Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: The final few words.......

To summarise, our trip has really been an A to B voyage, with little sightseeing.  The problem on this south-north trip up the west coast of Malaysia is there are very few alternative small roads without making large detours.  The highlight was visiting Penang.  Would we recommend this trip as a cycling holiday?  The answer is no, since there are many more rural and unspoilt parts of Asia to discover.  That said, the people we met were friendly, warm and very helpful.  The food in Malaysia is varied and generally good, as we have tried to show in our photos.  This trip has been a rediscovery of forgotten flavours.  For us, it has been an adventure and we have learnt a few things in preparation for our next long haul trip.

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: Photos

How many rotis would you like?

5am, ready for the off

5 o'clock Singapore Day 1

First roti canai

Guiness sponsors temple

Traditional Malaysian house

Tauhu bakar

Assam laksa

Breakfast selection at Indian Muslim restaurant in Banting

Helpful bikeshop outside Klang

Kampung house

Kapok tree

Tapioca

ABC

Sugar cane

Oil palm fruit

Red rice wine chicken noodles in Sitiawan

Morris Minor and still running

Small mosque

Papaya

Mee rebus

Amazing rain trees in Taiping

The workhorse, you can hear it coming half a mile behind.  They must be 40 years old.

Pineapple plantation

Curly Hetchins in Sitigun

Pork belly drying

Carrot cake and Chee cheong fun

A novel way of protecting concrete piles.  For how long?

Meeting Alan at the Penang ferry

Mechanised rice harvest in Kedah

The Gleam Resort, Satun

Rubber tapping

Drying latex sheets

Bicycle and motobike lane

Em route from Krabi to Phuket

One for Marguerite and our French friends

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: 19 Jan 2013, Trang to Krabi

We started early again with the objective of trying to get within 20km of Krabi.  But after a slow start, we gained momentum and managed to make it all the way to Krabi town.
The road was pretty hairy as it was Saturday morning and maybe people were visiting.  There were lots of rubber and palm oil trucks collecting the harvest.  This area also seems to grow a lot of pineapples and they were being sold at the side of the road for as little as 3 baht.
The entry into Krabi was tricky - heavy traffic, double and irregular parking - we could have been back in Italy!  We were overtaken at one point by 6 or 7 Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferraris and super cars, all with foreign registrations, showing off their full throttle and dodging through the busy traffic.
Tomorrow, we leave Krabi by ferry for Phuket and not ride around Phang-Nga since we would like to see our friends before they leave Phuket on Wednesday.

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: 18 Jan 2013, Satun to Trang

We knew it was going to be a long day, so we set off at 6am and managed to leave the key at reception without awaking the night watchman. So we thought.... as we got to the main junction, the family of the hotel were there to wave good-bye!
The dragon's back was a long line of lumpy ups and downs, great going down!  We noticed that the Thais seem to be spreading their bets between coconut and palm oil.  For sure, coconuts have had it.  The coconuts seem to have been allowed to die off, whether by disease or natural causes is unclear.
South Thailand is a mix of Buddhist and Muslim people with the odd Taoist temple thrown in for good luck.  There are fewer cars on the road than in Malaysia, but those that are, seem to be 2.5-3 litre pickup trucks or SUVs that zoom by at crazy speeds.  There is a bicycle and motorbike lane, except on the narrower roads.
Today was our longest ride and we managed to find a hotel in the centre of Trang.  In the evening, we had Chinese stir fry and steamed fish.  We sat very close to the chef; the heat of the flames was just amazing.  The flash cooking of vegetables took less than 30 seconds before they were plated up.  The fish was steamed and topped with a spicy lemon sauce.  A couple of Leo beers and we were ready for bed.

