Cycling The Most Underrated Country in Asia

Last month I decided to follow the dream of my life and fly to Singapore and then go back home by bicycle. Something I will not do voluntarily alone. So, after spending a couple of weeks exploring the south of Malaysia and having reached the southernmost tip of continental Asia, we slowly made our way, finally arriving here in Lumpur, where we spent a few days modifying and admiring everything that the city has to offer. I must say that we ate a lot of things there. Now we plan to continue to pedal north through the mountains of central Malaysia, passing through Penang and finally crossing the border with Thailand. So, join us as we complete this 600 km stretch, starting with a visit to the most touristic place in the whole country. As you can see, it is not crowded at all. We arrived at the caves quite early to avoid the crowd, but as you can see, we failed. It's funny that we never really know what to do in touristic places like this. I mean, what else is supposed to be done besides taking pictures? Anyway, it was fun to spend time with the monkeys. And after climbing and climbing the stairs, we slowly made our way out of the city. And we didn't take long to find some really fantastic places. Look at us all wet. It will be dry in 5 minutes. I know it looks super nice. Uh, but this is not a real forest. It is mainly coconut and palm plantations that have actually destroyed most of the forest here in Malaysia. So it's pretty sad because UM biodiversity is basically non-existent. Umma, yes, it's still pretty nice to ride a bike through the plantations. Good morning. Wow, look at this view. On this day, we decided to make a small detour and pedal towards the mountains. About 50 km with over 2000 meters of altitude. And all this just to visit a place called Cameroon Islands. Those are the mountains we are about to climb. We are getting ready for the climb. Are you ready? Not so bad so far. This is really beautiful. It is not steep at all and there is a lot of shade. We just realized that today is the first day of Ramadan. So, all the restaurants along this road are closed for today. So, I guess we'll have to resort to our snakes today. This will be our lunch. Beans with tomato sauce, arachids and chips with our new friend. No, you're hungry. I know, but um ... This is not good for you. True, can you have some chips? I don't know. Hey, who told you you could eat it? After lunch, we said goodbye to our friend and got back on the bike because the climb was actually taking much longer than expected. These last kilometers are definitely the steepest, but it's also getting so cool up here. I think it's only 20 or 23 degrees now. Such a big difference. In the end, we reached the top and found the nicest and most welcoming campground where we decided to stay for a couple of nights. And since we are rather tired for the climb, we took a break and rented this thing. I can't believe we're the only ones here. Well, you can see them while they pick tea leaves. It looks hard in the sun. So, I just want to take a moment to tell you about the sponsor of today's video. Video, which is Quad Lock. I'm really excited that they sponsor this video because, honestly, they produce the best support for cycling. Recently, they launched a new handlebar support, which honestly is already my favorite because it keeps the phone less exposed and also easier to reach. It's made of aeronautical aluminum and the build quality is simply too good. The system itself is also super reliable. I've brought these supports everywhere and my phone has always been super safe. I also film a lot while pedaling and, honestly, having the phone here is a turning point because I practically never lose a shot. Obviously, they offer all kinds of supports and guards. Not only for your bike, but also for your car, your motorcycle, your desk and practically anything that comes to mind. So, if you want to get one, make sure to check the link below to get a 10% discount on any guard or support of your choice. Again, thank you Quad Lock for sponsoring this video. And now, let's get back on the bike. We have a long descent from this mountain. Here we are again. Again on the Zattera. Hurray! Look at all these mountains. What the hell! They do it. It's beautiful. So beautiful rain. Oh, it's raining hard. Ok, it looks like the rain has passed. We can continue. It's getting much hotter again. Much more humid and wet. Big difference. It's getting pretty late and we haven't arrived yet. So, we'll try to find a place to camp in this village. Let's see. Hi. Do you speak English? No. English. No. We are looking for a place to camp. Sleep. Wait. Yes. It's possible. Ok. I like it. The first people we ask for help always succeed. Here. Ok. It's pretty good. English. No English. K-M-A. Yes. Sleep. Yes. No problem. Ok. Wow, this is such a beautiful place. This city is so beautiful. It's so beautiful. All the houses on Palafitte. Have you seen this? Too beautiful to be true. Wake me up. So many children. So beautiful. Oh, it's so cold. This seems too beautiful to be true. We took to load our equipment. There is a fan there on the ceiling. There are tents to have a little privacy. There is a shower. There is running water to wash the dishes. It's so beautiful. Yes. And now let's go to sleep. See you tomorrow. Good night. The next morning we left rather early. Although our body asks for quiet mornings, we have to make the most of the first hours of the day, when the temperatures are cooler. So, the plan was to arrive and then follow the main road to Pining. What we did not expect was that while we were pedaling, a subscriber would have recognized us from the corner of the road. In saw us from the