Getting stuck on Tioman Island...

So the next day we leisurely cycled down to the ferry port to join the mad rush to get on the boat, even though it was one of the very few allocated seats and ticketed boats throughout SE Asia! Pretty painless and we enjoyed the AC inside the boat. It seems that the only way to get around Tioman island is by boat, because there is no joining road between each of the villages, so this means that you need to choose carefully where you get off initially or you’ll need to get another boat to the next village around the corner if you change your mind once on the island – something we really didn’t want to do! We had read so many things about what village to stay in and we just decided to go to a village in the middle of the 5 along the coast called Tekek. We turned right out of the port and cycled for about 5 minutes until we found Swiss Cottages and checked in – no need to book as it was low season and there is space pretty much everywhere. We stayed in a detached bungalow on the beach, with the sea literally steps away from our porch. It was fab! We had three days on the island before the craziness of Singapore and getting the bikes packed up, so we were determined to enjoy our time here.

Not ones to totally relax until we've earned it, we were up early the next day – before the sun had risen to hike over the mountainous island to the other coast to the only village that side; Juara. Very rarely do boats go round there, and the main way that tourists go is to get in a jeep – the only road on the island. During our research, we also found that you can walk it as there is a designated path that the Japanese cut out through the thick jungle during WWII when they invaded Malaysia. Being the adventurous ones that we are, we decided to hike! It looked like the Japanese did the islanders a favour by cutting the path out because it is now used to feed electricity the Juara and water into Tekek from the huge waterfall that feeds the pipes.


The trek was pretty hardcore; sometimes there were concrete steps, but it was mostly a rough trodden forest path. It was incredibly steep at times and our packs were quite heavy because of the amount of water we had to carry! I struggled with the steepness coming down the mountain and into Juara – James practically being the Duke of Edinburgh himself; a pro at all types of hiking was trying to teach me, but I was pretty knackered to start learning! We hiked for 3 hours and it was amazing – I enjoyed it so much. Along the way we saw some interesting wildlife; a giant black squirrel and a long tailed macque – a first! Juara had two beautiful beaches split by rocks jutting out. We found a restaurant that was actually open and order plenty of food – some of which they had and others they didn’t so it was a bit hit and miss. After restoring our energy we managed to walk about 100 metres down the beach in the blistering hot sun before feeling the need to sit under a palm tree and listen to the sea calling us! Soon we were sun-screening up and running into the sea to play in the waves. We were thinking about hiking back over but thought better of it as we didn’t want to get caught in the forest when darkness falls, and over here, darkness falls very fast. So, we negotiated a price with a couple of bored looking drivers – the only cars to be seen to take us back up and over, down into Tekek. We relaxed on our chalet balcony watching the local guys surf, a little tired to join in.

Not a lot happened the next day other than sleep, swim, read and eat! That night there was a pretty bad storm and we were woken up a few times in the night, wondering whether the roof of our little chalet was going to blow off. The next morning we woke up to devastation on the beaches and the island. There was rubbish, trees and general debris everywhere. A bungalow that some of the family and staff live in as part of our hotel had a tree that had fallen and smashed through the roof in the night while they were sleeping. Luckily it is the only bungalow that has a solid brick wall, which stopped the tree falling right through the whole thing – had it fallen on any other chalet, all made of wood, they would probably be dead. We took a bin liner and wondered up the beach, tidying up all the rubbish that had been washed up, but there was just so much of it, we needed a team, it was such a shame! As we got talking to the locals, they were saying it was the worst storm they have had in three years. This was when we discovered the awesomely chilled café along the beach, run by a load of seasonal workers than bum around during the low season, but happy to have us none the less. This was where we spent most of the day. We were due to return back to the main island the next day to make the final leg down and into Singapore to have plenty of time to sort everything out before flying back. However, due to the bad weather, they apparently cancelled the boat the next day. We asked lots of locals, but they all said different things and the ferry station was just utterly deserted when no boat was there. We didn’t want to miss it if it was there, so we decided to pack up everything and go down there in the morning anyway just in case. So up we got at 5.30 to go down there and were told no boat. So back off to the chalet we had just left, (no one even knew we had gone and come back) and rethought what to do. OK, one day should be alright, so we chilled out again and went back to our funky soul/rock/funk/blues playing café, where I made a friend; a kitten adopted me and happily sat on my lap purring while I read.


