On November 4th Fred the bike is embarking on a six month journey across Southeast Asia. Starting in Singapore, Fred plans to make his way up the west coast of Malaysia, across Thailand, Cambodia, up through Vietnam and into Laos. After that... who knows? Fred invites you to follow him through his adventure. Any advice from fellow travelers is always welcome.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Cherating-Kuantan

Total Distance:49.71km
Total Time:3h03m02s
Average Speed:16.4km/h
Maximum Speed:39.5km/h
Total Distance So Far:10,758.39km

Cherating, finally a place that really had everything I was hoping to find in Eastern Malaysia. A nice beach, a laid back atmosphere, good food, a couple of good places to hang out at night, good people, and not too expensive. It's a shame that many people skip this little beach town on their journey down the East coast. Well, maybe it's not so much a shame. I'm sure if it were buzzing with westerners it would probably not have been such a pleasant experience. I had really only intended to spend a night there, but one night soon turned into two, which became three. I thought about hanging around for a fourth, but decided against it.
Kuantan is relatively close to Chatering. Here resides the largest Mosque in Eastern Malaysia. Other than that it acts as a transfer point for busses to other, more exciting places. It's a bit of a dull city. I had considered trying to make it all the way to Mersing, but after evaluating my map and realizing it was well over 200km, I decided against it. The short trip to Kuantan puts me within reasonable distance to Mersing and I should be able to make it there tomorrow. After that, in theory anyways, there is only one more day of cycling until I hit Singapore. Although the wind has been kicking up along the coast, slowing me down. It may take an extra day to make it through Malaysia. Time will tell.
The ride here, short though it was, was nice. The road was relatively quiet. I didn't have to head out too early, and I arrived in the early hours of the afternoon. It's always nice to reach a place and be able to cycle around and check things out, as opposed to arriving dead tired and going straight to bed.
If I do decide to travel Malaysia sans Fred, this means there will only be two (possibly three) of these entries left for you to read. Can you believe it? I'm almost done.

1 comment:

Luth said...

that is a journey you've made last for a quite a while.