98 km

We woke fairly early and were on the road at 7:00. It was cool and breezy, and felt so much better than any time the day before. We had cycled 35 km before noon, when it started getting hot and humid. Most of the day’s ride was through rolling hills of palm oil plantations. Almost no real jungle was left. In several places we saw newly-cleared hillsides looking stark against the surrounding green, and rows of baby palm trees lined each terrace. It made us think of those monkeys we saw the day before. How long until they have no place left to swing and play and eat? We also noticed a stark difference between the little patches of jungle and the plantations: one radiated with sounds of birds and other animals and the other was silent.

We arrived in Mersing and found a cheap hotel for 30 RM (Malaysian Ringgit), about ten US dollars. There were several in this price bracket, though the ones in our guide book were closed at the time. No big deal, you come to expect the same things soon enough when you’re traveling on a budget: small room, and an all-in-one bathroom that has the shower coming out of the wall right in the middle of the wee room. Sometimes you have a bucket to flush the toilet. The places we’ve seen so far are clean and tidy, but this kind of bathroom takes a little adjustment. We could obviously pay more for a little better room, but even paying twice or three times as much gets you the same sort of room, just a nicer looking one.

We ate dinner and discussed the options ahead of us: continue to head North on the coast or take a ferry out to Pulau Tioman. We knew we didn’t want to stay in Mersing, a busy, noisy little city.