our little group was getting to be quite famous, at least in Bangkok. Film footage of the previous day's travels was used and it brought home to us just what an exciting adventure we were on.

Although most of the morning was taken up by the TV appearance the afternoon was basically free to spend how we wished, and what we all wished for was some sleep and time to catch up with e-mails. In the evening, however, we journeyed to the Sheraton Hotel where an Eighty Ways Charity Gala was held to raise money for the prosthesis foundation of Thailand.

The event was very well attended but the format of such an occasion was very different to what we are used to. Speeches! lots of them, some in English, some in Thai, from the hosts, the Chairman of the Thai Tourist Board, the Chairman of the Charity, from the Rotary club president and of course from Robin and the Eighty Ways team.

Steve Miller, Regional Director for Rolls-Royce in Thailand, had been invited to present the team with ornate glass TucTucs to commemorate our visit. The Thais are obviously very proud of their TucTucs and the main feature at the noisy auction, slotted in between more speeches, were four toy plastic TucTucs which had been signed by the team. Each one sold raised enough funds for the charity to buy at least seven prostheses.

Day 051> Tuesday 22 October

Another day for goodbyes was upon us although we were not due to leave Thailand until the evening. Our only programme for today was to join the manager and staff of the Amari Hotel, who had sponsored our stay in Bangkok, for a traditional Thai meal. Wow, what a feast. The courses just kept coming and everything was so beautifully presented and decorated with flowers.

I talked to Francois, the manager, about the flowers. Everything and everywhere in Bangkok seemed to be adorned with the most beautiful flowers. The hotel flower bill was obviously enormous but it was seen as such a necessary and natural expense. I shall remember Bangkok for its flowers and its servant hearted people.

During our meal we became aware of the tropical storm that was raging outside. The palm trees seemed to be swaying to the ground in the wind, waterfalls pouring off buildings and lightening and clouds filling the skies. The last rain we had enjoyed was in Rome, popping out for wine from the nuns hostel, seemingly a very long time ago.

The storm had ended by the time we left the hotel for the airport to leave our eleventh country in seven weeks. We don't like the goodbyes, despite the excitement of the next unknown.

We were also saying goodbye to Robin again who was returning to the UK. We will next see him in Singapore. Our booking in and flight to Penang, Malaysia, was probably the sweetest airline experience we had had to date and in just a short while we were piling into a luxury van to the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Georgetown.

"Is this hotel 3, 4 or 5 star?" I asked.
"We like to think it is at least 6 star Sir" was the reply.

The Butler who had been allocated to us then gave us the current exchange rates to Euros, Sterling and US Dollars to three decimal places and phoned ahead to order our cocktails which were ready on our arrival. Things were looking good for our Malaysian leg.

Day 052 > Wednesday 23 October

Our visit to Malaysia is going to be a mixture of work and rest. We are to visit three main locations, Penang, Dungun and Kuala Lumpur, before heading off to the busy programmes in Singapore and Hongkong.

Today was the first of the rest days and we had zero duties or commitments. Being able to lie in, sort our bags and clothes, eat and doze and relax was just the ticket and the Eastern and Oriental Hotel was the perfect location. Mike's "disabled" room was a dream for him. Because of the layout and thought gone into the design he was able to enjoy almost complete independence. The room allowed Mike to have a shower, only the third since leaving the UK.

Miles, however found his beautiful room slightly difficult at first. The shape and layout of the room, the unusual furniture and the pure size meant that "learning" his way around took quite a while. Caroline, as ever, quietly coped with not seeing signs or knowing where she is until she gets there or walks into it.

We could not praise the hotel and its staff highly enough for it's luxury, aesthetics and fantastic service. Anne, the PR manager from the hotel joined us for lunch and in just a short while it felt as if she had been part of the team for months. The E&O hotel was originally a sister hotel to Raffles in Singapore and was one of the most famous hotels in the world in days gone by. Having recently undergone a refurbishment it is hoping to regain its reputation, although Penang is no longer the hub for business and travel that it was.

Sitting on the cocktail terrace in the evening we each agreed that the E&O was again one of the great hotels of the world, and we were very grateful for its sponsorship of the 80 ways project.

Day 053 > Thursday 24 October

After our relaxing arrival into Penang we were ready to enjoy a day working again. We started with a press conference at the E&O Hotel, attended by journalists from as far as China, before heading off into town on Trishaws. Caroline and Miles were doing the hard work, while Mike and I sat in the sun giving directions.

