3rd Janaury 2011 – Georgetown to Taiping – 60.84 miles, av 10.6, max 28.7, Ride time 5 hours 40 mins Boo hoo, boo hoo, we are leaving one of the best places on the planet I have ever had the fortune to stay in. Thank you to Poh, Eric and all of the staff for making our stays here so fabulous. Now to the ferry which is the alternative to the bridge for many as we found, being at the head of the queue with around 120 motos behind us. The barrier was moved and like an F1 pack jostling for the first corner we headed onto the ferry. Cars take up the most space and we slot in where we can.
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| The view from the handlebars |
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| Our view of Butterworth |
The ferry is free versus the bridge and toll, and 20 mins later we were on the mainland again in the ferry port of Butterworth. Now where did all the signs go. Ummm, the map detail we have is not great as most have dispensed with paper and coloured lines and gone for GPS including the Malaysian equivalent of Ordinance Survey so we were reliant on signage. It started to rain and spirits high we used instinct and compass to guide us onto the right road, eventually. Signs are in blue for expressways, which we cant ride on and green for highways and other roads we can. Oh and now they have changed round the other way, oh than changed back again, what fun we had in torrential monsoon rain. This is the first day back for many schools too.
The hardshoulder is about 6 inches wide, then it is 4 lanes of traffic, 2 in each direction separated by 2 solid white lines in the middle of the road. Potholes are the size of small lakes and just as deep, we are soaked within the first hour and it looks like it is set on for the day. I now have water in my ear from the spray thrown up by the cars and lorries, there is major flooding on the roadside and across the road. Trucks seem to give us a wider berth than cars and are more tolerant when turning left and will wait behind us across junctions, cars will try and cut between us or race in front to then cut across with inches to spare between our front wheels and there passenger side doors. A much need stop at a café and help from a patron to order hot coffee helped us on to our lunch stop buffet which was amazing in terms of the amount, flavour, and quality of food. At last we have arrived in a country that knows how to cook chicken and when they say they have chicken it is not chicken offal! Very friendly welcomes when you smile, if you don’t the impassive stare will follow you. The next 48km consisted of monsoon rain, puddles, lakes, pothole avoidance and generally head down until we turned off on a smaller road signed to Taiping, up into the mountains through passes newly cut, lush jungle plantations owned by Sime Darby and the rain held off for 40 mins, which enabled both people and wild life to come out in force and I had my first encounter with a snake. Not sure who saw who first but we both decided on instant opposite direction courses of actions and my heart rate took the next 5 miles to calm down.
We stopped for our afternoon refreshments at a small Chinese bakers and whilst consuming much sugar I was approached by the owner of the shop next door who showed great interest in what we were doing as many have. English in Malaysia is spoken to a far higher degree than anywhere else we have been which is making a refreshing change to be understood without miming. He then asked if I had ridden all the way with my son…G did not hear this at the time and on repeating I really wished I hadn’t…
We rode into Taiping and stopped at a set of lights to get our bearings. I then heard a ‘good evening’ from another Chinese man who was out for his early evening walk. He had lived in the UK from 1946 to 1952 and was very pleased to help us find accommodation and asked/instructed the man at reception to look after us, which they duly did. We stayed at the Cherry Inn, a place with much review on its limited fire exits but to be perfectly honest the room was clean, the shared bathrooms spotless and the owner very helpful as we need to hose down all our bags and panniers before we entered as they were covered with the dirt of a hard and long ride on the wettest day we had had so far. In fact in the papers the following day, it was reported that it was the wettest monsoon day for years! Brilliant! Dinner in a Chinese chop house with a table in the road and sleep soon followed.
4th January 2011 – Taiping to Sitiawan – 54.81 miles, av 10.8, max 25.3, ride time 5hours and a minute!