The next day we didn’t even bother getting up again to see if the boat was going, and it wasn’t. We bought a body board and had endless hours of fun in the sea and the waves. We chilled out in the beach café over dinner and listened to the pack of guys that run it play in their pretty awesome band and then got talking to them about their life here. It is so chilled and the community of people all work together, and help each other. They are all educated and do such wicked things; the guy we were talking to surfs, juggles fire professionally, is a dive instructor, and plays in his band. He was very proud of his island and his family was one of the first to settle here. He wants to protect the island and preserve what they have, and all the islanders fight hard to warn off developers.

Everyone seemed to be saying the boat was leaving at 12.30 the next morning, and we were actually a little sad to go. The two extra days we got stuck of Tioman was so wonderful, even if I was panicking slightly about whether we could actually get off, and get down to Singapore on time! But we did and we got safely back onto mainland Malaysia.

Crossing Malaysia - West to East coast....

After spending some time in Melakka thinking about the final few weeks of our trip, we had booked our air tickets home and worked backwards to where to were now. We wanted to spend as long as possible traveling and seeing as much as possible before returning to the UK. We explored a few options and decided on crossing the width of Malaysia to the East coast – we had heard from books and people that it was so different to the West coast, so we wanted to see for ourselves.

On cycling out from Melakka prepping ourselves for a long day of riding ahead, after 20 miles the day changed dramatically; in a good way. We stopped at the traffic lights of a cross junction and saw 4 cyclists pull out and down the road we were going. They caught sight of us and were clearly just as much intrigued by us as we were them! We managed to catch them up and we cycled along for the best part of 10 miles in a peloton, chatting side by side. They were 4 Malays, who spoke perfect English out for their morning 70 mile ride to Melakka and back. They totally understood what we were doing and they cycle toured themselves. They offered to buy us drinks, so we stopped with them and enjoyed an ice cold lychee juice, ordered in Malay by our new friends. They then learnt that James needed new inner tubes and so insisted on coming to their local cycle shop that will help us out, so we agreed and they excitedly showed us the way. Unbelievably, as we approached the shop James’s tyre was flat – how about that for fate? The cycle shop could not have been more excited to see us and we were literally ordered to tell them where we have cycled while they changed James’s tube over and gave him spares in a flash. We had our pictures taken countless times! When our new friend Rashid asked us where we were going next, he advised us on which towns had hotels, and it turned out that the towns we had planned to get to each night were not good options. He advised that we rested for the night in a seaside village not far from where we were and then make it across the country in two longer days, and be guaranteed to find a place to stay for the one night. There’s no better advice than from a local so we agreed with him. He wanted to come and see us for dinner, so we swapped numbers and we went for lunch next door. We couldn’t believe that when we came to pay, we found that the cycle shop owner had already covered the bill for us – unbelievable hospitality. So on we cycled to Parit Jawa and found the guesthouse he recommended and when dinnertime came round, three of the four cyclists we met earlier zipped down on their motorbikes to meet us, also insisting on paying for us. This was when we learnt that Rashid is the founder of the largest motorcycle and bicycle touring website in Malaysia! They have 40,000 members apparently! Thanks for your help Rashid!



Rashid on my right

The next day we were out early as we thought we had a long day ahead of us. The mileage markers on the road and on our maps differed greatly though and it turned out to be less than we anticipated. This was a relief as it was a really hard day of riding, with long rolling hills and constant palm tree plantations, which made it pretty boring. When we reached Kluang, and were searching for a hotel, we met Jenny who ‘Coo-eed’ us from the side of the road. In perfect English, she asked if she could help and took great delight in assisting us in find a hotel. In her elegant yet forceful manner, she stopped the busy town traffic, waved to countless numbers of people and marched us over to the ‘best’ hotel in the town. She ordered us to come down in 15 minutes for coffee because she had to “dash off” – hilarious and love to you Jenny if you’re reading this!

The next morning we cycled the final leg to reach the coastal town of Mersing. This time not only did we have discrepancies in the mileage but whole roads either didn’t exist on the maps or they did on the maps and not on the land so we were a bit confused and ended up following road signs instead of the map, which got us there! We stopped in the middle of absolutely nowhere in this tiny café to have lunch of the few things they served up and it was the best meal I have had in a very long time; pineapple in tomato sauce with chicken and rice, and we got there just in time before a group of hungry farmers demolished the lot! Upon reaching Mersing we investigated how to get across to Tioman island. Interestingly, Malaysia has different monsoon seasons on the west and east coast and at present, it is the monsoon on the east coast, making the town much quieter than normal. Boat services normally run 5 times a day, but only once during the low season so we booked our tickets that night and negotiated the bikes. We then relaxed and had a little look at what there is to do on the island of Tioman.

