Avg Speed: 17.7 km/h
Distance: 25.77 km
Max: 24.5 km/h
Headwind for much of the way
I made a mistake today - one which I will learn from.
I decided to wander the streets of Kukup again, this time in daylight. Whereas the night had lent a mysterious, almost primitive air to Kampung Air Masin, daytime brought an atmosphere of normality. The daylight revealed what the nightime had shrouded. And what I saw, even in the early morning, was a bustling little village.
People were out and about, raising the shutters on their shops - surprisingly, many homes did not appear to be locked. Not last night nor this morning. Their gates and doors were almost without exception open and unbarred. Oliver had said it was safe, and yet my instincts found it unnatural...
I came across some gunny sacks laid out to dry and wondered what they were for. The answer came a few metres up the road - prawns and some kind of pink or magenta mix were being spread out in the sun to dry.
I went back to town and stopped at a little coffee shop to have a bowl of laksa. A couple of shops up the road were packed full of people hanging on to their passports. Kukup is a staging point to some Indonesian islands I suppose.
While packing, I chatted for awhile with Oliver. His place comprises the bungalow I stayed in, another one with 3 or 4 rooms and a longhouse, all of which combined can accommodate over 200 people. He also arranges tours etc.
Oliver used to be a teacher and was born in Pekan Nanas. He stayed in KL for 5 years until just after 1969 then returned to Pekan Nanas. Moved to Kukup over 30 years ago with his wife who was born here. They have two kids, one of whom works in Benut, my planned stop after Pontian. Oliver told me there is nowhere to stay in Benut as it's a small town.
I said my goodbyes with more than a seed of certainty I would return. I think my kids will like Kukup - and not just for the novelty of living in a house on stilts, nor the fact that everything - and I mean everything - simply gets washed into the ground beneath, waiting for the tides to clear it. There was enough to see and do for a short holiday, and the people I'd met, apart from the inept staff at King's were generally friendly and pleasant.
I dropped by to see Lili one last time. She gave me a Johor guidebook with hotels listed and that confirmed there was nothing in Benut. So I now faced a 70+ km ride on only my third day...
All these activities on the morning meant I left Kukup sometime mid-morning. And here was the first part of my lesson - it is not advisable to cycle around noon. Well, I learnt it the hard way.
The first few km out of Kukup was very easy going. I was astonished at how many people would smile or wave at me. Not just people standing by the road, but truck drivers on the other side would horn at me and wave encouragement as they went past. Kids would scream and wave excitedly. A passenger in a car going past actually wound down his window to clap encouragement. It made me feel extremely motivated. So early in this trip and I'd met some very nice people in Johor National Parks, Oliver and now so many others along the way.
I needed it...
I was still going at about 12:30 when any sane person would be in shade having lunch. It got so hot I had to stop a couple of times. The headwind I struggled against for much of the way I later discovered to be the likely result of the heat rising off the tarmac. Whatever, when I finally reached Pontian just past 1pm, I was hot, bothered, and more than a little red in the face and on my exposed arms.
I found two hotels - both on the upper floors of 3-storey shophouses. As if the hot ride in wasn't enough... I eventually settled on the Campbell, a.k.a. Kim Heng Hotel. I look up despairingly at the long staircase up and spied a lady walking across the first floor landing. She confirmed they had rooms and that I could bring the bike up.
This entailed taking the bags off, then locking the bike up against a railing, carting my things up, then going back down for the bike. I think I have to get used to this! Fortunately this time it was only the first floor I had to go up.
The Kim Heng Hotel seemed to be run by a set of geriatric Malay ladies with beaming smiles. My room was spartan and continued the happy trend of having both air-conditioning and a hot water heater. My nose was getting stuffed up - probably caught a chill at Oliver's but I had a nice hot shower, rested a little and eventually wandered off to look for a late lunch.
Pontian is bland and featureless which explains why I hardly took any pictures. The rows and rows of shophouses featured a multitude of mobile phone shops, but not a single internet cafe. Uploading this had to wait.
There is a bus stop across the main road and buses and taxis take passengers all over Johor and the rest of the peninsular. There is also a predominantly Malay hawker centre next to that. And that's about all I can think of that would even have a sniff of a chance of being entered into a tourism brochure I'm afraid.
Still, the people were polite and pleasant. I had a late evening coffee at one of those new-old coffeeshops. Someone explain why these invariably sport a maroon paint scheme and have copies of historic pictures adorning one wall and a large black and white historic photo as a mural on the other side? They serve coffee in old-style coffee cups and this place was no different. I sat in a booth and had a cup of Kopi-C (I think they define 'C' as 'Condensed Milk because it was both thick and sweet) while continuing my reading of Peter Moore's 'Wrong Way Home' which details his 8-month voyage by bus, train and other land and sea transport from London to Sydney.
Dinner was a plate of fried rice with salted fish at the open air restaurant across the road. Old decor again, but this time the genuine stuff: stone tables painted red. Food was nice and the owner and the waitresses were attentive and friendly.
After my mid-afternoon roaming of the town, I had no more urge to do any more exploring and tried to have an early night in anticipation of a long ride tomorrow. Gan was going to meet me near Batu Pahat so I reckoned a 7am start would be good.
Post to del.icio.us
Distance: 25.77 km
Max: 24.5 km/h
Headwind for much of the way
I made a mistake today - one which I will learn from.
