Today we took the Jungle Trek to the other side of the island. We saw two kinds of monkeys, crazy huge ants, birds with very complex calls, monitor lizards, and lots of fish and coral while swimming. We trekked and swam, trekked more and swam again. It felt good to get some hiking in, and of course the swimming is amazing when there’s coral and so many fish, and so refreshing after working up a sweat.

On the way back we saw a new kind of monkey hanging out near a government building. We stopped to look at them and say hi, but when we did they hissed and one charged me, showing his fangs. I have to say, it was darn scary! I will give these monkeys their space next time. Yow.

Nice monkey!

Mean monkey!

Tonight we’re eating dinner (right now!) at the posh Perhentian Resort, a good walk along an up-and-down wooden walkway around the point. We heard there’s free wireless, and it’s true. So, after many days without a post, tonight is the night.

Tomorrow we will take the speed boat back to the coast at Kuala Besut. From there we will head west for three or four days maybe, up and over the middle part of the peninsula through the jungle and mountains to Pulau Pinang, another island. We will get to see how different the West coast is from the East, and visit a region many have told us we must not miss. The food is supposed to be terrific, and it is not the monsoon season there. I guess we should prepare for more heat from there on.

Eat, swim, read. Repeat.

My camera memory card crashed today and all pictures were lost from the last week. Very unfortunate.

The road from Kuala Terengganu yesterday to Kuala Besut today was a quiet coastal road recommended by Al–thanks Al for all the great advice so far! It really was great to get off of the busy highway and be able to look around more, and actually hear ourselves talk to each other. Riding this bike tour makes me appreciate what a special ride the Great Divide was. It was so remote and quiet most of the time, we could sometimes go hours without having to really watch for cars, all the time hearing the birds sing and the air whoosh through the pines. This is a different kind of tour, and after riding some highways, already I look forward to these quieter roads like today.

We arrived in Kuala Besut at about 12:40, and almost immediately were approached about a boat to the islands. The young man was very helpful with information, even offering to let us park our bikes in their office while we were at the island. There are no roads or paths to ride on the Perhentians, and taking a bike isn’t recommended. But it was all very fast and he was putting the pressure on big time, so Dave wanted to check around just a bit before we got on board. He found out that the kid was right, that’s the only boat going out today and the price was fair, though higher for the monsoon season. We decided to go with it, so we stashed our bikes, grabbed all our panniers and got on the boat.

The ride was insane, in my opinion, but Dave was laughing his way through it. He’s nuts. But he’s been on rougher boat rides while working in the Maldives. I had prepared myself for another ferry boat ride like we had to Pulau Tioman, which was slightly alarming, but not so bad once I relaxed. At the very end. This time we were faced with a speed boat ride in a much smaller, open boat. Yikes.

The ocean was rough from the monsoon winds. Even though it hadn’t been stormy in the full monsoon way, the winds still work the seas up into a choppy mess, and we crossed right over that choppy water, sometimes flying through the air and landing so hard I thought the boat would break. Dave says boats don’t break from that, but I don’t quite believe him. Yikes! The swells were big, but uneven. So we’d skip over the top of some of them, landing hard on the other side, and others we’d go up and down with the swell like a roller coaster. Dave had told me to keep my eye on the horizon to avoid getting sick, and it worked. Boy was I concentrating on that horizon.

I was sitting next to a bar, and I held on to that bar behind me so hard that my entire right side is stiff and sore, and the fingernails of my left hand are still numb from gripping the seat. Yes, I am over dramatic. No one else on that boat looked like they were gripping so hard, but I couldn’t help it. I sort of enjoyed little bits of the ride when we weren’t flying off the far side of a swell, the driver was obviously slowing and working through some of it so that we wouldn’t, but then he’d speed right up again and I’d tense right back up. All this stuff IS going to teach me to relax and go with the flow, right? I certainly hope so. I really do need to relax.

We checked out all the accommodations, four different places with different types of rooms, and as is our habit, we decided on the first one we had seen. We’re staying at the Reef, and the owner, Anuar, just arrived for the season yesterday, so we think we’re some of the first customers. He gave us a beautiful chalet for 50RM, a discount from the usual 80RM price because of the season. Anuar later gave us some great information about the island and some advice for where to swim and hike. He’s a very laid back, quiet man but very friendly. We really enjoy it here.

63 km

My shoulder has been aching a bit more the last couple of days, so we took a shorter day today and also followed the advice of Chris from the Crazy Guy on a Bike website, which was to stay at the Penarik Inn. Great advice, Chris. The owner greeted us immediately as we rode up, saying “Welcome! Welcome! You are welcome here!” and served us up some tea.