Melakka and KL

Port Dickson to Melakka was one day's riding apart making it nice and easy. We cycled through heavily present military areas; past lots of camps, and green Land Rovers overtook us, all friendly and inquisitive. Into Melakka was pretty easy and we eventually found a suitable place to stay with the bikes and we were central as well which was handy. 

Melakka is another UNESCO Heritage site and rather stunning in itself. There is a lot of history here that dates back to 1400. On the south west coast of Malaysia with the river running inland, Melakka was once a major international trading port for SE Asia, with millions of boats and ships docking here, trading everything you could think of from all around the world. The city was overtaken by the Portugese in 1460 and 130 years later, the Dutch captured Melakka from them and their influence is ever present all over the city. 

We learnt about the maritime trade when Melakka was at it's height in a museum on-board a true sized replica of an old Portugese ship that would have been shut down by Health and Safety immediately, but it's all part of the fun. 

We enjoyed wandering around the city, especially down the famous Jongkor Walk, which is full of boutiques and street stalls which all felt very European. Much to our delight, the street was closed off to traffic at night when the markets come alive with hustle, bustle and really bad Chinese karaoke.    

Captain James on the museum ship

Melakka also saw us strolling around the Dutch Square, St Paul's Church and A'Famosa; all very Western! We also stumbled across a Dutch run cafe where we spent a couple of afternoons planning for our next few weeks left in SE Asia. It was sad to be thinking about going home already but a little planning was needed at this stage to get the most out of our time left and also research the cheapest way of getting our stuff home.  

Melakka offers a rather unusual and entertaining way to get around the city. The cycle rickshaw is all over the world and offers great ways to see places environment friendly and I am totally all for them - I was delighted when they started in London. However Melakka offers the humble cycle rickshaw with a difference! The bigger, the more colourful, the more decorated, the better. Fairy lights are lit up all over them when night falls and the best ones have a car radio rigged up to the motion of the pedals and massive speakers with the latest chart R&B hits blaring out seriously loud, you can hear them miles away!!

Bling with the flowers during the day

Fairy lights at night

We had some good food in Melakka, which in many city centres can be hard to find when massive chains take over any street corner they can. We had a true Indian experience in a canteen style stainless steel table affair, where we were the only white people there... now we're talking. James pointed as various dishes at the front that looked good and over our banana leaf plate came, with four different types of sauce plopped onto it. I got right in there with my hand, which got an approving nod from probably half the restaurant, but James chickened out and used a fork. 

We took advantage of the handy tourist-y-ness of Melakka and left our babies (the bikes) in our hotel and took a coach into the capital Kuala Lumpur. It seemed strange not having the bikes, but the ease of which we found a hotel room made me realise how at times, they can be a pain when it comes to finding accommodation. We spent two nights in KL taking in the sights, which was more than enough time, especially as I didn't really warm to KL. 


We went up the Menara tower, by lift of course, travelling 250 metres in 58 seconds. We also went to KL's Bird Park, which was just so utterly impressive, we ended up spending four hours there. The following day we queued like suckers for the Petronas towers to walk across the sky bridge between the two towers, which turned out to be reasonably enjoyable bearing in mind the time we queued for it! We saw different views to the Menaras and being a little further to the ground allows you to see a different side to the crazy city and I enjoyed watching people down on the street scurrying around like ants. Soon after this, we negotiated a coach back into Melakka which felt like negotiating stocks and shares, the amount of people shouting across the room, people trying to get your attention, people on the phone etc.

The Petronas Towers from the Menara tower.

Petronas Towers

This was a very special moment! I think Mr Hornbill was lonely as he hopped over and passed his papaya to me through the gap in the fence and then took it back off me when I offered it.

Chicks!

We arrived back in Melakka 3 hours later and enjoyed one the best meals of the trip. Satay Celup is famous in Melakka so of course, we had to give it a go and it was so fun and something that could definitely catch on over here. The restaurants are simple with big tables with a hole in the middle. When you sit down, a bucket of satay sauce is bought over and a gas cannister is rigged up and a flame is left opened to heat the sauce, You then take a tray and go to the huge frigdes and pick various skewers that have food items of them and the idea is that you dunk them in the bubbling satay sauces and cook it yourself. The food includes raw pork, raw prawns, vegetables, tofu and various shapes of weird looking stuff that I would expect more in Cambodia. Leave it cook and it comes out tasting delicious and satay infused. At the end, your empty skewers are counted and you are charged at how many you eat; between us James and I had 60 skewers! It was so good!!

Port Dickson - James's Birthday!

