We have now reached Kota Bahru, cycled more than 780 km with about 40 left to go until the border. Our time spent here has been 15 days, with another day off and then we head to the border.We have become well acquainted with the East Coast of Malaysia: it's food, people, attitudes, and religion.
It is a unique place to explore, especially on bike. We chose the east coast because of the roads; we heard they were top notch. In that respect, the cycling was great. Smooth roads, wide shoulders. We didn't have too many moments where we were feeling vulnerable; however, on occasions the shoulder did disappear. If the quality of the roads of a major plus, the level of traffic was enough to upset the nerves. Although well behaved in general, the traffic was constant and moderate for the entire ride with the exception of a few roads. The traffic was a mix between small tidy cars and massive trucks with seemingly no muffler. Whenever the shoulder did disappear, many large trucks were sure to pass. Alyssa went to her happy place often. Rarely, we were blessed with a quite road, through small villages. These were our favorite moments of the ride.
The scenery. Although beautiful, green, and lush, it was a never ending line of small cities intermingled with forest. This gave us the sensation of never moving forward or gaining any ground. When towns weren't present, it was endless palm oil plantations, sometimes a tropical mangrove, but it was always green. The beach was never far away. We could hear the waves, but we almost never saw them. We followed the blog, www.mrpumpy.com; he explained the ride as waves crashing into the shore and palm trees swaying in the light, sea breeze. We never got that. I think the Malaysians moved hwy 3 around. When we did ride along the coastline, it was spectacular and unique, not developed. Miles of beach with no buildings, only small farms and, water that was dirty from monsoon run-off, sometimes black.
The Weather. It's monsoon season here. There were flash floods and warnings, but that didn't stop us. Whose afraid of a little rain, we won't melt. We worked in Fox Glacier for God's sake. We won't freeze, it's hot here. The typical weather pattern is for moderate rainfall throughout the day with brief breaks. Our experience was the opposite and we were told this is quite unusual. We did get wet, but we were very lucky since most of the heavy rains fell at night. The cycling was great in this weather. The days were mostly cloudy, with brief showers that cooled us down. But the heavy rainfall was evident in peoples yards; half flooded, with children playing on floaties.
The cities. They are all very uniform, not much difference from one to the next. There is always at least one mosque, several shopping outlets and small restaurants. The buildings are slightly dilapidated due to high moisture, cheap materials and lack of upkeep. The sounds of the city are similar to any city, but there is one unique sound and that is of swallows nesting in the buildings. And they're not only welcome, but loud speakers pointed out the windows play swallow calls to attract them. The nests of these birds are essential in the delicacy Bird's Nest Soup.
The people. The population of Malay are largely Muslim, with Chinese in the mix. Many of the people speak some English which makes things easier, and they are also reasonably helpful. But overly hospitable they are not; in fact, they are a shy people in general. The further north we went, the more conservative the people have become. In general, most men wear normal street clothes, but very few are in shorts and tank tops and the women, if Muslim, wear headscarves and are fully covered (although sometimes they are in tight clothing or t-shirts). They seem to lack a certain amount of culture and therefore appear somewhat repressed.
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| Lychee, the love affair begins |
Matt and Alyssa want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday!!!
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