Dedicated to a wonderful Mother Jean Noble 31/5/1929 - 20/8/2007 - may we never take our mothers for granted. - Goodbye Mum


MALAYSIA PAGE 7 JUNE 2008.

The picture above is Mr Anwar Ibrahim, I have come to admire this man as I have learned of his courage and his humanity. His story can be seen Here, To me it epitomises a dark period in the “judicial” history of this beautiful country. I was in the “Transit Villa Guesthouse when this terrible injustice began to unfold. He is STILL (2008) being “dogged” by the “powers that be”, attempting new charges – to silence him.

The song “to know Malaysia is to love Malaysia” made famous by Sudirman Arshad, Sudirman has received standing ovations in my home country Australia, due to his beautiful voice. It was one song I heard a long time ago, having been here over 20 times. Its beautiful warm hearted people, means for a caring society. I (Mal) truly love this country. It is so “alive” and vibrant. Both of us look forward to cycling and seeing the people from the ground up.

I have a “Long Shot” request of any reader out there, I have lost touch with a dear friend, Rosie Lim, Rosie owned the Transit Villa Guesthouse in Jalan Chow Kit. During the 1980's - 90's and beyond. The place is now closed and despite asking lots of locals, no one seems to know where she is now. ANY information is most welcome.

We'll let you know how we find this country – good and bad :-)

June 14^th 2008 Top of mountain to Banding
Approx. 32.55k's Average Speed 16.18kph Cycling time 2Hr(s) 01Min. Max speed. 52kph Max temp we recorded 29°C
Terrain: Hilly Road Conditions: Good. Overnight Accommodation: $59.00 inc. breakfast

An early start to meet a guy we met yesterday on our climb UP the mountain. Leong Tang. Leong works for the WWF (World Wildlife Fund). He has been active in cataloguing many of the flora and fauna that inhabit Malaysia's jungle areas. He has used the assistance of the Orang-Asli in cataloguing much of this. We have been incredibly fortunate to visit three rather remote communities, 1 hour or so by 4X4 into the jungle.. What we found there was both fascinating and intriguing...

The guy on the extreme left is the village headman, he is VERY astute and his village is an absolute joy to see.. The whole village is spotless, NO litter manicured grounds and healthy inhabitants... It boasts 29 families with approx. 5-6 children per household.. Of course not all villages are as good as this one – as the above URL indicates... WE went to another village – a different race with more traditional ways, here the homes are more traditional and whilst the people are static at the moment, these Orang Asli are nomadic. Two examples of their homes can be seen here, with traditional material used in their construction....

And the second one

We met the village headman here also but got no photo's.. Finally here is a picture of Leong, the man that made it all possible. Thank you Leong Tang from the bottom of our hearts....

June 15^th 2008 Remain Banding
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min. Max speed. kph Max temp we recorded °C
Terrain: Hilly Road Conditions: . Overnight Accommodation: $59.00 inc. breakfast

Had to explore this area

June 16^th 2008 Banding to Gerik
Approx. 44.54k's Average Speed 11.15kph Cycling time 4Hr(s) 0Min. Max speed. 60kph Max temp we recorded 51°C
Terrain: VERY Hilly Road Conditions: Good. Overnight Accommodation: $15.00

Absolutely the hottest day we have had here in Malaysia, combined with the humidity and a 2000' + climb, we were suffering.

Frequent stops whilst climbing and incredible water usage... We were dwarfed by the constant stream of lorries with “Old Growth” tropical rainforest timber...

And more

Sadly ALL humanity will pay a price for this destruction – in Australia too, where Old Growth forests are still logged. Knackered today so will Catchya Later...

June 17^th 2008 Remain Gerik
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min. Max speed. kph Max temp we recorded °C
Terrain: Hilly Road Conditions: . Overnight Accommodation: $15.00

We remain Gerik to sightsee, sadly for us our friend Leong, left for Kuala Lumpur today

June 18^th 2008 Gerik to Pengkalan Hulu
Approx. 45.52k's Average Speed 9.84kph Cycling time 4Hr(s) 38Min. Max speed. 65kph Max temp we recorded 45°C at 11am.
Terrain: Mountainous Road Conditions: Excellent. Overnight Accommodation: $20.00

Relativity early start, in the full knowledge our 40+ k's will be tough and they were tough, two climbs WELL over 1000 feet. Soaked in sweat we spun up the hills, stopping to drink often... The jungle countryside is beautiful, with Monkeys, Snakes, Lizards and all manner of bird life present. We thoroughly enjoyed cycling this route – even with the hills. In some of the small towns, they have water vending machines

at about $0.07 cents per litre it is good value. We fill our bottles and bladders with about 12 litres of water for about $0.85 cents... A HUGE saving on store bought water... plus it tastes OK. We bought coffee (iced) and drinks along the way. This place we stopped, the 19yr old young lady refused payment for our drinks...

She has aspirations to travel, but, is prevented at the moment due to lack of money.. I hope she finds a way, as she is bi-lingual and obviously very intelligent. After all big hills there is a Down... I reached 65kph on this “downhill” with brakes fully on at times.... Scary :-)

Well that's about it for today.... Catchya Later

June 19^th 2008 Pengkalan Hulu to
Approx. 71.41k's Average Speed 12.91kph Cycling time 5Hr(s) 32Min. Max speed. 58kph Max temp we recorded 42°C
Terrain: Hilly Road Conditions: fair to good to excellent. Overnight Accommodation: $29.00 (inc. breakfast for two)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY (Mal) SISTER JANET...

We left our hotel amid literally crowds of people.. So we decided to cycle on without breakfast as too many people wanting to know the same answers, we have been giving for 18 months – each person is hearing it for the first time – we know that - and we smile when asked, but, it does get tiring (for us) sometimes, however it's all part of life :-). Most countries with land borders, over the centuries, have “fluid” borders. The Thai/Malay border is no exception. We came upon “Wat Seemahaapho” in Baling, the name is difficult to transliterate.

We called in and spoke with the Monks. It is somewhat indicative of Muslim Malaysia's tolerance towards other religions... Another example is here...

Nice, but not as nice as the one in Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur....We have seen MANY more examples.... Catchya Later...

BACK | Forward to Page 8