It was time to leave Malaysia. My 3 months tourist visa was ending and I had to leave. Thailand is the nearest country so I decided to go to Butterworth, take the train to Hat Yai and then cycle back.
And so I did. The plan was pretty simple. From hat Yai to Sitiawan is only 4 days cycling. But 4 quite difficult days or should I say: long days?
Hat Yai - Yala was not much a problem apart of some headwind. I had headwind and it wasn't too amusing to have headwind for more then 90 km. But in the end, everything comes to an end, and so did the wind, or better to say, I arrived in Yala.
To my very surprise I found a very comfortable hotel for little money. That made the next day going straight south to the bordertown of Betong a lot easier. A nice hot shower did wonders to my acking muscles.
Betong was 160 km far but only the last 15 km gave me serious troubles. Not because I was too tired, that was not really the problem. No, here the hills were swindling up and down and it seemed it never stopped.
But as things go, this day came to an end too and Betong wasn't too bad. Actually Betong is quite a typical bordertown. A place with lots of smuggled ware, prostitution and louche people going around. I liked Betong!
The border was next door so to say and the next morning I crossed this. Strange so few people think of crossing this border. It's beautiful here, actually great for cyclists.
And down it went, for just 5 km. Then I took the road Gerik and immediatly there was this short but very steep hill. It gave me a bit of pain in my upper legs but after that it was all easy. Slowly up and down through a beautiful green country. Every now and then a monitor lizard or biawak as they are called here in Malaysia crossed my path.
Don't think these monitor lizards are small, they can grow as big as 2 meters. Ok, not as big as the komodo draggon living in Indonesia, his bigger cousin.
I had an excellent nasi lemak (check our website for a nasi lemak recipe
http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/Malaysian-recipes.html ) in Gerik. There's Orang Asli people living in the neighborhood but I left them this time. Orang Asli are the original inhabitants of Malaysia and live mostly in the hills and mountains.
I continued to Lenggong but didn't want to stay there. So I did another 46 km to Kuala Kangsar. Although KK has quite a history, apart of a museum and the Mosque, there's not much to do. Even the mee rebus was disappointing. See again the website if you want to know how a decent mee rebus has to be made.
And thus yesterday I left KK and went home. I thought it would be a nice idea to take a "shortcut". In Ipoh, some months back I had found a local map. On this map it showed a road paralel to a road I had to take down south anyway.
According to the map the road was a good road.
So I took it. And it was a good road, at least for the first 5 km and with another 20 to go I knew it would be hard on dirt paths. But I had little luggage with me so what the heck!
I went into the hills and in no time I was lost in a cluster of dirt paths and sand holes. Obviously there were no signs, houses, no people, no NOTHING except sand paths and hills surrounding me.
And in that moment I wasn't paying attention. At the very last moment I saw it! A brown cobra. My front wheel ran over it. Immediately the cobra jumped up. His (or her?) neck swell up and I could see very clear the "eye" in his neck.
The cobra came at least half a meter from the ground but fled away in the bush. The whole thing had not taken more then a few seconds. It was my first encounter with a wild cobra.
Cobra's are not too rare in Malaysia but you have to go into the rural areas although sometimes they can be found in the villages too. It was a rare luck to see one here in the wild.
Meanwhile my problems were not over. On the contrary, I was lost in the Beruas Forest Reserve. Paths were all over but I had clue which one to take. So choose the biggest following the rule that the biggest path usually the main path is.
I choose the wrong one and for a while I was drifting through the hills, sometimes walking and even carrying my bike. I had no choice, go back. But again, that was easier said then done.
Luck is always there when you need is, it seems. I found the main trail back and cycled back to the main road. In an abandoned village I found water. I showered (yes, litterally) which gave me fresh energy and cycled to the main asphalt road. Done about 25 extra kilometers in the wild and nothing further, that was the conclusion. However, it was beautiful there.
I went straight to Beruas, followed th road straight south for 20 km. Nice and quiet until this road met the main road that connects Ipoh and Sitiawan. What it means? Busy! But from here it was only 17 km more back home and with the wind in the back it wasn't a problem.
My short six day journey was over and I could go back to normal and work further on our website: www.pulua-pangkor.com
