15th May 2018
Suanbo Saipan Hot Spring Hotel
20c, raining
WON 1500 = £1
The overnight ferry from Shimonoseki to Busan was interesting to say the least. We had spent a couple of weeks in Japan where the people are incredibly polite and reserved. We didn't hear a raised voice (apart from some children) the whole time we were there. Lots of South Koreans were returning after a shopping trip (judging by the number of bags they all had) and seemed determined to enjoy the last night of their holiday. The noise levels increased in line with the number of bottles of Soju (local hooch) they drank and that was before we left the ferry terminal. On board we found our 2nd class 'cabin', to be shared with three others. We introduced ourselves, rolled out our mats and set off to explore the ferry.
After a couple of beers (from several vending machines on the ship) I decided to visit The Grand Bath while Dave decided to forgo the experience. I was rescued by a Korean woman who, noticing I was barefoot, furnished me with slippers and showed me where to put my clothes before going into the bathing area. The baths are for soaking NOT washing, so having showered first I got into the hotter of the two baths. There's no room for shyness in these places, everyone just gets naked and does their thing. While soaking I realised that I hadn't washed very well at all. What I should have done was brought a number of scrubs and a selection of beauty products with me, and washed myself until my skin almost fell off. Next time I'll know.
Later that night we found out just how unreserved the Koreans can be specially when they imbibe alcohol. We were woken by a commotion in the next 'cabin' where someone was clearly drunk and causing a nuisance. I'm glad he wasn't in ours.
In our experience the Korean people are curious, outgoing, generous and very sociable. Not many people speak English but that doesn't stop them chatting and trying to help us out. Everywhere we go people give us food, pay for our coffee, ask where we are from (at least we think that's what they are asking) and want to take a photograph to mark the occasion. They have definitely made us feel at home.
We are heading north towards Seoul on the 4Rivers Cycle Route, we have a passport and are collecting stamps at Certification Stations along the way. Most of the route is flat cycleway, along the river but every now and again the steep, sugar-loaf mountains, come right to the river and we have to go over them. Oh boy, some of them are STEEP, so much so there's no option but to push. Even going DOWN is pretty scary on a loaded bike. But all in all it is a lovely route and very easy.
We are meandering really, wild camping most of the time waking up early, starting late and finishing early afternoon. The longest day was 90kms but most days it's been 50 or so kms. We're enjoying the wildlife, Deer wandering into our camp most days, Otters gambling in the river, Snakes (yikes) sunbathing on the path, Voles and Mice scampering around in the undergrowth and sometimes the fish are a jumpin'. We have camped in the wooden pagodas along the way if it looked like rain and today it's rained all day so we decided to take a day off the bikes and stay put.
The cycle touring community is a tight knit one and with social media the world seems even smaller. This week we 'bumped' into Ross and Alessia (Rolling East) who are heading south, so our paths literally crossed. Only to discover that they had 'bumped' into Daniel and Antonia from Germany (we met them at Tree in Lodge in Singapore) in the Pamirs last year. It turns out that Ross's family live in Melbourne, which is where we will end up after the wedding in August. Apart from our friends being in Melbourne there's also Therese and Nick, cyclists we met in Greece last year, and, Diane (who wouldn't get on a bike if you paid her) who we met in Singapore.
We haven't been eating much Korean food as we are catering for ourselves much of the time. The Ramen noodles we had in Busan were lovely but at W18000 for a bowl of noodles and a beer (the beer was 9000) it was expensive. The best meal we've had so far was in Busan, near the station, a set meal for 5000. There were only 3 choices, there was a photo of each and a price beside the photo, easy. Not so easy in places where everything is in Korean and there are no photos. Yesterday we ended up eating a shed load of chicken because it was the only place in town with 'proper' tables and chairs, the kind you pull a chair up to and sit at. Everywhere else would involve two people with very creaky knees, trying to wriggle themselves under a table less than 12 inches off the floor and sit cross-legged. I would have felt the need to show them the scar on my knee to explain why I was wriggling around like a 3 year old having a sugar rush.
Confession time, I'm missing Europe and I'm missing friends. While we've been travelling life goes on for friends and family. One of my besties has been diagnosed with cancer, another has lost her mother, another has lost his brother and while most of the time I'm happy to be doing what we're doing, every now and again I want to be 'home' and be able to give someone a hug, or go out for dinner, or just 'be'. This isn't the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last, and I'm sure it will pass. We've got a wedding and a whole load of catching up to do in Australia, and we have to visit Luisa, Dave's cousin, in Japan. I'm so looking forward to all that.
Tomorrow we hit the path again and if the past is anything to go by you won't be hearing from me again until we go back to Japan!
Laters
Showing posts with label over60s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label over60s. Show all posts
Thursday, 17 May 2018
Friday, 13 April 2018
Singapore, Bali, Japan and South Korea
11th April 2018
Tree in Lodge Hostel, Singapore
32c and humid
It's interesting how plans can change, especially when you don't have onward tickets to worry about. The only date in the diary is Teleri and Todd's wedding, 31st August, in Sydney. Don't worry, it's in the diary and we won't forget. Seriously though, not having deadlines and responsibilities while travelling can lead to a total meltdown in the whole scheduling process. Just yesterday a woman at the hostel discovered she'd missed her flight to Bali because she hadn't checked the time properly. But first, a quick catch up on what we have been up to since leaving Sumatra.
We took the bus from Bukittinggi to Dumai and we're glad we did. Palm oil plantations as far as the eye could see, plus a roller coaster of a road which, at times, was so narrow it would have been dangerous to cycle. Some spectacular mountainous scenery along the way, so it wasn't all bad. Returning to Melaka and eating thali was a welcome change from fried noodles or rice. The three day cycle to Singapore was uneventful, we got to see even MORE palm oil plantations and I got to squirm around on my increasingly uncomfortable saddle before making the decision that I HAD to get a new saddle in Singapore. There was no more 'tinkering' with the height, the angle or the bracket that had broken, and trying to straighten the twisted 'nose' hadn't worked either. It was 'do or die'.
The crossing into Singapore was easy and before we knew it we were in safe, secure, dependable, efficient and sparkly new Singapore. Dave took Maps.me at its word and followed the cycle route which, at first, seemed like a good idea but we soon found ourselves leaving the Park Connectors and on mountain bike trails, which with a loaded touring bike, believe me, are no fun. It took HOURS to get from Jahore Bahru to our hostel when it should have taken no time at all. We later discovered that we weren't the only cyclists to have fallen for the Maps.me trap, so that made us feel slightly less stupid.
After Sumatra we were both feeling in desperate need of a 'holiday'. It had been a difficult 5 weeks with both of us being ill (not at the same time which extends the 'down' time significantly) plus all the other difficulties mentioned in my previous post. We had also, at that time, been travelling for 9 months and were both feeling the need for a break from the bikes. So somewhere between Bukittinggi and Melaka we decided to ditch the bikes in Singapore and fly to Bali for a couple of weeks. Luckily, the lovely Tree in Lodge hostel were good enough to let us store our bikes and panniers (we literally had one carry on bag) in Singapore so it was easy enough. I just want to say at this point, the SK and Jung (spelling?) the guys running Tree in Lodge Hostel have been amazing. This is a wonderful hostel, especially for cyclists, they have looked after us (and the other 10 cyclists that we have met here) SO well, we can't thank them enough. If you're heading to Singapore, this is the ONLY place to stay.
We flew to Denpasar with Scoot (Singaporean budget airline) having done virtually no research except for how to get from the airport to Legian where we had booked our first few nights' accommodation. We had spent several months in Indonesia 30 years ago but seeing as our recollections of Bali were scant to say the least, we didn't think it was any use at all. Getting around Bali is not easy, even if it is a small island compared to Java and Sumatra, we found out why early on in the trip.
