Dave and his Bike

Days 99, 100, 101 & 102.

Day 99.

We were awake early, and since there was no breakfast at the motel we made the decision to ride into town and pick something up from the bakery, then take a steady ride to the ferry terminal. So that’s exactly what we did. The ride was good, if short, and it was nice to be back on the bike, watching the Brahminy kites and white bellied sea eagles as we rode. Unfortunately there was no chance of us getting an early ferry, so we sat in the shade with an iced coffee and waited. Langkawi has been a fantastic place to visit and I’m sad to be leaving. It’s another place I want to come back to and spend more time exploring. The two and a half hour wait passed quickly and we were ushered on to the boat before anyone else. Bizarrely, no-one checked our tickets.

The ferry was full from a car perspective, but far from busy with passengers, which meant that there were plenty of seats available. The crossing to Kuala Perlis on the mainland was smooth and scenic. Disembarking was simple, and the route away from the port was easy to find.

We hugged the coast road as far as we could. It was a quiet road with mostly good surfaces (and the odd bit of subsidence) and lots of bird-life around us, particularly the beautiful kingfishers, and the return of coastal clouds of dragonflies – so many that a few collided with me. Unfortunately there also appeared to be a resurgence of rubbish being tipped and set fire to at the side of the road in the rural areas, which is in complete contrast to the cleanliness of the towns where wheelie bins seem to be readily available. I hope this doesn’t become a recurring theme.

We stopped in a little village – Kuala Sanglang – for a cold drink, but here they don’t seem to do bottled drinks (Coke, Sprite etc.). Instead they make smoothies and cordials. Still good though, and probably better for me. We saw several organised parties going on as we rode. Not sure what they were, but it is the winter solstice today, so maybe something linked to that. I’m not good at Islamic festivals or celebration dates.

The beautiful road and scenery continued up until the last few kilometres into Alor Setar, when we had to join the main road – just at the point where there were some roads works, which didn’t make it any more pleasant.

The town seems very nice and modern, with shopping malls and civic buildings a-plenty. There are also lots of hotels here, however finding a suitable one was more difficult than you might think. The first one we tried was internet booking only, check in on a machine and no reception. We didn’t bother. The second one looked more promising. The guy on reception took Steve to see a room, and proceeded to kill the resident cockroaches whilst showing it to him. Nope. The third one was a homestay. Slightly more expensive, but really clean and comfortable. It was getting on for 1900hrs by the time we had booked in, due to the late start after the ferry, so a quick change and out for dinner. Not far away was a street stall where we had spicy rice and ‘meat’ (beef) which was excellent. A quick visit to a supermarket followed for some extra water and supplies for the morning. Overall another great day.

Mileage so far: 5404km.

Day 100.

What an amazing day.

We had a leisurely start from the homestay as we were only planning a short day. We stopped almost immediately for some breakfast items from the 7Eleven (which are becoming increasingly rare) and cruised off in the direction of the coast road again. The town soon gave way to lush rice paddies and wildlife; along with the dragonflies, kingfishers and storks (possibly), several good sized monitor lizards crossed the road in front of me. Traffic was light, the weather warm – 26°C when we set off – and all was good. The only downside was that the rubbish burning sadly seems to be a permanent fixture, resulting in me requiring my inhaler again.

My calves were still sore, the after effect of walking up many steps to the Langkawi Sky Bridge and Seven Wells Waterfalls a couple of days ago, but I was hoping that a relatively gentle spin on the bike would help to ease them off. In following the coast as closely as possible we found stretches where the road ran out and became dirt tracks. They were still mostly rideable, with the odd 20m stretch of walking, and the tarmac soon resumed. Steve wasn’t confident with riding these bits, and the risk of damage to either us or the bikes increased slightly, so we moved inland a little way to a parallel road which was just as quiet and just as beautiful. Riding through the little hamlet of Kampung Kuala Sala we decided to stop for a drink. Iced coffee was the order of the day, and whilst drinking it I was watching the stall owner make rotis by hand, folding and re-folding the dough to make layers. I couldn’t resist trying them. They were served with a mild curry sauce, and the whole thing took me straight back to pooris for breakfast in India.

