Paradise - sshhhhhhh

23rd January 2011 - Mersing to Tioman

If you are reading this and the title really appeals to your sense of imagination then this will disappoint. I say disappoint in the sense that I really hope you don't read on as if too many people do then decide to go to this magical place then it will no longer be as magical and we all need to work out how to keep it so.

It was a late get up as the ferry did not depart til 11am, so i wandered into Mersing town to buy breakfast supplies and we lazed and packed up ready to join the fray at the port. Purchasing our tickets the night before seemed to have paid off and once we had then purchased our national park ticket to get onto the island we sat and waited til the movements of the masses indicated that the ferry would soon be loading. Omar was around again and after a look out to sea told me that the crossing would be ok....


We paid the inevitable fee for us loading our bikes on to the ferry and we headed out to sea through swells of 3-4ft and spray which I knew would test my brooks saddle. G nodded off to the movement of the boat and I watched the world go by including a barge of sand which towered at least 2 stories high headed down to Singapore, destined to reinforce another 'natural beach' or by sent on further around the globe.


The ferry arrived at the first drop off then made its way up the island, first impressions were awesome, a steep green spine of mountains running north to south with isolated villages clinging to the west coast only accessible by boat and some by foot. Our stop we had decided on the night before after much thinking was to be the main town of Teket. Now there is much out there on the interweb about this town and what we saw was extremely derogatory which actually is ok in that it means a few less people will come here and it will remain as unspoilt and as natural as it can in the 21st Century.


The island has a fascinating history, it is nearer Indonesia than Malaysia, founded a while back by 4 main families after a royal decree granted tracts of land to the first settlers and we met at least one of their descendants. Teket is the main town and on the left of the main jetty is what remains of the last attempt by the government to modernise the island, a promenade which is in part tiled and in part patched by concrete. The main port and jetty are new and still being finished along with a smart but questionably needed marina. There is a runway which provides flights for those in Singapore and KL who want a weekend away. 

We off loaded our bikes, re packed and set off. Turning right at the end of the port road we headed down the concrete road past shops, restaurants (many closed for the refurbishment of the winter season), duty free stores and accommodation of every type and to suit most budgets. We were headed to Swiss Cottage, primarily because of the reviews and wanting our mini break and chill before the last leg of the journey and then home, to be as memorable as we possibly could make it.


We arrived amongst the palm trees to be greeted by a group of munchkins before we were able to check in to our beach side home for the next couple of days. I will leave the photos to do justice of where we found ourselves

Home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view to the left

the view to the right

After a couple of hours over lunch on the veranda, we wander back onto the road and down into town to check out the essentials of laundry, internet,  bakery and duty free. Internet on the island was very much dependent on the power supply and being off season meant that we ended up using the shop owners laptop at the counter to skype my munchkins. Back home then onto the bikes to explore the road end to end, did not take long and we did detour up to the mosque to see the start of the jungle trek path so we knew where to head tomorrow. lots of smiles, hellos and genuine warmth from the people who make this island what it is.

Dinner at the chinese restaurant down the road was good and then it was back to base. Uninterrupted sleep was not for long as the heaving ocean outside the room was a sound to get used to.


24th January - Teket to Juara - 8km trek


Today we woke early to get out and up over the island via the jungle trek, a path that was originally cut by the Japanese during WW2 when Juara was the only inhabitable place on the island, and they were searching for places to store munitions. The path is a size 8 shoe wide and winds up the mountain through rainforest, it is a steep, in places stepped path that follows the route of the water feed to the island and the power cables, which in places are your only guide as to heading in the right direction.

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A lizard with attitude was our first visible wildlife encounter, it was not going to move for us, so we carefully stepped round and headed onwards. Long tailed macaques, giant black squirrels along with lizards and the occasional audible telltale slither in the undergrowth tracked our progress as we climbed higher.

