WOOF-WOOF...ing

At Serukam Farm with Fred, Bruce, myself, Auntie, Uncle,

Fiona. Johnny, and Xin

During our time cycling out of Penang we realized that we were struggling with our route after southern Thailand and with our feelings of being at loose ends without a focus.  Fortunately without much effort we truly killed the two birds in Sungia Pentai, Malaysia at Serakum Farm, and it was turned out to be better than we ever could have imagined.  With Georgetown and Penang behind us we were not sure if we would enjoy the rest of Malaysia until we entered Thailand in a few days.  Those worries quickly abated when we arrived in Sungai Pentani and met Xin and her wonderful family.  Initially we planned to stay with Xin for one day, just an overnight, and we planned to pick her brain about future routes as she had toured through Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, and India.  The places at the farm that she lived on were full, so Xin was kind enough to put us up with her parents, Soo and Chow, a 10-minute bike ride from the farm.  That first evening all the volunteers came to Soo and Chow's; Fred, from France, who had been working with Xin to get the farm started for the last nine months, May, also from France, but she had been living in Australia for years, and Johnny and Fiona, a couple from Scotland that had a few years to travel and work.  The next day we went to visit the farm and the hospitality of "Uncle" and the wonderful food prepared by "Auntie" along with the great energy exuded by Xin and the group was plenty to convince us to ask if we could stay and volunteer for a few days.  We found out that her and the family had been already talking and wanted us to stay...so there you have it.  During the day we helped get the farm back on it's feet, clearing fields, painting walls, rebuilding stairs, and just enjoying doing something other than rotating our legs in a circular pattern for 5-6 hours each day.  We also were blessed to be invited to a family party that consisted of food and beer that seem to have no end.  In an attempt to repay our hosts we offered to make homemade pizza before we left.  It was easier than we thought to aquire the ingredients but it should have come at no surporise that stoves are all but non-exitant, as in most of Asia.  No matter, a little ingenuity by our French friend and viola...wood fired grilled pizza, and some of the best crust I have made (toot-toot).

  

Bruce building chicken coop stairs, helping with the farm's mosaic table

  

Making pizza for 25, a lovely evening on the farm with our makeshift pizza oven 

  Leaving was more difficult than we could hav imagined when we first arrived in this out-of-the-way town of strangers, now feeling more like family.  But, alas, we knew we would have to continue at some point so we said a misty eyed farewell, invited everyone to come to the states to visir in the near future, and left feeling full of happiness.

We moved on to Alor Setar and another Warmhowers host.  This time the experience was slightly different to say the least.  Our hot was welcoming but he was not confident with his English and we, obviouly had not mastered even the begin levels of the native language.  He took us to a vegetarian meal and afterward we joined in on a chanting mediation group that he frequents.  This was all pleasant but mostly nonverbal time spent together.  The next morning he toook us to see his city, the temples, mosques and the like and then offered to ride to our next destination with us (only about 40km).  He also told us that he would set it up so that we could stay with a friend of his in the next town of Kangar Perlis.  However upon arrival we discovered,  to our dismay, that he had not notified anyone prior to our arrival and that the family had no room for us to stay.  They did invite us in and allowed us to shower and gave us food and drinks.  With minimal English translation we found out that they also knew our previous nights host only briefly and that he often only spoke when absolutley necessary.  We apologized and ofered to leave and find accomodation but the family would not hear of it.  They told us it was an "honor to host us" and that they were very happy.  They put us up in a local hotel (owned by a friend of theirs) and took us to an amazing seafood restaurant for what may have been the most amazing in a recent series of outstanding meals.  This family truly exemplified that which had come to be a part of Asian culture that we adore; their willingness and pleasure at taking in and treating strangers/travelers as family or better.  How will we ever find the time, money, and space to repay all these fantastic people that have done so much for us on this journey?!

  

With the Oon family, who were so good to us, me in the local mosque in Alor Setar

Bridging the Malaysia-Thailand Gap

Our last push in our abridged Malaysia tour promised to offer a treat of sorts- the ability to dust off the old nylon and screen home-away-from-home and spend a night in the outdooors, this time at a beauthiful park tucked in the Northwest corner of the country.  The location, Perlis State Park, just happened to be in our path as we made our way toward the Malay-Thai border.  Though it was quite a treat for us to stay in this paleolithic jungle-like environment which showed signs of once being a bustling and popular educational park with gardens, caves, rivers, and animals.  Now in somewhat disrepair, most likely from government defunding (the Malaysian economy has been on a downward trend as a result of falling oil prices) it was still a treat to walk around, set up camp, watch monkeys climb the tree canopy and at dark witness the pyrotechnic wonder of nature as the fireflies (something that Chiara had never seen in her life) flitted about the field.  Truly a fantastic way to end a fantastic tour in Malaysia.

