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 2 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 17^th 2008 Sedili Damai Resort to About 50 k from Mersing
Approx. 51.99 k's Average Speed 12.02kph Cycling time 4Hr(s) 20Min. Max speed. 58kph Max temp we recorded 41°C
Terrain: Hilly, Road Conditions: Good. Daily Costs: Food/Water $9.75 Overnight Accommodation:$0.00
Late start AGAIN, this is becoming annoying – we cannot adjust our body clocks properly.. Set alarms, wake up, then the old story “we'll have another 10 minutes”... then it is at least 9am – usually later – when we finally wake up. We MUST fix it. Our hottest day so far, coupled with some light rain made for another “sauna”... The 52k's were hard won today!!!.. Hilly terrain also added to the difficulty... The body tends to overheat if you extend yourself. We found we needed frequent stops climbing or chose a lower than normal gear and took it slower.. Our water usage is staggering. We had planned a 38k day.. hoping to stop at a small resort. What we found was that we needed to detour 12 k's in and 12 k's out the next day... too much.. A young lady told us there was 1 hotel in the next town, which was about 10 k's up the road.. so the three of us took a chance. By the way the third person is “Murphy” . When we got to the next town there was no hotel... We left “Murphy” there hoping he would be hit by a truck. :-) Cycling on we were resigned to camping in the jungle, when we happened upon a small wayside stall...

near exhaustion we asked if they knew anywhere we can stay.. Eventually we were offered a room at the back which was swept and cleaned.. and made ready for our mattresses....

After we had bedded down the bikes, our hosts got some “Mozzie Coils” and we hope for neither Malaria or Dengue Fever :-)
The café opens at 5am, so our hosts Aroy (centre) and Herel?? will be here

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

May 18^th 2008 About 50 k from Mersing to Mersing
Approx. 46.22 k's Average Speed 12.29kph Cycling time 3Hr(s) 45Min. Max speed. 50kph Max temp we recorded 38°C
Terrain: Hilly, Road Conditions: Very Good. Daily Costs: Food/Water $7.55 Overnight Accommodation:$13.50
Awoke about 5:30am, as Aroy came, with his mum, (lady on the right of picture) to open the shop. Performed the obligatory ablutions, then packed our gear...

Aroy cooked us a hearty breakfast and two cups of coffee washed it down...
We were underway a little after 830am after lengthy goodbye's :-)
about 10k's down the road we met a French Cyclist, over the years, he has cycled much of the world.

When asked how long he will continue, he said doing this is all he wants to do with his life – he loves it... He is 70 yrs old in August. Catchya Later...

May 19^th 2008 Mersing – Rest Day
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min. Max speed. kph Max temp we recorded °C
Terrain: Hilly, Road Conditions: Very Good. Daily Costs: Food/Water $7.55 Overnight Accommodation: $13.50
After four hard days we have decided on a rest day and an opportunity to do chores on our gear (charge batteries etc..)... We stored our bikes in the storeroom......

Then came back after and found this.... Really looked after us..... :-)

More exploring to be done...

Lovely city

May 20^th and 21^st 2008 Mersing – Rest Day
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min. Max speed. kph Max temp we recorded °C
Terrain: Hilly, Road Conditions: Very Good. Daily Costs: Food/Water $7.55 Overnight Accommodation: $13.50
Another set of rest days.... well not really resting but exploring this fascinating place.

May 22^nd 2008 Mersing to Kg. Tanjung Gemuk.
Approx. 39.61k's Average Speed 13.06 kph Cycling time 3Hr(s) 02Min. Max speed. 50kph Max temp we recorded 47°C
Terrain: Undulating, Road Conditions: Very Good. Daily Costs: Food/Water $8.25 Overnight Accommodation: $16.50
Left our hotel early....

Boiling hot day, only 4º C short of our hottest ever. We were with Andrew and Joanne Hooker on the Nullarbor when we got 51ºC.
A temp check through the day saw us 2ºC bellow our high........

Today the humidity was stifling and our water use was astronomical... Oddly we both did not urinate, so I guess the body simply manufactured sweat to keep us cool – yes I know “strange statistic” :-)

We achieved our goal of 40k's – not far but we would have had to do another thirty plus to get to the next hotel... Too much in this heat unless “one must”. The town we are in is small but pleasant..... the night markets are fantastic...

The hotel is cheap at $16.50 but very nice, they kept our bikes in reception.

That's about it folks... Catchya Later

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