Boy was it hot and humid, we had taken 3 litres of water each and by the time we reached the intersection with the one road that goes over the island we were down to our last 1/4 each. The road down into Juara was passable by 4x4 only primarily due to the steepness and it tested ones ability to walk in a manner that did leave you with balloon bruised knees. 


Juara was sleepy but we settled down to a hearty brunch and watched the waves rolling in across the almost deserted beach

The view from our brunch table

now that is a beach

 After feeding and re stocking our energy we wandered down to the beach and spent a couple of hours in the sea before negotiating a ride back over the mountains to home. We had a chat with the south african boyfriend of the property owners daughter and got up to speed on island life before we toddled down the road for another sumptuous feast at the chinese restaurant.


25th January 2011


Lazy day started with breakfast and a long conversation with a Scottish couple and Peter, the intrepid Dutchman now residing in Chile on his way to see his sister in Bali for her 80th birthday. Peter is a retired professor of psychology who has a view on many things and enjoys sharing it. We also found out that staying in the next resort to ours was a world renowned forensic entomologist! Blog update writing and playing in the massive waves now rolling in filled the afternoon before dinner...at the same place as the nights before.


26th January 2011 - The aftermath

Last night Tioman was hit by the worst storm in 3 years, we heard a lot of it but strangely slept through. we opened the door this morning to see the beach covered in debris and one of the bungalows behind us having been the resting place for a large tree. Islanders were everywhere clearing up and we did our bit by heading along the beach with a rubbish bag and filling it with all things man made washed up and out by the wind and waves. We were watched by a family of monkeys

We wandered back down the beach to the beach cafe which if I could I would have bought on the spot and retired to. The remainder of the day was spent in the sea, watching the surfers and G on her newly acquired body board.

Diving instructors, fire dancing trainers, all round musicians and surfers

as happy as a

Oh, I also asked G a question....Tomorrow we leave the island, there is little information about when or if the boats are sailing so it will be a 5.30am start

Welcome and Warning - Crossing the Peninsula

20^th January – Melaka to Parit Jawa – 40.48 miles, ride time 3.53, av 10.1, max 17.9

Now today showed marked contrast to what we realised had happened last night and the distance and ride time don’t give justice to how today panned out. Getting out of Melaka required instinct versus road signs. It is unbelievable or maybe not that the signs are in the main one way, sending you back the way you came and wont direct you away from the city...or maybe this was all a cunning plan...

Parit Jawa was not our intended destination but 20 miles into our ride we met with 4 Malay tourers. Rashid (Acid) was the main man I spoke to for the next 10 or so miles as we rode together towards their homes in Muar. Refreshment stop was paid for by them, the bike shop they took us to could not have been more helpful as when I entered another puncture happened and this time I was not the one with oil over me. The bike shop owner then unbeknown to us paid for our lunch next door. Acid was very knowledge in bicycle and motorbike touring terms and with his advice and discussion with his friends, we revised the route to ensure a better crossing of the country west to east, in a couple of days time. We then headed for a guesthouse recommended by him in Parit Jawa, a small fishing village on the coast.  We checked in and then wandered to the jetty and watched the wildlife and world go by.

Fishing

Ummm, prehistoric

Returning with the catch

Dinner arrangements meant that Acid and 2 of his friends from this morning then joined us for food and again insisted on paying. This was only after G had been videoed putting her trailer together which should now be published on the interweb. Acid runs a website for tourers of all kinds and transport methods and with 40000 members and growing I think G will be building her fan base. We also learnt that for this climate, silicon oils are all well and good but 'Singer' sowing machine oil works just as well and at 50p a pop versus £6 makes economical sense too. (we have kept in contact with these guys so if you are ever in Malaysia on bicycle, motorbike, 4x4 then keep an eye out for these folks

Rashid (Acid) on the far right

G also had some news tonight which we await confirmation but it looks as though she is secure in work when she returns.

