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MALAYSIA

Mar
2004-09-14 16:33:03

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15/01/2004 Just after the crossing, a small road leads us up into our first Malaysian mountains. The road is steep and takes us to a small mountain ridge that provides us a warm welcome to Malaysia and a nice view over the plains of the North. At the top we settle ourselves in a wooden 'bus stop', open at all sides, and try to take a nap. It’s too hot to cycle anyway; we better wait till four o'clock. Just when we close our eyes another group of gibbons start yelling. It's fascinating, although we can't spot any. We continue cycling in the afternoon. Again on the emergency brake, I follow Raymond’s eyes and see what he is looking at. A small monkey of about an under arm length, black haired with white hair around the eyes which make them look bigger. Its holding on to a thin tree like a Koala beer and it looks at us from as close as 5 meters. Apparently he didn't hear us approaching nor could he smell us since the wind is blowing against us, though after our climb I wouldn't be surprised if our smell would reach him with the wind against. We pull our shoes from the pedals, which makes a metal 'click'. We regret this time that we use SPD shoes, the monkey hears us and makes a big jump while the tree snaps by his weight. He makes a jump into a higher tree further away where we can't see him anymore.

We enter the country via Kaki Bukit and spend our first night in Kangar, a town where the centre is dominated by the ethnic Chinese (like a lot of Malay towns). It's a typical Chinese guesthouse where hot water is served in a thermos can and most of the time clean rooms. The owner offers us mandarins due to the upcoming New Year; it’s a custom for Chinese to give away mandarins around Chinese (Mandarin) New Year. The population of Malaysia exists mainly out of three groups, the Malay, Chinese and for smaller portion Indies. Malaysia was an English colony till the late fifties. The main religion is Muslim, but ...