Le Tour de Kapas - The Tour reports

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11739165.post-1142424422789883292006-03-15T19:52:00.000+08:002006-03-15T20:14:26.586+08:00Le Tour de Kapas - The Tour reportsPrologue and Stage 1: Saturday 4th March. West Coast – Checkpoint; Checkpoint - Mersing The Prologue started at 5.30am from my house in West Coast crossing over the length of the island (18km!) to the check point. There is a weird shadow being projected on the ground in front of me every time I pass lamp post. For the first time I’m riding with panniers … Just got it the night before and improvised a rack. I just love my bicycle. It’s been my means of commuting to work, to town, to explore this country … it took me through some charity rides, it brought me across the starting line of a few races and now it’s bringing me touring (in style with the panniers behind!). Such a versatile faithful machine which will complete her 10 thousandth kilometer during this Tour! So cool. I see a few cyclists queuing in the motorcycle lanes at the checkpoint while I’m passing in the car lanes! Advantage of doing a solo ride is immediately obvious; I clear customs so much faster and the ride starts much earlier for me. Quick hi to the one leading the group, my friend Kevin who is bringing them to Tanjong Piai (Southern most point of continental/mainland Asia)! And I’m off to start the great adventure. It’s a good ride. I meet another solo cyclist heading down. We stop for a little chat. He’s from the US. Been teaching in some places in Pahang before, so he was visiting them there … he had a very interesting bike which could be totally dismantled and fitted in a normal sized luggage … really practical for traveling! And I finally reach The final 80km! This is the stretch that I really hate. Tried that before, around a year ago, without success. Refer to the first few post of this blog (the reason why this blog was started!) … It’s really the worse ride there is to do in Malaysia. Rolling hills going on for all of the 80km! And by the time you are on this stretch of the ride, it’s inevitably midday! No trees for shades … no drink stalls by the roadsides … just the oil palm plantations, the rolling hills, the overhead super heater switched to max power, the melting tarmac and the stupid idiot on a bicycle being passed by cars and trucks! This second attempt on this road should have been better since now I’m more experienced … yet there is a fear at the back of my mind. As I pass the point where I had abandoned last year (ya sure recognize the place!), I try to convince myself that I’m doing good … doing better … but there is also the fear that I might start suffering anytime soon! And it happens … the cramps start kicking in. Nothing much to distract the mind! I decide to stop and stretch coz this time there is no support vehicles to pick me up from the roadsides and I still have 30km to go. Getting off the bike causes even more pain! I’m screaming in pain while still having to hold the bike! I cursed myself for not having installed that bike stand before leaving! With the panniers, I can’t just drop the bike to the floor! I take it slow and 10km away, its horrible pain again! In normal circumstances, riding 30km would be an easy task, but this seemed to be the longest never-ending 30km!! Every 500 meters completed is an achievement! This is hard. I see an old man coming slowly on a simple “fisherman bike” (the old solid full steel black bikes …). I wave at him and he ignores. As he comes closer I wave higher. He stops and I go across for a chat. He immediately asks in French if I could speak his language. The old Frenchman is VERY anti-social. Doesn’t like to talk to ppl or worse, to be talked to! Guess it’s slightly different coz I speak his language. We have a long chat. Despite his stupid big French ego, I still admire what he has been doing on this bike. He’s been in Southeast Asia for the last 4 months. Toured all around Malaysia, went up across Thailand (which btw, he only did in 19 days total and sleeping in temples all throughout!), to Cambodia and then back down. He does all this really the most primitive and simple way … the old fashion way … no fancy equipment. So for the final 20km, I have something to WAAOH on! And here I was on this light bike, with so many speeds to play around with, to make it a smooth ride, yet still suffering of cramps, while that old man was still doing fine. I finally reach Mersing at around 3.30pm having completed 153 gruesome kilometers! Stage 2: Sunday 5th March. Mersing – Kuala Rompin I leave Mersing and about 14km further north, I go explore Air Papan. It’s a beach stretch reached by going through the kampongs and rice fields. Not too bad. Then I hit a very interesting section. It’s also rolling hills for 30km. The hills seem to be steeper and longer than the day before, but I’m still fresh, it’s still early and it makes for a fun ride! Actually this stretch between Air Papan and Endau is