Sunday, December 20, 2009
Melaka Trip Day One
@8:21 PM
121209@8:21 PM
Singapore to Batu Pahat
Distance: 161km, Time: 8:45 hrs
I slept late and woke late; by the time I left the house it was past nine, so I had only myself to blame for having to endure half an hour of inhaling motorcycle exhaust at the Woodlands checkpoint. Actually, I doubt things would be any better if I had gone at, say, eight, because if anything, early morning is the peak period for Malaysian immigration.
Johor Bahru proved to be quite a tough network of roads to navigate, even with the previous experience of cycling in the town. Fortunately I only took two wrong turns, and things could really be much worse than that. Just as I was complaining to myself about how the signboards say everything that I was not heading to, I finally saw a road sign to Pontian on Federal Road 1. Everything else was rather easily negotiable; so long as you get out of JB, all roads are pretty much straight forward, and I never got lost for the rest of the trip.
One thing that is very nice about Malaysian roads is that they have got wide, wide shoulders that are as good as a free bicycling lane. Sure, there are various sections where the roads narrow down to two lanes, but even then it is certainly less cramped than Singapore roads are. At various parts of the road to Pontian, there are designated “Lorong Motorsikal”, basically a Motorcycle Lane which indirectly helps the cyclists too. In contrast, Singapore has the infamous Bus Lane where buses and cyclists fight it out in a one-sided war of dominance.
In Pontian Kechil, I had the cheapest meal of my life: Nasi Lemak with egg and free flow of water for 2RM. It is shockingly cheap, but eventually I found that this price is quite common in the more remote parts of Malaysia.
There are also these road kilometer markers that really helped me on the dreadfully tough first day, mostly as a form of encouragement that is telling me that I am actually going somewhere. Along the way, my favourite people are the motorcyclists, children, stall owners and teenagers (surprisingly few of them around). They are my primary “supporters” and are ever armed with a smile of encouragement. The teenagers are not the hooligans one would make them out to be in Singapore: they are the friendliest and fun-loving lot of them all. I cycled past a bunch of them fishing at the roadside ditch, and one spotted me, greeting “Welcome to Malaysia!”
The road to Batu Pahat became something of a race, against the time and the weather. It first drizzled near Pontian while I slipped into a housefly infested coffee shop for shelter, and later on, I kept feeling as though I am racing the rain clouds approaching from behind. Along the way, I kept taking note of these shelters.
There are plenty of these small shelters along the roads, and my guess is that it is actually motorcyclist friendly infrastructure, providing them a place to take cover if it did rain. Indirectly, it assisted the cyclist, and I kept a mental note of where the closest potential shelter was should raindrops fall. Eventually the clouds cleared somewhat, and by then, I was racing time in getting to Batu Pahat before darkness fell swiftly at 7pm. The danger here was that the roads were largely unlit, so cycling in the dark will be like cycling blind except for the occasional car headlights flashing by. Not a very pleasant experience. The “rain structures” eventually became noted by me for the potential to sleep in for the night should I fail to reach Batu Pahat in time.
Thankfully, I reached my destination without further incident. My wrists were hurting badly from the strain of almost nine hours of continuous cycling, but the legs felt surprisingly strong.
In the hotel (I paid 30RM for the doubles room with fan), I kept taking their boiled water due to this overheated feeling from both the dinner and overexertion. Water vanished down the throat at an incredible rate, and I slept, thankful that it was only 100km to Melaka the next day.
