colds going, Markets and motorbikes

So got up today feeling a lot better, nose was not running like a fire hose, it was now more like a leaky tap. Feeling better, headed out to Min and Roti Canai, ate breakfast and chatted away, then we got on to how to make Roti, Min said come and try, so it was, I throw on my apron washed my hands. Ok first step, use butter, sugar, egg, salt and white butter, which to me looked like lard. Mix together and than rest. We did not bother with this part as they already had a load done.
Now to make a good Roti you need to flatten it out, Take one lump of Roti, coat hands in oil, use palm of hand to push roti out flat, about the size of your two hands together. Done. Next lifting the roti with both hands do a circular motion and throw roti down. OK what he forgot to say in his pigeon English was once you stuff it up you throw that away and start again. Take two, twist and flick, he’s nodding , you have to do the twist and flick a few times, after 3 attempts I thought I am using a bit too much so gave it away. Something I think I will have to work on at a later date.
Min had invited me out for a tour of the city on the back of his motorbike, now these are 110cc of pure Asian grunt. I said yep sounds like a good plan so we made a time to meet at 12 o clock, I still had about 1 ½ hours to wait till he fished work, so I took a walk to the local market. Now local markets sell everything even a kitchen sink if you wanted one.
As I wondered through the streets in the direction of the market, thoughts of passed visits to markets sprang to mind, colors and smells, I would not be disappointed. As I made my way inside the colors of the fresh vege and fruit sprang to life, the local women in their bright berkers, it was a symphony of color. Greens of different shades, oranges, reds and purples all combined to make a vibrant view. Then the sound of a hundred deals being stuck, women chattering away negotiating the costs of meals for the next week.
I wondered further into the market just letting the place intoxicate me, and then BANG it hit me, the smell of rotting meat, old stale fish and a thousand other dead things. I had wondered into a maze of fish guts, cows legs and chickens. Not live but gutted and de-feathered ready for the oven. Flies were everywhere clinging to the meat as if it was there last supper while the people selling franticly swished cardboard over the produce to keep them away.
Asia markets are a photographers dream, you have these wise old women sitting in the middle of their produce, with bright colored clothes, in a sea of color. Men sharpening knifes and cutting meat and fish for many people who pass by. As I was leaving the market I came across a old man and his wife loading up their cycle rickshaw with the days buys. By the time they had finished there was only just enough room for his wife to fit on the bike. As I positioned the camera to grab that moment in time the battery light which had come on a bit earlier decided it had had enough. Bugger. Magic moment gone forever just to now live with my memories.
The time had come for me to head off anyway, so after picking up some new batteries I headed off to meet up with my guide Min. As I arrived at their little food stall Min was just finishing packing up, he must have had a busy morning. He said he was just off to get an extra helmet and would be back in 30 minutes. No problems, 45 minutes later his mum and dad are passing through to drop of some things and they informed me Min might be a bit late as he was have bike problems. This could be interesting.
10 minutes later Min shows up, I jump on the back of the bike, we cut in between cars and other bikes to get the optimum position at lights, we are heading to the coast about 8km from the city. As we head out of town, we join the rest of the madness that is Asia’s roads.The hat I am wearing is about 2 sizes too big, I have shorts on with a light top, great protection if something happens. For a start Min takes it easy just cruising along on the open road. We are getting passed by a few people but that does not matter we are in no rush anyway.
As we arrive at the beach it is a bit of a disappointment, Min says that years ago it was really beautiful but a storm came through and pretty much wiped the beachfront and a few km inland flat, so the government had build a high rock wall to stop it happening again. Now there is sand there but it is a steep beach into a green sea.
After lunch at the beach we head back into town, this time we are passing cars and bikes, I look over Min’s shoulder to see the speedo saying we are doing 100km/h, yes forgot to mention while we were at lunch Min confessed he did not have a motor bike license. With the few traffic cops I had seen on my travels I knew this would not be a problem.
So we headed back to town and then the river, A murky brown mass of water heading out to sea. About a football field wide the river picks up clay silt and drags it to the ocean, it was not my first brown river and I am sure won’t be my last. We discuss what to do next and because it is a Friday and a Holiday in Malaysia we decide to call it a day and head back.
The rest of the day I chatted with a few of the other back packers that were passing through. All had come down by bus or train and had not seen any trouble in South Thailand, it seems that a lot more people are heading down then up. I have only meet a couple of other people heading up in to Thailand.