the most memorable stretch of road of the whole journey. In one of those endless roller coaster turns, I’m passed by a bunch of motorbikers … cool. That’s something I hope I’ll able to do one day! I stroll slowly through the little town of Endau exploring a bit. It’s a place I like. I continue on and eventually stop in Kuala Rompin for this leg after having completed 80km for the day (that includes a little 10km detour to explore Air Papan). In the series of unusual road kills (usual ones being snakes of all sorts, baby monitor lizards, birds, dogs, quirrels and all the other unrecognizable ones!), today I see a turtle. About 1 ½ times the size of my hand! I stop to examine it. It seems to be a very fresh kill! Yesterday was a baby tiger or a baby big cat of some sorts. I took pictures and will have my friends of the museum help me identify it later! As I go through the town later in the evening, I find myself stuck at a coffee shop enjoying a really nice ABC special (the nicest ever!) while watching an old black and white Malay movie showing on TV. I was in heaven and so appreciative of the whole joy of life around me. I’m surrounded by good young ppl around earning an honest decent living by working at a coffee shop. Stage 3: Monday 6th March. Kuala Rompin – Kuantan It’s expected to be a long ride, so I decided to start early. All throughout the night I could smell some smoke. Thought someone was smoking in the lounging area in the guest house … As I got out, I realized that the whole town was engulfed in a thick layer of smoke. I guess some piece of the Endau Rompin nature reserve must have gone in flames during the night! Despite the thick smoke, I decide to proceed, hoping that it will clear off soon. The visibility at some points is not more than 300 meters! It was really horrible and I had a special thought for all those asthmatic ppl out there as well as the Orang Asli out there! I wondered how they deal with this situation. It clears off as I head north, luckily. As I pass the morning school assemblies this Monday morning, I’m sometimes tempted to stop, go snatch the microphone from the headmaster and deliver a motivational talk to the school kids. I want to tell them to study hard and that all the sacrifices will someday pay off as it eventually provides the freedom to leave one’s dreams just like this stupid guy enjoying his time cycling aimlessly in a foreign land! Pusang pusang ajah! As it’s a long ride, I break it into smaller portions. First target is about 40km away, the town of Nenasi, for the first stop. Then another small leg of about 40km to the town of Pekan. This seems to be a really nice little town with a lot of historical sites and palaces to visit. The last portion is the final bit to Kuantan. When all seems to be going fine, on the super flat roads, the head wind picks up to make the life of a solo cyclist more difficult!! The final 9km into the city of Kuantan was a nightmare! I suddenly have to shift from the road no 3 to the no 2 which is the major carriage way from Kuala Lumpur to Kuantan. The traffic here is wild! The numerous major left turns which I must overshoot and the sand on the road sides does not help to make it a safe place for me with my thin wheels and 2 big panniers behind! Once in town, I go around looking for a nice little hotel. The ones that my guide book recommends are really sub-below acceptable standards!! I can’t believe it. At this point, I so wished there was someone else with me to share the cost. With that same amount of money I would have been able to enjoy a much better hotel! It’s been the 2nd longest ride of the tour with 140km completed that day. Stage 4: Tuesday 7th March. Kuantan – Cherating Today I know it will be a short ride. Since my hotel in right in front of the post office, I suddenly have the wonderful idea of sending a postcard back home. So I go out wandering in town looking for postcards. Couldn’t find any! I settled for a greeting card instead. I still need to go translate what was written in the card! For breakfast I try something new. “Lempek”. Not sure if I got that name right. It’s something I’ve never seen before. It’s kind of a pancake with yam inside I think. It’s cooked and looks like a prata … It’s served with a nice shrimp paste. I was not in a mood to go ask! Think its coz Kuantan is not a place I really liked despite its subtle charms (like the soccer game I watched the night before while eating my satay and cendol right next to the field just in front of the big Sultan Ahmad Shah Mosque!). Anyway, the post office was finally open and I rushed to post my letter and was happy that I would finally be able to start my ride and get out of this city! As I head out East-wards, I came to a very nice quiet corner of the town. I decided to explore it a bit and eventually bumped onto a gem! Teluk Chempedak is a nice little beach just 5km from the city centre. I kicked myself for not having explored that the night before. And there was a nice little