After our un-planned second breakfast, we headed on south, soon bumping into a fellow cycle tourist, Mike. He is 200+ days into a ride that has taken him from London through Europe, into the ‘Stans’ and across India (a couple of weeks behind me). He is now riding across SE Asia, finishing in Hanoi in March. We exchanged stories (mainly Indian) for ten or fifteen minutes and then went off in our opposite directions. Really nice bloke. He has a great blog worth reading – mikebikesforpsp.wordpress.com

Our day then took a turn which we were not expecting, and made it even more interesting. We were confronted by a cone in the middle of the road which seemed strange. Around the next bend was a chair blocking our way. Even more strange. We then found out why, as all of a sudden the road was completely blocked by a marquee, set out with tables and chairs and a couple of hundred people milling about, some standing, some eating and some being served. Instead of turning around, we decided to try to get past what was obviously a celebration of some kind. Whilst being helped by people moving chairs out of our way, I asked what the occasion was, to be told it was a wedding. The family of the groom for some reason thought it a good idea to invite two sweaty middle-aged cyclists to join the celebrations, and eat with them. It would have been rude to refuse. The food was excellent; rice, chicken, ‘meat’, pickles, vegetables, desserts, although we restricted ourselves to a polite amount. In some respects the food was incidental, as the atmosphere and just the privilege of being there was more important. Being at a Malaysian, Muslim wedding was not something I had anticipated I would do. Ever.

After almost an hour of (sort of) talking with people, soaking up the atmosphere, and incidentally keeping out of the sun, we thought it would be polite to leave and not outstay our welcome. We spoke with the grooms family again, and as we left were given ‘thank you’ gift bags, and had our photographs taken by the official photographer. What an honour. We never even met the bride or groom.

We still had over half a days ride to complete, so plodded on in the heat of the afternoon. Our route took us around Mount Jerai (1217m), which allegedly was previously an island, and then inland towards our destination of Sungai Petani. On the outskirts of town we stopped for an iced tea, with an ulterior motive of looking on-line for a hotel. When we got up to pay and leave, the owner wouldn’t take any payment from us. More kindness and generosity from the lovely Malaysian people.

We found our chosen hotel after a bit of searching (I asked in the pharmacy), and booked in for the night. It’s a bit basic, and our room has no windows. On the plus side, the receptionist told us to put our bikes in the room. Another good result. Dinner – not that we needed much – was at a recommended restaurant a few hundred metres away. A spicy portion of mee goreng (fried noodles) went down well. We had a short walk around the town centre and its Christmas lights before heading back to the hotel.

Today is up there with one of the best days of the trip so far. It’s the sort of day you read about in someone else’s book or see on a TV programme, but never expect to experience yourself.

And incidentally, today is my hundredth day away from home. Where has that gone?

Mileage so far: 5477km.

Day 101.

Short day today. We are only aiming to get to the ferry at Butterworth, then across to George Town on Penang Island. No breakfast to speak of, just a cheesy roll I bought yesterday but didn’t eat due to the wedding feast, and a coffee in the room before we left.

Navigating out of town couldn’t have been more easy, and the first 14km was spent on the main road before we turned towards the coast and escaped the traffic and noise. A short while later we stopped for an iced coffee (particularly strong) and 20 minutes out of the sun. When we went to leave, I discovered I had a puncture in my rear tyre. I suppose if I’m going to get a puncture (which I am) then it may as well be where there is some shade and a fan. I replaced it with a spare tube, only to find that it also had a (pre-existing) puncture. Clearly my fault – don’t know why I hadn’t repaired it.

So after losing half an hour to changing inner tubes we were back on the road. The closer we got to Butterworth, the bigger the roads got and the more traffic there was. It was more than we have become accustomed to, but not horrendous. When we arrived at the ferry terminal, we only had about 15 minutes to wait (plenty of time to buy our tickets), as they run every half hour. I also checked that it was running tomorrow.

The crossing took about 10 minutes. We were in amongst loads of scooters, so let them go before we headed off. George Town is busy. Lots of traffic, traffic lights and people in general. We are clearly back to a more tourist oriented area. Whilst on the ferry we had chosen a hotel to aim for which looked good – clean, affordable, right area of town. It was only five minutes ride away, and they had a twin room which we had to wait an hour for. So we went out on foot and found a cup of tea.

Once in our room, we had quick showers, changed, and at about 1500 went out to explore.

I was keen to visit Fort Cornwallis and learn some of the history behind it. It was built by the English in 1786 as a defensive structure which was never put to the test. It has changed and developed over the years, including the construction of the lighthouse in 1882. This is interesting because if it’s purely steel framework.

From there we headed back into the Chinese and Indian quarters. Pretty streets decorated with lanterns; restaurants, shops, and temples. The only slight distraction was the volume of traffic in the area. Due to the small one-way streets, the traffic seemed to choke the area completely.