Getting out of Taiping was not as easy as we thought and this is the second day that despite best intentions, the compass and instinct won through along with helpful locals. Part of the reason for the non existence of road signs is the massive road and rail infrastructure projects being undertaken which mean many diversions whilst yet another expressway is carved through the jungles to bring much needed modernisation…well I imagine this is what the sell is. The ride is now in the jungle plantations that line the west coast of Malaysia, primarily palm oil, the key ingredient for one of the most used cooking and drinking products in SE Asia – condensed milk – omg, Dad you would love it here, no need to pack a squeezy tube of the stuff you can literally buy it by the bucket load. Kopi panas (hot coffee) consists of condensed milk at the bottom and coffee poured on top which you can stir or not as is your want.
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| Refreshment and lotion stop |
Lunch was a mixed bag for us both, I managed mine not really knowing what it was but then had the consequences for the next 10 miles riding with very uncomfortable stomach pains and cramps. We rode on to Lumut over bridges that don’t appear on maps and also are made to be as short and steep as possible hence the max speed today is only related to bridge descents!
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| Floating houses nr Lumut |
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| A bridge of steepness |
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| The joy of bridge descents |
It took 4 attempts at hotels before we finally found one that would accept us and the bikes, this is not something we are used to or the payment of a deposit for the room key, but we are in Hotel Flamingo ( not one of them in sight) and hey it has a pool! Now I did ask if it had water in it following the advice from Alan over dinner before my trip, but forgot to ask if it was clean…it was and we spent an hour in the luxury of the water before hunting down supplies for breakfast. Again met the chinese owner of the shop who had been a chef in a restaurant near Marylebone station in London for over 10 years. Today was a day of colour and wildlife – yellows, purples, metallic gold, orange, red and blues all so very vivid in flight. Some massive spiders hanging in their webs off telegraph poles which I am glad that is where they stayed watching us ride by.
It was 2am when the storm woke me and I looked over to see that the bed was empty…now a quick call out resulted in no answer so thinking that maybe sleep on the ivory tower had befallen I heaved myself from the cozy slumber and went to investigate. Nope not present or correct, brain goes for a spin and I look round to for my phone to call G then see that the laptop case is on the bed…umm I know we are behind on blogging but really? – leaving the door ajar go down to the reception to find G worried out of her head cos she realised at sometime before 2am that we had left the international phone in Taiping…hey ho, sleep came a little while later.
5th January 2011 Sitiawan to Bungai Besar – 58.02 miles, Av 11.1, Max 24.7, ride time 5 hrs 10 mins
It was a cooler morning than most so far after the thunderstorms of the early morning had cleared some of the humidity, easy ride out of town, primarily because we had managed to ping the satellite transponder the night before so knew exactly where we were in relation to exiting. Jungle palms and plantations soon gave way to open paddy fields for miles, which meant very limited opportunities for rest stops and refreshments. We saw much of the flooding from 2 days ago still cutting houses off from the road, then we seemed to merge with lorries of every size, we in Malaysia have replaced the vehicle of choice as goods transport.
Every now and then for a mile or so there would be a dedicated cycle lane and then 4 inches of hardshoulder for the rest of the time. We detoured down a side road to get to Sungai Besar, our overnight stop only to return to the main road and have to use this to get the last few clicks into town. Help from a local on a moto saw us arrive at the Ocean View Hotel (if you had the right room in the right place and bionic eyes). Very friendly towards us and the bikes which meant we could relax and enjoy our surroundings. Dinner at a seafood restaurant next to the harbour was an experience in choosing our fish from the days catch and then choosing the sauce, it was awesome and on payig the bill we were ‘asked if we had cycled here?’ – ummm, only to be asked by the man in the shop when we bought our breakfast supplies ‘ if we were the cyclists?’ – he explained that as it was a small town, off the tourist route that there only western visitors tended were bike tourers, and also as it was small town within 5 minutes of arriving most new that we were here.
Purple herons, an oriental hornbill, steppe eagles, cattle egrets and stork billed kingfishers made up a day in which we saw more bird life than we had in the whole of Thailand.