21^st January 2011 – Parit Jawa to Kluang – 56.40 miles, av 10.5, max. 18.7 max, ride time 5 hours and 21 minutes.

A speedy morning through Genting Plantations with a break after 20 miles and then the riding got hard as we faced the headwind which cuts across Malaysia from the monsoon season which hugs the east coast. Lunch at the newly opened ‘Organic Chicken’ gave us some insight into how the state of Johor sees itself. Organic everything from farms that we now pass. Batu Pahat, and my first near miss of the day when the driver of a 20 ton tipper forgot to look out of his windscreen as he entered from a side road into my path. Owl vision and 10 weeks of riding in SE Asia stopped me from becoming like the majority of snakes we have seen, which in the UK would be hedgehog equivalents, flat.

The gradients we were told about yesterday began in earnest outside Ayer Hitam a town  which had taunted us for miles in its frequent mentions and the changing distance km markers. Arriving tired after riding through an average of 39 degrees and at least a 20mph headwind we entered Kluang. G did her usual of spotting a hotel sign from 4000 yards and we pulled in to look. I was distracted by a ‘coo-eee’ from a lady of a certain age carrying her bags and a folded umbrella.

Where we're we from and could she buy us a coffee were her first words and then when we explained we were looking for a hotel, she told us, and I mean told us, to follow her. She marched into the road, the umbrella went up and she told us to walk behind her, not ride across the 4 lanes of traffic she now held at bay with her raised hand to a hotel she said had the right old fashioned values of cleanliness we needed after a day in the saddle. Mrs Doubtfire I have named her, with a touch of Miss Marple an age somewhere between 50 and mid 60’s. We arrived at the hotel after many hello’s as she greeted and was greeted by what seemed everyone we passed.

The hotel took us in and our bikes and we were told, again, to meet her in 15 minutes at the coffee shop round the corner. It takes us a while to get gear in and bikes locked up and a knock at our hotel room door told us we were running a little later than expected.

The coffee shop was populated by men and the entire Kluang traffic police force, which she had also bought coffee for. She bought us ours and then said she must be off as she had things to do. I imagine she did with a level of energy and vigour that left us both exhausted and highly entertained. Thank you Jenny, I don’t know many seafood restaurants with public relations officers but can completely understand that you must be a loss to the seafood restaurant in Mersing. Now we could freshen up and de-grime from the day, then dinner, confirmed job offer for G…whoop! and retire to the land of cycling sheep…

22^nd Janaury – Kluang to Mersing – 55.97 miles, av 10.1, max 26, ride time 5hrs 30mins

Sometimes you can be lulled into a false sense of security and today proved we needed wits about us at all times. This was a day of gradients and downhills only. Not a flat level stretch of road did our wheels pass over until a mile from our destination.

I wont mention cartographers again in any detail, but seriously a whole set of road networks that enabled us to save 10 miles of riding. The road was a 2 laner that led out of Kluang and into the hills and forests of the middle of the peninsular. Our first incident involved a fire engine, we had heard a set of sirens and first came to the 2 bike fire engines, don’t laugh, the firemen where in their bright orange disruptive pattern outfits looking like extras from a low budget spaghetti WW2 movie, hose reels attached to the back of their bikes and then they were followed 3 minutes later by a fire engine on a mission. It came so close to both of us that had we had loose clothing on we would have been taken with it. Then the articulated tanker that overtook me into oncoming traffic so close to its trailer as it swung in then another 3 inches and I would have been side-swiped. Later in the day we had a motorist drive towards with middle finger raised out of the window, either an unfortunate accident and should not have really been driving with a stiff arm or just plain rude!

The final incident left G shaken, we approached a right hand bend with much advance warning to slow down as it then became a 1 in 3 hill. G was behind me and I heard the screech of rubber as a car misjudged the bend and caused G to have the sense to bail out before being rear ended. The motorist did apologise, but not stop which had he we would had some serious gesticulatory activity. We needed to stop regroup and then rode the remainder of the way nose to tail with G in front. This was without doubt the closest both of us had come to ending the trip through no fault of our own.

