Distance: 92.33 km
Average while moving: 17.7 km/h
Max speed: 31.9 km/h
This ride deserves a post all on its own. I left the Anson at about 6:45 am and didn't finish the ride until 13 hours later.
It started out well enough, with good weather. It turns out the maps I have are a little wrong. There is a turnoff from Teluk Intan which takes you on to a new road that bypasses Lumut. This goes through Sitiawan and is quite scenic. There are two bridges after Sitiawan in particular, which sweep you high above the rivers giving you a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside.
As I discovered, they also give you a tough climb. The new Kenda tyres, due to the knobbly surface, are not as efficient as the semi-slicks Maxxis tyres I had before and it took me awhile to realise the climbs were slow because of them and not the fact that I had gone 'soft' after a few days in one place.
The other thing I had to contend with was a constant, gusty wind. At times, the bike was pushed around even more aggressively than in Melaka. When the wind shifted around to the front, it became quite laborious indeed and I kept to a low gear for quite some distance.
Lorries coming in the opposite direction were another issue again. When the road is just the one lane in either direction, some large vehicles going in the opposite direction become quite a nuisance and I even found myself cursing them at one stage. Just after they draw level, you get hit by the bow wave of air which knocks you back a bit. Then some moments later, a larger wave hits you even harder. It seems that the lorries trail a second wave of violently disturbed air which pushes at you for quite a few seconds. I have seen 2 to 3 km/h wiped off the speedo just like that.
Riding against the wind and then having to contend with the lorries on the opposite lane got me more than a little irritated. Still, besides the three bridges (one small and the two very tall ones), the route was scenic - rice fields for much of the early bits.
I stopped at Kampung Batu 14 Lekir, not too far from Sitiawan. There are a few kampungs along this stretch, hence the 'Batu 14' (14th milestone) in the name. I rolled down a slope into a simple shop set near some houses. A couple of large Malay ladies sat at one table, another couple of slimmer ones in the spacious kitchen behind, and a man and a young teenager sat at some tables on my right.
As I got off the bike and smiled at everyone, one of the large ladies said to me in Malay 'Something to eat?' Worried they didn't serve drinks, I asked if they did and upon receiving a positive answer, requested a Teh-O, with less sugar.
The large lady called out my order to the kitchen then turned to me and asked me if I was mixed - Caucasian and Malay. When I told her I was Chinese, she was surprised and said 'But you look Malay, maybe mixed at least'. She turned to the other large lady and said 'Doesn't he look Malay?' to which the other lady nodded.
Canvassing even more opinion, she asked the man the same question and he too answered I looked Malay. As if that wasn't enough, when one of the ladies in the kitchen came out with my tea, she asked her too. They were all convinced I looked Malay! I remarked that I have often been mistaken for a Japanese or someone from Hong Kong (movie style looks I like to think).
They were quite tickled I looked and spoke like a Malay and after realising I'd ridden from Johor, the first large lady slapped her forehead and called out to Allah and said if she so much as tried to go one mile on a bicycle she'd probably have a heart attack, poor old fat her with her high blood pressure and all sorts of ailments, and how brave and strong I must be to cycle all this way and she couldn't even contemplate such a journey, why when she went as far as Taiping, in a car mind you, the last time, she ate a piece of bread at one stage and brought it all back up, such was her tiredness, or maybe it was all the medication she had to take nowadays, poor old fat high-blood-pressure her.
She really was an old dear and I found her very charming indeed. In fact, they all were. The lady in the kitchen (the proprietress and the wife of the man as it turned out) even made some fried eggs specially for me when I asked if they had some sambal, egg and rice. She was in the midst of preparing the lunch dishes and didn't have the sambal ikan bilis ready yet, and as I wasn't keen on the chicken curry or the assam fish (it smelt and looked darn good though), she whipped up the eggs just for me. How sweet of her.
A few minutes later another man rolled up on his motorcycle, talking a mile a minute. He was a very pleasant fellow with a moustache and a broad smile and we all chatted happily for quite awhile.
Meanwhile, the large ladies rode off on a couple of motorcycles (even though the first one needed hers kick-started for her - her poor swollen legs, you see? And she had medicine for that condition too, poor old fat her) and I sat through another Teh O, with less sugar. The moustachioed man gave me some directions and reckoned it wouldn't be too hard to get to Pantai Remis so I set my sights on that instead of Lumut.
