GLOBAL DREAM RIDE: SPONSORSHIP, PREPARATION AND A NOTE OF THANKS

Hv u ever dream of something big…something which u think its hard to achieve, but yet in yr heart theres that tiny voice telling u that even it may seem impossible, but u can do it if u work really hard and determine enough? Well, I hv. I dream of riding my motorbike around the world. SOLO. Not with a friend or a bunch of escorts. Not with a car, a 4WD or by public transportation. But on a motorbike. It wasn’t easy to make it happen, but I strived and I go all out to make my dreams come true. I started doing my research one year before I start the ride. I contacted many ppl and I tried to get as many help as possible. Some worked out but many not. However, among those who believe in me and my dream is GIVI. I got sponsorship from them (and their sister brand, HEVIK) which include riding gear and riding accessories. I was given 3 pair of gloves, a Givi Tourer Helmet, 2 pairs of 4 seasons riding jacket and pants, a pair of riding jeans, a pair of technical inner top & pants, a balaclava, buff, rain coat, rain gloves, 4L waterproof pouch, a waterproof 80L bag, waterproof backpack and a tank lock bag for myself; and top box, panniers, GPS holder, windshield, secure lock and bike cover for my motorbike. Givi has also being generous by giving me some cash money for this ride. Prepared with this items, I am now more confident to venture the world because I know that the stuff given to me are from good quality products. 

Me and Mr Joseph Perruca during our first meeting regarding sponsorship

Besides Givi, Hong Leong Yamaha Motor also sponsored me a brand new Yamaha FZ150i motorbike and spare parts for this ride. I chose this bike because I had rode the same model during my Central Asia 'Stans' solo ride and I had confidence that it will stand the challenges. Besides, this bike is truly a fuel save motorbike which is very important for a long journey such as GDR. My many thanks to HLYM for all the trust in me.

Other sponsorship came from Koyoko who donated an amount of RM10k and motorbike batteries, Duro (Jojo and Wak) sponsoring me with my official Tshirt, buff, hand socks and inner. Thanks a lot.

I also received cash donations from supporting friends (overlanders and non overlanders) such as Pak Amzah Sulaiman, Dato Raja Firdaus and wife Datin Yan, Dato Zamri 1MWER, Md Khairuman Abu, Dr Ahmadol, Dr Ng and Kak Chik from IPGKI, Jahanifah Mat Zain, Yayasan Perak, Yongsuzi, Sue Rahman & hb, Azhari Karim, Tn Hj Azlan, Along Aimpro Samudera, Rosmawati, AngelLynn, Harris Andria, Mohd Shamree Hassan, Asmazi Omar, Sharida, Rosli Sulaiman, Fairuz Rahman, Joe & Evonne, and also donators (as of 30th Oct 2016) at https://www.gofundme.com/AnitaYusof, which was created by a stranger but now becoming a very important person for my ride, Deborah Chang (TQVM my dear sis for all the help) - Hoo Man Wong, Evonne Kang, Joy Nakamura, Puteri Juliana, Suriana Sulaiman, Mohamed Abdul Samad, Irwin Sim, Ilyah Abdul Aziz, Kang Predi, Ahmad Ghazali and Mark Baker....
Lady Bikers Malaysia members, thru the President, sis Mira Yaacob also gv me some donations.
I want you to know that yr contributions really mean a lot and I truly appreciate all the help. Thank you very much.

Some friends also helped me with items which I need for this ride, such as YemPaul Antonio & Sue sponsoring me a Quecha waterproof tent, Eijarm Al-Fayed sponsoring me with powerbank and air compressor, Rashimy gave me an intercom headset, Nadiah Wafa gv me 2 pcs of custom made headwear and Abikhalid supplied me with a dozen of DAMIA canned food which were really delicious. The list continued with my darling Zuzana Abdullah who helped in so many ways that will be too long for me to write one by one, but she's also another very important person for this ride, my sister Ayuni Yeop helped me finding my 'companion' (a toy tiger and cheetah) as I was too bz before the ride and she also helped purchasing Malaysia flags for me and troubled herself sending me ointment for my nerve pain all the way from Malaysia to San Diego. Last minute items such as a small hammer and plyer were given to me by Elissa Airin, and Rosezy Dyn gv me a good massage and spa at her Brightness Beauty & Spa Salon, Jelapang, Ipoh, before the ride. 

