We had a very simple (read: not good) breakfast in the Red Inn Heritage hostel and then retreated back to our room. Since we had been told quite clearly yesterday that we weren’t really wanted here, we just used the wifi to update the blog before packing. Through agoda, we booked into the hostel around the corner to have our night sorted before starting any work on the bike.

At 11am, Flo managed to speak to Jonathan on the phone and he agreed to have a look at Rocinante after lunch. He would even seek us out in our new accommodation. Having set up this meeting, we moved all our stuff into the Guest Inn Muntri and went out for a quick lunch at a Chinese place. Flo ordered the daily special which turned out to be something that looked slightly like a seared sausage. It apparently didn’t taste too bad. I went for the more conservative option of rice and vegetables. However, the vegetables arrived with prawns and I was just surrendering to a lunch of plain rice when the waitress realized that I didn’t touch my food, asked if prawns were okay and when I shook my head, took it away and replaced it with pure vegetables. Win!

After lunch, we sat outside the hostel, briefly waiting for Jonathan. He arrived pretty soon after and went right to work on Rocinante’s electronics. The ECM (Engine control module) was checked thoroughly without showing any cracks or dents. So Jonathan concluded that the connection had to be bad. This part of the motorcycle is similar to a computer and here is what I gathered happened to our bike: The different metal connections sit in place for years, making the bike run smoothly. Every bit of the surface that isn’t used, oxidized with time. After the square hit, the connections shifted slightly so that now, oxidation was sitting on oxidation, weakening the connection having the effect of a loose connection…one time it works, the other it won’t.

So the solution seemed to be unplugging and re-plugging everything for a couple of times so that oxidation would be scrapped off, allowing the connection to go back to normal. It worked! After the treatment, Rocinante started reliably again and Flo learned something about the electronics’ side of the bike. Mechanically, he is well versed by now.

Jonathan is a very busy man so he declined our offer of a coffee as “thank you” for his help but me being very, very relieved and Flo feeling off today meant that we declared this day as a rest day and went back to relaxing instead of sight-seeing.

While blogging in the communal area of the guest house, we met Josy and Peter, two German backpackers (https://fuckitwereleaving.wordpress.com) who travel South-east Asia now, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are still to come later in the year. This gave us more than enough in common to fuel conversation so we made it a date to have dinner together on the night food market.

Before this though, I dragged Flo into the Purrfect Cat Cafe; a cafe that serves coffee and cake but also has a room with up to eight cats that you can pat. I had tried to get us in around 3pm but was turned away because the cafe was already full on a Sunday afternoon. She recommended to come back at a later time  maybe after 6pm. So we went back there.

I liked the cake and tea but was slightly disappointed about the cats: They were clearly peopled out for today. Most of them were up on a cupboard where no one could reach them while one was sleeping on the window sill, not caring if it was patted or not. A second one hopped down for the cupboard later on but went to a chair and even turned its back on Flo when he approached. This cat would also endure patting without looking too happy about it.

So dinner it was. Flo and I went for dumplings on the night market this time. I thought that the spinach and pumpkin ones were vegetarian before being told that they contain prawns so I got stuck with a plate of all sweet dumplings. Guess it could have gone worse.