I eventually gave them a namecard and we said our goodbyes. They all came out to wave me off and I felt quite sorry I couldn't stay longer - they really were very warm and sweet people.
Some time later, I reached Sitiawan. The wind was still strong and although the town looked very treeless, it wasn't hot on account of the constant breeze.
As it was Sunday, almost all the shops were shut. I chose a coffeeshop with one or two stalls open, and a couple of staff at the front (one of whom was fast asleep with her head resting on one arm on the table) and a larger group busy playing cards at the back. There were no other patrons.
I ordered a Coke (for some reason wanting the taste of a cola, although I'd been avoiding them for the most part so far) then eventually asked the man in front for Bak Kut Teh. The lady had to be woken up for this but she prepared my lunch with no fuss.
Almost as soon as I had finished lunch, I suddenly had to go. If you know what I mean. I quickly locked my bike, chose to trust the fact the shop was virtually empty, grabbed my wallet and some tissue and ignored all the advice Ray gave me about not leaving your bike unattended, and bringing all your stuff with you even when you went to the loo. Ah well, this is Malaysia, not Vietnam, and I wasn't going to lug my bags into the loo with me...
Everything was still on the bike when I got back a few minutes later swearing softly that I would not touch another Coke for lunch again. I think the gas had something to do with it as my toilet habits have been very regular since starting on the ride.
I waited until the worst of the afternoon heat had passed then headed out of town. I had gone maybe 3 kilometres when I suddenly saw a red-shirted man on the sidewalk shouting out my name and waving madly. It was the guy from the shop at Lekir. I stopped in surprise. Turns out he had come to Sitiawan to see a friend and had passed me at the previous traffic lights, quickly stopped and got off his bike to call out to me.
He pointed out the way to take (a couple of tricky junctions ahead) then wished me all the best and a safe journey again. What a nice, sweet person indeed!
The roads out of Sitiawan, after the bridges I'd mentioned earlier, were windy and narrow but safe enough. In the late evening, the wind died down a bit. And then the drama started...
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Average while moving: 17.7 km/h
Max speed: 31.9 km/h
This ride deserves a post all on its own. I left the Anson at about 6:45 am and didn't finish the ride until 13 hours later.
It started out well enough, with good weather. It turns out the maps I have are a little wrong. There is a turnoff from Teluk Intan which takes you on to a new road that bypasses Lumut. This goes through Sitiawan and is quite scenic. There are two bridges after Sitiawan in particular, which sweep you high above the rivers giving you a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside.
As I discovered, they also give you a tough climb. The new Kenda tyres, due to the knobbly surface, are not as efficient as the semi-slicks Maxxis tyres I had before and it took me awhile to realise the climbs were slow because of them and not the fact that I had gone 'soft' after a few days in one place.
The other thing I had to contend with was a constant, gusty wind. At times, the bike was pushed around even more aggressively than in Melaka. When the wind shifted around to the front, it became quite laborious indeed and I kept to a low gear for quite some distance.
Lorries coming in the opposite direction were another issue again. When the road is just the one lane in either direction, some large vehicles going in the opposite direction become quite a nuisance and I even found myself cursing them at one stage. Just after they draw level, you get hit by the bow wave of air which knocks you back a bit. Then some moments later, a larger wave hits you even harder. It seems that the lorries trail a second wave of violently disturbed air which pushes at you for quite a few seconds. I have seen 2 to 3 km/h wiped off the speedo just like that.
Riding against the wind and then having to contend with the lorries on the opposite lane got me more than a little irritated. Still, besides the three bridges (one small and the two very tall ones), the route was scenic - rice fields for much of the early bits.
I stopped at Kampung Batu 14 Lekir, not too far from Sitiawan. There are a few kampungs along this stretch, hence the 'Batu 14' (14th milestone) in the name. I rolled down a slope into a simple shop set near some houses. A couple of large Malay ladies sat at one table, another couple of slimmer ones in the spacious kitchen behind, and a man and a young teenager sat at some tables on my right.
As I got off the bike and smiled at everyone, one of the large ladies said to me in Malay 'Something to eat?' Worried they didn't serve drinks, I asked if they did and upon receiving a positive answer, requested a Teh-O, with less sugar.