Kapcai Magazine was my official magazine for this ride and with PEKETUM, they helped selling "support Tshirt" for me and part of the money go to my fund. Thanks guys, Uzaini and the team for all the help. If u wish to buy the Tshirt and support me, u can copy paste the link below and contact the admin:

https://www.facebook.com/peketum/photos/pcb.577924565694039/577923982360764/?type=3&theater

The Vocket is my official online media. Thanks to Ida Latiff and the team, for the interest to publish my story. 

Hv I miss anyone? If I do, plz forgive me, but do bear in mind that I really appreciate all help and support that had been given to me.

As for other preparations, I will detailed it in my book, but of course a route, at least u must hv some idea where do u want to go., and below is my planned route for GDR.

To be completed in 1 year

I also purchased a new Garmin Zumo and paper maps. A friend, Khalid PCB introduced me to Ustaz Radzi Hassan who helped installing OSM maps for all the countries in my route for a very minimal fee.

I also purchased some outdoor stuff and necessary items such as external hard disc, rechargeable batteries, tapes and many more. I also had to renew my International Driving Permit, get vaccinations, purchased travel insurance for myself and for the bike, had my Carnet done, and the list goes on and on and on...

Visa is another very important aspect. I applied for US and Canada visas prior to my ride and the rest I shall apply when I'm on the road. My Canadian visa was rejected on the first attempt and I had to seek assistance from Wisma Putra. Thanks Encik Hafiz and the consular division for helping me and I managed to get both visas.

Bike prep was done by my mechanic, Faiesal. I wished to thank him too for sacrificing his time and family and worked day and night till the very last minute before my departure to settle what need to be done.

As for advises, I received lots from many friends who were generous to share their experiences during their rides @ travel while traversing the globe. Faizal Sukree, Madie Saad, Hadi Hussein, Dato Zamri, Pak Amzah, bro Alex Wong Ying Thoe, Hannah Hadhinah, Moji Nazri Arshad, Tiffany Coates the legend, Andrea Sarvetnick, Rashmi Tambe and some icons featured in Global Women Who Rides, to name a few...

Last but never ever least, I wished to thank Dato Rocky Bru, Zuhdi and Harris Andria for all the effort, time and money spent to help me getting patron and sponsorship. Even though nothing materialized, but I accepted this as my fate. I strongly believed that Allah has other ways to help me, and He has His reasons why he didnt let our effort through. Thanks once again to all of u.

Finally, on 11th Sept 2015, with Ayuni, Rosezy and Norehan Desa as my companions, I left my home sweet home to KL. 

On 12th Sept, SBM organized 'The Biggest Bike Gathering' event at Putrajaya. In the morning, lead by Haryati Sorgeon Lopez and the team, they escorted me to Putrajaya. Thanks to all. During the event, there was also a special appreciation ceremony for overlanders and adv riders. I was one of the inductees and certificate was presented by the Deputy Prime Minister. It was such an honour to be here and received the certificate from Tan Sri Zahid Hamidi. Later I was flagged off by SBM's vice president and this marked the beginning of GDR. 

After the flag off, I send my bike to MasKargo, Mohidin my agent had been waiting and he helped me with all the air freight stuff. Thanks Mohidin.

The day then arrived. On 13th Sept 2015, I left my sons hse in Cheras...Ohhh how I cried my heart out upon having to leave my darling Chichi whom I loved so much. We arrived KLIA on time and a a simple send off ceremony by close friends at KLIA was held for me. Zana, her hb, Jai and Shawal representing Lanun Bikerz, also the one reciting dua for my safe and smooth journey; Ayuni, Rosezy, Anne, Rosmawati, Zuhdi and wife, Abu Zahrim and wife, Mazlan and friends, and of course my kids, Rudy and Icha were there to see me go. Sue Rahman arrived at the very last minute when I had already cleared the immigration, but I still managed to meet and hugged her. 

