Malaysia: summary and route

It took us a little while to appreciate Malaysia but, once we had, we wished we'd had longer! I think this was mostly because we'd had a really easy time of it since leaving Vietnam nearly 3 months ago.....and had forgotten how hard it can be to settle into a new country. Once we'd figured out the food we really loved it, and tended to opt for finding a Chinese veggie place for lunch, then a standard 24 hour Malay place for dinner.

Our central route seems to be fairly unusual amongst cyclists, but it was wonderful to be in the mountains and rainforest. But....the roads. Ed says he categorically wouldn't recommend cycling in Malaysia - I think that's a bit black and white, as we found many quiet roads to ride on, but it was pretty awful in places. That said, we mostly managed fine. We would recommend finding an alternative to riding on route 1, particularly between Yong Peng and Kulai where there is zero shoulder but many, many impatient trucks.

We found the people to be more reserved that we're used to, yet kind and helpful. I was expecting more people to speak English based on what I'd read - actually quite a lot of people speak a smattering, making logistics fairly straightforward, but conversations are still few and far between. Not that I'd expect it to be otherwise....but I was disappointed not to be able to engage more. That said, we had many wonderful interactions!