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 3 MAY 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 :-)

May 24^th 2008 Kg. Tanjung Gemuk to Kuala Rompin
Approx. 23.95k's Average Speed 14.53kph Cycling time 1Hr(s) 38Min. Max speed. 21kph Max temp we recorded 38°C
Terrain: Dead Flat, Road Conditions: Fair. Daily Costs: Food/Water $ Overnight Accommodation: $11.50
Knowing we only had about thirty k's to our next scheduled stop, we packed at a leisurely rate, skipped breakfast and left about 10am... About 5 k's down the road we stopped at a café and met a guy called Abdula. We chatted for a while and when I went to pay I found Abdula had taken care of the bill...

Humbled again by peoples generosity we climbed back on our bikes, for the “sweaty” ride north. Along the way we saw Arab architecture, which has been adopted by the Malay people, this was a particularly beautiful example..

We stopped at a small, clean Malay hotel where a room with Air Conditioning, ensuite, fresh towels, complimentary cool water cost $11.50 per night.... Catchya Later

May 25^th 2008 Kuala Rompin
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min. Max speed. kph Max temp we recorded °C
Terrain: , Road Conditions: . Daily Costs: Food/Water $ Overnight Accommodation: $11.50
Remain to explore...

May 26^th 2008 Kuala Rompin to Nenasi
Approx. 45.71k's Average Speed 13.74kph Cycling time 3Hr(s) 19Min. Max speed. 21kph Max temp we recorded 36°C
Terrain: Dead Flat, Road Conditions: Fair. Daily Costs: Food/Water $ Overnight Accommodation: $13.50
An early rise but not an early start... We ate breakfast at the café next door to the hotel, good food and cheap. For this reason it is popular and the food is cooked to order, so long waits... but hey, for less than $2.00 each we had a full breakfast + 2 coffee's each. Had not travelled more than 15k's or so when we stopped for cool water... Met this family, who all took turns on the bike, mum and dad too :-)

Meandering onwards we stopped again at a disused fruit stall to rest in its shade and prepare our “fruit” lunch... We were soon set upon by a pile of kids... Soon mum came and invited us in.........

We accepted and found ourselves with an Indonesian family of twin boys a BIG boy and little girl.... Lots of laughter and sharing food meant for a pleasant stop. Cycling on, our day had many interruptions... so we came upon a small village called Nenasi and pulled in for the night. A small old motel but clean with air-con was right up our street... at about $13.50 it is good value.. We locked our bikes out front....

Then bedded down in our big room. Around our hotel is an old fishing village...

The boats are still worked.... but fuel prices are hard on the people. Fuel here (unleaded) is about $0.65c per litre. We walked through the village to the sea,

where we cooled our feet, before dinner.... Catchya Later

May 27^th 2008 Nenasi to Pekan
Approx. 49.60k's Average Speed 13.25kph Cycling time 3Hr(s) 45Min. Max speed. 19kph Max temp we recorded 39°C
Terrain: Dead Flat to mildly undulating, Road Conditions: Fair. Overnight Accommodation: $23.00
We cannot accurately monitor “daily costs”, in a time-frame that fits this diary... They are monitored elsewhere but are not published. Hence they have been removed from our stat's.

The approx costs are here: We live quite a frugal lifestyle, most breakfasts we eat consist of “rice” or “roti” (Sort of bread), as the staple with fish, chicken or lamb curry's as an accompaniment + a coffee. The total cost for the two of us is less than $2.00 at breakfast time. Dinner (around 7pm) is whatever we find, but the costs vary from $3.00 to $7.00 total for the two of us, lunch consists of fruit or noodles and is usually less than $2.00 total. So our total (for the two of us combined) daily food cost's are between $7.00 and $11.00. (Occasionally more, but not less) We consume vast quantities of fluids, with water accounting for at least 80%, coffee, Milo, and various fruit juices are an addition. We spend an average of $4.00 per day (combined) on fluids. Very little else is purchased on a daily basis, things like tissue, sun cream, etc... are replaced when necessary. We have made some one off purchases of clothing, bike parts etc.. Hotel costs vary but all except one has been much less than $23.00... we try to keep it under $15.00

Our ride today was a hot one, with occasional relief from a weak sea breeze, as we swung near the exposed coast from time to time. The sign bellow is in poor condition, it says “Casuarina Beach Resort” “Quality budget accommodation” some of you will get a laugh :-)

Our choice of hotels here in Pekan is limited, which is odd as it is rather a large town the one we chose, is beautifully preserved...

but slightly over what we like to pay... :-) The rooms are HUGE and we have no problems keeping our bikes here

Even the pic above does not do it justice, regarding it's size... That's a KING bed.... Catchya Later

BACK | Forward to Page 4

2006 - 2009. All rights reserved.  Design:(c) Mal & Lee ALL images on ALL pages are the property of Mal & Lee and may NOT be used without permission.