After drinking our tea and feeling a little refreshed, we checked out the chalet, and it was rustic and airy, with a nice bathroom attached. They charged 35RM for the 40RM room because it’s still the off season. They get a lot of cyclists here, especially Dutch cyclists, and they seemed happy to see us arrive on bikes.

We then changed our clothes and walked down to the beach to swim. Well, this still being the monsoon season, the water was quite rough and it was a steep beach. Dave decided to swim in the waves while I stood and watched. He found a styrofoam buoy with a rope attached, and he started slinging it into the surf and then swimming out after it. It was pretty fun to watch.

The owner’s son made us a delicious dinner of egg soup, fish with curry sauce, rice, and a sweet mung-bean dessert.

It stormed sometime in the night, and our breezy bungalow was cool and quiet.

79 km

We enjoyed our highly discounted room at the Mayong Sari Resort last night, but during high season we wouldn’t have been able to afford it. For those looking for advice, we might suggest riding through Dungun, because this morning we saw a few nice looking guest houses on the beach, a better beach, between 10-15 km into our ride. If you can make it that far, it might be a quieter and more enjoyable place to stay.

We rode into Kuala Terengganu in the afternoon to see many of the men dressed for prayer at mosque. When the prayer call came from the speakers of every mosque in the city, all the men made their way in, and the roads nearly were quiet.

We followed our Lonely Planet SE Asia guide to a T today and found a room at Ping Anchorage–a huge room with enough space for several bunks of travelers, though it was just us and our bikes–and we went to dinner at MD Curry House around the corner. Both were excellent choices. We especially enjoyed Uncle Chan’s welcome: he asked us if we were vegetarians and when we said yes, he told us to just sit down. He then brought out an entire meal, complete with oranges for dessert. It was delicious and plenty of food, since he kept refilling the rice and sauces.

We walked to and around China town and bought some tasty snacks, then got to bed for some good rest in our air conditioned room.

91 km

We got up at just past six and were out of the room just after seven. We ate a snack in the room so we could ride a ways before having breakfast. Nothing in Cherating looked open as we rode by anyway. It’s a sleepy town waiting for tourist season.

We had breakfast at a roadside cafe, Malaysian style. Dave had nasi lemak and I had a different kind of nasi (rice) that was yellow and had Indian-tasting spices. I also had and egg and a pinch of vegetables. It was so thickly humid that even in the cool morning air we were dripping with sweat. We went back to the table to look at the other treats the woman had out, more sweet goodies. In addition to one we’d had before (green gooey sweet thing), Dave also chose one that looked like a small pancake folded in half with yellow pudding inside. We couldn’t determine the exact flavor, but it was really tasty. The people here like their sweets.

Some of the day was through road construction again, but we had a bit more room. We went through areas of the jungle that were being cleared for what looked like preparation for big wide roads into the forest. They were cleaned to smooth sandy soil, with right angles and straight lines cut in the forest. I really don’t know what they were planning.

Other areas were beautiful and close enough to the ocean that we caught glimpses now and then and smelled salty air.

Late in the day we went through the Petronas gas refinery area (I think) with entire towns built around the largest power station I’ve ever seen. The land was cleared flat, you would never have guessed it was once forested, and tidy roads, houses, and other buildings were laid out for many kilometers. The traffic was fairly heavy, but we didn’t feel it too badly because the outside lane was designated just for motorcycles and scooters. An entire full-width lane! Besides that, there was a nice shoulder, so we really had plenty of room.

We landed in Dungun, another town waiting for the tourists. This time we finally got a good deal with a hotel (we’ve been trying to bargain, but no one seemed interested so far); we got a 120 RM room for 60 RM, but no breakfast included. “That’s fine, we’ll take it,” I say, because we have our own snacks and there are cafes everywhere along the road. The room is very nice, and we enjoy cooling off in the air conditioning.

This time of year we are riding into headwinds every day. We are nearing the end of the wet season on the east coast. There are very steady northeast winds that blow every day. I estimate we could probably travel almost 50% faster if we were traveling south instead of north. Although we are still in the wet season, it has barely rained at all. We have had hardly enough rain during any day to get us wet. An actual rainy day would feel very refreshing because of the heat. Instead, it is just humid.

So far, the most people we have seen riding on the same motor scooter is four. Usually it is a father, mother and two children all somehow riding the same tiny motor scooter. I am still waiting to see five people on one scooter, and I’m sure it is only a matter of time. I’m not sure what the minimum age is to drive a scooter, but it would seem to be about the time their legs are just long enough to reach the ground from the seat. We have seen some really young kids riding scooters. I am pleasantly surprised to see more people riding scooters with helmets than without. Yesterday we saw an old man driving a pink scooter with a helmet that looked like a cotton ball.

