Day 4 : Penang....rest day!!

Date : 6th March, 2009

We decided to stay on another day in Penang and take it easy for today :o) What a good idea it was as we spent the day eating good food, watched a movie and eating again!!! Great way to relax before the next big ride tomorrow to Kuala Gula in Perak....estimated distance 80km ;o)

Will keep you all posted!!

Cheers

Day 2 : Padang Besar - Changlun - Alor Setar - Kuala Kedah

Date : Wednesday, 4th March 2009
Distance travelled : 91km

Time taken : 4.30 hours

Come morning, Tat came over to meet us at our hotel. The hotel was pretty basic and the room costs us RM54 plus a simple breakfast. Tat told us that he and another 2 of his friends will escort us to Changlun that morning ;o)

Our first hotel in Thailand!!

Ahh...proof that we have crossed the border!!

Tat & me at the immigration border...

A Dutch couple we met in Padang Besar, heading to Taman Negara :o)

We met up with Lim and Ah Huat in Padang Besar and we left about 11am. The weather was starting to be really hot that day! We biked through the semi highway towards Changlun. The scenery was amazing ....there was a sugar factory further ahead and they were growing sugar cane along the highway. The highway was rolling hills and it can be really hot as there are no shades on both sides of the road. Lots of big lorries passing by and one have to be a bit careful on this highway!

Flat road ahead!!

Tat & me....like specks of dust!

Hey guys, look here!!!

While biking, Lim surprised both Mak and me by giving us each a good luck "angpow"!! That was really sweet of him and we were really touched by his kind thoughts! Everywhere we go, we meet beautiful people who just want to help out!!! We truly are very lucky!!

Upon reaching Changlun about 1pm, we said our goodbyes to our kind escorts from Padang Besar. They have to cycle another 30km back in the scorching hot sun!! We decided that it was way too hot to continue our journey to Alor Star yet and rested at the coffeeshop until about 3pm. We had another 60km to go!

Saying our goodbyes...Tat, Mak, me and Lim at the coffeeshop

We took another pit stop in Jitra at a bike shop, the one that organised the Jitra Jamboree in January. (sorry...couldn't remember the bike shop name!!) There, Mak chatted with the owners while resting. It was truly a very hot day!!! When we finally reached Alor Star, it was coming close to 7pm! Crazy traffic!! It was with a sigh of relief that we finally reached my friend's house near Kuala Kedah! By then, I look like a panda bear....sunburnt face with two white circles around my eyes hahaha....

My friend, Cheah and his girlfriend took us for a really yummy dinner to recover!! Did I also mention that while touring, it was also part of our plan to enjoy the good food around!!! Next day...some 120 km away...Penang!!

Day 3 : K.Kedah - Yan - Guar Chempedak - SP - Butterworth - Penang (Bayan Lepas)

Date : Thursday, 5th March 2009

Distance travelled : 122km
Time taken : 6.5 hours

We left Kuala Kedah about 9am and biked through the village road towards Yan. Weather was nice and cool and the road was great! Once in Yan, I told Mak that we should stop by my friend, Nadia's house just to pay her a visit as she will be getting married this Saturday! Since I couldn't attend her wedding, the least I could do was to send her my best regards! It was a surprised visit for her as she didn't know I was doing this bike tour ;o) It was great catching up and her family fed us with good food before moving on!!

Mak & Cheah...outside Cheah's house

Gunung Jerai behind me...if you can see it!!

Wow! so beautiful!!

Mak's special design for his bottles in front of his handlebars :o)

That's a really creative shot of me in the mirror, Mak!!

Nadia & me at her house....

We stopped by Gunung Jerai's park & snapped a photo & we were off to Sungai Petani! We had to stop by a bike shop, Sooi Hin in SP who sponsored us tubes & tools to snap a picture too! There, we met up with Ah Yoong who owned the bike shop as well as the famous Ramly SP! Chatted for awhile before heading off again towards Penang!

At the foothill of Gunung Jerai!!

In front of Kedai Basikal Sooi Hin...Ah Yoong, Mak, me and Ramly

We got into Butterworth about 5.30pm and took the ferry across to Penang ;o) We had to then cycle another 20km to my friend's house in Bayan Lepas! If I thought the traffic in Alor Star and SP was crazy, try biking in Penang during the rush hour!!!!!

On the ferry terminal...

"...and then we turned left..." Mak seemed to be saying to the uncle on the ferry :o)

Meet Andrew from Penang!!

Our tired but happy faces said it all!! Happy to have reached our destination at last!!

My friend Andrew took us to a yummy seafood restaurant called Hai Boey Restaurant near the end of the world. There I got to eat my favourite clam dish and I was happy again :o) It was a tiring day for us after riding for about 122km and the good food was just so rewarding!!

Ok....that's all for now! Boy, it's pretty hard cracking my head trying to write for 3 days! Will try to update daily if possible!! Our next 3 proposed destination will be Kuala Gula in Perak, Taiping & Ipoh......

Until then, cheers!

Day 1 : Langkawi - K.Perlis - Kangar - Padang Besar

Date : Tuesday, March 3rd 2009

Distance travelled : 60km

Time taken : 3 hours

My, what a beautiful morning! The sun was shining, clear blue skies and birds chirping from my home....you couldn't have asked for a better day to start our journey :o)

Mak with his bicycle at Jetty Point, Langkawi

Our sponsors...

and more sponsors....

We left my house in Langkawi around 9am and cycled to the jetty which was about 6km away. There, we were met by two of my biking buddies from the 99bikes club, Ad & Kai who came to send us off (so sweet of them!) Our ferry was at 10am to Kuala Perlis. It took us about an hour to reach Kuala Perlis and yay! we started biking at last!

We stopped by Kangar for lunch and met up with Mak's friend, Wan Shahidan who have cycled around Malaysia for about 6 times and he's planning to do another round in August! I guess some people just love to cycle hehehe...

Our bikes parked outside a restaurant in Kangar :o)

Initially, we thought of heading to Wang Kelian to spend the night but since I have a friend in Padang Besar, even better! Along the way to Padang Besar, we wanted to visit Gua Kelam. Boy, the road towards Gua Kelam was really enjoyable! Beautiful scenery along the way....these are things that we would like to see more during our tour!!

On the way to Gua Kelam...

Somewhere along the way....

The difference with a stand and without one!!

Amazing scenery!!

A lone hut out in the wild.....

Ahh....my first backview photo :o)

Finally, at the entrance of Gua Kelam!!

If you go to Padang Besar looking for a bike, look for this shop!!

the eve of our big adventure....

Hi all!

My apologies for not updating my blog for the past 3 days since we started our adventure. It has been a flurry of actions for these past 3 days!! Time flies when you are really having fun :o) Anyway, our story continues......

Monday, March 2nd 2009

It was the eve of our big journey and we started packing our things. Our beautiful Ortlieb waterproofed panniers are just fantastic! So easy to pack things in and easy to lift them off the bikes when needed. Obviously, the things we brought are of the bare mininum so as to not load the bikes too much :o) My panniers weighed about 5kg each while Mak's was about 6kg each (hmm....you'd think for a guy, it should be the other way round right? hehehe) Just kidding! He was being the gentleman and carried the extra tubes, tools etc...

Once packed and our bikes checked, we were ready to go the next morning!

cheerio!