Then to top off the day, at a set of roadworks we were flagged through by the man with the green flag, we could see the red being waved at the other end. A motorist however in his 4 x 4 pick-up, saw us and decided that we couldn’t take up the road and stop his progress. He ignored what was now being waved frenetically at him and swung out towards us head on. We have a tactic for this – make like a car with seriously mad grins on – side by side we rode and realising that these 2 fierce looking westerners were not slowing or even making any attempt to get out of his way, swung right off road into the ditch to go round us. What a pillock!

We did have the excitement of looking out for the curious and slow road crossing monkeys as a group of 40 seemed to ignore the airhorns of a speeding coach, the forests then gave way to deforestation and the tell tale scarring of the landscape as ecology was mismanaged. Young plantations were next before entering the more mature. Lunch was at a tiny roadside café on a road that didn’t exist and was incredible. Much laughter and banter from all the patrons was a great break from a day of insane motorists.

the route lies over yonder

oh and then on a bit

over the top of that hill I'm sure

We arrived in Mersing well ahead of schedule, found a hotel and then cycled down to the port to find out the ferry times. This was when we found out that due to the monsoon season and the fatal accident on New Years Eve, that ferries were running once a day from and to the island of Tioman, our next destination. We stopped at a little cake shop on our way back to the hotel and were joined at our table by Omar who runs the backpackers hotel in town, perfect english, girlfriend of 26 years who is working in Hereford and many stories of him visiting friends in Truro and Penzance! Dinner that evening at P's run by a Swiss couple provided some useful insights into how life works in Malaysia as well as many stories of why we shouldnt make the sea crossing during monsoon season. Hey ho, let us see what tomorrow brings, we at least have re-stocked our book supplies as buying/trading second hand books in Malaysia is not the easiest or cheapest of activities.

KL - jungle city

17^th -19^th Janaury 2011 – Kuala Lumpar (KL to everyone who knows)

Having ridden into a fair amount of towns and cities with the ever present risk of injury we decided after riding round the outside of KL to coach it in. We arrived at the coach station by taxi as it is conveniently ‘sentral’ not a missing spelling just another ‘malayglish’ word. We were shouted at from a number of different people about the next bus to KL and hurried innocently onto one of a number of buses waiting to leave. Waiting being the operative word. The 7.45 am left just after 8.15am having watched a number of others leave before us. The chairs were armchair size and our dutch café owner had warned us of the temperature in the coaches so we were dressed and prepared for the Arctic air. We had day packs and left the remainder in the room in Melaka as at £10 a night it seemed a safe and reasonable storage option as we would be returning there in a couple of days time.

The coach pulled up at a tented city, 'is this the bus station we asked?' as the last ones to leave, yes it is. Is this the bus station for KL city?, no it isn’t, that is shut for renovation! Brilliant, we now had little clue as to where we were and then the verbal assault of taxi drivers from every nation began as we clambered off. Eventually after lighting a cigar and calmly strolling away we were approached by a lady with a walkie talkie who pointed out the nearest rail station over yonder.

We went over to find that we were 10 stations away from KL centre and that as the rail system was not integrated different tickets needed to be purchased on the different lines we needed. Hey ho we did and were soon sat on stainless steel benches heading into KL, surrounded by more nationalities, forms of dress and body size than we had seen in a long time. Swapping trains halfway landed us in the city and after a wander to a number of recommended LP hotels which were all shut for refurbishment we saw Hotel Babylon…I think the name was selected because the A’s had all been used up in the phone directory, but we were able to check in by 11am and got a discounted rate.

We dumped our stuff, repacked our bags for the remainder of the day and set out to explore the capital of Malaysia. It is a green city in the sense I have not seen so much greenery in a city or town in SE Asia. It is also a city for cars and not cycles.

