Being back home in Kuala Lumpur is great - after all we had been away for about 3,5 months. It's good to be back: at our own place, own bed, own bread, own coffee, ... And with the friends, happily hashing in KL's forests! Nevertheless, after I had assembled the bikes again a few days ago, we immediately felt that "itch" to jump on and go for a ride! So we did; after looking at the options, we decided to go for an easy, short 2-day trip from KL to the coast and back. Jeram is probably almost the closest place to reach the "beach" from home, it seemed a good ride with feasible roads, and we found a nice place to stay for a night.
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| A beautiful spot on a hill, about 10km before reaching the coast, with a great view - although it's all mostly oil palm plantation as far as you can see |
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| The palm plantations (yes yes, there is some other vegetation in the front) |
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| It's sometimes hard to believe that you've only just left Kuala Lumpur! |
Getting out of KL is always a bit of a hassle, although we now know some roads that are not too bad. Mostly. The first hour is always busy and dusty, after that it gets much better. Using Google Maps we did find good alternatives and had a good ride, most of the way, both there and return - I've attached the gpx tracks for those who are interested to try it!
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| A kapok tree; this fluffy stuff was often used to fill mattresses and pillows (also for instance the typical Thai triangular pillows); not sure if that's still being used nowadays |
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| Small islands just off the coast; I could not even find them on Google Maps. Notice how far the muddy "beach" goes before hitting water. |
It's incredible how much housing development has happened and is still ongoing west of KL. Basically, this is connecting KL to Klang and Shah Alam, with less and less green left and more and more becoming one big metropolitan. Many places we used to go running in the forests, even just a few years ago, have now been converted in huge housing estates. It's sad to see how much nature (and yes, admittedly, palm plantations as well) has had to make way - all in the name of "development". Sure, people need to have a place to live, however the question is whether there aren't much more sustainable and environment-friendly solutions to this!
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| Unfortunately, we witnessed (as often before) the plastic tragedy as soon as we got closer to the coast. Malaysia is doing some efforts to reduce single use plastics but there is still a very long way to go... And then the picture also does not include the smell in this place... |
Anyway, back to the ride. Once we left most of these huge developments behind us, it really became very nice, and also once at the coast it was no problem to find small roads, sealed and unsealed, with no traffic, and with lots of palm trees and here and there a glimpse of the Strait of Malacca. While the west coast is by far not as picturesque as the east coast, there are definitely some nice corners and beautiful views. One thing is sure however: it's not the place to go for a good time at the beach. The beaches are muddy, and in many places super shallow - in those places you may have to wade 100's of meters through the mud before you reach some sea water. So it's nice for a day out, for sure, but it's not "a day at the beach"; beaches south of Port Dickson, Tanjung Bidara etc are much better for that.
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| A small fishing village near Pantai Jeram, perfectly aligned with the sunset! |
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| Mangroves can be so beautiful! (and extremely important for our environment too!) |
It is very hot these days in KL, so we left twice very early in the morning, in order to finish cycling before noon. The afternoon brought some aircon, and an afternoon nap; not much else to do, it was just way too hot. We had found a nice resort, recommended really for a short trip from KL:
The Kabin (although not sure how busy it gets in weekends). There might be a few small things that can be improved, but generally it's a nice and affordable place to stay, and I haven't seen many such stylish and pleasant boutique-style (well, in containers actually) accommodation on Malaysia's west coast at all. So we had a good rest, a good swim in their great pool, and of course: ended the day with a delicious seafood dinner, at the seaside, with a nice sunset!
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| As before in Malaysia, we found really nice trails to cycle on |
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| And sometimes, you come to surprises! No problem though: we could have gone around it anyway, but found an even better alternative just 50m away. For those who know: this is near Bukit Cahaya |
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| Cycling in KL is not always fun - and especially not when there are roadworks. This is midday on a weekday, I wouldn't want to go through here during rush hour... |
Route 1:
KL to Jeram GPS track
Route 2:
Jeram to KL GPS track (missing the first 6km however)
