Dave and his Bike

Days 103, 104, 105 & 106.

Day 103.

Day off. It’s Christmas Day.

This is probably going to be the strangest Christmas I’ve ever had, despite having worked on quite a few of them throughout my career. It will also be the first time (and hopefully the last) that I haven’t seen Jane or at least one of the girls on Christmas Day. I’ve got Steve though.

We took the option of having breakfast at the hotel. It was another buffet affair, but far more limited in comparison with yesterday’s. There were still fish and chicken curry options, in addition to the steamed or fried rice, pickles, watermelon and coffee. It was very nice, however I couldn’t help but think of my usual Christmas Day breakfast at home, where strangely enough there is no curry in sight. It’s all part of the experience, and I am very much enjoying the cultural differences around the world as I travel – it’s one of the main reasons I’m doing this.

Until our families wake up – 8 hours behind us – we have time to spare. When travelling as light as we are, you can’t avoid having to do your laundry reasonably frequently. So a Christmas visit to the launderette was how we spent our morning.

It wasn’t the most scintillating morning, and we had to put our things through the washing machine twice (or three times in Steve’s case) as the first wash didn’t do enough.

Back at the hotel we cooled off in our rooms, planned routes and sent Christmas messages to friends and family, eagerly waiting for them to wake up. We then had a walk in the heat up to the Taiping Lake Gardens, which are essentially a big park with lakes and footpaths. It is a lovely area to stroll around, albeit very hot today.

A visit to the shop on our way back for some bits in preparation for tomorrow’s ride (and a Cornetto) then lots of Christmas phone and video calls back to the UK to our friends and families now that it is Christmas Day there too. The eight hour time difference is normally not an issue, as we are riding for most of it, but today seemed to drag a little. Everyone looks to be having a great Christmas, and being this far away makes you really appreciate the value of being with the people you love.

Then came Christmas dinner. What can I say. The way it was advertised made it seem like a good option, so we went for it (despite having seen a large rodent run across the restaurant). The reality was different. Very different. Basically we had a bit of lettuce, followed by a chicken drumstick and some rice with a black pepper sauce. There was then some cheesecake, or more accurately a cake made with cheese (not that there was any hint of cheese in it). After we had eaten, the pasta appeared (along with some garlic toast – one of the best parts of the meal). Better late than never. It will go down as a Christmas meal that I will never forget.

One of the funniest things was the ‘Skyjuice’, which you would probably normally refer to as water. Brilliant.

More family video calls and route choice for tomorrow followed, and an early night in preparation for a relatively early start in the morning – our attempt to beat the midday sun and heat build-up in the afternoon.

Day 104.

Boxing Day.

We didn’t bother with breakfast in the hotel after last night’s restaurant debacle. A bread roll, some orange juice and a coffee in my room, and we were on the road for 0800hrs. The route out of town was easy to find, the temperature was a lovely 23°C making the riding very pleasant, and the mountains to the east were beautifully shrouded in mist. The only slight downside was a fresh breeze, which, as much as it had a bit of a cooling effect, was a headwind for the majority of the day.

The route all day was great. There was minimal traffic and good roads, lovely distant (and close up) hills and great weather. By the time we stopped for the staple diet breakfast of spiced chicken and rice, the temperature had risen to about 30° and I was sweating profusely, to the extent I could wring out my shirt. Not pleasant, and so much for starting early to try and avoid the hottest part of the day.

The lovely roads, river crossings (the very wide Perak River) and wildlife (mostly monkeys today) continued all the way to Parit, where at 78km we tried to find a hotel or homestay, as indicated on Google maps. There were none. The temperature was now 35°C. After riding into a metal chair outside a café and knocking things flying (looking for a hotel, not where I was going) we stopped for an iced tea whilst we considered our options.

Our contingency plan was to continue a further 18km to Seri Iskandar, where lots of hotels were shown. The additional mileage was fortunately still enjoyable, and in no time we were booking in to a hotel. It was still only 1430hrs. The distances we are riding at the moment don’t seem at all difficult, possibly as it’s not too hilly, but now I’ve said it we will probably start to suffer! We are making sure that we keep properly hydrated though, with frequent stops to drink and buy cold water.

After a shower, we decided to experiment, and purely for comparison visit the McDonalds just up the road. The food was identical to Europe; the Coke was flat and tasteless. Steve didn’t drink his coffee. Experiment over.

We had another short venture out a bit later on, to the food stalls along the roadside to see whether there was anything we fancied. We failed in that respect, as they were all closed. It seems that they are more a lunchtime / afternoon thing, so all that was open were the bigger restaurants. We didn’t really need anything else to eat, so gave it a miss. Route planning. Blog. FaceTime. Bed.

Mileage so far: 5723km.

Day 105.

This morning was a big of a repeat of yesterday. Up early; bread roll and coffee in the room; on the road before 0800hrs. The route out of town was simple, as we just followed the main road for a few kilometres until we hung a left and cut across country – a nice little route that Steve had found. It took a little bit of start-stop navigation, but was worth it for the quiet roads and scenery. Cycling through the oil palm plantations has a distinct feeling of tranquil and exotic. The downside though is the lack of wildlife. When we hit patches of rainforest, there are monkeys, lizards and snakes. When we transition to the plantations it disappears, save for the bird life and occasional monkey. The destruction of natural habitat couldn’t be more obvious.