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: 17 January 2013, Langkawi to Satun

Breakfast buffet was spaghetti, bolognese sauce, mashed potatoes - we skipped.  The ferry was quick although it was a bit hairy loading and unloading the bikes over the gap between the boat and shore of more than 1 metre.
We cycled from Tammalung Pier to Satun, just 8km and found a really lovely small chalet hotel, The Gleam Resort.  It is owned and run by an ex-lawyer from Bangkok, who has returned to her hometown.  We would highly recommend this to anyone making a trip to Satun.
Tomorrow, we set off towards Trang which will be really tough as the winds are expected to increase and be against us.  Apparently, the road has been described as the dragon's back.  If we can get in 80km, it will be a good start.

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: 16 January 2013, Penang to Langkawi

The day started with the sheer coincidence of meeting Alan Tan on the ferry.  We had been in contact with him as he had cycled from Penang to Trang in August 2012.  We recognised his colourful 'bangla' bike and introduced ourselves.  We really enjoyed the chat and missed the first ferry as a result.
it was a very long hard slog through northern Kedah.  This is the rice bowl of Malaysia, producing more than 40% of its production.  It seemed to be well-mechanised with large combine harvesters much in action during our ride.  We had a very strong headwind of about 25km/h against us.  It was exhausting. There was no cloud cover.
We boarded the ferry at Kuala Kedah for Langkawi.  Kedah is quite unique as this year, its Sultan was crowned the Agong for the second time.  Malaysia's royalty rotates every 5 years amongst the states.  The last time the Agong was king was 41 years ago.
We grabbed the nearest hotel from the ferry terminal as we plan to take the first ferry in the morning into Thailand.
Total mileage: 108km

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: 14 Jan 2013, Taiping-Butterworth-Penang

A long hard slog of over 100km - some parts OK but riding into Butterworth was 
sheer hell on Route 1.
The last time David visited was after a long train ride from Singapore with 
Peter Davies, both young subalterns from the Welch Regiment sent to train with 
the Australian Air Force as Forward Air Controllers in preparation for a spell 
in Borneo.
As the hunter jet climbed almost vertical and had just a few seconds to describe 
its target, "Reference attap hut, 2 o'clock, 100 metres clump of trees in rice 
field"- that is your target.  Afterwards we were debriefed by the pilots and 
being Aussie, were quite direct with their comments!
Now in Penang in an old army barracks converted into a hotel.  We are having a 
rest day ahead of the last stops in Malaysia before entering Thailand.
The food in Penang is varied and probably the best in Malaysia.  So we are 
building the carbs and resting the limbs.
Total mileage: 109km

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: 13 Jan 2013, Sitiawan to Taiping

Lovely ride on quiet roads rolling from kampung to kampung.  Many birds - 
especially kingfishers - you can hear them but difficult to spot them until they 
pop out of the trees in a flash of turquoise.  As R K Narayan describes in one 
of his books, the kingfisher is mocking us with his chuckling call.  Maybe 
because we mock them with their crazy mix of colours and their large oversized 
orange beaks.  Without doubt, our favourite bird.
We arrived in Taiping in a huge downpour.  Taiping, one of the centres of early 
tin mining - long ago abandoned, has the highest rainfall of any city in 
Peninsula Malaysia.  There is a wonderful lake surrounded by 130- year old huge 
rain trees which were planted from root stock taken from Brazil.
Stayed the night at the Furama Hotel, a small family-run hotel - massive room, 
ultra clean and positioned near the lake and excellent food halls.  Bliss!
Total mileage: 90km

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: 12 Jan 2013, Sabak Bernam to Sitiawan

Journey relaxed.  More Sime Darby plantations.  Having seen their 4-chimney 
power station in Port Dickson, we now understand their purchase of Battersea 
Power Station.  They are going to restart it and power their turbines with palm 
oil!
Sitiawan is interesting for Irene since it had a settlement of Hockchew/Foochow 
people, started by 2 pastors.  We cycled past churches, schools set up by them 
and next door, the largest Buddhist temple we have seen so far.  At the 
restaurant in Kampung Koh, Irene spoke to the lady in their local dialect which 
caused much interest and when she ordered her red wine chicken, even further 
attention.
In the early settlement days the Chinese kept to the clans and there were often 
disputes between them.  This probably explains how in later centuries, certain 
trades were kept within geographical and linguistic links to China.
The hotel was Indian owned and it was cheap, clean and friendly.
Total mileage: 76km