There is only one public bus company Kurakura (tortoise in Bahasa, that tells you something) and it's not permitted to operate from the airport. There is only one taxi company with a licence and wo-betide any other company who try to muscle in on that business. The taxi company with the licence is NOT the taxi company with the great reputation, that is Blue Bird. So, on arrival you have to have your wits about you and know what the prices are. That in itself is difficult, because nobody really wants you to know the 'real' price. We discovered the price should be between 55,000 and 80,000 Rps. Ask at the official taxi desk (which is where all the tourists are herded towards) and they will try and charge you as much as they can get away with. Our first quote was 250,000, we walked away and eventually (while walking away) negotiated 100,000, still over the odds but not too bad. The gnashing of teeth started right there.
Friends we had met in KL were also in Bali and had been staying in Sideman (pronounced Sid-a-man) and it looked so lovely up there on the eastern side of Mt Agung, in amongst the rice terraces, that we decided we would like to spend a few quiet nights up there also. Transportation to and from Sideman, for the reasons stated above, is not easy. The reputable Blue Bird doesn't go that far (30km), the public bus company only serves the densely populated south and therefore doesn't go there either. It looked like the only way to get there was by hiring a car and driver for the day at a cost of 400,000 or 500,000 rps. We found that very difficult to justify when the accommodation was costing less than 200,000 per night. So after much deliberation and gnashing of teeth, we cancelled the Sideman accommodation and went north to Ubud. At least we could take a bus to Ubud, but it was when we arrived there we realised the extent of the 'taxi mafia' problem in Bali. Not only are Uber, Grab and any other online booking service not permitted, there are stories of 'outsiders' being beaten or their cars being vandalised. The streets of Ubud are lined with individuals offering taxi services, but there are no taxi companies. It's a big problem for tourists like us and it occured to me that the government could easily do something about this but they clearly choose not to.
Once we got over the logistical nightmare we settled down to enjoying our break. Legian and Kuta are great places if you need to shop, and for the first few days we needed to do just that. Legian is the slightly quieter end of a very VERY long beach that eventually leads into Kuta and while shopping was on the agenda initially it didn't take very long for that novelty to wear off. We chose accommodation based on two criteria, it must have an outside seating area (either a balcony or access to a terrace) and a fridge. If it had a pool as well that was a bonus (two did). The choice is extensive, for less than £10 a night we fulfilled our criteria, AND had a fabulous breakfast included but you can pay less or you can push the boat out and book one of the resorts overlooking the beach, or go really exclusive and rent a fabulous villa In the hills where it's a little cooler.
The heat had ramped up significantly, or so it seemed, so day long excursions anywhere were immediately cut to half, and eventually we managed 3 hours at a time. We slept A LOT, ate western-style food (again, the novelty wore off fairly quickly) and drank beer and cocktails, we socialised with the 'Canadians', a lovely group of people all travelling together and so glad to have met them in KL and have caught up with them in Bali. We walked and walked but found ourselves dipping into malls to cool off as the temperatures seemed hotter than ever.
The highlights were the walks we took in the rice paddies in Ubud, such a beautiful place, really calming and hardly any tourists. It was in Ubud we were most reminded of when we were in Bali all those years ago when we were invited to a wedding and teeth-filing ceremony (quite often done at the same time) I still have the photographs somewhere. I remember the young couple very well, they were physically very slight, as a lot of Balinese are, in full traditional dress and they looked TERRIFIED. I wasn't sure if it was the wedding or the teeth-filing that was terrifying them. In those days Ubud was a large village it's now a huge, sprawling town with far too much traffic, just like the rest of Bali, particularly the south. Ubud is still a very special place and you can get away from the tourist trap shops and restaurants fairly easily, just turn down an alley way, or head to the rice paddies and you'll find a local artist, a yoga studio or a potter.
Eventually we found ourselves back in Singapore, fully rested and ready for the next part of our adventure, Java, (returning to) Bali and Lombok. Unfortunately for Java we met the lovely Michel and his wife who after an evening's chat persuaded us that cycling in Java wasn't actually a good idea. A couple in their 60s they are experienced cycle tourers, who have travelled in many difficult places, had given up on Java because they felt it was very dangerous. If I'm perfectly honest we were both looking for an excuse to look at other options, after 5 months in South East Asia we were feeling a little SEAd out. So while Dave was at the dentist having his filling replaced I got to thinking about ALL our options and did a bit of brainstorming with the help of Mr Google. The result (although these things are never THAT straightforward, in fact it took a whole day of BOTH of us with the aid of 2 phones, a laptop and a lot of 'what ifs' being thrown around) was a flight to Japan. Our intention was to go to Japan AFTER Australia, but why not now?
Since booking the flight to Osaka we have changed our route several times based on a meeting with Gerald (who had recently toured in Japan) and consultation with weather maps. Japan is actually quite big (should have worked that out before we booked the flight) and we really want to tour around Hokkaido (in the far north, lots of bears, yikes) but the weather is still cool. So, we have decided to head straight for South Korea (weather's lovely now) and then fly from Seoul (we think we can get a cheap flight for approx £140, for both of us and the bikes) to Sapporo in Hokkaido. By that time, the weather should be perfect.
Our first problem is getting out of Osaka airport with 2 boxed bikes, 4 panniers and 2 extra bags, into Osaka itself. We're hoping the baggage forwarding companies will take pity on us and not turn us away (recent accounts are they don't take bicycles any longer, but if you label the boxes with 'bike parts' we might get away with it). The other approach is to act dumb 'Johnny Foreigners' who know no better and hope that all the stories we have heard about wonderful customer service and the inability to offend are correct. Wish us luck!
Laters
PS we have flights to Australia booked now, 8th August, to the Gold Coast, then a mere 900 kms cycle to Sydney!
Link to Facebook photos coming soon!
Tree in Lodge Hostel, Singapore
32c and humid
It's interesting how plans can change, especially when you don't have onward tickets to worry about. The only date in the diary is Teleri and Todd's wedding, 31st August, in Sydney. Don't worry, it's in the diary and we won't forget. Seriously though, not having deadlines and responsibilities while travelling can lead to a total meltdown in the whole scheduling process. Just yesterday a woman at the hostel discovered she'd missed her flight to Bali because she hadn't checked the time properly. But first, a quick catch up on what we have been up to since leaving Sumatra.
We took the bus from Bukittinggi to Dumai and we're glad we did. Palm oil plantations as far as the eye could see, plus a roller coaster of a road which, at times, was so narrow it would have been dangerous to cycle. Some spectacular mountainous scenery along the way, so it wasn't all bad. Returning to Melaka and eating thali was a welcome change from fried noodles or rice. The three day cycle to Singapore was uneventful, we got to see even MORE palm oil plantations and I got to squirm around on my increasingly uncomfortable saddle before making the decision that I HAD to get a new saddle in Singapore. There was no more 'tinkering' with the height, the angle or the bracket that had broken, and trying to straighten the twisted 'nose' hadn't worked either. It was 'do or die'.
The crossing into Singapore was easy and before we knew it we were in safe, secure, dependable, efficient and sparkly new Singapore. Dave took Maps.me at its word and followed the cycle route which, at first, seemed like a good idea but we soon found ourselves leaving the Park Connectors and on mountain bike trails, which with a loaded touring bike, believe me, are no fun. It took HOURS to get from Jahore Bahru to our hostel when it should have taken no time at all. We later discovered that we weren't the only cyclists to have fallen for the Maps.me trap, so that made us feel slightly less stupid.
