Malaysia (1250km)

Beautiful beaches, bustling cities, quiet roads, plenty of warm showers and couch surfing hosts and an abundance of history make Malaysia an interesting place to cycle.

The bike on the almost empty boat from Changi to Pengerang.

After 2 months in Indonesia and a week in Singapore I was really looking forward to cycling in a slightly less populated country again. Malaysia has a population density of around 86 people square kilometre. Compared to Indonesia which has around 144 and Singapore with a shocking 7,987 per sq km, this was going to be heaven.

The first 620km from Pengerang in the South, along the east coast, through the wild west interior to Kuala Lumpur!

First night wild camping, it poured it down in the night.

I started off by taking a small ferry from Changi Point in Singapore to Pengerang at the southern tip of mainland Malaysia. The boats supposedly only leave when full (12 people) but for some reason the boat driver was keen to get a move on and left with only me, the bike and one passenger on board. The immigration section of Pengerang port was really odd, in that there was no one around. I waited a bit and eventually someone appeared in the booth and stamped me into the country. Coming out of Pengerang it was clear that there was nothing in the town, so to get cash out I cycled to the nearby bustling town of Sungai Rengit. I was slightly confused by why this small town was so busy, the answer: oil.

I was fairly keen to get going, it looked like a storm was coming in, so I grabbed some groceries and headed out onto the coastal road. Eventually I found a spot that looked secluded enough for camping. I pushed my bike through a load of bushes and set up for the night, it pissed it down.

Palm oil plantations lined the roads pretty much everywhere.

Finally after the hills and crowds of Indonesia the road was flat and quiet.

The next day I was back on the open road I yearned for, it was quiet with limited traffic and a few small towns on the way. Malaysia is a hugely green country but what struck me most was the devastation of the natural environment. Huge areas of previously wild forest had been cut down to make way for palm oil plantations, this isn't surprising considering that Malaysia is the largest exporter of palm oil in the world, the oil is used in almost everything from lipstick to detergent to ice cream.

I carried on up the coast for a few days, stopping off at various beaches, looking at lizards and camping in the grounds of a beach chalet resort. I stayed with a warm showers host in the small town of Tanjung Sedili and a couchsurfing host in Mersing. Then it was off into the interior towards the rather odd town of Muadzam Shah.

Perfect beaches pretty much line the entirety of the east coast. Great to cool off from the heat and sweat :)

About 15 km north of Mersing on the coast the beaches were pristine, an not a person in sight!

With my host Bob who had a boat in his back garden that he had converted into a bedroom. We spent most the evening on his kareoke machine in the living room. Bob is 65 an still loves kareoke!

With my host Omar who was super cool. He had been hosting for 2 years on warm showers and couch surfing, and had never turned a request down!

Deforestation. Unfortunately alot of the jungle is being removed to make way for oil plantations.

My awesome host Nora who I stayed with for a evening. Nora was super enthusiastic and inspiring. I left the next day with a spring in my step.

The interior of Malaysia was un-populated and had a wild west feeling about it. I put in a long day to get from the coast to the home of a host, Nora, who worked for the palm oil board of Malaysia. She had a very adventurous spirit. I was her first guest on warm showers. She was the only single woman I stayed with on the entire journey from Indonesia to Nepal, it was great to have female company for an evening.

It took around 3 days and 340km to get from the coast to Kuala Lumpur. It was crazy weaving my way into the city and I got lost a couple of times before eventually arriving at a friend from the UK's apartment.

Densely packed buildings. When you have no more space on the floor, just build up.

View of the skyscrapers an the city. It then absolutely poured it down.

With Gordon an Mercedes. Gordon kindly put me up for 5 nights in KL an provided a little bit of home one night in the form of bangers an mash.

Batu caves. Hindus discovered the caves an then built a shrine inside. There were lots of bats, monkeys an pigeons inside as well. My favourite were the pigeons.

The 650km route out of Kuala Lumpur stopping at Sekinchan, Sitiawan, Taiping, Georgetown, Sungai Petani, Jitra and then across the border into Thailand.

After just under a week in Kuala Lumpur I headed off in the direction of the west coast and the island of Penang, where a friend of mine was living. A lot of people had warned me that the west coast wasn't as pretty as the east and was more built up. Whilst in my opinion this is true, the west coast also had a lot to offer, more towns meant that I had more opportunities to sleep cheaply indoors. The first day cycling out of KL was insane, I chose to cycle on the hard shoulder of the motorway as apparently bicycles are allowed on the motorways in Malaysia, and I thought this would be the quickest way out the city. Whilst it was the quickest route, it was also incredibly scary and I probably wouldn't recommend it :)

Paddy fields for as far as the eye can see.

House in the middle of a just harvested paddy field.

70km out KL on the west coast an you can find tiny little roads lined by palm oil plantations an farm land.

Despite the scariness of cycling out the city, the area around the town of Sekinchan (a Malaysian tourist town) was beautiful. Tiny roads through lush paddy fields, without any traffic or people in sight. It was gorgeous and great cycling, I hoped that the roads would carry on like this further up but unfortunately they didn't, there were little options but bigger roads towards the city of Sitiawan and whilst this wasn't an issue, it also wasn't as enjoyable. A place that really surprised me was the town of Taiping, an historic colonial town with peaceful lake gardens, a hill station to the east and fantastic street food, it was well worth the visit.

After 4 days cycling from KL I made it to Georgetown Penang, where I would spend a few days with my friend Adam. Georgetown was another gem of a place, although it is the second largest city in the country it certainly didn't feel like it. It was a real mash of cultures and time periods. Despite it being the first British settlement in South-East Asia it still had a huge mash of different influences; peranakan houses, an indian quarter and old colonial buildings, all in close proximity within the historical core of the UNESCO world heritage area. But notwithstanding the obvious history, Georgetown is also very modern with huge apartment blocks, massive shopping centres and an assortment of fancy cafes and restaurants.

Tiny trails, perfect for cycling. Around the area to the south and north of Sekinchan.

Beautiful beaches at Penang National Park.

I spent a few days in Georgetown, getting a 2 month visa for Thailand, and exploring Penang, especially Penang National Park, which was a particular highlight. And then it was back on my bike, inland again, but this time towards Thailand! I spent a night in the town of Sungai Petani (not that great) and Jitra (fab street food) then finally made it to the Thai border.

There was a huge queue which was unfortunate. Even more so as I had to queue twice, they asked for proof of funds (20,000 baht roughly £460). I had read on the internet that it is very rare to be asked for proof of funds, so I had just assumed that my visa and passport would be enough. But no, the border official was very grumpy and wanted proof. At first I offered to show my online banking, but that wouldn't do. So instead I walked out, took 20,000 baht from a cash machine on the thai side (no one was actually guarding the border) and walked back through. This time I got a different border official who didn't ask for proof of funds so I cycled off with way more cash than I would usually carry. Still I had made it. I was in Thailand!

After 1250km, 14 days of cycling and 10 days of relaxing in Malaysia, I had reached Thailand!