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: 11 Jan 2013, Kuala Selangor to Sabak Bernam

Today, we managed to keep off the dreaded Route 5 for most of the ride.  We 
found a minor country road which ran parallel to the 5.  We were able to see the 
diversity of farming from palm oil, coconuts, bananas, tapioca, sweet corn, 
sugar cane, breadfruit and papaya.  Ran into a number of monkeys - what is the 
collective noun for monkeys?  It was a hot and sunny day except when we arrived 
on the outskirts of Sabak Bernam, where we are staying the night.
The hotel, Hay Resort, is very run-down and it is evident that in many parts of 
Malaysia, the standard of maintenance is poor.  It is such a shame to see 
relatively new properties set in good locations just deteriorating whether it is 
through lack of investment, knowledge or care.  Staff are friendly and helpful 
but seem powerless and have no direction.
We are now looking at ways of downloading some of the photographs to give a more 
visual story.
Total mileage: 69km

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: 10 Jan 2013, Morib to Kuala Selangor

We made an early start since the prospect of breakfast at the Impian Morib did 
not appeal.  We soon arrived at Banting which, as we found, was a large lively 
Chinese town with two hotels.  
We had always dreaded this part of the journey and we were not wrong.  It was 
sheer hell competing for road space with big polluting trucks, souped-up cars 
and bicycles in a hurry.  This went on right into Klang.  On top of all this, we 
we were chased by a pack of angry dogs from a scrapyard on the Route 5.  They 
were very determined, and we really had to put the foot on the gas.  The most 
persistent one was a fluffy dog, the type that should be sitting by a fire, 
eating chocolate biscuits.
We saw a giant Tesco store at Klang and we called in and bought a pepper spray!
After Klang, we called in to a small bike shop Sing Huat Heng and met the helpful owner and his 
wife who oiled and greased our bikes for us, added a extension ring on David's 
handlebars and refused to charge.  He was a new convert to biking, having just 
opened his shop a few months ago.  He is now hooked and has dropped his weight 
from 91 to 75kg.  He now plans to cycle to Penang over the Chinese New Year.  He 
pointed out a secondary road running parallel to Route 5 which was quiet.
Later on, we found another one of this back roads which led us into Kuala 
Selangor.  We are now off to find a Internet cafe since we have not been able to 
get our iPad to send these blogs.
Total mileage: 91 km

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: 9 Jan 2013, Port Dickson to Morib

Leaving Port Dickson we were soon in the massive plantations of Sime Darby 
which went on for miles.  The workers are mainly Indian.  They have housing, 
schools, lots of Hindu temples en route.  We saw a number of temples dedicated 
to Shiva.
On reaching Sepang, we had breakfast of roti canai.  This time, it was served 
like a thali, with dahl and chilli sauce.  The cafe was run by a father, his 
three sons and a daughter, who all looked identical.
The section from Sepang to Morib was pretty miserable - huge long straight roads 
- we were riding into wind and rain.  We checked into the Impian Morib Hotel 
which we would avoid in future.  In fact, miss Morib altogether.
We have had time to clean up the bikes and relax up prior to the big ride 
tomorrow.  It will be tricky since we have to go through the conurbation of 
Klang which is the main port town.  The last stretch is to Kuala Selangor, the 
pewter centre of Malaysia.
This morning, we saw a second truck hit an overhead cable but this time, we were 
over a hundred yards back.
Total mileage: 67km

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: 8 Jan 2013, Melaka to Port Dickson

Today was slightly different since we managed to get off the now-dreaded route 5 
and cycled through primary jungle.  We had brunch at a scruffy
 Chinese kampung - nasi lemak, the hot char siew pau and har kau were good.
Port Dickson stretches about 20km along the coast and it seems to be mostly high 
rise resort type development for residents of Kuala Lumpur and Seremban.  We are 
staying the night at an apartment kindly lent to us by brother-in-law William's 
family.
After a sumptuous Chinese seafood supper, we decided that tomorrow will be a 
shorter day.
Total mileage: 87km