After Sumatra we were both feeling in desperate need of a 'holiday'. It had been a difficult 5 weeks with both of us being ill (not at the same time which extends the 'down' time significantly) plus all the other difficulties mentioned in my previous post. We had also, at that time, been travelling for 9 months and were both feeling the need for a break from the bikes. So somewhere between Bukittinggi and Melaka we decided to ditch the bikes in Singapore and fly to Bali for a couple of weeks. Luckily, the lovely Tree in Lodge hostel were good enough to let us store our bikes and panniers (we literally had one carry on bag) in Singapore so it was easy enough. I just want to say at this point, the SK and Jung (spelling?) the guys running Tree in Lodge Hostel have been amazing. This is a wonderful hostel, especially for cyclists, they have looked after us (and the other 10 cyclists that we have met here) SO well, we can't thank them enough. If you're heading to Singapore, this is the ONLY place to stay.
We flew to Denpasar with Scoot (Singaporean budget airline) having done virtually no research except for how to get from the airport to Legian where we had booked our first few nights' accommodation. We had spent several months in Indonesia 30 years ago but seeing as our recollections of Bali were scant to say the least, we didn't think it was any use at all. Getting around Bali is not easy, even if it is a small island compared to Java and Sumatra, we found out why early on in the trip.
There is only one public bus company Kurakura (tortoise in Bahasa, that tells you something) and it's not permitted to operate from the airport. There is only one taxi company with a licence and wo-betide any other company who try to muscle in on that business. The taxi company with the licence is NOT the taxi company with the great reputation, that is Blue Bird. So, on arrival you have to have your wits about you and know what the prices are. That in itself is difficult, because nobody really wants you to know the 'real' price. We discovered the price should be between 55,000 and 80,000 Rps. Ask at the official taxi desk (which is where all the tourists are herded towards) and they will try and charge you as much as they can get away with. Our first quote was 250,000, we walked away and eventually (while walking away) negotiated 100,000, still over the odds but not too bad. The gnashing of teeth started right there.
Friends we had met in KL were also in Bali and had been staying in Sideman (pronounced Sid-a-man) and it looked so lovely up there on the eastern side of Mt Agung, in amongst the rice terraces, that we decided we would like to spend a few quiet nights up there also. Transportation to and from Sideman, for the reasons stated above, is not easy. The reputable Blue Bird doesn't go that far (30km), the public bus company only serves the densely populated south and therefore doesn't go there either. It looked like the only way to get there was by hiring a car and driver for the day at a cost of 400,000 or 500,000 rps. We found that very difficult to justify when the accommodation was costing less than 200,000 per night. So after much deliberation and gnashing of teeth, we cancelled the Sideman accommodation and went north to Ubud. At least we could take a bus to Ubud, but it was when we arrived there we realised the extent of the 'taxi mafia' problem in Bali. Not only are Uber, Grab and any other online booking service not permitted, there are stories of 'outsiders' being beaten or their cars being vandalised. The streets of Ubud are lined with individuals offering taxi services, but there are no taxi companies. It's a big problem for tourists like us and it occured to me that the government could easily do something about this but they clearly choose not to.
Once we got over the logistical nightmare we settled down to enjoying our break. Legian and Kuta are great places if you need to shop, and for the first few days we needed to do just that. Legian is the slightly quieter end of a very VERY long beach that eventually leads into Kuta and while shopping was on the agenda initially it didn't take very long for that novelty to wear off. We chose accommodation based on two criteria, it must have an outside seating area (either a balcony or access to a terrace) and a fridge. If it had a pool as well that was a bonus (two did). The choice is extensive, for less than £10 a night we fulfilled our criteria, AND had a fabulous breakfast included but you can pay less or you can push the boat out and book one of the resorts overlooking the beach, or go really exclusive and rent a fabulous villa In the hills where it's a little cooler.
The heat had ramped up significantly, or so it seemed, so day long excursions anywhere were immediately cut to half, and eventually we managed 3 hours at a time. We slept A LOT, ate western-style food (again, the novelty wore off fairly quickly) and drank beer and cocktails, we socialised with the 'Canadians', a lovely group of people all travelling together and so glad to have met them in KL and have caught up with them in Bali. We walked and walked but found ourselves dipping into malls to cool off as the temperatures seemed hotter than ever.
The highlights were the walks we took in the rice paddies in Ubud, such a beautiful place, really calming and hardly any tourists. It was in Ubud we were most reminded of when we were in Bali all those years ago when we were invited to a wedding and teeth-filing ceremony (quite often done at the same time) I still have the photographs somewhere. I remember the young couple very well, they were physically very slight, as a lot of Balinese are, in full traditional dress and they looked TERRIFIED. I wasn't sure if it was the wedding or the teeth-filing that was terrifying them. In those days Ubud was a large village it's now a huge, sprawling town with far too much traffic, just like the rest of Bali, particularly the south. Ubud is still a very special place and you can get away from the tourist trap shops and restaurants fairly easily, just turn down an alley way, or head to the rice paddies and you'll find a local artist, a yoga studio or a potter.
Eventually we found ourselves back in Singapore, fully rested and ready for the next part of our adventure, Java, (returning to) Bali and Lombok. Unfortunately for Java we met the lovely Michel and his wife who after an evening's chat persuaded us that cycling in Java wasn't actually a good idea. A couple in their 60s they are experienced cycle tourers, who have travelled in many difficult places, had given up on Java because they felt it was very dangerous. If I'm perfectly honest we were both looking for an excuse to look at other options, after 5 months in South East Asia we were feeling a little SEAd out. So while Dave was at the dentist having his filling replaced I got to thinking about ALL our options and did a bit of brainstorming with the help of Mr Google. The result (although these things are never THAT straightforward, in fact it took a whole day of BOTH of us with the aid of 2 phones, a laptop and a lot of 'what ifs' being thrown around) was a flight to Japan. Our intention was to go to Japan AFTER Australia, but why not now?
Since booking the flight to Osaka we have changed our route several times based on a meeting with Gerald (who had recently toured in Japan) and consultation with weather maps. Japan is actually quite big (should have worked that out before we booked the flight) and we really want to tour around Hokkaido (in the far north, lots of bears, yikes) but the weather is still cool. So, we have decided to head straight for South Korea (weather's lovely now) and then fly from Seoul (we think we can get a cheap flight for approx £140, for both of us and the bikes) to Sapporo in Hokkaido. By that time, the weather should be perfect.
Our first problem is getting out of Osaka airport with 2 boxed bikes, 4 panniers and 2 extra bags, into Osaka itself. We're hoping the baggage forwarding companies will take pity on us and not turn us away (recent accounts are they don't take bicycles any longer, but if you label the boxes with 'bike parts' we might get away with it). The other approach is to act dumb 'Johnny Foreigners' who know no better and hope that all the stories we have heard about wonderful customer service and the inability to offend are correct. Wish us luck!
Laters
PS we have flights to Australia booked now, 8th August, to the Gold Coast, then a mere 900 kms cycle to Sydney!
Link to Facebook photos coming soon!
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| Chinatown |
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| Outside Zam Zams with our Singapore 'family' |
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| Veggie Thali |
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| The very expensive Balmore Whisky, £4000! |
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| Getting on the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) |
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| Stephen Wiltshire's Singapore, after a 30 minute helicopter ride |
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| I have no words |
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| Chinatown heritage buildings |
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| Arab Street grafitti |
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| Ubud rice paddy |
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| La Lima Hotel, Kuta |
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| Working |
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| There he is, Boy Wonder! |
Tuesday, 13 March 2018
Gringos and being green - Sumatra
11th March 2018
Starli Hotel, Bukittinggi, West SumatraA very pleasant 26c
Imagine walking into your local Tesco when, overnight, you
have grown to 8 ft tall. Oh, and you now
have a green complexion and are wearing a Zebra outfit. That’s how we have felt most of the time we
have been in Sumatra. As well as the shouts
of “hello mister” and “where are you from?” there is a look, a gawp, that’s at
first, quite entertaining, but after a while becomes rather tedious. When you have heard the same statement or
request 150 times in one day, and that isn’t an exaggeration there are a lot of
people in Sumatra, it’s as much as I could do not to shout expletives back at
the unsuspecting locals. Even more
annoyingly, sometimes they get the words totally wrong so we hear “who are
you”, “why are you going” or “why is your name?”. To add insult to injury, they’re not even listening
to the answer, they are just saying the only words they know. They are driving a motorbike at 30 mph, or a
car, or a truck and they have pulled up right alongside you, very close, wound
down the window and with their 30th cigarette of the day balanced
between their nicotine-stained talons they gawp, or say something in Bahasa
that the other 14 people in the vehicle all find hilarious. By the way, I’m talking about men, not ALL
men, but a lot. I made a decision fairly
early on in our stay that I wouldn’t respond to men over the age of 13, unless
they had engaged in a proper manner and were genuinely interested in a
conversation. In any case, most of the
time it’s Dave they really want to talk to, so it was easy to ignore them. Rant over!