Visa's and a Wait

Right the cold, bugger, went to sort my Visa out yesterday and the lady at the Thai Embassy said your kiwi you get 30day visa at border. Cool I thought, came back to the hostel and had a look on the net, yes you do if you fly into the country, so back to emigration in the afternoon to get a two month visa, No charge sweet, but and yes there is a but I won’t get it back till Sunday, but it’s Thursday and you said this morning I get 30 days and I find out that is if you fly into the country. Sunday thank you good bye.
I’m sure the Thais were better last time, ok so it was over 10 years ago, should things change that quick. Alright so stuck in Kota Bharu for 4 days, let’s find out what there is to do. Nothing, the beaches are crap, there is a ship wreck of the coast if I dived. Well I don’t really feel like biking with this cold.
That morning I had had a chat with my local Roti Canai man and his son. I chatted with his son a lot and they were really nice, we talked for a couple of hours about economies, life, work etc. There English was pretty good. The young fella’s name was Min. Been up it Kota Bharu for about 2 weeks working for his old man. Min is about my age and follows the Muslim way, so it was really interesting comparing our lives and what we had done. There were a few similarities between him and I.
I left about lunch time and said I would be back in the morning for breakfast. After sorting out the visa and learning I would be here for a few days, I relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. Chatted with a few other tourists who were passing through on their way south.

Rain again, bloody road signs and a cold

Right I am starting this with a rant, the road signs in this country are about as useful as tits on a bull. I have been looking at the signs as a measure of distance as everyone would I think they are, Ok so here it is road sign coming into a village 21km to Kota Bharu, cool ride through the town and just on the other side after doing about 3 km there is another sign with 21km to Kota Bharu, Ok so you think they measure only the high way km right, wrong. Big sign post before I think it was Marang the other day, Sign saying 50km to Kuala Terengganu, 25km to Marang, ok so 25 from 50 is 25 right, I think my maths can work that out, I think even AJ could work that one out.
Ride into Marang, through and out the other side, sign up 30km to Kuala Terengganu, what the hell is going on here were the hell did 5km come from, I looked around, no space time continuums here no parallel universe that I have slipped it to. Nope everything seems normal, I pinch myself just to make sure I not dreaming. You would not believe how many times this has happened now.
Just one more example this is more to do with Google maps, thought I would check my route on the net, typed in Kualu Besut and Kota Bhura on Google maps destinations, see how many km I have to do. Came up with 57, ok had a look at the roads I needed to take. Sweet 57km easy ride these days 3-4 hours no problems. On the road out of town headed for the town of Jertih were the map said to go. About 15km from Besut, made it there then see a road sign 57km to Kota Bhura, so what about the 15km I have already done.
Did I take a wrong turn somewhere, because there was only one road out of town people, one road, it’s that bloody parallel universe doing strange things again. Man I feel sorry for the guys in their cars, honey I just going to the shop for bread, O now why the hell have I turned up in Kuala Lumpur, must have taken that wrong turn into that parallel universe again.
Anyway that’s enough of that, so was woken up by the Mula at 5:15am this morning, he was a bit early, so I dragged myself out of bed and readied myself for the ride, I have slowly been developing a sore throat over the last couple of days, great it was still there. Packed up ready to go 5:30am yep pretty efficient these days, had to wake the poor hotel man up, he looked a bit pissed, I did give him warning so he can’t really complain.
So look up no stars, not so usual normally there is a little cloud in the morning, out of town bit of drizzle, right out of town, lightning thunder, Ok it was going to be one of those days, rain heavy rain just what you need when you’re not feeling the best, stop in a bus stop out of the rain for a bit, don’t really want to get to wet. Waited ½ hour till it slowed down. OK so I am going to get wet, had my jacket, bag had two plastic bags inside it so gear should stay dry.
Off I went, rain eased then stopped, sweet that’s it then, sun broke through, it was looking better, I was heading west at this stage, turned north towards the border, off to the west the mountains were covered in cloud looked really nice hill just breaking through every now and then. From the east came these Big bad clouds, you know the kind were if you see them at home you turn around walk back inside put on a DVD phone your boss and say you’re sick, pull out the big fluffy blanket and hide under it. Those types of clouds, and they were coming my way.
Great hope I would get breakfast before they arrive, thank the heavens above they are only moving slowly in my direction, I make it to breakfast a bit wet from light rain and wet roads but not soaked. Maybe the morning won’t be so bad. I found a little Roti Canai shop no English just the way I like them. Order four Roti Canai and eat, fantastic, goes well with the sweet tea. Munch through them as though this is my last meal. Then back on the bike and away again.
Just to side step a bit here, I was thinking this morning as my legs pumped away that it is not longer a fitness battle that I am having with keeping going, it has now become a mental battle. My legs just seem to keep on powering along, it’s only when my mind starts to wonder that I start to slow up.
Anyway back to the job at hand, after heading out from breakfast I made good time towards Kota Bharu, it was not until about 10km out of the city did the heavens open up again, no thunder and lightning just lots of rain. Those big black unforgiving cloud had finally got me where they wanted me and let loose. Great. I wonder who I pissed off up stairs this morning to have this. Was it the thought when then Mula woke me up at 5:15am would someone shut him up, I am not too sure.
So as I made my way through the traffic and the rain I made it to the city centre and found my base for the night. Lazy traveler Guest house, the place is nice enough and I have a big room to spread out in. I have managed to wash all my cloths, O yes forgot to say as soon as I found the guest house it stopped raining. I took a walk this afternoon to the Thai Embassy which is closed till tomorrow due to the water festival.
Also I see that the trouble in Bangkok has been put an end to, there has still been a bit of trouble down south so probably will jump on a train for a bit. I have found out that NZ passport holders get a 30 day visa now at the border but will check tomorrow at the embassy. So as the Malaysian part of my journey comes to an end I’ll have to write a bit on the traffic and things. Maybe tomorrow.
Just got startled by the bug man and his spraying contraption, might need to close my window before I get gassed out. Probably not the best for a cold. Smells like diesel. Yep not the best thing for a cold already feeling my throat getting scratchy.