6th January 2011 – Sungai Besar to Kuala Selnager – 36.73 miles, av 10.7, max 15.2, 3hrs 24minutes ride time
A fast ride into KS and more dual carriageway than really wanted to ride on but the alternative bone shaker roads would have done us some physical damage without suspension bikes. Our morning break at a small store off the main road became an event at which chairs were found and children brought to greet us.
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| Malay hospitality at a small roadside shop |
Then we were into KS, another moto rider took us to the hotel once he knew what our budget was and lunch at a ‘Secret Recipe’ diner and an afternoon of internet admin whilst G ploughed on through the second of the Salander novels. G was also told that she looked like Barbie by the rather cute receptionist which made up for pre Taiping comments! The real reason we are here is the fireflies. They are supposed the only fireflies in SE Asia who synchronise their lights, so a taxi ride just after dark and we shrugged on our lifejackets boarded an electric boat and were immersed for the next hour in the wonder of these creatures and their ability to light up the river side. Cynics may have thought that prearranged Christmas lights had been set up but when you see them move and land on the hand of our taxi driver and continue to blink you realise the power of mother nature. No photos allowed so you will have to imagine a very very well laid out set of white Christmas lights which then move, hover and glow in perfect synchronicity. It is a memory I will have for a long time.
Home and an accidental stop at the cake shop meant full stomachs but prepared for a hard day tomorrow as we get nearer to the environs of KL.
7th January 2011 – Kuala Selanger to Pantai Morib – 57.34 miles, Av 10.8, max 30.2, ride time of 5 hours and 15 minutes
The worst day on a road so far in SE Asia for both of us, since I arrived on October 31st. In parts it was absolutely terrifying to be riding on the roads and I have not felt like that on this trip, even leaving Bangkok was a walk in the park compared to today. Lorries misjudging traffic lights and skidding with trailers swinging, jackknife style in our direction, cars brushing sleeves as they squeezed past at motorway speeds, lorries coming so close you could read the braked trailer weight tags, it was an absolute pleasure to get beyond Klang and head towards the nearest beach to KL at Morib. Ummm not a lot there and despite being told that there were no hotels south of us, instinct said that there may well be and within 2 miles we came across Villa Morib, a whole villa to ourselves. Dumped our stuff and set off to find the usual supplies and then by chance met Aaron and Jacqui who were cycling from Sydney to the UK via China and Mongolia. They stopped with us and stayed in the same Villa. OMG I was inspired by their journey stories to date both of Indonesia and their last major tour in British Columbia , their helpfulness as I had yet another valve puncture and their love of life. I hope we do meet up with them when they arrive in the UK at Christmas and that there travels are safe.
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| Villa Morib lounge view |
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| Loaded and ready to go |
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| Aaron, Jacqui, G and Me |
8th January 2011 – Morib to Port Dickson – 50.63 miles, av 10.8, max 31.9, ride time 4hrs 38
Having put in a repaired tube last night and a fast first 18 miles I then hit something at the rode side that forced a piece of steel though the tire wall of my rear and out the other side. This was my first real major puncture and meant we had to repair another tube and stand at the roadside acknowledging the toots and waves without ever saying hello to a concerned motorist until almost an hour had passed and an Indian guy on a moto asked if we needed help and told us that the next town could do a more permanent repair to the tube. Mini climbs today up and around the coast road, lunch with some motorbike tourers on their easyriders with lots of photos and we rode onto towards PD. We had booked a hotel for the 10th as it was going to be a big birthday for me but on checking it out we realised that despite the pictures and email intentions, bikes would have to be left outside and the hotel was a package deal, tour bus mecca…not our favourite of destinations. So onto PD proper and it lived up to the guide books descriptions…Pitsea by the sea, so we identified hotel street and went on the coast road to see if we could find an alternative to the Legend hotel. Avillion is where we stopped and we are now booked into for 3 nights. Back to PD and the hotel room is best described as bijou, one of us gets changed whilst the other waits in the corridor but bikes are in the storeroom, and dinner at the local market was very very good. Went back and watched a movie before relaxing into la la land knowing that we had a lazy day ahead before getting to Avillion.