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| Don't look so odd do we? |
Then there are the women, who are funny, engaging,
hard-working, often a little shy at first but give them a smile and they are
there with me, on the bike. They shout
and wave encouragement, “hello”, “kopi”, “panas” (hot) a thumbs up or a nod,
they know I’m no spring chicken and so we identify as females. Their chances of leaving the village they
were born in is virtually non-existent, unless their parents have money, in
which case they could go to High School, then onto University. Otherwise, when they are of an age they will
get married and have children. The same
goes for the men. The children too are a
delight. Whenever we responded to their
“bye bye” or “hi” we would hear squeals of delight, as if there was some kind
of competition going on as to who could get the ‘Orangs’ to respond. The good outweighs the bad in my opinion.
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| Schoolgirls who chased us down to 'interview' us |
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| On the way to school |
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| The result of an earthquake, still not fixed |
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| That tree is perched to come down |
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| Durian detritus |
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| Cocoa, cinnamon and other fruits drying in the sun |
In and around Lake Toba live the Batak people, mostly
Christian, hence the plethora of churches, sometimes every 500 metres. As we have
came further south into West Sumatra (crossing the equator on the way) we left
the churches behind and are now firmly in mosque territory (Minangkabau tribe). Here in Bukittinggi we have 3 mosques within
1 km so the call to prayer appears to be a rather competitive event. In any case, I have heard some of the most
wonderfully haunting calls to prayer, and generally beautiful singing in the
churches, since being in Sumatra. Except
for the young man in one hotel who insisted on trying to outrange some of his
pop idols, the singing has been outstanding.
Xfactor has a lot to answer for.
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| One of many churches, Lake Toba |
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| Looking down on Lake Toba after the climb |
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| A particularly horrible bathroom |
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| At least it was clean! |
As far as food goes, I don’t consider myself a picky eater, but I have definitely become one in the past month. We have both been ill, not food poisoning just a low level feeling of nausea that simply puts you off your food, which is a problem when you have to cycle. My go-to meals have been nasi or mie goring (fried rice or noodles), or, to simply have noodle soup that we do ourselves. Now we’re in Bukittinggi we’re pigging out on fruit, Mangosteen, Melon, Watermelon, Pineapple and Rambutan – my teeth are jangling with the sugar already! We’ve found a lovely little café that does fab guacamole and potato wedges, oh, and very cold beer. We will be going back there again tonight. I’m hoping ‘normal service’ in the appetite stakes will resume soon.
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| Mangosteen |
Lake Toba – such a beautiful place, so relaxed, great
climate it’s possible to spend a couple of weeks there, bird-watching, walking
and generally sightseeing. Accommodation
is plentiful, there’s something for everyone’s budget and the quality is
high. The only busy months are June,
July and August, the rest of the time there are very few people around. Most of the tourists at the weekends are
Medanese, looking for a bit of coolness out of the city.
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| Tuk Tuk, Samosir |
Bukit Lawang – we didn’t trek here but it’s still a lovely
place to visit and we saw a Thomas Leaf Monkey by the river. We met others who had gone to Ketambe to trek
and had really enjoyed the experience, but it’s a hell of a place to get to.
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| Thomas Leaf Monkey |
Despite everything I’ve said previously, the people have
been amazing. Tourism has slumped in
Indonesia (Sumatra particularly) over the past 15 years (I’m still trying to
find out why, the Bali bombing and the general economic climate perhaps, also
Indonesia’s neighbours are possibly perceived as better value) and so I do
understand the novelty value of seeing tourists, particularly older tourists on
bicycles, but it’s difficult to shake off my knee-jerk reaction.
We’ve met some inspiring teachers who are so keen their
students learn English (because they recognise the importance to raise
themselves out of village life) they stop tourists on the side of the road and
beseech them to tell them how they can make teaching their 8 year olds English
more interesting and to make them see the importance of such a life skill. Another, who brings his students once a month,
on an 8 hour round trip, to find tourists so that his students can practice
their English, having only done theory in the classroom. Such dedication.
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| A teacher trying to find ways of inspiring his young students |
 |
| Seventeen year olds practicing their English |
Sumatra is not for the feint-hearted, it’s certainly not a
destination for new tourers. We didn’t cover
much of Sumatra as we wanted to spend time in the places we visited, however,
the places we went to we loved. Sumatra
is HUGE and unlike a lot of SEA the going is difficult overland so people tend
to fly everywhere, a bit like South America in that respect. The overland routes are difficult because
most of the roads are through mountainous jungle. If the route is busy (Medan to Lake Toba) the
pollution is terrible plus, the roads can be narrow and therefore dangerous for
cyclists. I fell off on the road to
Berastagi, straight into the middle of the road, luckily the traffic stopped to
allow me to get up but they used their klaxon horns to good effect while I was
doing it. I’ve heard people say they
think Asia is ‘boring’ and ‘samey’, and to a certain extent I understand those
comments having spent the last 4 months cycling here. But Sumatra changes that perception
completely. We’ve heard from others that
the north (Aceh) is interesting culturally and if you are looking for great
surf the west coast is supposed to be superb.
 |
| On the road to Bukittinggi |
 |
| Indonesia needs lots of rice |
In the spirit of trying to keep it ‘real’ I’ve tried to be as honest as possible. I’m not a man-hater, honestly, but these are my observations based on my own personal experiences. Would I recommend Sumatra? Yes, in a heart beat. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, as they say.
Laters
Monday, 19 February 2018
Sumatra, the adventure begins
20th February 2018
Brown Bamboo Lodge, Bukit Lawang
A very pleasant 30c, with a breeze
Exchange rate 19,000 IDR = £1
Sumatra is turning out to be an interesting choice. A nearby volcano (Sinabung) erupted yesterday morning, spewing ash 7kms into the atmosphere and depositing a fine layer over our little world. It was dormant till 2010 and since then has been having a merry old time getting lively again. Our host, also the victim of the 2003 flood in Bukit Lawang that wiped out the whole village, yesterday just raised his eyes and shrugged his shoulders saying 'ugh, the volcano is making trouble again' and carried on sweeping the floor. Life goes on.
The ferry from Melaka was very straightforward, it cost an extra 20MYR for each bike and they were safely stowed inside the boat, unlike the other passengers' bags and boxes that were stashed outside on the pointy bit. Dumai is by no means a destination of choice but it's not that bad either. We were totally convinced that despite everything we read on the internet we would be able to find a bus or minivan to take us to Medan during daylight hours. This is what happens when you've spent a long time in countries which have good infrastructure and transport systems. It's a bit like trying to imagine you will need to take a fleece and a flask of hot tea with you, when at the point of leaving it's 35c, it's difficult to perceive how and when the change will come. There was NOTHING to Medan apart from the night bus, leaving at 7pm, 10 hrs, 554 kms. We asked everyone we came across about transportation to Medan, blank stares were usually followed by a light bulb moment of 'ah Medan, night bus'.