cheap guest house right there! There is a McDonalds. I go to the drive through and order myself a nice chocolate milkshake. I explore the beach and the nice little boardwalk leading to the next beach with the bike in one hand and a milkshake in the other. It’s a nice place worth to be visited again someday! I proceed North-wards with Cherating in mind. I know its not very far, so I take my time to explore. I end up in a VERY busy industrial park. Big HUGE trucks passing me. Road conditions are not good at all! I know this can’t be the right track and eventually make my way back out onto the small quiet kampong roads! I reached Cherating early. Looking for a place to stay, I finally settle for Coconut Inn. The owner is a very scary man! He has “Turret” (not sure if that’s the right spelling. I’ll have to find out more about this nerve disoder). He wears extremely thick glasses and lenses which are literally taped down on his face! When I first saw him, I thought I got him while he was busy doing some welding work or something … He has some uncontrollable reactions during our conversations and that scared me a bit at first. But his place is nice. It’s a very simple hut with the bathroom window opening straight onto the river. It’s a cool place. As I go around the village in the evening, I realize that a lot of the chalets and guest houses around here are actually owned by ppl from KL or some other far away place like Seremban! There is a lady even from Hawaii. She’s been here for over 10 years now, married, with 3 kids … Only thing that distinguished her was the unusual accent. She had been working in Japan before and came to Malaysia trying to do a cycling ride as well… Didn’t manage to cycle much I understand and been there ever since! So, with the 10km of going round and round visiting, that makes it 64km for the day. Stage 5: Wednesday 8th March. Cherating – Dungun I head off from Cherating without a clear plan. I have in mind 2 possible destinations. Should I go to Tasik Kenyir or to Pulau Kapas? I told myself that I’ll figure out on the way. All depends on the condition I’m in! So I take it one step at a time. As usual, I break the day’s worth into smaller packages to make it look less tough! This kind of long rides is often more of a psychological challenge rather than a physical one! So short term goals and rewards are helpful to keep the morale high! I pass Cukai and Kemaman as I first enter the state of Terengganu. I go explore the beaches of Kijal a bit. The next objective is the town of Kertih. Then as I continue up north before reaching the town of Paka, I suddenly pass through a strange almost unreal stretch. Suddenly the roads are very good. Very clean. Double laned. Nice residences on each side! I even see a sign for an airport nearby! Some helicopters fly past. Seems like this is the Petronas city!! Then I come to the petrol refineries! One whole long stretch of those refineries! I even have a special “Lorong Motosikal”. I guess it would not be a good idea to be cycling around here at the time when they all kick off from work. At some points, the motorcycle lane seems to be wider than the car lane! I finally reach Dungun (pronounced more like doung-goun). It was hot. I was tired. I’m cycling along a long stretch of road right by the beach. I see a few homestays. I’m told that they are full! I wonder if it’s coz they saw a bicycle! The beach resort is too expensive! Anyway, I’ll have to go right into town or maybe go further to Rantau Abang. So I decide to take a break. The nice sea is too tempting. I go take a dip. It’s really refreshing despite the big waves. I’m then fresh enough to go round and round again. After having done 102km for the day, I decide to stop in what seems to be the Chinatown end of the city. I later go jalan-jalan again. Today there is a sports day at a local school. I think it’s more like a regional sports event. Anyway it’s the highlight of evening in town. I join the crowds by the roadsides to see the relays closing the show. With my bike in one hand and a big nice smile, I seem to have made the day of a group of girls! Only thing is that I must remember that the winks don’t work when I’m wearing the sunglasses!! At night at the hotel, doing the routine of going through the maps and guide book planning the next day’s route and destination, I finally make up my mind to go to Tasik Kenyir. That means I’ll have to go to Kuala Berang. I suspect that this town is on the highlands so that would make for a nice climb for a change. I pick up my reading book full of excitement about the challenges ahead. I eventually go to sleep but soon jump out of bed remembering a brochure I had picked up in Cherating the day before. I realized that it might be too expensive and not worth a solo expedition to Tasik Kenyir. I settled for keeping it as some other adventure to be done with friends in the future. That immediately meant that the next day would be an exciting ride to Pulau Kapas!! Stage 6: