Bicycle Touring – Page 17 – Simply cycling around

Kuah > Pentai Cenang (38km, 2h25)

First day in Langkawi. From what I’ve heard until today, this island is the first tourist destination in Malaysia. That’s what I’m afroad of… Personally, I prefer Borneo with its adventurous side. Touristy places means to me, higher prices for anything, especially food in my case. I did not plan to go there at first but like Penang, everyone is talking about it. Even the Malay family we met in Kuala Lumpur, Amir told us about this island many times. Our goal is to find as much free things as possible. Fortunately, there is some like watching Parachutes, jungle walks, waterfall and cycling around the island :-)

Taman Setia Budi > Ferry (56km, 1h37) > Kuah, Langkawi island (83km, 4h40)

Today we keep travelling towards Thailand which is becoming very close. We left the village “Setia Budi ” this morning and cycled until Kota Kuala Kedah to catch a ferry to Langkawi. From Malaysia, there is three cities that operate this trip: Penang (the furthest), Kota Kuala Kedah and Kuala Perlis (the closest). Of course, longer the trip is, more expensive the ticket will be. One way ticket cost 23 ringgit plus an extra of 18 ringgit for the bicycle. There is several ferries during the day. We let go the 6pm and caught the one at 7pm, the last one, to have the time to eat something. Once in Kuah (Langkawi) we simply slept in a tiny park just outside the ferry terminal as it was already dark.

Penang > ferry (~35min, 3.5km) > Taman Setia Budi (32km, 1h50)

After 6 days spent in Penang, well, in Georgetown which is the capital of the Penang island, we are moving again towards Thailand where we should be in 2 or 3 days time. We did not visit all the island. I thought I would spend a day or two cycling around but I got lazy. The back of the islnd is apparently very hilly so it cut off any motivation. I should have find the way to leave my trailer somewhere. Anyway, we visited the historical centre which was okay. Today we left Penang at 5pm and cycled just out of Butterworth city to find a quiet place where to camp. Easy day.

Lata Kekabu > Perai (119km, 7h)

Big day today and absolutely no plan at all. Firstly we started the day with a 500 metres climb. I knew we had to cross a pass today but I did not expect it to be that high. It was hard! and steep! and hot! Few! Then we planned to reach at least Selama or even Kulim but the road was so nice than we kept going and going until we were stop by water. We thought we could cycle on the bridge leading to the Penang island (The northern one) but a guard stopped us and redirected us to the ferry terminal. Finally we stopped halfway to the terminal on the side of the road. Penang will be for tomorrow then :-)

Ipoh south > Ipoh north (41km, 3h)

Today, we are going to stay in Ipoh and around. Ipoh being a bigger town that what we cross usually, Steph wants to buy some gear. There is also few interesting Buddhist temple mixed with caves to visit in this area. It a kind of resting day today, a lazy one ;-) This is Christmas eve too so give us a nice treat :-)

Tanah rata > Ipoh south (89km, 4h50)

Today we are going to reach Ipoh which means downhill all the way! In real life, this is not true as we have spent the first two hours cycling big up and downs. That was even harder than the long (and steady) climb yesterday. Overall, we knew that, at some point, the downhill we were looking for would come and it did :-) And that was nice! Let’s have a look…

Tapah road > Tanah rata (71km, 6h20)

Today is not going to be an easy day as we have about 1350m to climb up to Tanah Rata, the city in Cameron Highlands. This area is famous for its tea valley(s?). That’s what we want to see. On the way there is a waterfall too and lots of nature. Tomorrow we will have the same kind of road but we will cycle downhill! Enjoy the visit :-)