Sunsets on an island , baby monitor lizards

Besides the swimming, the reading and the sleeping I really did not do much, around 6ish I headed over to Corral Bay to watch the sun go down, on this trip I had seen many sun rises but being on the east coast I had not really seen many sunsets.
The walk over to corral bay from long beach takes about 15 minutes, it is an easy walk through the bush to the other side. I arrived about 1 hour before sunset, it was hot, I brought a cold drink some peanuts and made my way down the shoreline to I nice spot that looked out over the bay and the surrounding Islands.
As the sun slowly sank down into the soft embrace of the clouds the sky lit up, shafts of light sprang to the heavens the sky became red like fire and then slowly softened as the sun slid below the clouds to end another day.
14.04.09 Baby monitor lizards and breakfast
So the final day of my island break had come, I packed all my stuff and headed over for breakfast. The usual thanks, two banana pancakes. I had time for breakfast and a swim then catch the boat back to the mainland and off the next day. I pulled out my book and started to read when a little head popped around a corner, a baby monitor lizard had come for breakfast too.
He/she was about 20cm long, big black tongue tasting the air, and I sat very still and watched as bob the lizard that’s right I named him bob, made his way right underneath me, he stopped a few times to look around, and then wondered off underneath the couch that is up in the restaurant. I told the owner and we had a look but I think he had escaped into the safety of the couch as we could not find him.
I had a last swim in the sea which had now had calmed down so there was only a small surf breaking against the shore. I jumped on the 12 o clock boat back to the mainland and retrieved my bike, found a hotel for the night so it’s off to Kota Bharu tomorrow and then into Thailand, the home of spicy food, cheap beer and cheaper women.. ha ha just kidding. About the women thing anyway although that is probably true.
I think by the end of Malaysia I will have done just under 900 km, not bad for my first months riding. Hope all is well back home with everyone…

Turtles sharks and a whole lot more

The morning started a little over cast and a little windy, the waves were still crashing against the shore as I headed for breakfast, it looked to be one of those days were it could rain or it could be fine. After a couple of banana pancakes and some orange juice I headed down to the pickup area for the snorkeling trip. When I got their it was just me, no one else was there, I was told that 4 more people were coming once they finished breakfast. People the bloody trip starts at 10:30 do I have to wait for you to finish your breakfast because your too lazy to get up on time. Useless bastards. So there I sat and waited.
They finally came and then the guide decided that we should split up as the group had got too big. Being the single person I was sent off onto another boat. Good the other people seemed a bit arrogant. Any way once I was on the boat it chugged into life and we headed off.
As we plowed away around the Island I thought to myself that the boat was not sounding to well, it sounded as though it had lost a couple of cylinders. We were slowing down, it soon became obvious that this boat and engine were not going to last the distance. We managed to make it to the first stop of the morning were our driver got on the mobile phone and arrange for a replacement boat. We had been sent over board for some snorkeling.
Now in my opinion this first stop was a load of rubbish, literally, there were plastic bags floating in the water and rubbish stuck to the corral, I could not believe they would take us to such a place. I thought well hopefully it will get better and not worse. By the time I was ready to get out the water the new boat had arrived.
The next place we went was shark bay, the corral was not the best here either but we did manage to see a small shark and a few fish. No big sharks but there was about 50 or so people in the water so what can you really expect. The next stop was turtle bay now this is what I had been looking forward to. Now I had thought that these would be smallish turtle.
Wrong. They were big buggers, the first one we found was maybe 2 ½ foot long and a bit less than 2 foot wide. From the surface it looked like a rock on the bottom to me but once in the water the magnificence of the creature became apparent. We swam along with the turtle for a while, it was a hard thing to keep up with, it glided through the water with ease and soon left us behind.
After we got back to the boat I realize my flippers had warn a hole in my toe so I decided to forgo the next turtle encounter. The next one was said to be bigger than the first, but it moved on just as quick as the last one. The thing with the turtles is the hang about between the two Perhantian Islands, it is a busy boating channel, I am amazed that there are turtle still around and they have not been mowed down by the boats. I am sure with the traffic that runs through there their have been some deaths.
So lunch time and then back out into the water. The next stop was just off corral bay, a light house about 1 km off the coast. This was one of the best spots of the day, the corral looked in very good health compared to the other places we had been. The greens, purples and or the other colors of the rainbow were present. We took turns swimming down to the nemo fish and watching as they came out to protect their patch.
A few in the group climbed the light house and jumped it the water, some even doing back flips. Then it was off again always moving on to the next lot of corral, it was our last snorkeling stop, I managed to see some squid in the water, they looked translucent in the water and moved rather quick when I followed them. After this we stopped on a white sandy beach and spent a bit of time just relaxing. Over all it was a good day out, but again the rubbish in the water has let the Malaysian islands down. Would I come back, yes possibly but I am sure there are better places with less rubbish.
The night was spent having dinner with the people from the trip. BBQ yellow fin tuna with potato’s and salad. Perfect way to finish the day.

