'My Precious... my Precious..'

Marc got back to KL ok with his precious bike cargo. Vilnius -> Helsinki -> Hong Kong -> KL. Bit of an epic. It will be interesting to see how it is packed... he put a lot of thought and research into how to do it, (never mind the flights and connections) and it all worked out, with only a couple of minor changes. He has a few bits and pieces in his hand luggage as well, and as it went through the x-ray machine as one of the airports he did get asked "What on earth are those things?". Bike parts. They shrugged and let him go.

He was also asked what was in the carton. "My bike frame". They scanned it, and probably wondered what the hell kind of bike it was, because (I think - he can correct me on technicalities if I'm wrong) it was just the back end of the triplet - so it can't have looked much like a normal bike. No problems though.

So he has to endure another week of it sitting packaged up in the apartment in KL, when he is just busting to be able to put it together and take it for a spin. I have this mental image of him sitting there, Gollum-like, stroking the case and muttering 'My Precious.. my precious' (Of course he is too pragmatic for that, but why let facts get in the way of a good analogy.)

The whole thing still feels kind of surreal and bizarre. It is going to give the bike that extra character... and judging from the weekend he had there, we might well continue the Lithuanian connection by keeping in touch with the guy he bought it from. Marc had dinner with him and his family, and spent the Sunday doing some sightseeing. We are going to send something Aussie over for his young kid, and send him some photos of us riding it.