Malaysia

Most people travel up the west coast, it is more developed, with lots of towns, and a freeway which goes up to KL., so our bikes stood out like sore thumbs, lots of people staring at us. One guy, whose name turned out to be Anaz Aziz, came over and started talking to us, and it turns out he works for the local tourism board, and is trying to get this region promoted more as a premier destination. As we only had a map that showed all of Malaysia, there was not much detail on the area, so Anaz got us to follow him to his house, and gave us some detailed maps of various areas he suggested we should go to. Thanks for your help mate. We continued on to Kuantan, where we got lost AGAIN, (ending up in some touristy seaside resort town), so got some friendly police to give us directions. We continued up to Cherating, where there were a couple of places Lyn saw on Trip Advisor, so went looking for them. One was near Club Med, so went for a look there, but the guards there obviously thought we didn't measure up, so we were quickly told we couldn't stay. Just down the road was a faded sign that said Ruby's Resort, so we thought we'd check it out. We went down a rough little sandy track to the beach, round a corner, and saw the resort up the beach. When we pulled up at the gate, we were met by Ruby herself. She did not have what we were looking for in a room, but she said "why not camp". From there we ended up in a tree house, with a magic view over the sea. I think we may stay a few days....

The bikes at Pekan, near the Kings Palace. The museum was just over the road.

Lyn waving from the tree house, you can make out the sea in the background. There was nothing inside, but it was a roof over our head, and we were up off the ground. It was a magic spot, and camping is free. Ruby turned out to be a great host, nothing too much trouble, and she sells meals and drinks at reasonable prices. Her resort is pet friendly, and she has about 30 cats and 7 dogs, so if you don't like pets find somewhere else, but they leave you alone, and are no trouble. She has Wi Fi in her little cafe, so it was a good spot to veg for a bit

Inside the treehouse, we just slept on our expeds, and threw a sleeping bag over us, it didn't get cold enough for anything else. You can see the tree going up through the middle of the room. There was a shower and toilet about 100 metres away that we had access to, so we had all we needed.

View over the South China Sea from the treehouse in the morning, tough to wake up to...... We had a few swims, the water was clear and flat, and about the same temperature as a luke warm bath, but still refreshing enough to cool you off. I did a few little jobs on the bikes, freed up the locks on the panniers that had seized up, probably from riding in the rain, lubed the chains, etc, then in for another swim. We only stayed 2 nights there, but in hindsight should have stayed longer. Hers is the only pet friendly resort in Malaysia, so Ruby keeps pretty busy, she had about 40 or so people turning up with their dogs the day we left.

After leaving late from Ruby's on Friday, we rode back through Kuantan and along the highway towards Temeroh, then up into the mountains at Jerrantut. The roads were pretty good, the highway west towards Temeroh was like a large motorway, but when we turned up to wards Jerrantut there were some good twisties, and the roads were a lot narrower. There were a few surprises, little patches of gravel just to keep you on your toes, but not a bad ride. We stayed at the Hotel Wau, clean room, good bike parking, and a discount for a room with no window...... Cost us about $30 for the night, with breakfast. Sometimes you just have to lash out...

Another late start from Jerrantut, through some great roads through the mountains, and then going through Raub I decided to get a decent map with some detailed roads on it. The Garmin maps we loaded weren't working, and my page out of the atlas didn't have much detail, so a cheap Malaysian road atlas gave us some detail. We were heading for the Genting Highlands for the night, we were told it was nice and cool up there, and were getting a bit over the heat and humidity we had copped so far. From Raub it was down through Bentong to the Motorway, then up to the Genting Highlands. As we climbed up the mountain, a storm hit, so pulled over and put our wet gear on. Of course just after that it stopped.

We rode around the top of the mountain, which has massive hotels, two casinos, and a theme park. After sussing out Maxims and the Grand Hotel, both of which were way over our budget, we found out the First World hotel had the cheapest accommodation on the mountain. Right, lets go, so I followed Lyn through the maze of carparks and one way roads to the hotel. On the way down Lyn missed the ramp up into the carpark (our sennas had just gone flat), and I rode up it, expecting her to do a U turn and follow me, one way streets never stopped her before. She didn't, and I waited at top of the ramp for an hour, before heading for reception to try to find her.

I found her in the lobby, which is a fluke, as the lobby is about 400m long, and 100m wide. We found out it is the largest hotel in the world, recognised by the Guinness Book of Records. It has 6,118 rooms. Lyn has had the police looking for me, and her bike was parked with the police bikes in their area, outside their station in the hotel. The cops put me on the back of their bike, and we went and found my bike, and parked it with Lyn's. All good, and the cops were all good guys, thought it was a huge laugh, and wanted their photos taken.