Monitor Lizards, rolling surf, sun drenched beachs

The 11th was a quiet day, went for a couple of swims, read my book, and chatted with a couple of people staying at my guest house. The waves were really good, not good for surfing or though there were a few people out, but it was good for body surfing. The Lady who runs Bintang Guest house was saying that normally the sea is flat calm at this time of year. Have to say glad there were waves otherwise it would have been a bit boring.
The monitor lizards are everywhere, wandering across paths, through the bush, some of them are fairly big things, just poking their tongues out and wandering of you try and take photos of them. They all seem to be a bit camera shy.
Anyway dinner that night was at the Bintang restaurant, very good meal and excellent banana pancakes O so good. As the sun slowly set behind the hill, the lights of the restaurants came on and the music started to play. O yes forgot to mention but Perhentain Islands also means girls in bikinis worshiping the sun god, all day long. I really don’t know how they do it, I would have been like a lobster if I tried that.
I took a stroll down the beach and there are a few bars that sell Alcohol but overall it was pretty quiet. The moon was out a full and drenched the water in a silvery glow. The mosquitoes did not seem as bad here as some of the other places I have stayed which was good because it has given my body a bit of time to recover after I was attacked last time. The next day I had booked for a snorkeling trip.

late start, slow ride, on the island

Well as you can tell from the title it took me a while to get out of bed this morning, it was about 7.30am by the time I got on the road, my legs were feeling it and so was the body, it was one of those days that was going to be a struggle, luckily I only had about 40km ride 3 to 4 hours on a day like this. At least the sky was fairly clear with just high wispy clouds.
So the ride was a bit of a bird watcher ride, went through a swampy area and must have seen about 15 or so different species of bird, it is a shame I had to leave my 1001 birds of the world popup book back in New Zealand, I could have documented what I had seen with the stickers the book gives you. Anyway fantastic, the thing was, I was going that slow I could see them all.
Anyway made it to Kuala Besut and booked myself on a fast boat to the Perhentian Islands, I was going to be staying on the smaller one of the two, that’s were all the back packers go. Have left my bike with Wizam the local storage guy, the bike is staying in his house. He did not seem to dodgy anyway. Told boat leaves at 2pm, sweet can go and get some food before I go, no boat leaves at 2:30pm, No problem. Ok you come with me now boat is going. OK NO LUNCH, lucky only a 30 minute boat ride then lunch.
Boat ride out was pretty quick, Had some lunch at the first café I came to. Nice stir fry noodle, right down to business find somewhere to stay. First place nope sorry were full, Next place No sorry were full, third place yep we have rooms but there out of your price range. Ok fourth time lucky, yes we have rooms, and they looked alright to. Up on the hill looking down on the bay, sea breeze coming straight up the bay to keep you cool. Perfect.
There are some good waves to, not really surfing waves but good for a bit of body surfing. The sea is pretty clear so might book for a snorkel trip tomorrow and then might head over to the other side of the island for a couple of days. The sunsets are supposed to be amazing, and it is a protected bay so the water will be a lot calmer. Have also seen a few monitor lizards already. They just wonder around kicking back, I really hope I don’t run into one on the way to the loo in the middle of the night…