We checked in to Avillion; I will say no more. We had a water chalet that was built out into the sea with a balcony and a bathroom that was actually on the outside, allowing us to look straight down into the sea. We stayed there because it was a special day for James; his big 40^th birthday!! We didn’t do much, I will admit other than eat breakfast, sit by the pool, read, swim, then order lunch by the pool, swim some more, then have dinner and sleep. 

I bought balloons and wrote 40 all over them and made James carry them EVERYWHERE he went that day. He hates me for it! Hahahahahahaha! 

I won't write much on this as it wasn't really part of our trip, but on we cycle!

Penang Island to Port Dickson

We cycled for 6 days straight from Georgetown (Penang) to Port Dickson, on the west coast of peninsula Malaysia, just south of Kuala Lumpur, with a few adventures and stories to tell along the way. 

For the first time on this whole trip, we found that hotels would not accommodate our bikes. So far, no one has had a problem with letting us bring the bikes inside, whether that be in the lobby, a back room or in our room, but in one particular town we had to try four hotels before we were allowed to leave our bikes inside. However, this may have been to our advantage because the hotel we stayed in had a swimming pool (with water, and yes it was clean – thanks for the tips on asking this first Alan!). 

We stayed in one town called Kuala Selangor, famous for one thing; fireflies. We waited until it was dark and took a taxi out into the middle of nowhere. We arrived at a place along the river, with cheesy flashing lights and tacky firefly merchandise for sale. We weren’t really sure what to expect but we put on a buoyancy aid (the first safety exercise I have ever seen in the whole of SE Asia) and we boarded a little boat with a very quiet electric engine and set out in the pitch black river. All of a sudden we could see it in the distance; the bushes on the banks of the river were covered in what looked like Christmas tree lights. Thousands, if not millions of tiny flies, bums flashing yellow were busying themselves doing whatever it is fireflies do. It was magical and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. 

The next day was one of the hardest days riding for both of us. We decided not to cycle into Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur as looking at the map, it seemed the only way to get in was via an expressway – the motorway that bicycles are not allowed to ride on. However, even to cycle past it, along the coast (perhaps the equivalent of London’s M25) was horrific. It was a dual carridgeway with no hard shoulder, so cars, vans, lorries and trucks were screaming past us at at least 80mph. It was the only road and I have to say, I feared for our lives that day. I wanted to be seen as much as possible so I wore my fluorescent yellow jacket, albeit sweating underneath, but it was better than being clipped, or worse, hit. 

Perhaps this is the time to go in to a little detail on Malay driving. In a word, it is crap. It two words, it is appalling and erratic. In a sentence, I have never seen such bad driving on such a high scale, from so many drivers. Naturally every nation has its terrible drivers, but I never fail to be shocked at how Malaysia’s driving scares me. They have no spatial concept, so a wide, heavily loaded lorry will squeeze through a gap, missing us by inches. Yet drivers in the puny and pathetic little Perodas (it’s Rover Metro size) can’t park, reverse around corners or pull out at a safe distance. It is no wonder that we are exhausted after each day, because not only do we have to have eyes like a hawk, but we also need to listen to vehicles coming behind us and judge those too. Thank goodness we both bought mini handlebar side mirrors because we are both continuously looking into them to see what is behind. 

We eventually left the horrible main roads outside of KL and turned off on to a quiet little coastal road, which would take us all the way to Port Dickson. We checked in to a cute little house and went out to get supplies when we met Jacqui and Aaron on their touring bikes coming along the road on the opposite side. Of course, we stopped and ended up chatting to them for 45 minutes on the side of the road and much to our delight they stayed in the same house that night. Jacqui and Aaron are Australian, and newly married, and have been planning their trip for 4 years. They cycled from Sydney through the middle of Australia (!) through desert for 3 months, then through Indonesia and they will continue up through SE Asia, China, Mongolia, through the ‘Stans’ and into Europe, finishing in Ireland. We had a fantastic evening with them, swapping bike and journey advice, eating and talking til a little later then perhaps we should have done – thanks guys and all the best for your onwards journey. 

Jacqui and I have the same frame!

James then had a bit of a tube crisis. For some very strange reason, his tubes keep bursting at the valve, making them unfixable. We were going along at a good pace, when we literally heard a ‘pop’ and something had pierced James’s back tyre in two places, a centimetre apart, leaving us at the side of the road for an hour! He has an odd shaped wheel; 28 inch is rare here. We have been in many bike shops along the way trying to find spare tubes with no joy, as the ones he bought from home have all since been ditched. We were stuck, but luckily I managed to glue the valve back together which held for another 2 days, exactly when we were able to get the right tubes – very lucky!