Thursday 9th March. Dungun – Pulau Kapas It was an exciting start of the day coz I knew that the destination would be Pulau Kapas! Been there before and I really loved this island. It’s a jewel not very popular with tourists. I start early for 2 reasons: I’m too excited and I might want to catch the 11 or 11.30 boat! I make a little stop at Rantau Abang just to see for a while. There seems to be some nice accommodations there as well. The road is all flat. There are marsh lands on both sides. Cool little ride and I did feel a bit cold riding so early in the morning. I reach Marang in no time. Along the way a nice food smell compelled me to stop. I tried this thing called Sata. It’s shredded fish mixed with coconut, wrapped in pandan leaf and barbequed! Nice stuff. Knowing that food is quite ex on the island, I decided to stock up a bit before going and I remembered just in time to look for a disposable underwater camera! I reach the jetty just in time for the 11.30 boat departure! Some ppl are surprised that I’m bringing my bike over on the boat … As I reach Pulau Kapas, I head straight for the Light House, right at the end of the beach. I asked for a room but eventually decided to take a bed in the dorm. It’s good value! I discovered some really nice place on the third beach from the jetty. Qimi Chalets look good. They have a nice little hut high up in the canopy. Not yet completed. Without electricity and water so right now you pay as much as you want! It was occupied at the time, so I didn’t manage to secure it. What I managed to secure though is some really nice food! Qimi is a little 5 year old boy (extremely smart for his age I found!) and his mum does some really nice cooking! They are also from KL! She used to be an air stewardess with the Malaysian Airlines. I made some good friends at the dive shop there as well. I was the big talk of the island coz I was the only Mauritian they have ever met (although I was there with 3 other Mauritians just about a year ago … I must admit that we didn’t interact with the locals much during that trip then!) and there are not many stupid ppl who come over there with a bicycle (let alone all the way from Sg)! And he speaks some Malay and talks to the French couple in what does not sound English! Inbetween all the socializing, I go for long good snorkeling and swimming! The island life is really good. The tough decision of whether to spend some money to go diving was eased by the fact that the dive master would be unable to come over! So no diving possible! Too bad, but it’s ok! Stage 8: Saturday 11th March. Pulau Kapas – Pulau Duyong (Kuala Terengganu) I reached the island on Thursday and will be leaving today. Went for a nice final swim in the morning! Really nice. Qimi and his mam and one of their German guests come to walk me to the jetty this morning. Qimi wanted to see my bicycle. I’ve had such a good time on this island. I’ll sure be back again specially that now I have some friends there. As usual I was still undecided as to where to head to today. The French couple I met on Kapas had highly recommended a compulsory visit to a nice place in Kuala Terengganu. It was also in my guide book. Awi’s Yellow House on Pulau Duyong. That’s a little island in the middle of the Terengganu river. Since it was already the afternoon, I decided to take a very slow ride to reach the city of Kuala Terengganu and eventually made my way to Awi’s place. It was not easy to find in the nice quiet little kampong specially that it didn’t have any signage. I asked around and was directed to a blue house! While other houses were yellow, Awi had repainted his blue! He showed me the guest house. It’s a really really nice place right on the river. As he made me visit, he mentioned a few times that the toilets were very simple. I later realized what simple means in this island! The room is just about big enough to fit a double bed and some space to walk around it. In one corner, behind the ¾ high curtain is the toilet. Very basic: just a shower, a tap and a nice squarish hole in the planks. At low tides it’s mudskippers that you can see down there instead of the fishes! Anyway, I like the quiet little place. In the evening I went to explore the city. Good long exploration and also looking for the very famous Nasi Dagang. I also found the nice beach area near the hospital and the big A&W float root beer which I could not finish! Biggest mistake ever: I went to check my email! I’m being asked to attend an interview back in Sg on Tuesday! Should I ignore that mail and continue on with my trip? It was a tough decision to make. Eventually I was at the bus station buying myself a ticket back to Sg! I was not the only cyclist there. There was a Belgian couple. The guy had long perfectly white hair! Nice. They were departing that same night to get back to Sg while I was trying to get a ticket for a return on Monday! That cleared the little moment of panic and tension as the Belgians feared there would have been some