Kismet and other things
”Once you make a
decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”
Its less than eighty days before we leave and the truth of
the matter is that this ride has pretty much taken over our lives. There is
still the clinical work, one paper to revise, post graduate teaching
responsibilities, and one clinical trial to review before resubmission, but
most times away from work are occupied with ride preparations
instead of the usual academic routines.
Much less of medical journals and Pubmed, more of Chris Scotts’
wonderful Handbook of Adventure Motorcycling and Horizons Unlimited’s forum
pages.
Trip paperwork is also taking on some urgency with Carnet and
international driving licences to settle, thankfully no vaccinations are
required and visas are being sorted out with various authorities. The work with local collaborators have been
confirmed in Penang, Chiang Mai, Yunnan, Szechuan, Almaty, Copenhagen and
Stockholm.
Bike preparations are taking two completely different
approaches. Mike is on a BMW GSA 1200
that needs very little work done. More on
replacements of liable bits with the drive shaft seals and possible electronic
starters. Beemers are expected to do
just what is required out of the box. My
Vstrom has required a real re vamp.
Throttle bodies and alternator coils and stator motors replaced, steel
braided cables for brakes and clutch, 4mm aluminium bashplates, extra tall
windshield, hepco boxes and crash bars, and most recently Pivot pegz off road
footpegs and backup Enduriston waterproof bags and Rox cables. K60 Heidenau tyres and Progressive springs
still to arrive, hopefully within the fortnight. The cost of the upgrade from a vstrom for
normal daily use - probably less than
5K, still considerably less than a second hand beemer but whether this has been
the correct approach remains to be seen.
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| Matt Black's tailor made 4mm alluminium bashplate for VStrom |
Now that I’ve had the chance to talk
with all sorts of people who have done this before, I am still very happy with
the vstrom. Nevertheless if I could get
a bike tailored ideally for this trip I would probably start with something
smaller, maybe a KLR 650, suzuki’s excellent new DR 650
or the F800 beemer, but
we’ll see. A common comment I’ve heard
is that when you’re on the road you’re never going to wish you had a bigger
bike.
A rather unique experience as we apply ourselves to the
preparation is how things seem to come together despite astronomical odds to
the contrary. Doors which seem firmly
shut and sealed creak open with mere nudges. And when we first started making travel
plans and finding collaborators in these countries there seemed to be more closed,
keyless doors than open ones. As things developed we have had engineers –
complete strangers at first - who are
willing to come aboard and modify the 4/4 support vehicle; although the
Singapore International Foundation was unable to help us directly they put us
in contact with a freelance filming company that seems to be just what we need;
a couple I met at a birthday party happens to have extensive business interests
in Kazakhstan which has turned out to be very interested in how we can start up
their breast cancer services – we have a two day workshop planned in Almaty
with them. The list goes on – but the
strangest, longest kareem abdul jaabar skyhook kismet ever must be Dr. Cynthia
Chou.
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| Breakfast in Copenhagen - Victor, myself, Eng Soo, Cynthia and James |
Cynthia and
I had met in university in 1986. I was a
third year medical student and she an anthropology masters student. We hung out together until she left to do a
PhD among the Orang Laut which kept her on some Sulawesi Archipalaego or other
for years. We lost touch over time ,
during which she obtained a position in Cambridge (something called the
Division of Vanishing Cultures – something JK Rowlings would have trouble
dreaming up). She met and married Dr
James Liang from Leiden University and then moved to University Copenhagen
where is presently associate professor of cross cultural studies. After not meeting for over twenty –
five years, and while we had been trying
and failing to find a collaborator for the anthropological aspects of breast
cancer presentation in Asians, we meet by sheer kismet at the Coffee Bean at
Kent Ridge MRT station in August last year .
Again by sheer fate I was to travel to Copenhagen with some anesthesia
colleagues to attend a trauma congress in October – some 20km from where she lives. After some hurried discussions we discover
that an MOU exists between NUS and the U of C – allowing both funds and
collaborators to look at the cultural aspects of why Asians present with breast
cancer later. Slam dunk!
These happy
coincidences seem to be a result of a ride that is not taken as an end in
itself. A large part of the preparations
is similar to any mad plan to cover the distance and take in the sights. Nevertheless the eagerness of people to help,
the range of experiences we’ve had even before leaving, have come about because
of the breast cancer cause. It does
encourage the prospect of knocking on more doors in the future.
