The generosity of the Malaysian people has overwhelmed us on our journey south. In particular, we would like to thank David who welcomed us into his home, fed us and gave us an insight into the three distinct cultures of Malaysia - Indian (his culture), Malay and Chinese . We learnt about David from a fellow cyclist, Houso, in Southern Thailand. He gave us David's number and explained that David himself is a keen cyclists and opens his home up to any international cyclists passing through the area. David, a grandfather and farther of eight, took up cycling after a heart operation and has never looked back. He has cycled all over Asia and Europe and has even cycled with his children around Malaysia. Judging by all the newspaper clips he showed us he is quite famous here! So, after getting in contact with David we rode just 50km from Georgetown, Penang to David's hometow, Nibong Tebal.
When we arrived at David's house he informed us that we were invited to attend his family's annual get together at nearby Laketown that evening. However, on route he decided to take us to meet some of his beer-drinking-buddies. We sat down at a table with David and his four buddies, most notably a Chinese man they called 'the mafia boss' and a massive Indian guy called '2 metre', who forced us to drink vast quantities of beer, all on them! The mafia boss knew every trick for opening bottles - one handed, with newspaper, two at a time etc and could drink like a trouper. Eventually David got us out of the complicated drinking game we were playing and we headed off very happy to meet David's family. We made one more stop on the way at a local bicycle collector's home. His collection was jawdropping, penny farthings from 1844, bicycles made by what are now car manufacturing companies circa 1900s, and a number of extremely unique contraptions, including a unicycle where you sit in the middle of a 6 foot wheel, a Chinese design from the 17th century. This elderly Chinese man's home crammed with this amazing collection was one of those things we will remember for ever.
Finally, we made it to David's family reunion and were thouroughly spoilt by everyone, especially his sisters and nieces who kept bringing us mountains of tasty food to try. We had a very interesting conversation about Malay politics with David and his brothers, in particular about the thirty year old bumiputra policy which privileges the Malay (defined as those following Islam) in Malaysian society, particularly in the areas of realestate, jobs in government and education. Unfortunatly, this policy is to the detriment of many Indians and Chinese who have lived in Malaysia for many generations, remembering that many of the Indians were brought over by the British as slave labour. It seems that the politics here is very complex and we wish to learn more about it on our journey south.
The next day was action-packed. David took us for a bike ride through local plantations and fish farms, explaining in detail how everything worked. We stopped at a local Chinese fishing town and observed the hectic fish market. Then we had a notable drink - a combination of tea, coffee and milo on ice - the locals love it and it was delicious! On our ride back through the fields we stumbled accross a Malay wedding and were ushered inside by the hoards of people gathered around the bride's house. The bride, dressed in a beautiful white and blue gown and headscarf personally showed us around her decorated home, including the wedding bed ladened with gifts and her 'throne' which we were instructed to sit on and pose for photos. The brother of the groom then made us eat with all the other guests under a colourfully decorated marquee. All the women were in the most colourful Muslim dress, it was such a spectacular sight. Later on the groom arrived, dressed like a sultan in the same white and blue colours. We felt so akward being at a person's wedding but we were told that in Malay culture the more guests at a wedding the more honour. Nonetheless Kate felt very underdressed and embarrassed in her bike pants and bear sholders!
That evening we were wisked off to David's hash house harriers club for a jungle 'run'. The 'run' turned out to be a sheer climb up thick, borderline impassable, jungle. We had to bush bash our way up for 2 hours helped by the friendly hashers and only in the last 20 minutes as we hit a jungle track could we possibly run. It was so fun and a jungle experience you couldn't pay for on one of these fancy tourist 'trecks'. We tucked into a well deserved picnic dinner at the end of the run and enjoyed a few (illegal) homebrew coconut wines.