That said, we did see some animals today, although sadly most of them were victims of road collisions – several snakes, a lizard, a cat and a mongoose. Very sad – especially the mongoose, as I’ve not seen one since India. A few monkeys were also walking the high wire along the power cables. There were lots of birds about; I had a little egret fly alongside me for a few metres; we saw a large flock of great egrets; swallows swooped across the rivers; myna bird calls were ever-present; my favourite, the white throated kingfisher with it’s iridescent blue back – absolutely beautiful.

Once we were past a section of Steve’s favourite gravel, and back on the main road, we stopped for a spot of nourishment. I really didn’t fancy the spicy prawn or chicken, so opted for a fried egg with my rice and iced coffee. I also had to wring my t-shirt out again. Back on the bike, I did feel better for not eating too much. We then basically followed the main road all the way to Teluk Intan. With a few kilometres left to go, we needed another stop for water. Just prior to the petrol station we stopped at I heard an ominous ping from my back wheel. I’ve no idea how or why, but I’d broken a spoke. Bizarre, as I wasn’t pushing a big gear, going uphill, or anything which I would have said created enough torque to snap it. I can only assume that it was just wear-and-tear, plus some of the rough terrain I’ve ridden over the last few months. Fortunately it was on the non-chain side, so changing it wasn’t too much hassle, although I still had to bend the new one far more than I would have liked in order to thread it through the hub. The wheel has trued up quite well, but I’m now nervous about the rest of the spokes and whether the wheel will need re-building before I do much climbing. Bugger.

The last few kilometres didn’t take long. We were in town for about midday, so decided to grab an iced tea and some food before finding a bed for the night. We tried some soya bean fritters (tempe) with a spicy sauce, more of a snack than a meal, but really nice for a change. After a bit of a rest and some research, we aimed for the Yew Boutique Hotel. It’s very pleasant and single rooms cost about £3 each more than sharing, so we took that option.

After a shower and an accidental nap, we bimbled in to town. The main attraction is the Menara Condong – Malaysia’s version of the leaning tower of Pisa. The lean is not as obvious. We had to walk around it to see which way it was leaning – it looks worse on the photographs. It is a clock tower built in 1885, and initially doubled as a water tower, the weight of which was partially to blame for the lean. I do find it amusing that places such as this and Pisa become famous for engineering cock-ups.

After another return to the hotel (after an unsuccessful search for a barbers without a big queue) to cool down, we visited a local food stall in one of the market areas close to the hotel for a nasi goreng. I didn’t realise that it was seafood based, so Steve had plenty of baby octopus. The barbers still had a queue, so I’ll wait another day. Or two.

Route planning for the next couple of days was our next priority, then family calls and an early night again. A short day but I’m still weary.

Mileage so far: 5782km

Day 106.

Another relatively early start. A breakfast bun and a coffee and we were away before 0800hrs again. Steve had planned a great route on Komoot, avoiding the main road and its traffic, and wending its way through the palm plantations across country. It started well, then we missed the turn off the main road, but only by a couple of kilometres so we took the next turn only to find that it very soon turned into a dirt track. We did what we should have done to start with – turned around and went back to the original route.

After about 10 kilometres on a pretty rough road, we stopped to check the route. A local guy also stopped and told us we had to turn back as the road ahead was impassable. We argued that it was shown on the map (sort of true, as it actually showed the next section as being a track). Another guy stopped and also said we couldn’t continue. When I kept asking why, he finally said it was dangerous. Again, why? His last resort was to tell us that there were tigers there. At that point I laughed out loud. We knew that we were running alongside a palm plantation estate, and for some reason they didn’t want us there. We gave in and trudged slowly back to the main road. Speeds were low on the minor roads – after yesterday’s spoke episode I was being a bit more cautious. So after 2hrs 45mins we had ridden 36km, but our net gain was only 11km. It’s going to be a long day! On the plus side we had seen a couple of good sized monitor lizards, and several white throated kingfishers. At one point we watched as three dogs chased after a monitor, only for it to disappear into the undergrowth. The dogs emerged looking quite sheepish and gave us a wide berth as we rode past.

The rest of the day was therefore spent on main roads. We stopped for a roti, fried eggs and coffee at (or near) Kampung Ayer Kuning, where we were also gifted some fresh lychee. Soon after, we turned off the main road onto a marginally less main road, and stopped for some water in Kuala Bikam – a big necessity today as it was very hot. We both had readings of 37°C.

The slightly smaller road soon re-joined the slightly bigger one, which we stayed on for the rest of the day. A further stop for iced-tea and a break from the heat of the sun for half an hour was the only respite, until it began to rain. It was a proper tropical shower. We sheltered under a closed eatery at the side of the road until it stopped, and a bit longer to allow for the surface water to drain off. Within a few minutes the evidence of the deluge had all but disappeared and the road was dry again. The rain had caused the temperature to drop a few degrees, but obviously not the humidity.

Less than 20km further on and we were in Tanjong Malim. The first two hotels were full, but we had success at the third. Twin room, A/C, hot shower, bikes in the room. That’ll do.

A hundred metres away was a great restaurant. Steve had noodles, I had rice. Both with chicken and prawn crackers (and iced tea). Best meal I’ve had for a while. A few doors down was a barbers with no queue. Haircut sorted for the princely sum of £2.67. More expensive than India (my last haircut), but worth the money.

Not many photos today, mainly due to the roads we were on and the traffic, which gave me no incentive to stop and take pictures. Tomorrow we should get to Kuala Lumpur where we are planning a couple of days off over New Year to do a bit of sightseeing. Then the final push to Singapore.

Mileage so far: 5895km.