Because we were so foolishly convinced of the transport situation we spent the night in Dumai in the City Hotel, although this did give us an opportunity to get an Indonesian SIM. The only shop selling them was run by a Chinese family, who were packing up for the New Year but they very kindly opened up for us. We paid 100,000 INR (about £5) for, we think, 2 gb, over 30 days, but we can't be sure because the language barrier kicked in and we cannot for the life of us find out how to check our balance. When it runs out, it runs out. Later on we discovered we didn't have the SD card but lucky for us, again, the owner was still in the shop so we were able to retrieve it and ALL our photos, phew.
City Hotel wanted a whole day's rate for a 4 hr late check out, which we politely declined, deciding instead to sit in their air conditioned lobby and use their excellent wifi. We had eaten at a small warung the day before and the effects were being felt by both of us so we were glad of some clean facilities. There is a type of food/restaurant here in Sumatra (named after a city in the south) called Padang. The shop front displays the dishes on offer, the bigger the warung, the more dishes. When you sit down all the dishes are put in front of you, you pay for the ones you eat. Spotted the problem with this yet? Cooked dishes are sitting in a glass window, they go to a table, don't get eaten (or maybe they get prodded a bit) and they go back to the glass window for the next customer. Since then we've stuck to cooked dishes but we can see, as we move around, a LOT of places only do Padang food. Thank goodness we have a cooker now, we could be eating a lot of noodles in Sumatra.
On the way to the bus station Dave was propositioned by a man on a motorbike. We've read at least two other accounts of this happening, in and around the same area, so is it one person who is very prolific, or, are their lots of very frustrated men in Dumai? Since then there have been a couple of conversations that make me think that Dave is going to be more of a target for getting hit on than I ever will be. As I said, Sumatra is turning out to be very interesting.
As well as the unwanted sexual attention Dave is also the lucky person who now has to deal with all the bureacracy. Women tend to stay in the background and the men all want to talk to Dave so, for a while anyway, I can just exist in the background and not have to deal with all the day to day rubbish, welcome at the moment, but I'm sure it won't last. We've already worked out some 'safe' words/phrases to get him out of sticky situations.
After the usual malarky with buying bus tickets, tout takes us (despite protestations) to the bus station (a ticket office just outside) but I don't believe him so hike off to the bus station itself around the corner only to find the prices are very similar (shame on me for doubting). The bus turned out to be as comfy as a night bus can be, not too cold, we had blankets and some water and a food stop (50,000 for 2 bowls of soup, rip off, that won't happen again).
We'd read such a lot about Medan being a sh*thole, but really, it's not that bad, once you find the green spaces it's OK. We found a mall just down the road from our GH with a Carrefour Supermarket so stocked up on essentials. We were very pleasantly surprised to find cold beer at our GH (35,000 for a large bottle, only a 1000 markup on shop prices).
Cycling the roads in Malaysia had introduced us to the notion of bad drivers and we didn't feel very safe there. Here, the roads are generally in worse condition, there are more belching trucks but the drivers aren't that bad. The road to Bukit Lawang at times disintegrated into a potholed mess, usually around the villages. As usual, the most difficult thing about the ride was the heat (my new pants seem to be working, fingers crossed) therefore plenty of shade and drink stops were required.
One of the things we weren't ready for were the full on, in-your-face touts, who began accosting us on their motorbikes about 2 kms from the village. Most people arrive by bus, so I'm sure it's worse for them. Dave ended up telling them to f**k off and leave us alone, but they just looked incredulous, they don't really understand people getting angry. The reason for the aggressive touting is the very lucrative Trekking industry that exists in Bukit Lawang. The touts know that if they can befriend you first, arrange a guesthouse (and claim commission) and get you to go on a trek with them, they will be quids in.
We visited Bukit Lawang in 1989 when there was an Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre here. After the Orangs were 'rehabilitated' (physical ailments etc) they were released into the jungle but fed twice daily, a deliberately boring diet of milk and bananas. For about tuppence you could buy a pass and that entitled you to 3 days' worth of trekking (twice a day) with the rangers, to the feeding platform. Some Orangs would feed for a day or two and never be seen again, others wouldn't leave. The ones that didn't leave are the ones that you will see now. This feeding programme continued until 2015. Unfortunately, now if you want to see Orangs 'in the wild' in Sumatra you will pay between £40 and £50 for a half day, depending on your haggling skills. We've read and heard horror stories of terrible guides, some of which border on putting lives in danger others are just inexperienced or immature, but the common denominator seems to be that they all still feed the Orangs, which is good for business because the Orangs want food so they will come, that's what tourists want to see.
It's a tricky one, but we decided not to partake, despite our host trying incredibly hard to persuade us to go with his guide. Had we not already seen Orangs previously we may have had a different attitude. £40/50 is not a lot of money to someone from Western Europe, goodness, my neices and nephews think nothing of spending £120+ on a night out but here it's a lot. I've asked myself what the difference is between the feeding programme and the trekking business now and it's all about the money. The feeding programme wasn't a money-making venture, but in all other respects, it's the same, so maybe we were no better back then. We couldn't bring ourselves to pay so much money, to watch a guide feed Orangutans so we could take photos. I talked to a guy in Medan who said that he had had an awful experience when a guide had fed a mother with her baby, there were about 30 people all snapping photos, he likened it to the papparazzi! In fairness, he did say that the Orangs didn't seem to be bothered by any of the attention they were getting, but still, I think a similar experience would have made me uncomfortable. I just hope that some of the money that is being made on the backs of the Orangs is being channelled back into their conservation, and into Bukit Lawang, but I'm skeptical. We have had a fab few days in Bukit Lawang. Don't be put off coming here if you don't want to trek, it's a very chilled out place to be, once you shake off the touts that is.
Anyway, you don't need to go on a trek to see wildlife, yesterday we saw a Thomas Leaf Monkey having a nosh down by the river. Fabulous.
Volcano permitting, we are heading towards Berestagi, not far from the volcano and then onto Lake Toba, we'll be checking the news regularly for updates, I don't fancy being fried alive in Sumatra.
Laters
PS if the volcano doesn't get us the passive smoking will!
Brown Bamboo Lodge, Bukit Lawang
A very pleasant 30c, with a breeze
Exchange rate 19,000 IDR = £1
Sumatra is turning out to be an interesting choice. A nearby volcano (Sinabung) erupted yesterday morning, spewing ash 7kms into the atmosphere and depositing a fine layer over our little world. It was dormant till 2010 and since then has been having a merry old time getting lively again. Our host, also the victim of the 2003 flood in Bukit Lawang that wiped out the whole village, yesterday just raised his eyes and shrugged his shoulders saying 'ugh, the volcano is making trouble again' and carried on sweeping the floor. Life goes on.
The ferry from Melaka was very straightforward, it cost an extra 20MYR for each bike and they were safely stowed inside the boat, unlike the other passengers' bags and boxes that were stashed outside on the pointy bit. Dumai is by no means a destination of choice but it's not that bad either. We were totally convinced that despite everything we read on the internet we would be able to find a bus or minivan to take us to Medan during daylight hours. This is what happens when you've spent a long time in countries which have good infrastructure and transport systems. It's a bit like trying to imagine you will need to take a fleece and a flask of hot tea with you, when at the point of leaving it's 35c, it's difficult to perceive how and when the change will come. There was NOTHING to Medan apart from the night bus, leaving at 7pm, 10 hrs, 554 kms. We asked everyone we came across about transportation to Medan, blank stares were usually followed by a light bulb moment of 'ah Medan, night bus'.
 |
| Just off the boat |
 |
| A very large, well utilised, exercise area in the centre of Medan |
Because we were so foolishly convinced of the transport situation we spent the night in Dumai in the City Hotel, although this did give us an opportunity to get an Indonesian SIM. The only shop selling them was run by a Chinese family, who were packing up for the New Year but they very kindly opened up for us. We paid 100,000 INR (about £5) for, we think, 2 gb, over 30 days, but we can't be sure because the language barrier kicked in and we cannot for the life of us find out how to check our balance. When it runs out, it runs out. Later on we discovered we didn't have the SD card but lucky for us, again, the owner was still in the shop so we were able to retrieve it and ALL our photos, phew.
