Kuala Lumpur to Penang
As I said in my previous post, I ended up spending four days in Kuala Lumpur. It's a nice enough place but I'm not sure it merits that much. Still, as the Chinese New Year Celebrations were still going on there was plenty to gawp at.
After a evenings drinking with Dave, I was more than ready to go (no reflection on you Dave!), hangover and dodgy tummy be damned. I say ready to go, I mean pretty certain I wouldn't expire on the road but not 100% certain as the first days cycling wore on. This wasn't just because it was my first time on the bike for a month and half. No, the main reason was it was hot and humid, with my thermometer read 41C and the humidity was apparently around 80%. Yowser.
The cycling started well, with KL proving to be an OK city to get out of and on Highway 1 north. To my shame I stopped at a Tesco's on the way to pick up a baguette and some cheese for lunch, although in the end the weather proved to be too hot for eating in. I slogged on constantly having to replenish my liquids. Water that was in a bottle for an hour was just about hot enough to make a cup of tea with. I made it to the town of Tanjong Malim, which although only some 80km north was good enough for me. Found the first hotel, checked in and flopped out in air con comfort! Always a bad sign when you speak to the locals and they complain about the weather.
Next day it proved to be more of the same, although setting off earlier let me get a couple of hours of easy cycling before it got too hot. Reckon the humidity had dropped a bit as well. The scenery was quite stunning in places, lots of limestone formations and jungle.
Still, an arduous day, this time around 130km. By the time I got to my destination, Ipoh, I was finding I couldn't actually drink any more, even though I was dehydrated. Slammed down some re-hydration solution which helped somewhat and resolved to take more breaks in future. Next day it was on to Taiping, a nice little place. It promised to rain for much of the time but unfortunately never did.
The next day, last day of cycling I tried to continue to adapt. Start early. It being too hot to eat during the day, have a big breakfast (noodles, soup, tofu, veggies with chili sauce, breakfast of champions!. Plenty of breaks. Worked well to start with but again by time I arrived in Penang I was a wreck. Maybe not as much of a wreck as I'd been previously though...
The plan was to spend a day in Georgetown on Penang Island then head north towards Thailand. However, as I cycled into the backpacker district from the ferry terminal I noticed quite a few signs up advertising a Thai visa service. Thai visa service did you say? Why would I need that? After all, I can get a 30 day visa on arrival, no? Ah. No. It would appear not, only a 15 day visa exemption if I travel by land. Bugger. And Friday, when I arrived, was a public holiday, so I'm waiting until Monday to get my visa. Still, Penang is a great place to stop and my hostel has a house band that plays every night. Shame about the beer though, it's damaging my wallet!
After a evenings drinking with Dave, I was more than ready to go (no reflection on you Dave!), hangover and dodgy tummy be damned. I say ready to go, I mean pretty certain I wouldn't expire on the road but not 100% certain as the first days cycling wore on. This wasn't just because it was my first time on the bike for a month and half. No, the main reason was it was hot and humid, with my thermometer read 41C and the humidity was apparently around 80%. Yowser.
The cycling started well, with KL proving to be an OK city to get out of and on Highway 1 north. To my shame I stopped at a Tesco's on the way to pick up a baguette and some cheese for lunch, although in the end the weather proved to be too hot for eating in. I slogged on constantly having to replenish my liquids. Water that was in a bottle for an hour was just about hot enough to make a cup of tea with. I made it to the town of Tanjong Malim, which although only some 80km north was good enough for me. Found the first hotel, checked in and flopped out in air con comfort! Always a bad sign when you speak to the locals and they complain about the weather.
Next day it proved to be more of the same, although setting off earlier let me get a couple of hours of easy cycling before it got too hot. Reckon the humidity had dropped a bit as well. The scenery was quite stunning in places, lots of limestone formations and jungle.
Still, an arduous day, this time around 130km. By the time I got to my destination, Ipoh, I was finding I couldn't actually drink any more, even though I was dehydrated. Slammed down some re-hydration solution which helped somewhat and resolved to take more breaks in future. Next day it was on to Taiping, a nice little place. It promised to rain for much of the time but unfortunately never did.
The next day, last day of cycling I tried to continue to adapt. Start early. It being too hot to eat during the day, have a big breakfast (noodles, soup, tofu, veggies with chili sauce, breakfast of champions!. Plenty of breaks. Worked well to start with but again by time I arrived in Penang I was a wreck. Maybe not as much of a wreck as I'd been previously though...
The plan was to spend a day in Georgetown on Penang Island then head north towards Thailand. However, as I cycled into the backpacker district from the ferry terminal I noticed quite a few signs up advertising a Thai visa service. Thai visa service did you say? Why would I need that? After all, I can get a 30 day visa on arrival, no? Ah. No. It would appear not, only a 15 day visa exemption if I travel by land. Bugger. And Friday, when I arrived, was a public holiday, so I'm waiting until Monday to get my visa. Still, Penang is a great place to stop and my hostel has a house band that plays every night. Shame about the beer though, it's damaging my wallet!
posted by Bill at 8:33 am
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