The Guinness Book of Records sign that authenticates the hotel as the largest in the world. It takes in 2 towers, and is massive.
We had a wander around the complex, through the amusement park, and the casinos. Lyn had play of the pokies, and won about $40.00. There are 5 or 6 elevators going to different levels of the mountain top, most of it undercover, but the whole area is aimed at tourists and glitz and glamour and entertainment, not where you need to be to relax, so we decided to head off next morning.

A shot of the road down from the Genting Highlands, great twisties when it's not raining. The road surface is mostly good, but there are some potholes to keep you on your toes.

Looking back up the mountain, the multi-coloured building at the top is the First World Hotel where we stayed.
We headed from here down to KL, as I wanted to see the Petronus Twin Towers, one of the things to tick off the list. As we got into KL, it was hard to miss them, they stand out on the Skyline, so navigation was by sight and head in that direction. A good thing, as we had no maps, and the Garmin was not operational, we still had to update the maps in it. Any way, we found the towers, but the traffic was horrendous, and there was nowhere to park, but an underground car park nearby, so we went in there. I went first, took my ticket at the boom gate, and Lyn came through behind me before the boom came down. We couldn't find a park in the carpark, so tried to get out. First off, there was nowhere to pay at the exit, you need a card to swipe, which we didn't have, so went for a walk as my bike was trapped in a one way exit lane, which was starting to cause a commotion. I found an office where I could pay, but when they found out we had 2 bikes and 1 ticket,

they got upset with me. I had to go back to my bike that was blocking one exit to get some money, and walk back to the office to pay 4 Ringits for the parking for both bikes, and another 10 Ringits for being naughty. Then they wanted my license, which was back at the bikes, so off I went again to get it. Word must have spread about the naughty foreigner blocking one exit, so everyone leaving was using the other exit. I went back and used my copied license, which they accepted and photocopied again, got some exit tickets for me, and sent me on my way. This had used up about an hour, and we emerged from the carpark having not parked, spent 14 ringits, and

still no pics of the towers!!! Thats when my police friend on the bike came along, and saw us looking lost. I went over to him and told him what we wanted to do, and he said OK, follow him, and he led us to the front of the towers, and said park in the VIP section. Thanks mate. We took some photos, and some people from the USA and the UK came along and took pics of us and started talking to us, and we became celebrities for half an hour.
After we finished there, it was time to head north, so we got out of KL along the main highway. It got darker and darker, and then it started bucketing down. We pulled into a R&R as they call them here, (rest & refuel), like the travel stops in Oz. They was a heap of other bikers in their also, all heading up to Phuket for Bike week, so we had a talk to them while we waited about an hour for the storm to pass. From there we headed on up to Ipoh, and saw some monkeys on the side of the road. It was getting dark by this stage, so we found a hotel in

Ipoh for the night. Just around the corner was a market, where we found some great food, and had a beer. Nice end to a big day.

We left next morning for the ride to Penang, up the highway all the way, following the signs to Georgetown. We had to go through a toll both for the bridge, which is about 13.5 kms long, and that dropped us just near we were heading to. Lyn organised a room on Air BnB in a Condo for a week, and we went and met Danial, who was our host. It turns out that he had use of another apartment in the same block as well, so we got that for the week to ourselves. There is a cafe downstairs, pictured is our first meal in Penang, it went down really well.

The view from our unit of the bridge across to the island from the mainland, it is 13.5 kms long, and the cars don't ever seem to stop coming over, even after midnight there is a steady stream of headlights on their way to the island. There is another longer bridge that has just opened further to the south of the island, and we got in the wrong lane and ended up on it. It is 24 kms long, and their is nowhere to turn around, as motorbikes have a dedicated lane with a concrete wall either side of you, so tough if you get there by accident. Our fuel light came on just before we went onto it, so we were panicking for a while, but ended up getting fuel on the other side.

The unit is pretty basic, but we have everything we need, including a washing machine, and use of the pool in the complex as well, which is a good thing, as it never seems to cool off, and the humidity must be at least a gazzilion percent. As soon as you leave the air conditioning, you sweat. You tend to sweat a lot while riding also, it is a bit of a cross between Vietnam, where you know people only look in front and will pull out on you, and western drivers, who generally obey the rules. Here it is a lottery, and you don't know what you will get.....

We went to the Queens Bay mall to get some groceries, and found some Australian wine, the Eaglehawk worked out about 11 AUD, and the Bear was a little more at 12 AUD. We hadn't seen the Bear before, but was from SA and looked alright, so we gave it a shot. The consensus was we should have bought 2 Eaglehawk....The scotch is local, and was about 10 AUD, while the Bundy red is left over from the Duty free shop in Darwin. The can of 100 Plus I am now drinking as a mixer for the Bundy, it goes down well.