problems to accommodate 3 bikes on the bus! We had a long chat and I helped them load their bikes onto the bus before I made my way back to Pulau Duyong. When leaving in the afternoon I had purposely tried to memorize certain landmarks so that I could make my way back into those complex little nameless roads in the Kampong. Problem is that those houses which were bright yellow and green right at the junctions during the evening were not very obvious anymore in the moonlight! I went round and round for a while until I reached a place which I didn’t recognize at all! Eventually I admitted defeat and asked for directions. Turns out that I was not very far! Told Awi that I would be extending my stay for one more night. On Sunday I went around town in the morning to visit. Then back to the hut to sleep after lunch and out again in the evening to go Jalan Jalan again! Later at night as I came back, I did a second big mistake. Sat down in the kitchen! I was stuck now listening to the old drunk British guy. He is the one taking care of this place. He’s been around for a while. I heard he has been traveling a lot in Malaysia. It’s his birthday the next day and there he is all drunk telling me his whole life story. Such a sad life! Damn long and sad! I try to be compassionate, offer the listening ear coz he must be very lonely, hardly get to speak to ppl … I keep thinking that this is yet another test for me. I’ve been in these kinds of weird situations so many times before in my life! But this time I find that he is an idiot. Just sitting there getting himself drunk and complaining about his whole sad stories! It doesn’t seem to me like he is trying to resolve the bad elements of his life … so as soon as the story finally reach the end of the second act, just before the curtains go up again for the third, I immediately jump up, telling him how I have to wake up early tomorrow morning to catch such an early bus!! … I see that he is very disappointed but like all drunk man with big pride offers me a soft handshake and rest his heavy head on the table! I quickly rush back to my quarters. No reading tonight coz I’m supposed to be asleep with lights off. I certainly don’t want him to come over to continue the talking here! Part of his stories was a bit scary and involved the possible assumption of a murder of his father either by his mother or maybe one of the kids! (oh btw, “kids” are baby goats according this English man who privately took A-level English literature at the age of 16 while he was still doing his O-levels … I managed to upset him a bit earlier by asking what his kids were now up to when he mentioned that he had 2 lovely children!! Oooops!). So now I could only sleep with one eye closed! Stage 9: Monday 13th March. The return! The next morning, still drunk, he had prepared tea for me. The previous days he only had shorts on while today it was only a long t-shirt!! I gulped the tea down the soonest possible, paid for my 2 night stays, wished him a Happy Birthday and left as quickly as possible cutting short his “caring” questions about whether I had enough food and water to last me the long journey back! I was releaved to be back on the roads! I went all the way across town to have a nice Malaysian breakfast! Roti canai. I saw a big crowd at that place the day before and they seemed to be doing something special there. It was indeed very good. Later as I’m sitting on the bus, I see all those 720km+ that I’ve done during the last 9 days being undone in just 10 hours. Actually the southern part of the journey back is on a different route. One which I also had I mind for a cycling return. The way I look at the roads now have changed. I’m now scrutinizing the roads … analyzing it inch by inch. I notice all the uphills. Take note of how long they are! I see the presence and absence of a good paved road shoulder. I notice the heavy traffic. More big trucks and speeding buses along this road! I notice that its long stretches without any possible rehydration pit stops although it offers relatively more shades! … Until now I’ve always thought that the best way to travel, discover and appreciate a culture was to travel with a local. But I’ve found an equally good means. Traveling alone on a bicycle! Just that next time I should probably remember to bring along my translation dictionary! Fixing it on my handlebar would have helped a lot as I was devouring all the numerous sign boards all along the coast! It would have also avoided some stunned moments when I walked into a hotel and asked: “Berapa?” and the reply I got was a question: “Bilik?”! Although I did manage to make out certain things over time … It’s been an amazing adventure. Several liters of Teh Tarik, 100+ and Es Limau have been ingested. Lots of food as well to make sure I did not loose a single Kg at the end of the long rides +_+ Cycling is such a good excuse to eat more! There definitely will be a second edition of Le Tour de Kapas one day!ticopinoreply@blogger.com0