I decided to wander the streets of Kukup again, this time in daylight. Whereas the night had lent a mysterious, almost primitive air to Kampung Air Masin, daytime brought an atmosphere of normality. The daylight revealed what the nightime had shrouded. And what I saw, even in the early morning, was a bustling little village.
People were out and about, raising the shutters on their shops - surprisingly, many homes did not appear to be locked. Not last night nor this morning. Their gates and doors were almost without exception open and unbarred. Oliver had said it was safe, and yet my instincts found it unnatural...
I came across some gunny sacks laid out to dry and wondered what they were for. The answer came a few metres up the road - prawns and some kind of pink or magenta mix were being spread out in the sun to dry.
While packing, I chatted for awhile with Oliver. His place comprises the bungalow I stayed in, another one with 3 or 4 rooms and a longhouse, all of which combined can accommodate over 200 people. He also arranges tours etc.
Oliver used to be a teacher and was born in Pekan Nanas. He stayed in KL for 5 years until just after 1969 then returned to Pekan Nanas. Moved to Kukup over 30 years ago with his wife who was born here. They have two kids, one of whom works in Benut, my planned stop after Pontian. Oliver told me there is nowhere to stay in Benut as it's a small town.
I said my goodbyes with more than a seed of certainty I would return. I think my kids will like Kukup - and not just for the novelty of living in a house on stilts, nor the fact that everything - and I mean everything - simply gets washed into the ground beneath, waiting for the tides to clear it. There was enough to see and do for a short holiday, and the people I'd met, apart from the inept staff at King's were generally friendly and pleasant.
All these activities on the morning meant I left Kukup sometime mid-morning. And here was the first part of my lesson - it is not advisable to cycle around noon. Well, I learnt it the hard way.
The first few km out of Kukup was very easy going. I was astonished at how many people would smile or wave at me. Not just people standing by the road, but truck drivers on the other side would horn at me and wave encouragement as they went past. Kids would scream and wave excitedly. A passenger in a car going past actually wound down his window to clap encouragement. It made me feel extremely motivated. So early in this trip and I'd met some very nice people in Johor National Parks, Oliver and now so many others along the way.
I needed it...
I was still going at about 12:30 when any sane person would be in shade having lunch. It got so hot I had to stop a couple of times. The headwind I struggled against for much of the way I later discovered to be the likely result of the heat rising off the tarmac. Whatever, when I finally reached Pontian just past 1pm, I was hot, bothered, and more than a little red in the face and on my exposed arms.
I found two hotels - both on the upper floors of 3-storey shophouses. As if the hot ride in wasn't enough... I eventually settled on the Campbell, a.k.a. Kim Heng Hotel. I look up despairingly at the long staircase up and spied a lady walking across the first floor landing. She confirmed they had rooms and that I could bring the bike up.
This entailed taking the bags off, then locking the bike up against a railing, carting my things up, then going back down for the bike. I think I have to get used to this! Fortunately this time it was only the first floor I had to go up.
The Kim Heng Hotel seemed to be run by a set of geriatric Malay ladies with beaming smiles. My room was spartan and continued the happy trend of having both air-conditioning and a hot water heater. My nose was getting stuffed up - probably caught a chill at Oliver's but I had a nice hot shower, rested a little and eventually wandered off to look for a late lunch.
Pontian is bland and featureless which explains why I hardly took any pictures. The rows and rows of shophouses featured a multitude of mobile phone shops, but not a single internet cafe. Uploading this had to wait.
There is a bus stop across the main road and buses and taxis take passengers all over Johor and the rest of the peninsular. There is also a predominantly Malay hawker centre next to that. And that's about all I can think of that would even have a sniff of a chance of being entered into a tourism brochure I'm afraid.
Still, the people were polite and pleasant. I had a late evening coffee at one of those new-old coffeeshops. Someone explain why these invariably sport a maroon paint scheme and have copies of historic pictures adorning one wall and a large black and white historic photo as a mural on the other side? They serve coffee in old-style coffee cups and this place was no different. I sat in a booth and had a cup of Kopi-C (I think they define 'C' as 'Condensed Milk because it was both thick and sweet) while continuing my reading of Peter Moore's 'Wrong Way Home' which details his 8-month voyage by bus, train and other land and sea transport from London to Sydney.
Dinner was a plate of fried rice with salted fish at the open air restaurant across the road. Old decor again, but this time the genuine stuff: stone tables painted red. Food was nice and the owner and the waitresses were attentive and friendly.
After my mid-afternoon roaming of the town, I had no more urge to do any more exploring and tried to have an early night in anticipation of a long ride tomorrow. Gan was going to meet me near Batu Pahat so I reckoned a 7am start would be good.
3 comments:
Stay strong my friend. Put on those sunscreen,pack up your water bottle and damn, the fried rice with ikan masin does smell nice in the head from a far distance.
Hi.. can give me Oliver Lee's contact no? With few friends, we are planning to visit Kukup on 7 Dec 08.
Tks,
susana
bagio_susan@yahoo.com
Hi Susana,
Oliver's Kukup Floating Chalet is at No 20 Kg Air Masin, just off the main Kukup road and on the left, a few metres in from the turnoff to the Kg Air Masin area.
He can be contacted at +60 12 733 6860.
Have fun!
Post a Comment