I've spent a great deal of time guiding Miles and it still continues to amaze me how challenging I find it. What does "careful" mean to a blind person? should they duck?, stop?, slow down?, move right?, flinch?, or what? I often say "steps" but don't say whether they go up, down or round a corner, when we are going to get there, how steep they are or why we are bothering to go up or down them in the first place. And I'm good at guiding! Miles is very patient with me but I know I could do a better job if I could understand better what he needs.

Guiding Miles and Caroline on Trishaws through the busy Penang streets was achieved to the best of our ability, particularly as we had the vested interested of being much nearer any crash than the driver, being sat in the front in what felt a bit like a wheelbarrow. After a very sweaty forty minute of cycling we arrived at the Penang - mainland ferry terminal where we were pleased to transfer into a 1934, open topped Lagonda owned and driven by Douglas Fox. Sailing across the open water to the mainland and then cruising back to Penang over the 13.4 Km Penang Bridge in such a classic car was fun. The Malaysians hold cars in great esteem and many drivers tooted or waved to Douglas to acknowledge the beauty of his vehicle.

Adrian Brown, general manager of the E&O Hotel, Pine Lodge Hotel and and their Malaysian sister hotels, joined us for lunch before we headed out again, this time to skip along the sea from the Pine Lodge Hotel to the E&O in a little speed boat designed to take hotel guests fishing.

Our last excursion was up Penang hill using the vernacular railway, obviously a new way of travel on our list. From the summit of the hill one had an almost 360 degree view of Penang Island although we only had twenty minutes to take it in before needing to head down again.

Adrian Brown hosted our evening meal at one of his other hotels, Pine Lodge where, to my surprise, I bumped into Terry Stock of Rolls-Royce who was there as a guest with his family. It is always odd to be so far away from home and to bump into people one knows, but it seems to happen all the time. A good reason to make sure one is behaving properly at all times.

Day 054 to Day 058 > Friday 25 October to Tuesday 29 October

53 days on the road with hardly a break can take its toll. We are amazed how well we are coping and getting along as a team, given that we have been living in each other's pockets for all this time. Most days have been filled with activities and talking or press engagements and then end with a few hours' work on the laptop, writing updates, collating and editing pictures and recording expenses. So often it has been past three a.m. that I have gone to bed. We were ready for a break and so the offer of 4 days' R&R at a beach resort on the East coast of Malaysia was grabbed with all eight hands.

Our cramped van drive from Penang to Dungun lasted twelve hours but took us through spectacular jungle clad mountains and scenery and seemed to pass relatively quickly. Apart from quick pee stops, a puncture and a quick snack at a roadside cafe we continued all through the day with one objective in mind, - R&R!

On arrival at the Tanjong Jara Resort we realised that this was not going to be any old hotel but was an exclusive resort with all the luxury amenities to match. Our four nights were offered us on a complimentary basis by YTL, owners of the resort. Stunningly designed to offer a wholesome lifestyle experience, the resort was just magical. Our rooms overlooked the beach which was continuously empty of people, the food was fantastic, the weather perfect, the staff so serving and the hours far too short. It was difficult to get into holiday mood given all that had been happening and all the admin and maintenance work that was require but by the last day we made it.

Mike had his first play on the beach and in the waves since his injury 9 years ago. The South China Sea was so warm and clean. Our only remaining stress was our inability to get mobile phone signals and to send and receive e-mails. I.T. has given us such a continuous headache since leaving home it is the one aspect of this trip that I will not miss when we get back to normality. Other than ineffective I.T., Caroline getting sunburn, Miles having toothache and me continually being bothered by the toe I broke in Egypt, everything was fine and we were able to prepare ourselves for the busy programmes in Singapore and Hong Kong which are our next destinations.

We are so grateful to the YTL group for the provision of this time out and can strongly recommend the Tanjong Jara resort to anyone.

Our next immediate destination was Kuala Lumpur where we had an exciting event scheduled at the F1 Grand Prix circuit. It took nearly eight hours to drive to Malaysia's capital in another cramped van and we nearly missed our appointment with David Jones, the Regional Director of Rolls-Royce in Malaysia, where we witnessed the donation of wheelchairs to a local disability charity.

David joined us in the evening when we ate with Guy Chaplin and the staff of TQPR who had organised the sponsorship, activities and P.R. for our visit to Malaysia. The meal tasted better and better as the plans for the following day at the F1 circuit were explained to us. The day was going to be something very special indeed.