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: 7 Jan 2013, Batu Pahat to Melaka

The route was flat and constant traffic.  Generally, the Malaysians seem to 
understand cyclists and motorbikes.  Oncoming cars who are overtaking sometimes 
come a bit close.  There was very little to see on the way.  Just grinding the 
kilometres away.  
Just before Muar, we were 50 yards back from a truck hitting an overhead 
electricity cable, sending a massive flash and sparks.  The impact broke the 
concrete pylon into two.  We decided to keep riding.
We made a pit stop after Muar at a very basic but good roadside nasi campur 
(buffet and rice) stall.  We met a young Chinese man, Wong, who worked for 
Skynet.  He was fascinated by our bicycles and insisted on taking photographs.  
Generally, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil are spoken.
Since our last visit some 16 years ago, Melaka has changed for the worse.  I 
cannot see any reason why UNESCO gave it world heritage site status since there 
is only one or two streets with a few Straits Chinese shophouses remaining.  If 
you want to ruin your city, just ask the UN freeloaders to pay a visit.  I 
wonder if the inspectors had declared their Swiss bank accounts.
We stayed in a everyday business hotel, the Mimosa.  The staff were very 
cooperative and we left our bikes in the lobby.
We visited an excellent bike shop called Sin Bee Hin (meaning new, beautiful, 
stylish) on Jalan One Kim Wee.  Saw some fit-looking Malaysian cyclists popping 
in for adjustments.  The shop has been going for three generations, having 
started out servicing the needs of trishaw riders.
Had a curry at a chetty ( South Indian) restaurant.  Chetties are Indian Muslims 
and traditionally were in the money business.
Total mileage: 97km

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: 6 Jan 2013, Singapore to Batu Pahat

An early start - we used a minibus to get across the border into Malaysia. 

At Pontian, we joined the Route 5 which is a good quality road with motorbike lane 
for about 60% of the journey to Batu Pahat.  The weather was glorious with a 
light headwind.  After 2 hours, we stopped at a small town for water and 
breakfast which had to be roti canai together with teh tarik.  
We did have a slight technical problem with David's derailleur.  We tried to get 
it fixed at a Chinese bicycle shop in Senggarang.  The old shop owner seemed to 
have only three tools, a huge screwdriver, big hammer and spanner.  When he 
started knocking the derailleur with his hammer and a screwdriver, we quickly 
thanked him for his work, for which he refused to charge.  Whatever he did 
seemed to do the trick because the problem is gone.
Along the route we passed small inlets from the sea where colourful fishing 
boats were parked up.  The bird life was very similar to most Southeast Asian 
countries - kingfishers, orioles, spotted doves, koels, oriental magpies and of 
course, the bandits - the mynah birds.  We are now staying in Batu Pahat which 
is very much a Chinese town.  Since it is a Sunday, everything is closed except 
street restaurants.  We have had double-boiled pork rib and lotus root soup and 
even found a can of chilled Guiness brewed in Malaysia.
Stayed at the B&S Hotel which has all one needs - clean, cool and friendly 
service.
Tomorrow we attack the road to Melaka.  Souped-up cars are a common sight in 
these parts of Malaysia.  Have seen some spectacular examples of overtaking, we 
have abandoned the idea of cycling in the dark and plan to start as soon as it 
is light, which seems to be around 7 am.  This may change if we find it getting 
too hot around midday.
Total mileage: 72km

Roti Run through Malaysia en route to Thailand: The Night Before

After a few days of acclimatisation after the cold wet winter in Europe, we are now all set to commence our journey to Phuket and beyond.

The word Roti is derived from the Sanskrit word 'rotika', meaning bread.  It is bread made from stoneground wholemeal flour.  This could be our staple diet on our route with all sorts of different sauces and condiments.  Our particular favourite is roti canai which in Singapore, is known as roti prata.