Lyn had been complaining of a sore ear for a couple of days, and it was getting worse, so we decided we should go to the doctors while we were in civilisation, so found a clinic and went in. The doctor had a look and diagnosed swimmers ear, prescribed some antibiotics and some ear drops. Two days later it wasn't any better, so Lyn got Doctor Curt to take a photo of her ear, and we saw a lump of what looked like dried blood. While trying to extract it with the tweezers, it hung on pretty well, till brute strength got the better of it, and we could have a look at it in the light. It was a tick, and its little legs were kicking like mad, didn't like the spotlight obviously. We decided to go to the hospital the next day to check out if there were any brothers or sisters in there as well, and were pleasantly surprised with the health system here. We got in to a ear, nose & throat specialist within an hour, and he had taken photos of the inside of the ear, cleaned out the blood and mess that the little bugger had left behind, and declared the ear a tick free zone again. There is some bruising and skin missing where he had been chomping away at the ear canal, but that will heal. Keep taking the antibiotics, and all should be good.

As we had been wandering around looking at (and trying) heaps of food and didn't have a clue what it was, we decided to do a food tour and learn a bit about it. We joined a small group, a couple of Kiwis living in Bangkok, an English girl who is involved with food purchasing for Coles, and us. The girl doing the tour took us through Little India and Chinatown, where we tasted some great food, the names of which I can't remember, but I do know what is in it. We came away a bit wiser, and a lot bloated. I have a new favourite snack, it is a peanut, corn, and palm sugar pancake, bought from the street vendors for 0. 70 Ringit, about 30 cents Oz. It is so much easier when you know what you are eating.

Thursday 17th April, and it was our last full day in Penang, so we tried to get a bit more done before we left. We tried again to get the Garmin fixed, as the on off button had popped out and disappeared while riding up to Penang, so we hadn't been able to use it all trip. The only place we can get it fixed now is Bangkok, so it is back in its bag again. We headed off on the bike to a fishing village in the south east corner of the Island, and from there headed up the centre towards the Air Itam dam, but missed the turn, and ended up at the Kek Lok Si Temple, a pretty impressive statue on the side of a hill near the centre of the island.

Kek Lok Si Temple, near the centre of Penang Island

Lyn having a drink at the top of Penang Hill. We went up on the rail car to the top of the Penang Hill, Danial had recommended going up before sunset and watching the city change as it gets darker. The view is amazing, really worth the effort and cost of the rail ticket, (60 RM for the two of us, return, about $10 AUD each). There is a restaurant at the top, and a cafe / bar, not too expensive seeing it has a captive audience. We had to sample some of their drinks, as we had some time to fill in before the sunset

The view over Georgetown from the top of Penang Hill as the sun goes down, well worth the wait. The bridge over to the mainland can be seen in the background, and the lights just get better as it gets darker.

Our Host Danial, Lyn and I, on the morning we were leaving Penang. I say morning, by the time we had had breakfast, packed up, and finished what we had to do, it was nearly lunchtime. We headed out through the insane traffic of the city, over the bridge, through the edge of Penang and into Kedah, passing through Binjul, Baling, then down into Gerik, where I had to replace a couple of bolts that had fallen out of the heat shield on my exhaust pipe. I had some spares that would fit, so no big deal. We had stopped for fuel, and it only took a few minutes. The fuel options are limited in Malaysia, you can get 95 or 97 RON, or diesel, thats it. From there, we rode through the Lakes District, but there was not a lot to see

as far as water, but the riding was great. Good roads, with not much traffic, lots of sweeping corners going through the hills, and also it was cooler up in the hills, which was a big plus. As we were approaching the town of Jeli, the storm that had been building up finally let go, so we pulled into a shop with an awning just as it hit. Perfect timing, we only got a little damp. It rained for about an hour, and it really bucketed down, it was almost impossible to talk over the noise on the roof. The little family store we rode into were surprised to see us, not many tourists here. They could not speak much english, but we bought some drinks off them, and managed to communicate a bit. Nice friendly people.

When the storm eased, we rode the few remaining kilometres to Jeli, but could not see any accommodation. It was now nearly dark, so we kept going, an found a little 2 room hotel just past town. The couple that ran it were great, they took Lyn on the back of their scooter down the road to the local food shop/market, and ordered chicken, rice, and tom yum, a real mixture, but great food. The room was small but clean, but a little light on for chairs, just a bed and bathroom. Still, for 80RM a night, ( about $26 aud), it was good value. We were not far from the border with Thailand, about 8 or 9kms, but were heading for the coast, so continued east next morning towards Kota Baru.

