As promised, my friend Mr. Yeoh arrived at my accommodation on his bike. Given the close proximity and the bike friendly infrastructure, it is not surprising to see him commute on bike. And it was a fine sunny day to ride on Sunday!
First on the menu we cycled into the back lane where the noodle stall located. Our breakfast orders are our own bowl of noodle soup, filled with handmade meatball as well as fishball. And the side dish of boiled chicken. A very refreshing breakfast I would say.
After breakfast, Mr. Yeoh wants me to flavor one of the best egg tarts in town. However when we reached there, the shop was already full of people, and there was quite a long queue outside. And unfortunately the stall had sold out (and it only 10.30am). Crap.....
But since we were in the old part of the town, my friend decided to become my tour guide and guide through the colorful history on this particular street. And soon after we push our bike through the busy street of morning wet market.
After the short exploration, we arrived at one of the famous cendol street, and if I not mistaken, the stall that sells one of the best Assam laksa in town. As one of my Penangite friend commented:
“This coffee shop has stall selling Char Koay Teow with duck egg quite nice. Not sure still around or moved, Laksa here is so-so. If you like to have cendol I suggest take it at the roadside stall, firstly cheaper and secondly that's the authentic way of having it under the sun with limited shade and traffic moving millimeters from your skin.”
It was quite unbelievable that I was full by the time I finish the dessert, and I decided to stop bloating myself with more goodies. To exercise all those excessive calories, my friend bring me to the location of the best Thai dishes, which was build on the wooden platform on top of the swamp.
When it was time to start preparing for home, I bid my friend goodbye at the motel I staying. Finally, after spending eight days on the road, it was time to head home.
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| Loved the humour on his T-shirt =P |
I have book a train ticket home, which means I will have to take a ferry back to the mainland. During the journey, I spotted a Caucasian tourer and I went over to say hi. From our conversation, he’s from Belgium, and he has been touring for more than three months cycling already. Starting from Singapore, cycled the whole east coast of west Malaysia, ventured into Thailand, then cycled back to Penang, and now making his way to KLIA to take a flight to Indonesia.
After the short trip and making our own way out. We met again, this time with one local rider who had just completed the round isle ride and were heading home as well (he was on the same ferry but were on the far side of where we were). The tourer was asking for direction where the local cyclist decided to show him the way out of Butterworth and onward to Taiping. We were glad that we had met each other that we exchange our email.
It took me five minutes to reach the train station, which is temporary moved to current location (as the station was going renovation). Since I had plenty of time to wait for the train to arrive, I had to find ways to murder the time (it sound so guilty).
When it was time to board the train. It was time to show you why I choose a folding bike for this touring trip. I can simply fold my bike and stuff it into the stowaway bag, which I won’t have to pay for oversized luggage, or get kicked out by the train conductor.
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| It is the last photo before my memory card is full..... |
Total Distance: more than 610km!!!
EPILOGUE...
Time do travel fast, especially when thought one week touring is a bit long. I was wrong, but nevertheless I enjoyed the whole trip. Since it was my first touring expedition, I decided to set my expectation low. Without any experience to depend on, and was cycling with good mate of mine, who is also very green in touring. In fact I thought that if we keep our expectation low, we will not be highly disappointed if the outcome is not favorable to us.
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| Mr Yeong, Mike & myself posing after we completed the Langkawi tour... |
But one week before the touring start, we were lucky that Mr Yeong decided to join us, not only quite knowledgeable on places we were visiting, but also very patient waiting for slow tortoise like me. Without him, I don’t think our touring will be so much fun. So a very big thank to him!!! And also to my touring buddy Mike who is brave & sporting to join my touring trip as well!!!!
One thing I really regret not doing was to change a saddle to tour-friendly type one. When touring, one of the most important thing was to have very comfy saddle. From day one onward I was having the saddle sore to the max that I thought my butt has disintegrated at the end of the trip. So guys and gal, please invest in one so that you won’t waste time resting your sorry butt with unnecessary stops.
We are lucky we did not face any major setback or equipment failure. Just two punctures for the whole trip. And despite multiple detour to visit some places of interest (such as Lumut, Pulau Pangkor, and Fort Weld town etc), we still managed to fit all into our one week schedule.
Overall I was very satisfied with my touring trip, and will look forward to other trip in near future..... And next time I would like to bring my passport.
And finally thank you for reading!!!
Prologue
Day 1: Klang to Telok Intan
Day 2: Telok Intan to Pulau Pangkor
Day 3: Lumut to Taiping
Day 4: Taiping to Penang
Day 5: Penang to Langkawi
Day 6: Round Langkawi isle
Day 7: Langkawi to Penang
1 comment:
The wonderful thing about travel whether on a bike or backpacking is that you meet helpful and kind people in unexpected places. Serendipity is my favourite English word. Thank you for posting your exploits. It was most interesting and informative. Well done on your adventure. Wish you many more exciting ones to come :)
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