    

Pictures from Perlis.  Doing my best to model pose.

The next day we said a fond fairwell to Malaysia and headed to cycle across the border into Thailand, the first time we crossed a border by bike on the trip.  After a fairly uneventful crossing into Thailand we made an easy pedal into the city of Hat Yai.  Hat Yai is all but unknown to foreigners unless they cross the border it is the third largest city in the country; unlike all the others there is little to no tourist market and is mostly Thai locals. We once again had an awaiting Warmshowers host and Chiara was ready to burst with anticipation over her impending massage (one that she had been thinking about since Taiwan).  Priscille and her husband John were amazing hosts for two nights, Priscille cooked us some wonderful dinners, we shared finally- cheap-again beers, Chiara was able to shop, we both enjoyed a two hour full-body Thai massage for 300 bhat (about eight USD) where the massa, t therapists worked out all our kinks and troubles.

    

Our first temple right in the border, yay, Thai massage! It hurts and feels good at the same time.

Priscille, making serious Prince-eyes 

After our restful time in Hat Yai, we hightailed it north along a flat and trouble-free road that eventually led us to Rangot.  We had intended to find a flat spot somewhere to camp but as the sun began to drop and our search for food was in full swing a nice Thai woman and her husband called out from their passing vehicle and aked us where we were going.  After a bit of conversation, she and her husband led us to a local food market and eventually to there friend's "Resort" which was still under construction.  They introduced us to Will, a lively young guy who spoke quite a bit of English.  His family was doing a "soft opening" (as Portland folks might pretentiously call it) of their new beautiful (and very unpretentious) resort.  Will let us camp in the common area, and that evening we also met Martyn, a recent arrival from Lithuania who was on Rangot to teach Englissh.  Lively converation ensued covering all topics from music, to travel, to politics, and after a few hours and another surprise flat tire (after over 5000km we are starting to notice that this happens a bit too readily and that maybe it is time for that new set of Schwalbe tires we have been talking about), we decided that one day was not enough at the resort.  We needed a little more time to explore the lake next to the resort, paddle around in the kayak that Will kept on the property, and just plain chill out a bit.  Which is exactly what we did the whole next day, save for a very cool kayak paddle at sunset to the main town market 5 km from the property, and a visit to a local bar where we drank Leo beer and listened to wonderfully talented local Thai musicians.  

     

Right outside of Will's resort, rowing to the might market with Martyn

Will is playing guitar here

We went to bed that night unsure about when we might leave this great little spot we had stumbled upon but when we arose the next morning we both knew that the road was calling so we quickly packed up and hit the road.  Sorry to not be able to say goodbye to our new friends as they were still tucked up in bed, we left a note and a surprise for them to find!  

Penang.

Moving north we were lucky to have been announced by Keiith's family in Singapore and we were hosted by two diffrent  family members.  His Auntie in Parit Buntar and an Uncle on Penang Island.  We want to thank them and the rest of Keith's family for everything they have done to make our time on the peninsula enjoyable and filled with great food!

Now to Penang Island and the famously beautiful and well-preserved colonial city of Georgetown.  We had been riding shorter distances (<80km or about 48miles/day) since we had started touring Malaysia.  It felt like we had gotten a bit soft after our time spent in Singapore and KL.  Though it had been only a bit over a week of downtime it appeared we were starting to feel every bit of the >5000 kms and almost 5 months pedaled thus far.  The time also seems to have given us a renewed desire to explore, but it could have also be the return of the afternoon rains and the deliciously exotic new foods?  Either way we found ourelves not minding the soreness or the relentless humidity.  And arriving via a short ferry ride to Penang Island was quite exciting.  