We arrived in Port Dickson where we stayed in the usual budget fare and booked into a slightly more upmarket place for the next few days, as it was a special day that we wanted to celebrate in style. PD itself is a bit of a hole, but it is more famous for its beaches which run 16km outside of the town. It’s quite close to KL so it’s quite a trendy weekend getaway spot. We were there during the week however, so prices dropped and we got a bit of a bargain…

Cameron Highlands - New Year's Eve

In Thailand we met three Dutch cycle tourers who we cycling the opposite way to us. We stopped by the side of the road and had a good chat and swapped stories. They told us that they had cycled up through the middle of Malaysia through the Cameron Highlands. They told us had they known what it was going to be like, they would not have done it as the two guys were hospitalised due to exhaustion, and knee and neck injuries. We had considered cycling it, but I think this made up our minds for us. Isn’t what we are doing already a challenge enough? With this in mind and also the fact that our end date for this trip was coming up soon and we wanted to see and experience as much as we could, we decided to hire a car and drive up into the Cameron Highlands, with the bikes and all our gear chucked in the back. We had also read that the attractions worth doing were quite spread out, so having our own transport was a bonus because it meant we weren’t tied to the random bus service we had heard about too. The drive up there took 4 hours, 2 of which were ascending up the mountains. Our ears were popping as we went – up, up, up for 60km and down, down, down went the temperature. By the time we got to our hotel, we were both exhausted from concentrating on the hairpin bends and the ever mental driving and over taking from the Malays. 

I knew it would be cooler up there, but I certainly was not prepared for it being this cold! I was frozen! Yes, it may have been 18-20 degrees, but coming from 40 degrees plus, it was such a huge drop in temperature. The first thing on my to-do list was buy some socks and a shawl. I was a little shocked at the lack of clothing sold up there; there was a real niche for a decent clothing company to get their latest winter range in stores, I would have paid anything to get a half decent jumper! I layered up with nearly all my clothes and just about survived the 3 days we had there.

The Highland activities we did included the Butterfly centre – how twee! But actually they had some pretty good bugs there too. It was the first time we have seen a green leaf insect and a dead leaf insect – pretty amazing!

The main attraction in the Highlands is the tea plantations. ‘Boh’ is the primary tea company in Malaysia, sold everywhere and this is where their plantations are, so we paid quite a few visits to their cafes, shop and factory. We learnt how tea is made, had a tour of the factory (which smelt amazing), sampled many of their tastes, and enjoyed various cakes and scones, although sadly no clotted cream. 

Tea bushes in the background

Inside the tea factory, this is the first stage where the leaves are left to ferment and dry and then grinded.

Another big attraction up here is the strawberry. The temperature there is perfect for growing them and Malay people are fascinated by them because you can’t really get them anywhere else due to the heat. This was the first time (and probably the last) that I had pure strawberry juice – that was just awesome. 

After visiting tea plantations and strawberry farms, high up on the rolling hills, we decided to see if our bad boy Toyota Avanza could make it up the highest road in Malaysia. Thanks to James’s driving, we did and although it was too cloudy to see out, we felt pleased (and cold) that we were at 2045 metres. We tried to walk the path that leads to 2090m – the highest point in all of Malaysia, but the rains had visited significantly recently and it was so boggy, that I ended up ankle deep in cold wet mud and nearly fell straight onto my hands – much to James’s amusement. Our little trek sandals couldn’t cope so we turned back. 

We spent New Year’s Eve at a posh hotel resort having a five course delicious and very creative meal. ‘Dancing’ prawns and salmon to start, followed by lobster bisque, cleansed by a black cherry sorbet, followed by roast beef, potatoes and veg, and finished off with chocolate lava cake and ice-cream, and coffee in the lounge listening to the piano playing. We didn’t stay to count the New Year in at the hotel, but went back to our little apartment to drink our pink champagne we bought in Tesco (yes they have Tesco here) before we came up here and celebrated just the two of us. : )

We then drove back down the mountain to Georgetown, over the huge 13km long Penang Bridge, dropped the car off after unloading and spent the afternoon researching our cycling route down through peninsula Malaysia. The next day, we cycled to the ferry port and caught the free drive on, drive off boat from Georgetown to Butterworth and headed south down the west coast. 

