While our bicycles have been with us and ready to use for a while, it is not so obvious to start riding them. KL is not that bike-friendly... Well, I do use the bike to go to work, but that 1,5km does not really count as bike trip, does it...? This is about a first 3-day trip we did recently however. We also did a very short one before that - to the Saturday hash about 20 km away and back - which was also good to experience the fantastic KL traffic a first time.
But OK, we decided to use the occasion of a long weekend in September to ride to friends in Seremban, then from there to Banting and back home. To plan the trip a little, I used
Bikemap.net which is really great - except that for now, it doesn't seem to work on mobile, only on PC. So I had to use some workarounds to be able to use it on our way. Nevertheless, the picture below will show that it gave us some nice options away from traffic.
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The route, staying mostly outside the most densely populated, busy areas (not always for sure). All together around 100km instead of the 80km for the shortest route.
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Some surprise sections on our way - here squeezing through a MRT work area gate
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| Rest stop after about 2h, well away from KL, entering the plantations on a nice, quiet road. Getting hotter already... |
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Beautiful, safe and super-quiet unsealed plantation road, not too far from KLIA
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And for lunch: nasi kukus takeaway! Yummy!
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One of the biggest solar farms I have ever seen - a stone throw from KLIA. It has about 29.000 (!) solar panels, producing up to 8MW. Not bad, Malaysia!
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Hot, hot, hot: time for a cold drink at a petrol station. We might be well used to the tropical heat, but a long day out there on the bike is definitely not to be underestimated
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Enjoying s wonderful dinner with our Ooghe friends in Seremban after a long. hot and tiring 100km ride. Thank you Kathelijne and kids for the wonderful stay.
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| A very hot first day, a very wet and cool start of the second. Great - this way we get to experience the different types of weather that we will definitely encounter. And to be honest, some rain is nice in the tropics... |
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| Again a surprising route from bikemap, going about 10km over unsealed plantation roads. Difficult to find lunch (= impossible), but oh so nice. |
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| Palm plantations are certainly controversial but they are quite beautiful to be honest... |
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| A happy couple, ready to leave Banting in the early morning after a nasi lemak breakfast |
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| The solar farm was a good example of sustainability in Malaysia, but here is a contrast. This river side is just a dump, rubbish all over the place, and even concrete dumps at the river side. Nobody seems to care or do anything about it. |
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| Almost back home. YES, there are cycling paths in KL, not easy to ride on (going up and down a 20cm high border with a heavy bicycle), but at least it's a first step in the right direction. It would only need some slopes to get on and off, and once there it still needs maintenance too. |
All in all a very good first experience, with about 240km of cycling spread over 3 days which went pretty smooth. The main challenge was probably the heat, especially during the first long day. It is definitely something we will need to keep in mind very well once we're on the road - always carry enough water. Finding a nice route was not too bad at all, and some of it was even absolutely wonderful. Also food was not as obvious as we had expected. In Malaysia, where you will always find food, everywhere. Except... If you really do your best to get off the main roads - definitely through the plantations - then there is nothing at all. That was ok for this time, but we'll always have to make sure we carry extra good and water (which we did) with us. Finally, once you leave the city, people are just wonderful: friendly, helpful. Looking forward to that already!
Next trip? Don't know yet - there might not even be any trip anymore before we leave in November. First of all, the short trip to the office tomorrow. Hopefully that will be easy too...