The second day we rode around the island perimeter (about an 80km trip).  It was a beautifully scenic and enjoyable day.  That is until I noticed a problem with Chiara's bike while changing a flat tire?  It appeared that in KL when we were tuning up the bikes, I, in haste and dim light, had replaced the uniquely designed concentric bottom bracket BACKWARDS?!!  For those that are not familiar with bikes this means that as one pedals forward you are actually unthreading and/or causing potential serious damage to the bike.  Limping to the closest village we found a small local bike shop.  The gentleman inside made it readily obvious to us from moment one that he had no interest in helping us.  We tried, through a friendly local man interperting, to explain our situation and asked to use his tools to fix the bike.  Completely out of character for any of the people we had met in Malaysia or any other of the Asian countries we visited, for that matter, the shop owner basically threw us out into the street with a bike in pieces and no other way to fix it.  I was livid and Chiara was able to calm me and suggest we go to one of the ubiqitous the shops and ask to use their tools.  We found one where the owner was excited to see us try to fix our bikes, bikes different from any other they had seen, with a hammer, hex wrenches and will.  After just 15 minutes we had the bike back together and running like new.  The shop owner, and all those whom stopped on the street to watch, smiled and refused to accept any money for the use of his tools.  That is the Malaysia/ Asia that we have grown to know and love!  And to top it off, afterwards we went to get a cold drink and the local interpreter from the bike shop came up to us saying that he had been looking for us for 30 minutes.  He was going to put us in a van and take us to the next town to find a bike mechanic that would help us?!  Bless these amazing people, so willing to go out  of their way in order to help those in need.  We thanked him immensely and then continued our journey around the island and back to our hosts home right as the evening rainstorms began.  

  

The fine gentleman who helped fix the bike

A little note about Georgetown and Penang Island from me (Chiara). If you love restored and/or crumbling colonial architecture, Georgetown is a must-see.  There are streets of beautiful buildings in various states of either repair or disrepair.  Though there was a fair amount of tourists, Georgetown still didn't feel too touristy, and it was pretty easy to get off the beaten path. The ride around the island was awesome, low traffic when we got outside the city, the perfect mix of rural, villages, pretty landscape, and it was very easy to find a deserted piece of beach to jump in and take a swim in the warm ocean waters.  I could have definitely spent a few more days in Georgetown, but...

    

We arose early the next morning, ate, wrote a Thank You letter to Keith's uncle, whom we hadn't seen since we arrived and made our way back towarrd the ferry.  We enjoyed the architecture on our way and stopped for a bit of delicious Roti Cenai and Te Tarik (two of our favorite food items).  Once we crossed back to the mainland we started north again toward our next host location.  

    

Street scenes in Georgetown 

  

Coming back from our private beach and our favorite run-down old Chinese school

Plenty of cool street art

And now we bring you...Malaysia, and not a moment too soon.

It was time to unburden "Chief" Keith's family (at least that's what I called him in my head) as we had definitely overstayed our 2-3 day Warmshowers host rule.  Keith and his daughter drove us through the Singapore-Malaysia  border, where we could take an inexpensive bus 4+ hours to Kuala Lampur.  We initially had planned to cycle through all of Malaysia, but a month or so back we were informed that the air quality in both Singapore and Malaysia was abhorrent due to the seasonal burning of fields in Sumatra and Kalamantan, Indonesia.  This, we were informed, was nothing that anyone would want to cycle through.  In the recent days however, the air quality had improved greatly due to return of the monsoon season and the rains that usually follow.  Hence, by the time we had arrived in Singapore the smoke and haze produced by the poor Indonesian farmers had abated greatly.

A small aside here: You know when your a Pacific North Westerner when...it rains after more than a month in "tropical paradise" with endless days of sun and heat and you finally are able to breath easy and a huge weight of anxiety is gone. Rain! Love you! Miss you! Rain that makes everything cool, fresh, and green. 

Our departure was fairly routine, and we had a comfortable if not-particularly-exciting transit. Our arrival in KL was similarly easy, and though I was a complete nay-sayer about taking the metro from the bus station, Bruce's savvy ways prevailed again and we easily slung our bikes and bags on the train to our host Akmal's house.  Akmal was our first taste of celebrity in Malaysia.  Any time we mentioned his name to other cyclists they knew who he was, as he is considered one of the best bike mechanics in the country.  He was a great host and we were able to stay on semi-luxury in a house that he is in the process of establishing as a free bike touring hostel of sorts.  We were not sure of the particulars as he did not reside there but we had our own room, hot water shower, free wifi, use of kitchen and the words "stay as long as you like".  We also were invited to spend some time at his shop repairing and cleaning our bikes using his tools and getting parts we needed at fairly cheap rates.  We put new chains on our bikes and gave them a nice tune-up and now everything is running like new.  We also took a few days to get our Thai visas sorted out.  Apparently, if one uses a land border crossing you will get only a 15 day visa for the country.  I'm not sure how fast y'all cycle, but we sure as hell are not getting where we need or want to in the huge-ass country of Thailand in only 15 days.  So after a few days and $35 USD each we have 60 days to explore.  Plenty of time we think.