Lunch in an expat favourite listening the bragging of salesmen and the patience of their Scottish host and bar owner was followed by the best breakfast I have had in SE Asia. A great relaxing 90 minutes later we left and headed to the Menara Tower. 250m in 58 seconds on the way up and 52 on the way down. I still don’t understand it. The tower is surrounded by jungle in the middle of the city. There was a great view and it was an invaluable first stop as over the following days we were able to orientate ourselves based on this view. There is the F1 ride at the base of the tower which we took part in and after the view we went into the jungle via the animal park and the two-headed terrapin.

The Menara Tower

Yep - 2 heads

The jungle even has a camp site, if only we had known we could have pitched up and listened to the sound of the power tool insects competing against the noise of construction all around.

Lara Croft?

A wander through the nearest malls in the evening revealed cosmopolitan KL in all its brand glory, vibrant, alive and beautiful and very very tempting.

Day 2 began with checking out the bus station that was being refurbished. The sign proudly proclaims a 4 month project beginning in April. No year and if it were 2010 and we are now in January 2011, what happened?

We wandered through the old railway station now a heritage piece and past the national mosque on a very hot day towards KL bird park.

The largest free flight aviary in the world set in acres of jungle and forest. We anticipated a couple of hours. It took 6 and was worth every ringet of our most expensive tourist trip to date. Watching a hornbill give G a piece of papaya and then expect it to be returned was a highlight which we then saw mimicked by the hornbills to each other. Stopping to look meant that many of the birds we were told would be there we saw. Lunch in the restaurant lived up to the usual UK standards of expensive and disappointing, a first in Malaysia. However the birds we saw in as close to a natural habitat that I have ever seen was an awesome experience which photos will go some way to tell.

Love is...

Love birds

Itchy necked Stork

Look what I can do

The egret on the left looks a tad dejected!

G being given papaya by a hornbill. This was utterly amazing and moving. A moment to cherish

You had to stop, look and look again to see this Red Ibis

Night Heron

Natural DMP

today's lesson is....

Should have been in Harry Potter

We then wandered out and back to a station to get the train to KLCC were Petronas towers are. The train was driverless and where they would normally be was replaced by a viewing window, it was like a theme park ride without the screams and oooohhhhhs. We were met on exit by a rainstorm so waited for a bit, then braved the pavements to wander back to the hotel now knowing that we needed to be at the tower ticket office around 8am the next day to be in line for one of a limited number of tickets.

Times Square and the cinema to see ‘The Tourist’ was a fitting end to the day.

Day 3 – Petronas Towers was worth the 90 minutes in the queue and a return time of 1pm to have the 15 minutes on the worlds’ tallest skybridge.

the skybridge

The Towers

The view of the Park

The view of entrance

Art?

Lunch in the food court of KLCC was also fantastic for the princely sum of £2 per person. Then it was back to the station and a wait at the now semi-permanent bus station replacement for the journey back to Melaka.

I slept whilst G endured the Malaysian fascination of being first off the lights no matter what vehicle you are in or driving and bend taking at warp speed. Not a pleasant experience on a coach.

We made our way back to the yellow mansion and unpacked to repack for departure tomorrow heading south. The satay bar we went to this evening however deserves a mention. Similar to a fondue approach a pot of satay sauce is placed in the middle of the table through a hole and onto a gas burner. The fridges are lined with trays of meat, veg and unsure of. You select your sticks, pop them in the sauce and a couple of minutes later you have your own satay cooked to your liking. 54 sticks later we felt like we had had more than enough and headed back for final packing and sleep.

It was the early hours of the morning when I ninja’d out of bed at the sounds of movement in the shared lounge. I should have taken more than a cursory glance at our bikes as it was not until the following day did G realise her rear light was missing and 2 days later did I realise my front light holder had gone. The only 2 things on the bike not requiring tools to be removed. Welcome to Malaysia indeed.