Due to our time constraints we had to continue South and, on David's advice, followed a scenic coastal road to Sitawan. Along the way we were given lychees and a drink by a friendly Malay family and invited to talk with a local police chief. We are finding the people here so friendly and genuinly interested in what on earth we are doing in their country with a tandem bike! People generally speak very good english.
The best thing about Sitawan was the choclate mudcake we found at a local bakery. Other than that, it was a transit town with little to do. We left a bit late the next day and felt the full force of the Malaysian heat and humidity as we rode to Sungai Besar. We have noticed that with this heat, we have not been able to maintain the speed that we had in Thailand and we have to stop often for icy drinks. Rowan is drinking about 6 litres of water for a five hour ride, plus a number of sweet tea taricks along the way. Sungai Besar was another transit town with little to see, but we had a nice dinner at a local Chinese joint.
The next day we decided to do a short ride to Kuala Selengor on account of the return of the dreaded babboon bottom. We had passed some older Swiss cyclists, who were on a two year round the world trip who reccommended the place and its famed fireflys, dubbed a natural wonder of the world (by the locals!). We stayed in the 'nature park', with its numerous troops of monkeys, as well as its healthy colony of mosquitos! We rode the bike to an old colonial fort (british/dutch) overlooking the Straits of Melaca and then made our way to the firefly river in a small town nearby. Rowan, our intreped captain, complained the whole way about the acid bugs that were flying in his eyes. Kate, as per usual was unaffected, shielded by Rowan's broad back - the benefit of being on the back of the tandem! The fireflys were very interesting, and all together looked remarkably like flickering christmas lights. The fisherman in charge of our rickety boat got us nice and close to the pulsating mangroves.
The next day we set out on another short ride to Klang, a town on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur with easy access by comuter train. The traffic was terrible and we definitely could not of endured anymore of it to get closer to KL. After finding a hotel in Klang's lively little India, we caught the train to KL for an afternoon of sightseeing. We visited the petronas towers and witnessed the consumerism of the large shopping malls and quickely escaped to the lively and busteling Chinatown and little India. We found the siteseeing quite exhausting, deciding that we prefer the small towns we visit by bicycle much more, and made a beeline back to Klang to prepare for the next day.
It was a long hot ride from Klang to Port Dickson. Not only did we spend an hour lost in Klang trying to get out of the place with totally incomprehensible signs (eg to go to x you can turn left, right, or straigh ahead - what?), but it was super hot and most of the ride was dead flat with a headwind. However, by the afternoon things had perked up, we had made it to some pleasant undulating roads through fruit plantations with lots of tasty things to try. In particular, we found the elusive red dragonfruit. All through Thailand we had searched for this fruit, discovering only the more common and bland white dragon fruit. We sat in a bus stop feasting on this things, sticky red juice running down our chins and fingers. Kate claims it is the best thing she has ever eaten.
As we approached Port Dickson we fully fathomed the scale of the palm oil industry in Malaysia. Riding along a ridge we could see only palm trees for miles and miles. The rainforest has been scalped to provide for this money making enterprise. It truely is one of the greatest environmental tragedies of our time, contributing to global warming and removing the habitat of many critically endangered species. We have tried are hardest to avoid eating palm oil while we have been in Southeast Asia (it is also extremely unhealthy) but they use it in all the cooking and all the processed foods, making it virtually impossible to avoid totally. We hope that there will be more international pressure and cooperation on this issue.
Nothing much to report on Port Dickson, an industrial/ resort town (weird - 5star resorts overlooking shipping docks?). We just ate, rested and slept.
The bike is starting to tell us how many km it has done now, with a few creaks we can't find, a worn out chain which has streched so as not to mesh whith the gears properly resulting in a weird vibrating, the rear brakes howling every time we use them and two cracked front panniers racks which are now held together with zip ties (any one who kows Rowan knows that he can fix anything with a bag full of zip ties).
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Really interesting, and hospitality of the Malays is certainly one of my recollections of the country. Can't wait to read more....
ReplyDeleteSue xx