No kompang, no bunga manggar, no reporters whatsoever as I made my way to the gate since I had no big name behind my ride. Its okey. By now, I already accept the fact that everything happens for a reason and that my past achievement in adv riding meant nothing when theres no ministry being my patron. This is Malaysia and I had to live and swallow this tradition and mindset....

I worked really hard to make this happen. I saved really hard to self fund myself for this ride. I sold my books, I send letters asking for donations and sponsors, I gv motivational talks at schools, colleges and private organizations, and the payment I got, I saved them for this ride...and god knows what I had done...

All for the sake of livin my dream....

YUNNAN CHINA ADV RIDE: DAY 15 - 17

15^th Dec 2014: YUANYANG – JIANSHUI – TONG HAI – FUXIAN HU (200km)

After checking out in the morning, I rode to a nearby workshop which I saw yesterday. The workers were looking at me in disbelief. I went inside the workshop and pointed out a container of engine oil (luckily the label had an English wording) and I told the guy to change the oil. He nodded and went straight to work. It was very fast and within 15mins, everything was done. The charge was RMB45 (RM22.50) only.

After that I exited Nansha and made my way to S214. The road was pretty small, winding as usual, but offered nice view of Yuanyang River. Apart from boats, I could also see barges on the water.

As always, it was ascend and descend affairs on bad paved and off road all the way to Jianshui. Muntah!!!

Layanzzzz.....

There was traces of landslide and since it was still morning and the road was shady,  my path was wet, slippery and slightly muddy 1/2 of the way. 

Lagiiii....layan je laaa.....

It took me two hours to cover the 85km distance to Jianshui.

This herder was so happy when I took his pic

Road block

Jah had recommend me to stay a night in Jianshui, but since I am full of energy and it was way too early, I made an adhoc decision to continue to Fuxian Lake instead. It was quite tricky to find S214 again after entering Jianshui and I had to go in circles before finally finding it. During my search, I saw quite a number of Muslim people and Muslim restaurants in this town.

To ensure that I’m on the correct road, I asked locals if this road lead to Tong Hai. However, no one seemed to know where Tong Hai is, until I wrote the town name on a piece of paper and showed it to them. Still, it was only after the third attemp that I found someone who could read the roman alphabet spelling of the town. Then only I knew that the correct hanyu pinyin pronounciation for Tong Hai is Tounggggg Ha (kasi dengung lebih sikit). LOL....no wonder no one understand me. This were among the challenges that I faced during my ride here – non existense English, lack of sign boards, lack of route number markings, locals cant read the roman alphabet and my BADDDDDD hanyu pinyin. It was tough as the spelling of the town names and its pronounciation, were not only different, but it should be pronounced with a correct intonation, or else it could mean something else.

The stretch from Jianshui to Tong Hai was bad with pot holes and road under construction. It was only after Tong Hai that the road improved. Theres no sign to Fuxian Lake (as yet), so I need to be careful not to make a mistake by taking a wrong way to Yuxi instead. It was only when I’m nearing Fuxian Lake that I could see a sign board.

This is Qilu Lake, not Fuxian Lake

Finally, after riding for 6 hours, I reached Fuxian Lake, which is the deepest and the third largest lake in China. I screamed with joy upon seeing the very beautiful pristine blue lake. It was more beautiful than Erhai Lake in Dali. How I had missed this kind of view. It remind me of the blue lakes in Kyrgyz and Tajik, minus the snow capped mountain. I rode slowly and was hoping if I could find a strategic spot to pitch my tent. I had been carrying my camping equipments all along my way but not once used it yet. The reasons were bcos I was sick in the beginning of my ride, and bcos there was no suitable place to camp. Even though there were countless rivers and lakes that I had passed, normally the river was located way down the crevasse or the road by the lake side had barriers. It will be easy if I’m on a bicycle as I can always lift or carry my bike, but for a motorbike? No way.