We had heard of the street art in the town, but sadly didn’t really see much to speak of. There were however, plenty of Christmas decorations about.

After a couple of hours meandering, we thought it appropriate to stop for a small beer. I have been trying to have a local(ish) beer in every country, so I’ve kept my 100% record so far. It will probably be one of very few in Malaysia though. With it being a Muslim country, there’s not much alcohol about, which is no bad thing (and I really don’t miss it). It also means that what little there is, is very costly; two small beers cost the equivalent of about £10. Ouch.

After cooling down in the room again, we ventured out for dinner. Since we are in the Indian quarter, we thought a curry seemed appropriate. I enjoyed my chicken masala – it seems ages since I’ve had one. After phone calls to family we had a dash up to the rooftop bar at our hotel to see the view. Pretty and quite festive in the dark, with all the lights around us.

A bigger day mileage wise tomorrow, before a day off on Christmas Day in Taiping, where for once we have booked a hotel.

Mileage so far: 5519km.

Day 102.

It’s Christmas Eve. It doesn’t feel like it!

We had a choice of routes today. Steve has looked at a minor road route, closely following the main road, or a route heading more inland, avoiding the main road as much as possible but about 15km further. After a very brief discussion we opted for the latter.

No breakfast this morning. The idea was to get off Penang island, ride a few kilometres then stop for breakfast. I overslept a bit (woke up at 0640hrs) so by the time we left the hotel it was getting on for 0800. When we got to the quayside, the ferry was just pulling out as we pulled in. We thought that meant a 30 minute wait, but were on the next ferry and casting off by 0815.

Any time saved there was soon lost, as I missed a turn trying to find a way through Butterworth / Penang, which added almost 3km to our day. Sorry Steve. It had also been raining on the mainland and the roads were still quite wet. We were early enough though to have beaten the bulk of the traffic, so that made things a bit easier. Once we found the right road it was relatively plain sailing. The traffic was a bit heavier than we’d hoped for, but nothing drastic. At about 1030, we were in Kulim and found somewhere for breakfast. I say breakfast, but it was more like brunch. A buffet where the choices were rice, curry (chicken and beef), bean sprouts, potato fritters (vada) and much more. It was great. As was the iced coffee.

Suitably stuffed, we moved on. Slowly. Whilst eating, I’d left my bike in the sun (no other option). On returning to it, my computer showed 49°C, which I could easily believe. The air temperature was a much more reasonable 33° – still hot to ride in.

The roads got even better. In moving away from the coast we were entering slightly hillier terrain with primary rainforest (jungle) interspersed with palm plantations. There were lots of long tailed macaques around, a troop of them chilling in the shade of palm trees, and a few family groups at the side of the road. I also saw several small-ish monitor lizards on the grass verge and crossing the road.

The undulations weren’t too bad, apart from a sneaky 11% climb early on which made the thighs burn a bit, otherwise just long drags which just made me even more sweaty (if that was possible). The sweeping descents were nice though.

We stopped a couple more times for cold drinks, and an attempt to cool off a bit. The first time we were joined by a couple of kittens, who didn’t look in the best shape and were clearly suffering with the heat.

The second time we were gifted some fruit by the stall holder. Mangosteen was tasty – it’s a relative of durian fruit which I am yet to try, but apparently smells so bad that there are signs in all of the hotels banning them from taking them into your room. Slightly less tasty was langsat. It looks like lychee when peeled, but was very bitter.

When we were approaching Taiping the skies darkened. By the time we had booked into our rooms and showered it began to rain. There was a good thunder storm which rattled around for a couple of hours, but a lull in the rain meant we had an opportunity to go out to find a restaurant. We opted for the one we could see from the hotel, partly for ease of use and weather avoidance, but also because it looked the nicest. There was a proper language barrier with the staff there, who had to resort to animal noises for my benefit in order to identify what was in the dishes on offer. Therefore I’m pretty sure I had either lamb or goat curry. Definitely a baa, not a moo. Whatever it was it tasted great.

We had the obligatory trip to 7Eleven, one reason was for some (essential) snack food, the other being to confirm that it was going to be open tomorrow.

Another great day on the bike in Malaysia. It’s a beautiful place – different to Thailand in many ways, but still very beautiful. Day off tomorrow. Admin things to do and Christmas phone calls to make once the UK wakes up.

Mileage so far: 5627km.