Blog / Penultimate

3 April 2012

Palm oil plantations, lots of them. Consequently it's a bit of a tedious day.

I remarked a few days ago about how I felt the roads were just put in for getting the palm oil out, and now I'm beginning to wonder if that applies to the whole country's road network. Where did the jungle go? Chopped, burned, replaced. And the bugs, birds, beasts? I saw road signs warning of elephants crossing, so I suspect all is not lost.

The main event today was a massive downpour which kicked in around 54km down. It went rather dark and then slammed it down. Probably my biggest soaking of the trip.

I'm at a Pakistani place for dinner. (I'd written 'Indian', but the manager, surreptitiously reading over my shoulder, helpfully corrected me.) In Malaysia this counts as local food, but I've clearly been in the wrong part of the country lately - I've been eating a lot of Chinese food, another 'local' cuisine. The Chinese have pig and beer, but they're sorely lacking in naan and tandoori.

Dinner is washed down with a can of 'ais krem soda' with some added 'ais kiub'. Across the street is an 'agensi tiket'. It's an odd language, with plenty of loan words (sekolah, colej, bas, lori, feri, jeti - did the Malays have no education or transport before the Brits showed up?) plunged into a matrix of the impenetrable. I'm heading to the keluar tomorrow, and Singapore.

96km, 22.8km/h, 4hr12min, 8294km

Older: I'm Mersing Myself | Newer: Clear and Bright