It was not long before I found a really nice place to set up my tent. The view was gorgeous, the weather was perfect and the timing was soooo right. Not just that, the place was also deserted. No human was in sight. Perrrrrrfectttt. Exactly what I need. The only thing was the strong wind. It was pretty hard for me to put my tent to stand without help from anyone.

The next challenge for me was to put on the fire. I had brought along cooking wax as fire source, but the strong wind was blowing continously without stopping even a sec. It was really hard to lit my lighter, what more to burn the cooking wax, but after trying for almost half an hour, I managed to boil a pot of water to make tea and instant noodles. I had an early dinner while enjoying the spectacular view.

Blisssss.....

It was getting cold as temperature dropped down after the sun was completely out. Thank god there were lots of dry sticks on the ground for me to make a camp fire and enjoyed the warmth it had to offer, while watching majestic milkyway which showed herself proudly in the sky. Thousands of tiny little stars shone in the vast sky brightening my surroundings. I had never seen something as beautiful as this. I was speechless. How small I was compared to the power of Allah. In the silence of the night and  cold which gripped to the bones, my tears rolled down. For the umpteenth time, I thanked Him for my destiny. I was so lucky to be the chosen one. Thank you Allah.

My camp fire.....the wind was strong.....

Milky way.....

16^th Dec 2014: FUXIAN HU – CHENGJIANG – KUNMING (110km)

I woke up at 2am as I felt very cold. It was drizzling and the wind was giving its powerful blow in the middle of the night. Thank god I brought along heat packs (remaining from my past EBC trekking), and only after putting the packs in my socks, I can get back to sleep.  Around sunrise, I heard voices. I unzipped my tent and peeped outside. There were some guys carrying a sampan to the lake shore. I supposed they were fishermen. 

I couldnt sleep no more so I just lie in my tent while listening to the birds chirping and watched the golden sky slowly brightening into a new day. How peaceful and serene.....

I was still lying on my air bed and wrapped in my sleeping bag when this pic was taken

Feeling hungry, I finally rose at 8am to cook nasi lemak. Again, it was a challenge to lit up the fire and I almost gave up. However, I managed and within one hour, I was already enjoying my meal while watching the tranquil blue lake in front of me. I tried to capture everything and stored it in my brain. I never want to forget this beautiful view and this awesome experience.

Nasi Lemak with red chicken and hard boiled egg....
Only Anita Yusof's Livin My Dream lah.....

After a while, the fishermen came back. I watched them sorting out their catches. They simply ignored me. I supposed I am not the first person who had camped here. Later, some local tourists came for some pics near the lake. They tried to talk to me and I answered using hand signals and broken mandarin.

At 12pm, I packed everything and left the place. Good bye Fuxian Lake. I'm leaving u now, but our memories shall remain forever n ever.

It was quite confusing to reach Chengjiang (pronounced Chengyang) and even more confusing to find my way to route S202 and later S102 to Kunming. There was no sign at all. Not even route number could be seen too. I was lost few times and had to turn back. I managed to find my way after some struggling. The road was bad with lots of constructions which slowed me down. In all difficulties, I managed to find my way to enter Kunming city via Cai Yun Nan Rd – Cai Yun Zhong Rd – Cai Yun Bei Rd, which I had memorized with lots of effort last night.