Driving over Penang bridge

Penang Island - Christmas Day

The boat from Langkawi island to Penang island could not have been any easier. For a change, we didn’t have to pay extra to get the bikes on board and we had comfortable air-conditioned seats. When we arrived in Georgetown, Penang, we found our hotel within 5 minutes! It was nice to know exactly where we were going and not have to cycle around trying to find somewhere suitable. As our time on Penang was over Christmas, we wanted to treat ourselves to somewhere nice and a bit more upmarket than a backpacker-type guesthouse, and wow did we!? We spent four nights in one of the most amazing hotels I have ever stayed in; the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, or the blue mansion as some call it. This mansion was built in the 1880s and was owned by a great Chinese entrepreneur and businessman who had a worldwide status; Cheong Fatt Tze himself. Left to his sons and daughter-in-law who neglected it for years, when conservationists, historians and architects eventually got their hands on it, it was in a bit of a state. It was soon renovated to its nearest original state and opened to the public and is today one of Penang’s major tourist attractions. 16 of the twenty-something rooms are now open for guests to stay, every room being different and featuring all sorts of art and sculptures. Naturally we attended one of the tours and learnt that the house was so deeply thought out architecturally that everything in its build had a reason. It is feng-shui perfect according to experts and passes many of the Chinese traditions and embraces luck, happiness, success, wealth and other common Chinese symbols in every corner. I will let my photos show you…

Front of the house

Old Chinese rickshaws

The courtyard

Close up of the roof murals

Original tiles preserved for years underneath inches of dirt and dust, imported from Stoke-on-Trent would you believe!

Many thanks to Poh and his team for the laughs and good, chilled service they provided, and thank you to Eric for entertaining us with your lordiness!

Georgetown is a UNESCO World Heritage site, the same as Hoi An in Vietnam and I can see the similarities. The streets are full of narrow two storey houses, row after row, but beautifully built with petite front doors and windows with shutters. We spent most of our time here wondering the streets and taking it all in.

Famous Campbell Street

Christmas day was far away from the Christmas most Westerners know. There was no snow (or most likely rain), coldness, Christmas trees or decorations, or presents to open, certainly no roast turkey or potatoes! Instead we woke up to bright blue skies, burning hot sun and a yummy breakfast that the hotel provided; that was the morning taken up. In the afternoon we hired a scooter, something James was a little terrified about after a bad motorbike experience he had in the past. Nonetheless, we wanted to be on a beach and that is how we were going to get there. The man hiring out the bike to us got a shock when he went to explain the workings of the beasty 125cc to James who then told him I was driving! On, off, go, brake, sorted! Off we drove the 16km to the very north of Penang island to Batu Ferrenggi beach. We parked up right at the end away from all the hustle, dumped our stuff and went for a Christmas Day swim in the sea! Admittedly it was not as nice as Langkawi at all, but we didn’t care! We sat in a beach café and ordered our late lunch of chicken satay, chips and spring rolls, followed by ice-cream, of course. Back into Georgetown before the sun set to spruce up a bit and go out for our proper Christmas dinner; Indian! And wow what a meal it was. I had three humungous prawns, bigger than my hand in a delicious sauce with rice, naan, Chenna masala, tandoori chicken and vegetables. The most stunning Indian food we have ever had. We then spent the rest of the evening Skyping and calling various family back in England.

Boxing Day saw us both having our hair chopped, which amusingly took exactly the same amount of time and money… mmm. We wondered around the markets and bazaars that sell traditional Malay dress such as the Islamic skull caps for men and all sorts of head scarfs for women. Every single pattern and colour you could imagine with also lots of different styles, which I never realised, existed!

We wanted to explore a little more of Penang island so we left Georgetown and retraced the road to the beach and carried on going until we reached the furthest north west tip of the island where the world’s smallest National Park lies. We camped for two nights, this time for free! The camp site was popular with tourists and visitors due to the man-made swimming pools they have carved out in the waterfall, with pretty trees surrounding it and the village just down the road. We sampled the pools whilst there of course only to come out again five minutes later because the water was so cold!

The village down the road had many seafood restaurants, and we cycled around to get a feel for what was available. We came across one restaurant that was the only one with people in it, so decided to go there as all the others were empty and we have learnt by now to go where the locals go as this usually means it’s good. This restaurant was pretty shabby, with the usual plastic chair affair, with paint chipped off the walls, broken tiles and generally in need of a refurb. We sat down quite early but in the time we were there, it filled up very quickly and by the time we left, people were waiting for tables, and we could see why. We had the best calamari and sweet and sour chicken we have both ever had. It was so good that we went there the next night as well!

The camp site ablutions were an experience; a good one though! Squat toilets we were used to by now, but SE Asia style showers we weren’t. A tiled bath like area would be filled with clean water, and then you were provided with a plastic saucepan to pour the water over you to wash with. I have never had a full shower like this but it was actually very enjoyable and must save a lot of water.