There was more good riding through the hills, the roads in Northern Malaysia are great for bikes, and we continued through Tanah Merah, (Yes, same name as south of Brisbane), through Machang, and onto the coast in Terengganu, where we found the Batu Rakit View Chalets, right on the beach at Batu Rakit. We got a room looking onto the beach, and could park the bikes behind the room under our window. Cost was 85 rm per night, around $28 aud, so decided to stay a couple of days. The only drawback was there was no wi-fi, (same as Jeli), so we were off the grid for a while. It 's funny how that stuff seems important sometimes, almost like we were letting people down because we were out of touch.

I did a little maintenance on the bikes, which had both been running really well, and we had a swim, well I did, Lyn watched, no surf, and the beach dropped away really quickly, so any swell broke right on the sand. It was refreshing though. We went for a ride through the nearest towns looking for some grog, but the whole area is devout Muslim, so there was none to be found. Our first AFD of the trip, we would have to do some homework tomorrow.......
The nearest city, Kuala Terengganu, about 35 kms away, had a small Chinatown in it, so we went for a ride through there, if there was alcohol anywhere, thats where it would be, and it was........

This is the Crystal Mosque, in Kuala Terengganu, taken from the bridge over the river. We had to ride along the footpath to get this picture, there is no way to stop on the bridge, it is wall to wall traffic, no room at all. Luckily, it was a quiet day for pedestrians.... After our rest in Balu Rakit, we headed off on tuesday the 22nd April to Kenyir Lake, where we thought we might spend the night, but when we got there the lodges were either too expensive, closed for renovations, or only accessible by boat, and there was nowhere to leave the bikes, so we kept going along some more really good new roads, (think the Peachester range for about 60 kms), until suddenly there was a crossroads,

with both side roads much smaller than the one we were on, no signs, with some machines parked on both sides of the road. We slowed, then kept on going, only to come around a corner and find a half built bridge over a river. There were no barricades, just as well we slowed down.
Lyn on the range past Kenyir Lake, with the lake in the background. There are 340 islands in the lake, which was formed by a dam built for hydro- electricity.
With no other options for a bed for the night, we kept going to Gua Musang, where we found a cheap hotel for the night that had wi-fi. A walk to the local markets for tea, and time to catch up on the blog and emails.

Late night last night, finished the blog at at 1.00am, then off to sleep, only to be woken up at 5.30 am by the loudspeaker calling all the muslims to prayer. A quick power nap after that, and then up to pack the bikes, and on the road by 8.40, a record for us for the trip. The hotel owner told us about a short cut, and we headed up to Jelewang, where there is the highest waterfall in S E Asia. It has been dry here for a while, so there is not much water coming over it. Into town for breakfast, and fuel, as my warning light had come on about 30 kms earlier, but there was no servo's anywhere. We pulled up for breakfast at a market stall, and a guy came along and introduced him self as Zoo. He spoke really good

english, and explained he was British educated. He works as an overseer on the road construction in the area. We had breakfast with him, fried eggs and spicy noodles, which was delicious, and a cup of tea, and he refused to let us pay for it. He then solved our fuel problem, by showing us a window in a house that had a hand fuel pump in it, so we could put 5MR in each bike to get us to Jeli where we could fill up. Thanks Zoo, we really appreciated your help.
The roads for the day were fantastic, long sweepers, good bitumen, (mostly, although there were some sections where one side of the road had been dug up for repair, and then not repaired yet. Interesting if there is a car or truck coming the

other way.
Filling the bikes at Jelewang.

One of the log trucks on the road, this was a later model UD, most of them are 30 year old bull nose Mercedes Benz's, with no doors. They are all single axle prime movers, and single axle trailers, and loaded as high as they can go. This one is a small load compared to some, I hate to think what the weight is on each axle........
We continued on to Gerik, and stopped for lunch at a Pizza Hut, just for something different, (it was air conditioned, and it was stinking hot outside). We had travelled this road before going the other way, but we were now on our way to the border to meet up with Syed from Singapore, who was riding up to Hat Yai in Thailand, and we will meet him at the border tomorrow at Bukit Kayu Hitam. We wanted to get as far as we could today, so there was less to ride tomorrow, as Syed was on a pretty tight schedule, and we didn't want to hold him up. We made it through to Jitra, just north of Alar Setar, and found a good hotel with wi-fi for 65 RM a night. We will catch up with Syed tomorrow, and go for border crossing number 2.....

Malaysia, the attached map shows where we went, so we got to see most of it. Things I will remember are cheap fuel, friendly people, non stop hot weather, and the road sides whipper snipped all over the country, keeping them clean all the time. Some of the roads were brilliant for bikes, long sweeping corners, and not much traffic once you got out of the cities.