corner of the road and decided to invite us to have lunch together. Thank you very much. And since we were following the main road and there was not much to see, we gave ourselves every possible hint we saw along the road. I guess it all counts to keep us motivated. So, we were here in a restaurant looking for a place to camp because for some reason we could not find a place today. And guess what? They let us camp in the restaurant. It's a first time. We are going to Pining and the roads are so crowded. Oh, it's a disaster. We will take the ferry to Penang Island. It was two and a half ringgit. It's less than 50. Arriving in Pining was a kind of milestone. It seemed that we were making real progress. And after spending two whole days on the main road, it was really nice to finally have some free time in the city. That is the island. Penang is considered the gastronomic capital of Malaysia. In this city you can find almost anything. And for two hungry cyclists, it seemed like paradise. This is a bit ambiguous. I can't fall. And since we are only there for a day, we decided to stay in the main place, starting from the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia. The temple is so big that we have to take a few steps to get to the top. It looks like a village. Yes, I was almost about to visit the temple. In the end we got some of the local specialties. Oh, it's so sticky. It's a mix of rice and peanuts. How is it? Pretty good. It tastes like peanut butter. Yes. Not bad. I can have an ice kashan. It looks a bit disgusting. Yes, I was curious to know what you would have said. There are so many things that happen in your mouth. It's exactly what it looks like. Just a cake. Crazy. As much as we had fun in Penang, the road called us. And so the next morning we left the island and headed north. The idea was to complete the last 200 km in just two days. This cloudy weather is a bit bad, but it's much better to go by bike. It's much fresher. You can see the small grains of rice. They are not ready yet. I just crashed the drone against a banana tree. I'm going to get it. I hope everything goes well. On my way to save the drone. Yes, I did it. No fracture. I think it's pretty good. Oh, nice. Congratulations. This part of Malaysia seems to be entirely Muslim, because everything is closed during the day because of Ramadan. So, we might have to wait until tonight to get some food. Why don't we have food with us? We should have prepared for this. We want to cross from that side right there, but it's a bit difficult to find a boat. We are here at this moment and the nearest bridge to cross from the other side is all here. So, it's 30 km plus 30 to get back to the coast and we really want to avoid it. Things were not going well, but before giving up, we decided to seek help. Do you speak English? A little. Do you know the boat from here to there? At the moment, the boat was not available because it was closed because of Ramadan. There is no boat during Ramadan? Yes, there is no boat. For a moment we thought we would have to waste the whole day taking the long way across that bridge. But before we get involved, we decided to ask other people and that's when we found this guy. Arrival. Oh. No. Two minutes. Two minutes. Two minutes. The boat. Oh. Ok. Ok. It was easy. So, this guy just called someone and apparently there is a boat coming in two minutes. I'm a little surprised there is a boat. Keep coming. Yes. We did it. Oh, and there is also food on this side. We are so lucky today. So much food. So. Unexpected. What an excursion. This. It's full of surprises. Yes, I won't lie, I really didn't expect things to go that way. So, that food had an extra special flavor. But anyway, after lunch, we got back on the bike and continued to follow the coast. Thailand was no longer so far away and the thought of arriving in a new country was quite exciting for both. This country is too beautiful. I hope Thailand is as beautiful as this. I'm pretty sure you shouldn't park there. We found a hairy tree. Look at that. I've never seen it in my life. Do you see that bridge that goes to that island? I think we'll go there. Unfortunately, the island is closed, but yes, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Okay. This is the last sunset in Malaysia. Oh, what a way to say goodbye. Those mountains there, that's the border with Thailand. We're almost there. It's raining. I think Malaysia is a little sad to see us leave. Goodbye, Malaysia. It's been a nice month. That's the border right there. You're crossing the border. Here it is, this is the border. Yes. So, yes, period. Oh. You're in Thailand, I'm in Malaysia. I want to go to Malaysia for a while, longer. Can I? Hi, if you've made it this far, I just want to tell you about our Substack. We thought we wanted to have a place where we could share more about these adventures. Obviously, I do my best to film as much as possible, but it is literally impossible to include everything in a 20-minute video. So, Yule has actually written a lot about our adventure. Adventures here, only things that the camera has lost, stuff behind the scenes and little stories in general. So, if you like watching these videos, it's really worth watching them. In addition to this, we have also tried this type of bicycle video in which we film for about 20 or 30 minutes in a row and you have only a better idea of ​​what it actually means to buy here with us. I think they are pretty fantastic. So, if you want to watch them, there is a link below. It's like onamap.com It is free to subscribe, but we also give you the possibility to pay if you want to support us in that way. And yes, that's all for this video. Thank you so much for watching and see you soon, bye bye.