Day 9: 80km Sungai Rengit to Kota Tinggi

Tried to sleep in, covered head with pillow, hid under the blanket but at 7am I'm packed up and ready to go because the eatery where I stayed started the wok clanking, door slamming, coughing spitting Olympic phlegm clearing hacking and extremely loud conversations as early as 6am.



Sun's up early. Weather's pretty warm but the coastal wind was extra breezy.



Drying out my laundry, the best way that I can. It's not that I'm too finicky about being clean since you know I travel alone and I rarely do come into contact with any other person but I do think a clean fresh pair of clothing in the morning is a great way to start the day. Plus it bothers me when I can start smelling myself.



This how the first 10km exiting Sungai Rengit looks like. Very distracting, slowed me down.



Trudging through the inner road - its quiet. Scant of any houses and and cars. The scenery of wide open spaces, green golden fields stretches on for a good hour or so. God forbid your bike should experience a technical here because it would be terribly funny to push the bike back to 'civilisation'. Since its the monsoon season and all, the clouds were low, thick and heavy with promise of rain to come. A deep rumble in the distant is a constant reminder that I need to find cover as soon as possible.



It was a blustery day on the road due to the incredibly flat landscape. The road presents vast sprawling fields on both sides of the road and the monsoon clouds cover is so low it seems like the sky is just 10 feet off the ground. The grey sky and muted brown of the fields gave the featureless landscape a temperate, autumn feel. Cycling during the monsoon yea sure you'd be cycling into heavy winds and rain off course but I'd rather be wet than have the searing sun's rays on your back? Also I cant imagine crossing the difficult 13 degree gradient Jeli-Gerik or the long hilly Mersing route in any other weather besides during the cool breezy monsoon.



So the road gradually changes from flat big fields to hutan renek dua dua belah puny lanes no shoulder, so kena ride on the white paint. There's not so many cars so it's ok.

The route is relatively easy, just some slight hills and lotsa flat + pleasant downhills on the other side. There's a heavy presence of tentera darat at this parts though. nothing hardcore, sighted a few assault jeeps mounted with an M2 .50 caliber and the AV8 light personnel carriers going up and down the road, then disappeared into the hutan.



St one point the wind just went wild, sky gone darker than normal and the rumblings were paired with thunderclaps. Reckon that's the sign where I should take shelter immediately. Saved my laundry at the last possible seconds, pushed my bike under the shop and it poured cats and grindcore goats. Kedai pak ali, 21 years in business. He sais only twice did he ever received Malaysian cycletourers, maksalleh ramai. He gave me some bananas. I was a happy clam.



After an hour dah kena jalan. Covered the Brooks with a bag.



Bandar Kota Tinggi yang comel and kecik. That big mall is empty and right beside it is an excellent corner eatery. Had a delicious big fat chicken chop and pasta for something like rm10 with drinks. I remembered having dinner here on a friday night then suddenly ada tarbiyah. Hahaha. Tried focusing on the tarbiyah but tak boleh because the preacher's red undies was clearly on display under his thin white jubah. Hahaha



Day 10: 97km Kota Tinggi to Mersing



I've been getting many foreboding warnings about this route from tourers who've gone this way before - supposedly tough and unforgiving, And all i can is, its all true. Alas IMHO, the 2nd hardest route in Malaysia.



You'd get alot of these exiting Kota Tinggi - identical fruit stalls selling the same produce lining the roads with nothing much that would catch your interest and many empty kedai makan, tempting you with the possibility of nasi goreng or a hearty breakfast from a distance but it's closed when you're near. So make sure you're well stocked up in Kota Tinggi.

5km out, then you're on your own. No shops, stalls and petrol station along the way until Mersing. If you're not well prepared or well rested, didn't have carbo dinner or a good breakfast, low on water then you're fucked. In the ass. Repeatedly. With a lamp. A glass lamp.



This is largely the main theme of the route, it goes up.



And up, no it doesn't stop.



Hahahah. Naik naik lagi dan lagi



Half way, I came across this interesting animal crossing road signage.



Not sure which part is sad. A sole lonely wildlife crossing signage to facilitate traffic via a destroyed forest. Or utterly destroyed rainforest where there used to have animal crossings.



There's nothing to see here. Please move along.



Got caught in the rain for the second time, had to stop as the visibility was poor. Plus my super expensive Brooks saddle is not water proof. So yea, mahal aje lebih. Tapi ok menyelamatkan telor untuk kegunaan masa hadapan, just incase if I want kids.



So after all that climb, the fun downie part starts here. Its downhill all the way.  



Down, down, down with a scenic route to boot.





Day 11: 70km Mersing to Kuala Rompin



There's not much to say about Mersing, as it's a jumping off point to Tioman Island. The whole place is within walking distance from end to end and you can find many cheap AF backpackers hostel here. I stayed in a RM30 per night place, the let me bring bike in the room, with hot shower, TV and AC. Good enough for me. Also be careful of the eateries near the jetty as is was fuck expensive.



Unlike the Kota Tinggi - mersing route, you'd be riding through a forest and there are many places to stop for makan and drinks. The local orang asli banyak bukak kedai jual food stuff along the way. 



After a hard day before, this route is quite flat with a slight incline that's not too hilly or demanding. Easy stuff today. 



Once you've reached here, the highest hill in Endau its big  its all downhill all the way (ok not exactly all the way, but there's less climbs lah) to Bandar Endau Rompin.ta




Categories: , ,

One Response so far.

  1. Khairil says:

    Oi!
    Continue writing laaa lazybum! Hahahah!

Leave a Reply

Followers