City Hotel wanted a whole day's rate for a 4 hr late check out, which we politely declined, deciding instead to sit in their air conditioned lobby and use their excellent wifi. We had eaten at a small warung the day before and the effects were being felt by both of us so we were glad of some clean facilities. There is a type of food/restaurant here in Sumatra (named after a city in the south) called Padang. The shop front displays the dishes on offer, the bigger the warung, the more dishes. When you sit down all the dishes are put in front of you, you pay for the ones you eat. Spotted the problem with this yet? Cooked dishes are sitting in a glass window, they go to a table, don't get eaten (or maybe they get prodded a bit) and they go back to the glass window for the next customer. Since then we've stuck to cooked dishes but we can see, as we move around, a LOT of places only do Padang food. Thank goodness we have a cooker now, we could be eating a lot of noodles in Sumatra.
On the way to the bus station Dave was propositioned by a man on a motorbike. We've read at least two other accounts of this happening, in and around the same area, so is it one person who is very prolific, or, are their lots of very frustrated men in Dumai? Since then there have been a couple of conversations that make me think that Dave is going to be more of a target for getting hit on than I ever will be. As I said, Sumatra is turning out to be very interesting.
As well as the unwanted sexual attention Dave is also the lucky person who now has to deal with all the bureacracy. Women tend to stay in the background and the men all want to talk to Dave so, for a while anyway, I can just exist in the background and not have to deal with all the day to day rubbish, welcome at the moment, but I'm sure it won't last. We've already worked out some 'safe' words/phrases to get him out of sticky situations.
After the usual malarky with buying bus tickets, tout takes us (despite protestations) to the bus station (a ticket office just outside) but I don't believe him so hike off to the bus station itself around the corner only to find the prices are very similar (shame on me for doubting). The bus turned out to be as comfy as a night bus can be, not too cold, we had blankets and some water and a food stop (50,000 for 2 bowls of soup, rip off, that won't happen again).
We'd read such a lot about Medan being a sh*thole, but really, it's not that bad, once you find the green spaces it's OK. We found a mall just down the road from our GH with a Carrefour Supermarket so stocked up on essentials. We were very pleasantly surprised to find cold beer at our GH (35,000 for a large bottle, only a 1000 markup on shop prices).
 |
| I have absolutely no idea |
Cycling the roads in Malaysia had introduced us to the notion of bad drivers and we didn't feel very safe there. Here, the roads are generally in worse condition, there are more belching trucks but the drivers aren't that bad. The road to Bukit Lawang at times disintegrated into a potholed mess, usually around the villages. As usual, the most difficult thing about the ride was the heat (my new pants seem to be working, fingers crossed) therefore plenty of shade and drink stops were required.
One of the things we weren't ready for were the full on, in-your-face touts, who began accosting us on their motorbikes about 2 kms from the village. Most people arrive by bus, so I'm sure it's worse for them. Dave ended up telling them to f**k off and leave us alone, but they just looked incredulous, they don't really understand people getting angry. The reason for the aggressive touting is the very lucrative Trekking industry that exists in Bukit Lawang. The touts know that if they can befriend you first, arrange a guesthouse (and claim commission) and get you to go on a trek with them, they will be quids in.
We visited Bukit Lawang in 1989 when there was an Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre here. After the Orangs were 'rehabilitated' (physical ailments etc) they were released into the jungle but fed twice daily, a deliberately boring diet of milk and bananas. For about tuppence you could buy a pass and that entitled you to 3 days' worth of trekking (twice a day) with the rangers, to the feeding platform. Some Orangs would feed for a day or two and never be seen again, others wouldn't leave. The ones that didn't leave are the ones that you will see now. This feeding programme continued until 2015. Unfortunately, now if you want to see Orangs 'in the wild' in Sumatra you will pay between £40 and £50 for a half day, depending on your haggling skills. We've read and heard horror stories of terrible guides, some of which border on putting lives in danger others are just inexperienced or immature, but the common denominator seems to be that they all still feed the Orangs, which is good for business because the Orangs want food so they will come, that's what tourists want to see.
It's a tricky one, but we decided not to partake, despite our host trying incredibly hard to persuade us to go with his guide. Had we not already seen Orangs previously we may have had a different attitude. £40/50 is not a lot of money to someone from Western Europe, goodness, my neices and nephews think nothing of spending £120+ on a night out but here it's a lot. I've asked myself what the difference is between the feeding programme and the trekking business now and it's all about the money. The feeding programme wasn't a money-making venture, but in all other respects, it's the same, so maybe we were no better back then. We couldn't bring ourselves to pay so much money, to watch a guide feed Orangutans so we could take photos. I talked to a guy in Medan who said that he had had an awful experience when a guide had fed a mother with her baby, there were about 30 people all snapping photos, he likened it to the papparazzi! In fairness, he did say that the Orangs didn't seem to be bothered by any of the attention they were getting, but still, I think a similar experience would have made me uncomfortable. I just hope that some of the money that is being made on the backs of the Orangs is being channelled back into their conservation, and into Bukit Lawang, but I'm skeptical. We have had a fab few days in Bukit Lawang. Don't be put off coming here if you don't want to trek, it's a very chilled out place to be, once you shake off the touts that is.
 |
| One of several footbridges across the Bohorok River, Bukit Lawang |
Anyway, you don't need to go on a trek to see wildlife, yesterday we saw a Thomas Leaf Monkey having a nosh down by the river. Fabulous.
 |
| Thomas Leaf Monkey |
Volcano permitting, we are heading towards Berestagi, not far from the volcano and then onto Lake Toba, we'll be checking the news regularly for updates, I don't fancy being fried alive in Sumatra.
Laters
PS if the volcano doesn't get us the passive smoking will!
Saturday, 17 February 2018
We went to Malaysia for a few weeks
14th February 2018
Swiss Heritage Hotel, Melaka
Very, very hot – about 40c!
I almost forgot about writing this entry, so keen are we to get on a ferry to Sumatra! Only kidding, the past month seems to have flown by, so a brief update:
From Koh Lanta we backtracked to the mainland and headed south towards the Malaysian border. Every now and again Maps.me takes us on a little adventure which, depending on how we are feeling at the time, we choose to take or otherwise. In the Thale Ban National Park we let Maps.me do the guiding, only because it was 8 kms shorter than the main road and by that time of day we are getting well and truly fed up with the fishy smell emanating from the many trucks that whizz up and down the highway (what IS that smell?). We were directed away from the rubber and palm oil plantations into a community forest. Past a gathering of some sort, the man on the microphone making us the centre of attention for the 30 seconds or so it took us to cycle through. Everyone stopped eating and drinking, started waving and clapping, smiling and laughing; We felt like royalty. We meandered through this beautiful area for about 5 kms, then it was back onto the main road. Thank you Maps.me, a fabulous little diversion.
We crossed the border at Wang Prachan, incident-free, and the first challenge was to get over the 5kms of hills standing between us and Kangar. The road was very steep at various points made more difficult by the midday sun and the fact that we hadn’t climbed anything steeper than stairs for ages. Dave lucked out when he found a mobile phone (obviously fell out of someone’s pocket) so like the little Magpie he is stashed it in his pannier for later. Lo and behold, once he’d cleaned it up and reset it (unable to find out who it belonged to sadly) it works perfectly!