  

With Akmal fixing up the bikes and the fs,is Petronas towers in KL

To say that leaving KL was difficult does no justice to the immense chaos that has been created in a place that seems to have tranformed from a town of cart and oxen to one of super highways overnight. It is a city that apparently has next to no secondary road options.  In fact the only thing that resembles a straight and congruent path out of the city are the highways...and that is what we found ourselves riding to escape the twisting, winding and endless maze of local streets.  And in case you were wondering, NO it was not fun.  We eventually made our way far enough to be out of the heavy traffic and into the quieter towns and the plam oil plantations that make up most of southern and central Malaysia.  A pleasant combination of flat, well-maintained roads, fairly gentle couteous traffic, and nice scenery has put Malaysia in a close race woth Taiwan as our favorite cycling destination.   And to top it off, like clockwork, there is a rainshower every afternoon; when you are so hot and sticky you feel like your clothing is going to become one with your body, and you have soaked through every stitch of material with which to wipe your face, these wonderful transient storms roll through the region adding a breath of fresh, cool air to the mix and rejuvinating ones's spirit.  This, we think, was one of the larget missing pieces to our time in Indonesia that led to our time being more challenging than expected.  Oh and we haven't even mentioned the FOOD in Malaysia is wonderful!  A multi-cultural country with Malays, Chinese, Thai, and Indians living in close proximity, and the food is a reflection of this symbiosis.  It is savory, complex, multi-ethnic, and widely considered some of the best in the world, a point both of us agree upon.  You can get Chinese chicken rice or Indian bread (Roti) with dhal for breakfast, spicy Thai tom-yam soup for lunch and Malay mee jawa (spicy noodles) for dinner and delicious coffees and teas all day.  Often times without even leaving a single hawker stall complex!  And the prices are on par with Indonesia, which means CHEAP.  Oh and at night is when the real party  as the tables and chairs get moved from under the sun and rain protection into the cool, rain washed air and the locals eat and drink and socialize unitl 10-11pm every night.  Really a pleasureable place to travel.

    

We stayed overnight in Kuala Perlis, where there is a nice mountain park with a lot of monkeys.  You can feed them. They will jump on you.  The know where thier bread is buttered.

Malvsia is also the site of a small, burgeoning and very enthusiastic group of cycle tourers.  We met Subki, a local out for a week long tour of the Cameron Highlands, on our way into Ipoh, an old colonial city halfway up the west coast.  He put our picture up on Facebook, and soon his friend Sam tracked us down to make sure we had a place to stay and see if we wanted to ride the town and street art that night. He also intorduced us to Addams and Camee, the owners of a local bike rental shop and one of the cutest biking families you could imagine.  They, in turn set us up the next day with a friend of theirs in the town of Taiping, who also escorted us, by night, through the city on a ride.  Finally early the next morning we were whisked off, by another friend and folding bike tour enthusiast Jerol, to the best nasi lemak (traditional breakfast food for Malay people conisiting of rice and small side dishes of meat, egg, veg, etc) stall in Taiping.  Shout out here to the Sojourn Hostel in Taiping.  Though this little town is not on most backpacker agendas it should be a spot for those looking to cycle tour Malaysia.  Quiet streets, beautiful parks, surrrounded by hills, amazing food options and the nicest little inexpensive hostel from which to ejoy your stay.  The staff could not be nicer and the place could not be cleaner or cuter.  We both highly recommend making the stop for the night.  All these friendly folks combined with the natural beauty of the currounding hills looming in the backgrounds and the old colonial buildings that dot the "old town" streets of the picturesque cities has made Malaysia a place that Bruce and I have called a cycling paradise.

    

With Subki and Sam, there's a lot of great public art in Ipoh

  

With Cammee, Adamms, Sam at the bike shop

    

A beautiful mosque, a Chinese temple built into the rocks, and an Indian temple. There were some really cool building built into the rocks around Ipoh.

Moving north we were lucky to have been announced by Keiith's family in Singapore and we were hosted by two diffrent  family members.  His Auntie in Parit Buntar and an Uncle on Penang Island.  We want to thank them and the rest of Keith's family for everything they have done to make our time on the peninsula enjoyable and filled with great food!

Keith's awesome aunt who took very good care of us.

Now to Penang Island and the famously well-preerved colonial city of Georgetown.