It was peak hour when I reached Kunming Central. Traffic police were guarding every junction. My bad luck finally arrived when I was stopped by a police at the final junction before I’m supposed to turn right to Beijing Rd which will take me to the bike garage. The police asked me to park Laling and he asked for my licence. I greeted him and showed my international licence, all the while smiling my sweetest smile. He was stern and without the least of smile on his face, he told me in broken English that he wanted to see my Chinese driving license. My heart sank when I told him that I dont hv one. He threatened to confiscate my bike. I apologized many times, and told him that I want to return the bike to my friend who’s waiting at Beijing Rd. Hearing this, he asked me for my so-called friend’s phone number as he wanted my friend to come over to take the bike. I said that I forgot my friends number which is not true. Even though desperate and panicked, I cant put Jah in trouble. The police finally let me go, but he didnt allow me to ride anymore. He asked me to push the bike instead. I obeyed and pushed Laling for about 80m and when I’m sure the police couldnt see me anymore, I continued riding.

However, the incident scared the hell out of me that when I arrived the junction to Beijing Rd, I didnt dare to turn right as there were police there too. I decided to turn right at the next junction, but it was a one way road. The next and the next junctions had policemen. I turned back and tried to find my way to Beijing Lu, but the same problem arised. In order to escape from the policemen who’s guarding by the road side, I had to go straight when I’m supposed to turn. Damn!!!  I was doing very fine before the police stopped me. Now, whats supposed to be an easy long straight road for about 10km along Beijing Rd to reach the garage, turned into a nightmare!!! I am now lost and I didnt even know my whereabout in Kunming city which was 4 times bigger than KL and with 9 million population and it was peak hour and my GPS is of no use and there were police everywhere!!! Can u imagine the terror?

I stopped by the road side and tried to get help from a girl. Luckily she could speak English. I borrowed her phone and called Jah. I told him what happened and asked him to come to my rescue. I passed the phone back to the girl and she told Jah my location. However, even Jah didnt know the place where I was at that time, as Kunming is a very big city. Jah told me not to panic but to slowly find my way. Duhhhh....how now?

I opened my GPS and checked the map.  I asked the girl to show me my location as the GPS couldnt locate my location accurately. I studied the map and counted how many junctions and turning which would take me back to Beijing Rd. Once I’m ready, I continued riding, passing the policemen, trying to look as confident as I can (but only god knew how I felt at that time). There were few times that the police waved at me, but I pretend not to notice, as if I was too busy concentrating on the flow of motorbikes and bicycles in front of me. I supposed it was my off road helmet which made them noticed that I am not a local. Thank god, they didnt chase me. 

After a gruelling few hours since I entered Kunming, I managed to find my way and arrived the garage at 7.30pm. It was already dark. My limbs felt like jello due to the tense and exhaustion. Ten minutes later, Jah arrived. He congratulated me for my success and told me that no man dared to do what I had done, and that I’m the first woman to rent his bike and did a solo ride around Yunnan since he started his two wheels tour business few years back. He also told me that its not easy to ride in China, even for the Chinese who can speak the language and read the alphabets, so to him, what I had achieved is remarkable. I just laughed and thanked him for his compliments.

Jah and me at the garage

The best souvenir to take home for an adv rider.....dust and mud.....

17^th Dec 2014: KUNMING – KUALA LUMPUR

It was very cold in Kunming this morning as I took a short stroll nearby Springtime Hotel where I stayed last night. At 12pm, I made my way to the airport bus stop. I reached the airport way too early. I met some Malaysians and they were thrilled upon knowing that I did a solo ride in Yunnan. My flight was on time, and I reached KLIA2 at 10pm, safe and sound.

With that, my Yunnan China Adv Ride has now come to an end.....

Total distance covered: 2868km
Expenses:
Before the ride - RM2162 (prep, air ticket, visa etc)
During the ride - RM2400 (bike rental, fuel - RM334, accommodation, misc and self cook everyday)
Total expenses: RM4562
ZERO bike fall

Dear readers,
Yunnan is a very beautiful province. As u can see in my posts, the view changed every single day. Please go and ride there if u can. U are not going to regret it.

I regard this ride as the 2^nd best ride after the Stans. All the memories and experience, be it sweet or sour, are valuable to prepare me for my next bigger challenge soon. Again, thank you Allah for giving me the chance, and for protecting me from danger through out my ride.

Until next ride.....