We wanted to explore the National Park so we were up early to cycle down to the main entrance, lock up our bikes and off we went for the day with backpacks full of water and food, Craghoppers and trek sandals donned. And wow did we need them, the path we followed through part forest, part jungle was steep, uneven, craggy and root filled, but it was fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed our day long trek, especially with no leeches!

After our fabulous trek, we cycled back along the hilly coast line to Georgetown to then start our New Year’s Eve adventure – with a difference! Stay tuned to find out what we did next! :)

Langkawi Island

We strolled through Malay immigration on Langkawi Island with such ease that we didn’t actually get looked at, scanned, stamped or given a visa. Once ‘through’ I though it didn’t feel right to not have anything official to say we have actually entered the country so we went back to ‘Immigration’ and it took a while to explain that we have just come from Thailand, (and not we want to go to Thailand) and that we need a stamp. We were then presented with the most pathetic of stamps in our passports. We were amused by the sheer laxidasical attitude everyone seemed to have. Anyway, Langkawi is the most north island on the west coast of peninsula Malaysia. We decided to take this route into Malaysia mainly because we wanted to rest on a beach for a while, but also to avoid the troubles in the most northern states of Malaysia that borders the troubled southern states of Thailand. Although nothing serious has happened for a year or so, we would have rather not risked it.

From Langkawi onwards we needed to plan day by day because the Christmas and New Year period is so busy and accommodation was booking up fast. It was the first time on this trip we thought further than the next night and it took two full afternoons and evenings pouring over Lonely Planet guides, maps and the internet to get from the 18 December 2010 to 13 January 2011 planned and accommodation booked with contingency plans as well just in case! Planning this much took a lot of patience and effort; another reason why we were so looking forward to just chilling by the beach!

So for 4 days that is exactly what we did. We stayed in a cute little guesthouse just up from the beach and the main tourist strip so it was quiet and had everything we needed. The most exercise we did was walk 10 minutes to the beach, find a bed, lye on it, read, swim and eat. It was fabulous to get back into my book and just relax and not have to think about where we’re going next. The beach was beautiful. It is 2km long, very white and very shallow which meant you could swim out for miles and still touch the seabed. During the day, the beach was super quiet with only Western tourists scattered along it. Come 5/6pm when the sun was much weaker and starting to set, local and Muslim people would come out and the beach was suddenly rammed full of people swimming and picnicking. I can only guess that it is because they don’t want to get tanned by the sun and ruin all the hard work they have put in to whitening their skin with all sorts of nasty products that should just be banned.

Considering we were staying near the main tourist strip with all the tacky souvenir shops, there was a surprisingly broad selection of restaurants. We ate very well while we were there and we have had some of the best food of the trip so far. Arabic style wraps, chicken satay, coconut crusted calamari, mango chicken, mango duck and curry – yum. Langkawi hasn’t quite gotten so developed yet, which meant no highrise chain hotels or annoying touts - bliss. The highest building for miles was four floors and even that was surrounded by trees so it didn’t look blindingly obvious, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it gets to be more developed in 10 years’ time because it’s the most beautiful beach I have seen in South East Asia so far.

We could have happily spent 2 weeks there but we needed to move on so after cycling back across the island to the ferry port, we took a boat to another Malay island, the biggest of them all, called Penang, where we would spent Christmas.

The left view from my sunbed



The right view from my sunbed



Khao Sok NP to Malaysia - a new country!

Off we set out of the national park having packed up the sopping wet tent and our damp stuff, hoping to find somewhere the next night to try it all. Luckily we found another 'shag station' hotel to stay in with the drive way and the curtain - identitical to the one outside Bangkok. This was brilliant for us as we put the tent up in the drive and rigged up a big line to dry out sleeping bags and various other things.

A town called Satun in the very southern part of the West coast of Thailand was essentially where we were aiming for. It took us five straight days of cycling to get there from Khao Sok. All throughout Thailand, James and I got into a routine of getting up a 05.30am to be out on the road by 7/7.30am. We would have cracked out the majority of the miles by lunch time which would normally be between midday and 1. During these five cycling days, I really felt the early mornings and the long days on the saddle. Every night I crashed to my pillow and didn't wake up until the horrible alarm went off at this God-awful hour of 5.30am. I don't think I've ever gotten up so early in my life and now here I was doing it every morning, as well as cycling 100km during the day.

There isn't really much to report on these five days. It was just heads down and let's get to Malaysia where we knew beaches were waiting for us to rest on! From Satun we cycled down to the ferry port, had our passports stamped out of Thailand and off we sailed through No-Mans-Sea until we reached the Malay island of Langkawi where we were casually stamped in. We then had to cycle across the island for about 15 miles to the best beaches; Cenang.