The large lady called out my order to the kitchen then turned to me and asked me if I was mixed - Caucasian and Malay. When I told her I was Chinese, she was surprised and said 'But you look Malay, maybe mixed at least'. She turned to the other large lady and said 'Doesn't he look Malay?' to which the other lady nodded.
Canvassing even more opinion, she asked the man the same question and he too answered I looked Malay. As if that wasn't enough, when one of the ladies in the kitchen came out with my tea, she asked her too. They were all convinced I looked Malay! I remarked that I have often been mistaken for a Japanese or someone from Hong Kong (movie style looks I like to think).
They were quite tickled I looked and spoke like a Malay and after realising I'd ridden from Johor, the first large lady slapped her forehead and called out to Allah and said if she so much as tried to go one mile on a bicycle she'd probably have a heart attack, poor old fat her with her high blood pressure and all sorts of ailments, and how brave and strong I must be to cycle all this way and she couldn't even contemplate such a journey, why when she went as far as Taiping, in a car mind you, the last time, she ate a piece of bread at one stage and brought it all back up, such was her tiredness, or maybe it was all the medication she had to take nowadays, poor old fat high-blood-pressure her.
She really was an old dear and I found her very charming indeed. In fact, they all were. The lady in the kitchen (the proprietress and the wife of the man as it turned out) even made some fried eggs specially for me when I asked if they had some sambal, egg and rice. She was in the midst of preparing the lunch dishes and didn't have the sambal ikan bilis ready yet, and as I wasn't keen on the chicken curry or the assam fish (it smelt and looked darn good though), she whipped up the eggs just for me. How sweet of her.
A few minutes later another man rolled up on his motorcycle, talking a mile a minute. He was a very pleasant fellow with a moustache and a broad smile and we all chatted happily for quite awhile.
Meanwhile, the large ladies rode off on a couple of motorcycles (even though the first one needed hers kick-started for her - her poor swollen legs, you see? And she had medicine for that condition too, poor old fat her) and I sat through another Teh O, with less sugar. The moustachioed man gave me some directions and reckoned it wouldn't be too hard to get to Pantai Remis so I set my sights on that instead of Lumut.
I eventually gave them a namecard and we said our goodbyes. They all came out to wave me off and I felt quite sorry I couldn't stay longer - they really were very warm and sweet people.
Some time later, I reached Sitiawan. The wind was still strong and although the town looked very treeless, it wasn't hot on account of the constant breeze.
As it was Sunday, almost all the shops were shut. I chose a coffeeshop with one or two stalls open, and a couple of staff at the front (one of whom was fast asleep with her head resting on one arm on the table) and a larger group busy playing cards at the back. There were no other patrons.
I ordered a Coke (for some reason wanting the taste of a cola, although I'd been avoiding them for the most part so far) then eventually asked the man in front for Bak Kut Teh. The lady had to be woken up for this but she prepared my lunch with no fuss.
Almost as soon as I had finished lunch, I suddenly had to go. If you know what I mean. I quickly locked my bike, chose to trust the fact the shop was virtually empty, grabbed my wallet and some tissue and ignored all the advice Ray gave me about not leaving your bike unattended, and bringing all your stuff with you even when you went to the loo. Ah well, this is Malaysia, not Vietnam, and I wasn't going to lug my bags into the loo with me...
Everything was still on the bike when I got back a few minutes later swearing softly that I would not touch another Coke for lunch again. I think the gas had something to do with it as my toilet habits have been very regular since starting on the ride.
I waited until the worst of the afternoon heat had passed then headed out of town. I had gone maybe 3 kilometres when I suddenly saw a red-shirted man on the sidewalk shouting out my name and waving madly. It was the guy from the shop at Lekir. I stopped in surprise. Turns out he had come to Sitiawan to see a friend and had passed me at the previous traffic lights, quickly stopped and got off his bike to call out to me.
He pointed out the way to take (a couple of tricky junctions ahead) then wished me all the best and a safe journey again. What a nice, sweet person indeed!
The roads out of Sitiawan, after the bridges I'd mentioned earlier, were windy and narrow but safe enough. In the late evening, the wind died down a bit. And then the drama started...
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