Afternoon/early evening showers became a thing right from the start in Malaysia, so on our first day we spent an hour sheltering in a disused building waiting for it to stop. Pretty much every afternoon, somewhere between 3 and 6, it rains for an hour or so, sometimes longer, torrential wet-you-in-a-moment kind of rain, that no umbrella will repel. By the way, it's the dry season.
It became clear that my memory of accommodation in Malaysia was correct. It is expensive compared to it’s neighbours, and the quality is, on the whole, quite poor. Windowless rooms are common and one of them had 3 out of the 4 walls painted black! We aborted our ride up to Frazer’s Hill because the hotels in Kuala Kubu Bharu were SO awful (and expensive) we couldn’t bring ourselves to stay. Having said that, we had a fabulous room in Tapah, with floor to ceiling picture windows and views of the mountain, for just 10 Ringgit more than the ‘black hole’. Also, where we are staying in Melaka is amazing, with an actual bath, balcony, fridge and we could have a game of badminton in it if we were inclined (we’re not) it’s so big. So accommodation in Malaysia is, shall we say, a mixed bag.
We spent a few well deserved days off in Georgetown, re-acquainting ourselves with the old town and finding the street art that it is now famous for. We found ourselves drifting back to Little India everyday for Roti Canai, Dosai and Thali, we had a 'western' style breakfast one morning but decided that was a mistake. It really felt like being back in India. Malaysia has very high taxes when it comes to alcohol so our ‘after ride’ chilled beer has been quashed. However, in Georgetown we managed to find the ‘bar’ (it’s a little supermarket that just happens to have stacks of tables and chairs that people are able to use) selling cheap beer and liquor. Locals rub shoulders with visitors, everyone shares tables and stories, it’s really quite sociable. We're not sure how they do it but suspect they have a 'source' in Langkawi (duty free alcohol).
I have little to no recollection of the quality of driving in Malaysia on previous trips, just as well because we probably would have avoided it. It’s like Mr Bean meets every Sunday Driver you’ve ever known that SHOULDN’T be driving, or, Boy Racer in supped up cars (brand new and lowered suspension, or, old and battered, like the cars me and my friends would have been driving in the 70s). We love the Malaysians when they're not driving, really we do. I've lost count of the number times people have paid for our coffees or rotis, or stopped us in the middle of the street or a supermarket to say hello and have a general chit chat about where we were from etc. We always feel comfortable in Malaysia in a way we don't in, say, Thailand, even though over the years we've spent the same amount of time in both countries. Some places are just like that.
Malaysia is a proper melting pot of cultures and nowhere is this more evident than in Georgetown and Melaka, where we are currently. Buddhist and Indian temples side by side, mosques share spaces with churches, incense mixes with chanting and bells, and the call to prayer wafts out of minarets that look like pagodas. In Melaka we also have the Dutch and Portuguese influences so we can eat the little custard tarts we used to buy in Porto and sip a coffee, by the river, in an old Dutch Colonial building with a windmill attached. The riverside walks have been regenerated and sitting with a coffee or a cold beer you could be anywhere in Europe. We liked The Reggae Bar, not for the reggae but for the guys running it, it’s a very chilled place.
To be fair, the cycling hasn’t been amazing. We would have preferred to cycle the east coast, but as it’s monsoon at this time of year we stuck with the west. The road up to the Cameron Highlands, thankfully, was wide enough to cater for everyone, the superbikes, the dotty drivers and the boy racers, oh and us, in our little lane to the side of the mayhem. The road down to Tapah was not so great with potholes and, in places, no special lane for cyclists. A bit hairy but very beautiful. We took the Simpang Pulai to Tanah Rata route (94kms, 1500 mtrs), which was a challenge. The steep gradients are at the start of the climb, 8.5 – 10%, thankfully when it’s cooler, (we set out at dawn) then it settles down to 3-5% for the rest of the way. Ten years ago we would have completed the ride in a day, but, this time we decided to do it in two. Round the 47km mark there are a couple of cafes, with public toilets and mandis, which is where we camped for the night. Ideal. There’s very little on the road up to the cafes, so provisions and water are a must.
After our camping spot came the strawberry farms and eventually tea plantations. The strawberries are grown in poly-tunnels the numbers of which are rivalled only by those in southern Spain. Not terribly attractive. Tea plantations are always beautiful as they have to be planted in such a way that tea-pickers can get to the tips of every bush to gather the ‘golden’ or ‘silver’ tips, so the texture of the landscape is quite stunning when viewed from the seat of a bicycle. The ride down to Tapah was absolutely sensational. We took our time and stopped regularly to admire the views and the Kampungs along the way.
We have ‘history’ with Kuala Lumpur roads and hoped that a bit of extra planning on our part would mean that history did not repeat itself. Well, somehow, the planning and Maps.me went all to pot. The way in wasn’t so bad but the way out was a nightmare, AGAIN, taking more than two hours to clear the main roads in. We will never, EVER, cycle in KL again. The city itself was much nicer than we remembered, it helped that the weather was cloudy most of the time we were there, plus lots of tall buildings means shade most of the day. We stayed at the 1000 Miles Guesthouse, highly recommended by Travelfish and now us. We met a lovely group of people too, which always makes any stay more interesting.
I’m sure there have been other days when I’ve been really fed up, but, the last three days, from KL to Malacca, have been really hard work. A combination of pants trouble (ruching on the inner thigh) an uncomfortable saddle (or is it? We just don’t know, I have new cycling pants which I’m hoping will sort out of the chafing problems), the heat – it’s really hotting up now, reaching 40-42c by 1pm, and undulating terrain that is never-ending.
Being in Melaka has cheered me up though as has seeing Hornbills, White Bellied Sea Eagles and huge Monitor Lizards, one was being stalked by a cat! The incredibly large (dead) Python we saw on the road up the mountain scared the bejessus out of us knowing that we would be camping that night! We couldn’t remember much about Malaka (apart from some canons which we found at the old fort, and the antique shops which it turns out is now the Jonker Street area) but suffice to say it is very charming. Chinese New Year is just around the corner and the place is awash with red lanterns, juicy tangerines being offered to anyone and everyone and people “cleaning” like crazy, out with the old and in with the new, apparently.
So the new for us will be a new country, Indonesia (Sumatra). It’s looking a bit ‘wild west’ at the moment, there’s not much out there in terms of blogs or detailed travel (cycling) information, although we have found a few on the CGOAB site. We have decided to concentrate on the north and have already hit a problem in trying to get a bus to Medan. There appears to be one bus and it’s a night bus (taking 10 hours). Both of us would prefer a bus during daylight hours, just because we value our lives really, so we will have to investigate getting a minivan.
Firstly, it’s a ferry to Dumai, and we still haven’t paid for the bikes yet although the woman who sold us our tickets has assured us they WILL be allowed on AND it will only cost 20MYR!
Laters
Link to all Malaysia photos on Facebook here
Swiss Heritage Hotel, Melaka
Very, very hot – about 40c!
I almost forgot about writing this entry, so keen are we to get on a ferry to Sumatra! Only kidding, the past month seems to have flown by, so a brief update:
From Koh Lanta we backtracked to the mainland and headed south towards the Malaysian border. Every now and again Maps.me takes us on a little adventure which, depending on how we are feeling at the time, we choose to take or otherwise. In the Thale Ban National Park we let Maps.me do the guiding, only because it was 8 kms shorter than the main road and by that time of day we are getting well and truly fed up with the fishy smell emanating from the many trucks that whizz up and down the highway (what IS that smell?). We were directed away from the rubber and palm oil plantations into a community forest. Past a gathering of some sort, the man on the microphone making us the centre of attention for the 30 seconds or so it took us to cycle through. Everyone stopped eating and drinking, started waving and clapping, smiling and laughing; We felt like royalty. We meandered through this beautiful area for about 5 kms, then it was back onto the main road. Thank you Maps.me, a fabulous little diversion.
 |
| Rubber to the left of me, Palm Oil to the right, here I am ...... |
We crossed the border at Wang Prachan, incident-free, and the first challenge was to get over the 5kms of hills standing between us and Kangar. The road was very steep at various points made more difficult by the midday sun and the fact that we hadn’t climbed anything steeper than stairs for ages. Dave lucked out when he found a mobile phone (obviously fell out of someone’s pocket) so like the little Magpie he is stashed it in his pannier for later. Lo and behold, once he’d cleaned it up and reset it (unable to find out who it belonged to sadly) it works perfectly!
