Exactly one year ago we crossed the border from Laos into China, on our long tour – one of those special exciting moments of the trip. One year
ago already! Time flies. And here we are, again on the bike, this time for a
short trip, definitely also very nice!
When we left our home for the night at Tanjung Resang, the
morning sun was still faint, and nature at its best. The road to Mersing went through
a beautiful jungle area, with hardly any traffic, and the jungle treated us to
a wonderful concert. Definitely one of the best parts of this bike trip! The
closer we came to Mersing the more we got back to “civilization”, yet the road up
to Mersing was great cycling all the way. Before reaching Mersing, we had (delicious)
nasi lemak for breakfast at a small restaurant, near the beach; life is good!
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| Riding on an empty road through the jungle, early morning |
After we cycled through Mersing, we found another small
coastal road, still avoiding the busier N3. Again, nice cycling through a beautiful
area with hardly any traffic. Also, since we left, we had had some hills, and
that was still the case – before this it had been very easy, flat terrain all
the while. In a way we were happy with it, it gave more variation while cycling,
and makes you feel more accomplished every time you go over the hill.
After about 30km on small local roads we were back on the
N3, no way to avoid it. Of course there was a bit more traffic and it was a
wider road, most of the time through palm plantation, nevertheless – as mentioned
before – it’s not too bad cycling along it. So we did around 40 hot kms along the
N3, stopping for an early lunch break in a small Chinese coffee shop were we
had a portion of tasty noodles. We continued, the sun was slightly shielded by
a thin layer of cloud, yet we were both getting grilled… Before leaving the N3
back onto smaller roads, we had an ice cold ABC (if you don’t know what that is:
Google it) which gave us a welcome cool down.
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| Waiting at the Tanjung Leman jetty; the bikes will go with us onto the island |
From the main road it was still almost 30km to the jetty for
Pulau Sibu – so yes, we did almost 100km again. The road to the jetty was all the
way through palm plantation, and hilly! It was a day with many hills, all quite
short and not too steep, but the whole day up and down more or less. The last
stretch, the hills became a bit steeper, and towards the end it was getting tougher
and hotter. Nevertheless we knew our reward was coming close: a 2 night stay at
Pulau Sibu!
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| Our beach "shack" at Sea Gypsy village in Pulau Sibu! |
A stay at this island was a possibility from the beginning,
but it would all depend on our progress and we didn’t want to push it. However,
as we made really good daily progress, we now had the option to stop for a day
and go for it. So while we were on our way, we called and made a reservation at
Sea Gypsy village, and here we are now! Another unknown little island paradise
in Malaysia, absolutely fantastic for a “getting away from it all” session –
and the perfect place to celebrate my “new life” and pre-celebrate my birthday 😊 (any reason is a good reason!)
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| View from our balcony |