Welcome to the Jungle

As expected it had been pretty smooth sailing through Malaysia.  The food continues to be great as well as the drink but I must admit I do miss the 7-11 of Thailand.  We had to tackle a few hills crossing from the west to the east coast but aside from that it has been pretty much flat as a pancake.  

Being monsoon season in these parts we also had a few days of getting drenched.  It came down like cats and dogs on a few occasions.  As a result we don’t smell that great.  But then again, nothing new there. 

The only downer in Malaysia occurred last night after we put in a big day of cycling and couldn’t find any accommodation in this town called Kuala Rompin.  It is low season but a number of hotels we have approached have been full for some reason.  Anyway, it was dark and started to rain so we booked it for a park and decided to camp.  This was the first time we set up camp in Southeast Asia.  Not the brightest of ideas.  It wasn’t a fun experience and I didn’t get much sleep at all given my tent as well as Trevor’s tent do not zip up properly.  As such, many mosquitoes easily got in and had a field day on our skin.  I kept getting up throughout the night trying to kill these annoying insects. And just when I thought I cleaned house a few more would show up and pester me.  It ended up being a rough night but a lesson was learned: it really sucks to not have a proper working tent so we must get them fixed up before we start camping in Australia!    

A bit surreal to think we are almost done the largest continent of Asia.  We are currently in Kota Tinggi and will enter Singapore tomorrow! 

When we cycled from Singapore to Tokyo back in 2008 Trevor took this exact same shot of me in front of this big rock in northern Malaysia.  I don’t know why but the rock reminds me of a turtle.  Anyway, this time going in the opposite direction, I had another picture taken for old times’ sake. 

The main mosque in Alor Setar.  Quite nice at night.

Here I am roasting after climbing to around 1,000m above sea level in the Malaysian jungle.  Being in the tropics any hill climb will get you pouring sweat in a matter of moments.  It certainly was a good thing that most of Southeast Asia was flat for us. 

Always nice to be snug against coastline.  We changed up our route from our 2008 trip and went along the east coast of Malaysia.  I think it was a good call.  Try something new is what I say. 

Nothing to see here…

Thick jungle.  Heard a lot of strange noises and saw quite a number of lizards and monkeys jump in and out from the jungle en route. 

Today while cruising in Johor, Trevor’s gear cable all of a sudden snapped on him.  Having never replaced one before, he managed to successfully get the job done.