It seems that almost every time I venture out into Ipoh I have some kind of adventure, mostly of the “heart in the mouth” type. After days spent indoors because of the haze, I went out at lunch time today to meet Jim and a colleague. They kindly invited me to join them for a delicious (though calorific!) lunch of chapati, biryani and dal. I parked my car at a row of shops that I am familiar with and they picked me up on their way to the restaurant. After lunch I suggested they drop me at the side of the road to save them some time. What I hadn’t realised was that a deep drain separated me from my car. I looked to the right for a place to cross and saw a dead dog. It couldn’t have been there very long because I hadn’t smelt it. I immediately veered to the left and found a rickety ramp across the drain. Driving back towards the golf resort I had to negotiate some road works that have closed down one side of the road. This means the traffic on my side of the road has to take over one of the lanes going the other way. This can be tricky because there are no cones or barriers dividing the two streams of traffic. One has to rely on everyone else’s good sense. The driver speeding up behind me didn’t possess any such thing. Impatient with the slow traffic in front of him, he swung over into the far lane and drove down the wrong side of the road at breakneck speed. Fortunately the only vehicle coming the other way was a motorcycle that hurriedly took evasive action. I will need some down time before I venture out again!