Afternoon/early evening showers became a thing right from the start in Malaysia, so on our first day we spent an hour sheltering in a disused building waiting for it to stop. Pretty much every afternoon, somewhere between 3 and 6, it rains for an hour or so, sometimes longer, torrential wet-you-in-a-moment kind of rain, that no umbrella will repel. By the way, it's the dry season.
 |
| Stuck drinking beer while the rain stops, shucks |
It became clear that my memory of accommodation in Malaysia was correct. It is expensive compared to it’s neighbours, and the quality is, on the whole, quite poor. Windowless rooms are common and one of them had 3 out of the 4 walls painted black! We aborted our ride up to Frazer’s Hill because the hotels in Kuala Kubu Bharu were SO awful (and expensive) we couldn’t bring ourselves to stay. Having said that, we had a fabulous room in Tapah, with floor to ceiling picture windows and views of the mountain, for just 10 Ringgit more than the ‘black hole’. Also, where we are staying in Melaka is amazing, with an actual bath, balcony, fridge and we could have a game of badminton in it if we were inclined (we’re not) it’s so big. So accommodation in Malaysia is, shall we say, a mixed bag.
We spent a few well deserved days off in Georgetown, re-acquainting ourselves with the old town and finding the street art that it is now famous for. We found ourselves drifting back to Little India everyday for Roti Canai, Dosai and Thali, we had a 'western' style breakfast one morning but decided that was a mistake. It really felt like being back in India. Malaysia has very high taxes when it comes to alcohol so our ‘after ride’ chilled beer has been quashed. However, in Georgetown we managed to find the ‘bar’ (it’s a little supermarket that just happens to have stacks of tables and chairs that people are able to use) selling cheap beer and liquor. Locals rub shoulders with visitors, everyone shares tables and stories, it’s really quite sociable. We're not sure how they do it but suspect they have a 'source' in Langkawi (duty free alcohol).
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| Right round the corner for The Seven Terraces, you can't miss it |
I have little to no recollection of the quality of driving in Malaysia on previous trips, just as well because we probably would have avoided it. It’s like Mr Bean meets every Sunday Driver you’ve ever known that SHOULDN’T be driving, or, Boy Racer in supped up cars (brand new and lowered suspension, or, old and battered, like the cars me and my friends would have been driving in the 70s). We love the Malaysians when they're not driving, really we do. I've lost count of the number times people have paid for our coffees or rotis, or stopped us in the middle of the street or a supermarket to say hello and have a general chit chat about where we were from etc. We always feel comfortable in Malaysia in a way we don't in, say, Thailand, even though over the years we've spent the same amount of time in both countries. Some places are just like that.
Malaysia is a proper melting pot of cultures and nowhere is this more evident than in Georgetown and Melaka, where we are currently. Buddhist and Indian temples side by side, mosques share spaces with churches, incense mixes with chanting and bells, and the call to prayer wafts out of minarets that look like pagodas. In Melaka we also have the Dutch and Portuguese influences so we can eat the little custard tarts we used to buy in Porto and sip a coffee, by the river, in an old Dutch Colonial building with a windmill attached. The riverside walks have been regenerated and sitting with a coffee or a cold beer you could be anywhere in Europe. We liked The Reggae Bar, not for the reggae but for the guys running it, it’s a very chilled place.
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| Melaka waterfront |
To be fair, the cycling hasn’t been amazing. We would have preferred to cycle the east coast, but as it’s monsoon at this time of year we stuck with the west. The road up to the Cameron Highlands, thankfully, was wide enough to cater for everyone, the superbikes, the dotty drivers and the boy racers, oh and us, in our little lane to the side of the mayhem. The road down to Tapah was not so great with potholes and, in places, no special lane for cyclists. A bit hairy but very beautiful. We took the Simpang Pulai to Tanah Rata route (94kms, 1500 mtrs), which was a challenge. The steep gradients are at the start of the climb, 8.5 – 10%, thankfully when it’s cooler, (we set out at dawn) then it settles down to 3-5% for the rest of the way. Ten years ago we would have completed the ride in a day, but, this time we decided to do it in two. Round the 47km mark there are a couple of cafes, with public toilets and mandis, which is where we camped for the night. Ideal. There’s very little on the road up to the cafes, so provisions and water are a must.
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| Strawberry anyone? |
After our camping spot came the strawberry farms and eventually tea plantations. The strawberries are grown in poly-tunnels the numbers of which are rivalled only by those in southern Spain. Not terribly attractive. Tea plantations are always beautiful as they have to be planted in such a way that tea-pickers can get to the tips of every bush to gather the ‘golden’ or ‘silver’ tips, so the texture of the landscape is quite stunning when viewed from the seat of a bicycle. The ride down to Tapah was absolutely sensational. We took our time and stopped regularly to admire the views and the Kampungs along the way.
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| Yes, run off from the mountain pouring down the gulley ALL night |
We have ‘history’ with Kuala Lumpur roads and hoped that a bit of extra planning on our part would mean that history did not repeat itself. Well, somehow, the planning and Maps.me went all to pot. The way in wasn’t so bad but the way out was a nightmare, AGAIN, taking more than two hours to clear the main roads in. We will never, EVER, cycle in KL again. The city itself was much nicer than we remembered, it helped that the weather was cloudy most of the time we were there, plus lots of tall buildings means shade most of the day. We stayed at the 1000 Miles Guesthouse, highly recommended by Travelfish and now us. We met a lovely group of people too, which always makes any stay more interesting.
I’m sure there have been other days when I’ve been really fed up, but, the last three days, from KL to Malacca, have been really hard work. A combination of pants trouble (ruching on the inner thigh) an uncomfortable saddle (or is it? We just don’t know, I have new cycling pants which I’m hoping will sort out of the chafing problems), the heat – it’s really hotting up now, reaching 40-42c by 1pm, and undulating terrain that is never-ending.
Being in Melaka has cheered me up though as has seeing Hornbills, White Bellied Sea Eagles and huge Monitor Lizards, one was being stalked by a cat! The incredibly large (dead) Python we saw on the road up the mountain scared the bejessus out of us knowing that we would be camping that night! We couldn’t remember much about Malaka (apart from some canons which we found at the old fort, and the antique shops which it turns out is now the Jonker Street area) but suffice to say it is very charming. Chinese New Year is just around the corner and the place is awash with red lanterns, juicy tangerines being offered to anyone and everyone and people “cleaning” like crazy, out with the old and in with the new, apparently.
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| Beautiful relief work |
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| Here be dragons |
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| Chinese temple |
So the new for us will be a new country, Indonesia (Sumatra). It’s looking a bit ‘wild west’ at the moment, there’s not much out there in terms of blogs or detailed travel (cycling) information, although we have found a few on the CGOAB site. We have decided to concentrate on the north and have already hit a problem in trying to get a bus to Medan. There appears to be one bus and it’s a night bus (taking 10 hours). Both of us would prefer a bus during daylight hours, just because we value our lives really, so we will have to investigate getting a minivan.
Firstly, it’s a ferry to Dumai, and we still haven’t paid for the bikes yet although the woman who sold us our tickets has assured us they WILL be allowed on AND it will only cost 20MYR!
Laters
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