We had dinner one night at a restaurant with several Osama bin Laden posters on the wall. Michelle had not noticed the posters as she answered the very common question about where we are from with an, “United States”. It was hard to read the face of our waiter as he learned of our home country. He confirmed with an, “America”. It was not the quick acknowledgment and smile that was so common with most everyone else we had met. However, our dinner was fine, and the waiter was friendly and very accommodating to our meal requests. Although it was at times an uncomfortable experience for me, I think there was a positive exchange of understanding that occurred there. I believe we are all living together in a world of human folly where ignorance is dangerous and attempts at understanding can bring out the best of humanity.

Drivers in Malaysia actually stop at a red stoplight even if there is no cross traffic. However, lane boundaries are very fluid. There does not seem to be any police presence attempting to maintain order, but for some reason people still follow the basic rules. How strange. Maybe there is a stiff penalty for breaking a traffic law and this is enough to persuade people into following the rules with minimal enforcement. Similar to the Malaysian method of dealing with drug traffickers. Drug traffickers are hanged. Period. I am guessing it is not this severe for a traffic violation, but stiff enough for drivers to wait for a green light.

The drivers in Malaysia are generally very considerate and attentive. They are used to sharing the road with bicycles and scooters so it makes for a nice place for a bike tour, even when the traffic is heavy. We get many “hellos”, waves and thumbs-up from passing motorists and pedestrians. The local people have been very friendly and nice to us. This is a great place to ride a bike.

Today we slept in until 8:30 then went out in search of breakfast. We had pancakes topped with fruit, and coffee for Dave, tea for me, at the restaurant attached to our guest house. But the portions were small, and we decided to hunt out a cheaper, locals’ restaurant. We found a place hopping with people just down the road, a typical Malaysian outdoor restaurant (all but just a couple of the places we’ve eaten at have been outside in the breeze). We had breakfast number two: nasi lemak (rice, egg, chilli sauce, mini fish). Finally we felt fairly full. We went back to the room to relax and read.

Later in the afternoon we walked down to the beach to swim. This was a very different experience from Pulau Tioman because it was all sand with no reef, and had more waves. We swam out in the warm water and played in the waves. The swimming is good for my shoulder, stretching and exercising it differently than how I use it on the bike all day.

Which reminds me. A few people have emailed and asked about my shoulder. I should give an update. It’s working well most of the time, but starts to ache a little after about 60 km. I stretch it out and it will feel better for a while. The day we biked (and pushed) up that insanely steep path on Pulau Tioman it really hurt, but it was just fine after a couple of days. The only way to cause bones, ligaments, and muscles to get denser and stronger is to push them just a bit harder than they’re used to. They’ll respond by beefing up. I feel like the stretched and torn ligaments in my shoulder are getting stronger, and even though my shoulder looks whacked, it’s working well. I can even sometimes sleep for a short bit on that side, which is my favorite side to sleep on.

97km

We had a nice room in Pekan at the Chief’s Guest House, which was recommended by a local. We’d looked at a couple of other “hotels” but they were really disgusting and probably just brothels. I was grossed out after looking at them, so we were so pleased when we saw the Chief’s Guest House. It’s spacious and clean with shiny hardwood floors and nice bathroom for 55 RM ($17 US). This place would probably cost at least a hundred in the US, probably more.

We had a hot pot and coffee in the room, so we decided to eat our own little snack in the room before heading out early. Then we stopped after about an hour of riding for breakfast: Nasi Lemak, or rice, fried egg and chili paste with a few mini fish. We also shared five small fried yummy goodies set out on platters. They looked like donuts, but were more dense and chewy inside, I’m guessing made with rice flour. They had different fillings or coatings, most had some coconut in or on them. These were so good! Then we rode on.

After about 48 km we got to Kuantan, even though our guide book said it would be 35. The distance is not marked between all cities on our big Malaysia map, so often we are guessing. Kuantan was our biggest Malaysian city so far. We got more money from an ATM and finally exchanged our remaining Singapore dollars. We had lunch at a Thai restaurant.

Here’s the thing about the restaurants and food in Malaysia. Chicken is vegetarian. I am not kidding. They put chicken in everything, sneak it in there like they think you need it or they’re trying to clean out the kitchen. They call a dish vegetarian but it will come with chicken. You can even ask for no chicken, no meat (in English and in Malay) and they will nod their heads, repeat it back to you and still the dish will come with chicken. I’m OK with this, but Dave is really a vegetarian, has been for at least 15 years, and he does not want to eat chicken.

The riding was hectic today. Most of the way there was road construction with narrow shoulders, lots of traffic and many semi trucks. It was noisy and busy and that really wears me out. Not to mention the ever-present headwind. I was tired and sore by the time we got to Cherating, but it was OK because we planned for a rest day here tomorrow. This is a quiet little beach town with very few tourists and we expect a good rest.