At 7:30 I left my cosy nest with its near to perfect bathroom. The market where I wanted to buy some fruits for the day, was closed. Maybe logic, after it was open at night…
The first part of the ride was similar to yesterday, parts on the main road and parts on those narrow but good roads through plantations.
And Mr.G wanted me to go through such a plantation to reach the ferry. But this one had not only a gravel road, it was private and at a barrier was an officer (on his shirt was written polis, but why should polis protect a plantation?) and he sent me back. This was hard! The ferry would have been in 5km and the detour that I now had to do was more than 10km additionally. Mr.G was confused, but after a while he found his way and after another while, “we” seemed to be on his original track. But then, I became suspicious, because the ferry should have been nearer, and I had to make strange turns. So, I consulted my phone and the offline map (maps me) and saw that the ferry was about 3km behind me. And when I made a U-turn, suddenly Mr.G squealed happily and send me back the road that he before had told me to go in the opposite direction, and he suddenly knew where the ferry was. So, it was the same game like yesterday, after losing the track, Mr.G has a strange concept how to bring things back into order. I thought, I was prepared this time, but still he could trick me, adding another 6km to the detour.
I said to myself that a bike trip is not meant to be completely without any problems and troubles and that unnecessary 16km are bearable. But I was not in best shape, I felt very hot and was not fast although it was totally flat and no wind, so this was an hour that I had lost and in the end of the today tour, I took the first hotel that I saw (~15$ but not exactly worth that)
At the ferry, the normal passenger where not allowed to enter the first time, because there seemed to be ceremony. One guy covered with only one white cloth carried a jar, maybe an urn, covered with flowers. He put it in the water in the middle of that river and some other white cloth, too. Then the ferry came back, and the passengers could go.
An hour later, I had my first heavy rain on the bike in Malaysia, it was only around 20min but of course I was completely wet and enjoyed
i said “I enjoyed”! don’t know why I don’t look happy. and my shirt doesn’t look wet, but it was – completely!
this relief from burning sun (and burning sun-burn from yesterday). In less than an hour later, I was dry, and the on-the-bike BBQ was continued until I found that place to stay.
To cool down, I made a stop and bought a coconut drink. I wonder where all those shops get their ice from and if my little digestion problem later has it’s cause here or from the big bananas I had bought in Sungai Besar and that are most probably more for cooking than for raw eating.
Today, I saw many animals, monkeys, cranes in white,
grey and black, a small and a huge monitor lizard (or the like, the second was thick like my lower leg and first I thought it was a snake or maybe it was, I just saw a part of half a meter and the skin was snake-like, only the movement was to fast to my opinion) and a dark (river?) otter. Besides the white cranes on a photo, I only could catch one monkey and the small monitor lizard with the gopro.
At the hotel, the manager spoke nearly no English, but in the end, everything was clear, and I even managed to get a place for the bike. Before that, he said I would have to leave it on the street. The room was better than that yesterday (price difference 5$), but the shower still did not deserve that name.
But when I stand exhausted, sweaty and naked in the bathroom, I am not in the mood to go down to complain, and did what had to be done, could be done and I needed to be done.
Food: first, I ate some of those little bananas, I had bought somewhere on the road, together with a portion of my high energy/protein-rich composition of nuts, seeds, dried fruits and chocolate that I had brought from Vienna. I had eaten most of it until Armenia, but since Iran I had no chance to eat it up, so I still have one pot and try to get rid of it to be free for all that food around here.
And then, I went downstairs to the neighbouring restaurant crowded by locals of all origins (Indian, Chinese, Malay) and bought a dinner. I could select between some things, took egg and rice and a too hot sauce on the rice and the owner estimated the price. The price was ok, and the owner said, I also could come for breakfast, he would be open at 7.
Back at my room, I continued my editing/uploading work. It is indeed work, because if I don’t do it every day, I would forget even more things than now, and I want to preserve this unique experience as good as possible. On the other hand, I know that it would be possible to enjoy it more than I can.
But I try my best and as a part of that, I try to make some stops to eat or drink something delicious.
in Iran, it was “a car stopped and….” here, only sometimes, a motorcycle caught up or stopped. He had seen a bike tourist last month and before, too. The GPS sends all of us through this lane 🙂