Damar Laut, a little visited area opposite of Lumut

The first trip will take you to Damar Laut. It will cost you anything from 2 to 6 hours depending how much time you spend on your bicycle and in the kampongs.

Can it really be 6 hours? It will be a long day then. Yes, it can be a long day. If you decide to visit all the fish farms, go into every little single house and have a midday sleep too.

But, as far as I do this trip, it will take about two hours and it's enough to see what you want to see.

We start in Lumut. I assume you take your bicycle on the ferry (no extra costs). At arrival in Lumut, stay at the pier and look for the sign for the ferry to Damar Laut. It's a small boat and you will be able to get two bicycles on it. You pay 1 ringit fare plus 1 for your bicycle.

The journey will take about 15 minutes before you arrive at Damar Laut. The pier is over 100 meters long and no really understands why it was ever build that long. The only reason one can imagine is the mud in at the coast line.

From the pier you have a fine view over Lumut and the nearby Naval Base. The you turn away from the sea and have a look at Damar Laut.

On the Malaysian maps Damar Laut looks like a reasonable big village. In reality it is no more then a house for the coastal guard and a pier. The biggest thing in Damar Laut is the board announcing you're in Damar Laut.

The "village" of Damar Laut, one house and a signboard

The road is fine. When you cycle just out of Damar Laut you find a small road on your right hand. It leads to some fish farms. The views from here are nothing special since you will look into the Lumut harbor area. Fish farms you will find a bit further on too. And, much nicer.

Back on the main road, you have to climb a little bit. But the view on the first village is quite spectacular. It's small but very nice little kampong. Seldom it sees visitors. The village lies at the foot of Bt Batu Undan, a hill you can see from far. A bit further on the main road you find a junction to Kampong TG Batu. Here you will experience a bit of cycling through the jungle although the road is in excellent condition.

The so called jungle is in fact not really jungle. Most of the area is transformed in plantation but here the jungle is still quite dense. If you're lucky a biawak or some monkeys will cross your way.

Before reaching Kampong TG Batu on your right hand you will find some fish farms. You can try your luck and ask the men there to show you around. My experience is that they find it no problem and they are honored to do so.

The fish farms have all kind of fish but also large prawns. You might be lucky and find some tiger prawns.

On the way a bit further you will cycle into Kampong TG Batu. The village is quite small. Many of the houses are made of wood although many houses have a stone foundation. Some of them are build in a more tradition way.

People will be quite surprised to see you coming here. There's a little restaurant in the village where you can have a refreshment. Do not expect too much.

The road goes further after the village but now turns into a sand-path. It continues for a kilometer or 2 and ends at a beach. There's a house and a shelter hut. Usually it's full of people waiting for things to come. You will have another fine view on the Naval Base to the south.

Just opposite of this place lies the pier of Swiss Garden. You can ask someone to bring you there by boat. It is officially not possible to enter the Swiss Garden without staying there (or without playing golf) but you might be lucky and someone wants to bring you there. It's a two minute boat ride.

I usually go back to Kampong Tg Batu and then to the main road. From there it's not far to Kampong Batu Tiga. This village is slightly bigger. There's a school, a few restaurants and a market.

Some of the buildings (like the one on the photo here) are hidden in the fields. Others have nice little flower gardens.

A bus from Pantai Remis and Sitiawan connects the village to the outside world. This bus actually goes as far as the pier in Damar Laut.

I always like to hang around there. People are a bit shy but friendly. And when you get a drink it's easy to make contact with them.

Continuing on the main road it's another few kilometers back to the big road that connects Taiping with Lumut.

The ugly part of the journey now starts. At the junction you will find a sign for Lumut. Go right and follow the signs to Lumut. It's about 10 kilometers back. Alternatively you can cycle back on the road to Damar Laut and take the ferry to Lumut.

If you decide to take the main road to Lumut, you might want to have a look in Kampong Bahru. Not that Kampong Bahru is such a fantastic place but, there's a great restaurant at the waterfront and the views are very nice.

For going to Kampong Bahru you take the main road to Lumut. First obstacle is a big bridge. Have a look to the east on top of the bride (if you come from Damar Laut it's left). You can already see Kampong Bahru on the right bank.

After the bridge, take the first road to the left. It's a nice asphalt road. Cycle this one until you come at a T-junction. It's about 2 kilometers and go left. You have reached Kampong Bahru.

The village is a one street town with a few houses, shops and a little harbor with fishing boats. The restaurant on your right hand when you reach the river bank has excellent rice and noodle dishes. After a meal or a drink here you can take the same road back to the provincial road no.60.

For those who want to make the day an extra long one, you can take another road back to Sitiawan and Lumut. Instead of taking the junction out of Kampong Bahru to the left, go straight. All you have to do is follow the road. It will curve here and there. You will pass the telecommunication station of Sitiawan and a few villages. Finally you will end up at provincial road no.5, the road that connects Ipoh with Sitiawan. It is a T junction and here you go right. Follow the signs to Lumut which is from here about 15 kilometer.

If you have done this, you have done a nice long day on your bicycle and you definitely want the next day being lazy on the beach.

Resuming, if you want to make a short day, just follow the road until Kampong Batu Tiga and return to the ferry. A longer journey goes from here on road no.60 to Lumut. An even longer (and very nice road) goes through

Kampong Bahru to Sitiawan and Lumut. Doing the first you will cycle about 15 kilometer. The second is about 25 kilometer while the last described takes about 35 kilometers. A great day in the Malaysian country side.

So, have you enjoyed our little bike ride? Are you willing to give our second ride a try? Click here for the details.

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