I didn't warm to Thailand like I did Cambodia. Although we had wonderful encounters with Thai people in the north around Bangkok, it seemed that southerners kept themselves to themselves. Thai people are obsessed with their cars, blinging them up to the max, so they probably couldn't relate to a pair of white cyclists and in some ways, couldn't really care. No one ever walks anywhere here and we rarely saw anyone on a bicycle. I guess they have the opinion of 'why would you want to when you can easily jump in your 4x4?', especially as petrol is so cheap. They also seem obsessed with their mobile phones, many having 2 and they had their noses stuck to their screens most of the time. Therefore it seemed that many Thais have been completely consumed in the latest technology and have forgotton how to communicate without any form of electronic device!

Khao Sok National Park

Khao Sok National Park; think the film Jurrasic Park and you got it. Mountanous and craggy, the park has jungle, rainforest, rivers and a lake. All of which was unbelivably stunning. We were very excited about Khao Sok NP as it was our first opportunity to get away from the hustle and bustle of the roads and cities and experience nature, as well as it being our first opportunity to camp. The camp site of the park was actually situated in the rainforest, not just any though, this is one of the oldest rainforests in the world. And when I say rainforest, boy do I mean rainforest; we were in a forest and yes it rained - a lot!!

Luckily for us the park also has a touristy strip, so we able to get our laundry done, emails answered and eat some pretty good meals, although we did cook our own dinner on one of the nights, which is a must when one is camping of course!

Our first day in the park, we were up and had breakfasted and were down by the river for 9am. James, myself and our tour guide boarded an inflatable bright blue canoe. Our guide paddled us down the river for 2 hours, taking the small rapids very well; we could tell he was an experienced canoeist! It was great to sit and enjoy the ride. We didn't see another sole in sight for the whole time and all we could hear was the rapids. We saw wild monkeys running along the trees above us, kingfishers, herons, and a snake asleep in the trees.

Much to our delight we stopped on a 4 metre long beach for a rest, well at least our guide rested. J and I however saw it fit to climb up the bamboo ladder with rope in one hand and swing out into the river - brilliant fun!!

The great thing about the canoe trip was we didn't then have to come back to same way, but we scrambled up the banks and on to the main road to then be picked up in a 4x4 pick up truck (naturally) with the canoe in the back!

The second day, we were up early and into another pick up where we were driven out for about 20 minutes to an elephant park. Both incredibly excited as James has never ridden on such a beast before and it has been a long time since I have and I just generally love elephants. I was delighted that our elephant was controlled only by his masters voice and not by whips or metals rods with sharp edges as I have seen previously. He also looked healthy. James was a little terrified, it was quite funny! We were taken up on the elephants back up the most beautiful track and I would not have looked at it and thought it to be an elephant track but guided by his master he walked us up a craggy and narrow opening in the forest. It had rained heavily the night before so the track was almost a mini waterfall from the high mountains above - and very muddy! We got off at the top to let the elephant rest and have a play and a splash in the muddy water. To my utter delight, one the way back down, the master let me sit bareback behind the elephants head with my legs dangling round his ears and neck. I have to say I was a little nervous as I had nothing to hold on to and going down hill along an uneven path there were a few times when I thought I could have easily toppled off! We asked the elephant master to take a photo of us and he got the nelly to lift his very muddy trunk up to me leaving me filthy, but the muddy hand prints I left on the top of his head was very cute! I then enjoyed feeding him bananas at the end, which he grabbed off me with his trunk and gobbled them two at a time - magical!

After our elephant trek we decided to go for a mini jungle trek. We set off down a track to a waterfall marked on the trail. It was incredibly muddy though and we were slipping and sliding all over the place, it was hilarious watching James scoot around as though he were on ice! We didn't make it to the waterfall as our trek sandals weren't quite up to the terrain - we needed full boots and gaiters! Leeches were also a problem. Having had a leech on me before (out in India) I know not to pull them as they suck harder, but to either pour salt on them or burn them. Burning them with a lighter was our only option (as one doesn't normally carry salt with them), but they were so diddy that I ended up burning my toes instead. Luckily because they were small, James managed to pick most of them off. Checking our feet every now and then, I think between us we had about 9 leeches on our toes. Once back to the tent I discovered that somehow, three of the little blighters had crawled inside my clothes and had a right good old suck. One of my elbow, one on my heel and one on the back of my calf!

From Khoa Sok we then headed south, eventually to the last town of Thailand called Satun. From there we will take the ferry over to Malaysia.