Cycling to Pangkor
Alternative routes for cyclists
It's a well known secret long distance cyclist do not get
much attention on commercial websites. Many of the independent
cyclist do find their way by themselves. However, since we live in Sitiawan,
the town close to Pangkor, I found it necessary to include a
short description of two nice ways for cycling to Pangkor from
both directions: Kuala Lumpur and from Penang.
Coming from Kuala Lumpur you can cycle over amazingly small
and quiet roads
From Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur or KL as the locals call it is NOT a nice city to cycle in.
But it is not suicidal as some sources suggest. Of course you have to take
care but then again, don't you have to take care anywhere?
Don't get me wrong, I am NOT underestimating the risks of cycling
in metropolis. Bangkok wasn't fun but do-able. So was Guangzhou,
Hong Kong, Istanbul and Paris. Fun is a different thing. That's why
I can recommend a route to Pangkor which is fine to do.
The easiest road out of Kuala Lumpur north for cyclist
is along the coastline. Leave Kuala Lumpur in the direction
of Rawang . Once you arrive in Sungai Buloh follow directions
to Kuala Selangor which is the city of fireflies.
It's road number 9. Going this way, you will avoid Klang,
an unpleasant big city on the Straits of Malacca.
From Selangor on, follow road number 5 direction Teluk Intan.
About 5 km before Teluk Intan, take the junction to Lumut and
Sitiawan. You're still on road 5. It's a reasonable big road
but not too busy. There's no alternatives until you reach Kayan.
Kayan is about 24 km from Sitiawan.
Take the junction to Kayan and follow this road. It's
a back road, hardly any traffic and a few tiny kampongs. This
road is about 13 km's long. Then you'll be back at the main
road number 5. Follow this to Lumut/Sitiawan for another 5 km.
There is no marking for a junction but once you see a road marker
Ipoh 90, you take the junction to the left. Just follow this road
until the very end. Here's a sluice. Just cross the sluice and go
right. Follow this road until the traffic lights (it's about 2 km)
and turn left until the next traffic light and turn left again.
Lumut is about 7 km away.
These little back waters are very quiet and very scenic
with hardly more traffic then a few cars and motorbikes. Most
traffic here goes by bicycle and motorbike. There's a
few little road stalls in case you get thirsty or hungry.
From Penang to Taiping
Johan and I cycled the alternative road from Taiping to Kuala Kurau
There are two main directions to cycle from Penang available.
The easiest and most used follows the trunk road number 1 from Butterworth to
Parit Buntar, Bagain Serai and Taiping. You may want to leave the trunk road at
Parit Buntar. Follow the direction to Kuala Kurau, a little fishing village.
After the village, cross the bridge and follow directions to Kuala Gula, the
bird sanctuary. It's a surprisingly quiet road. When you come back at the trunk
road, cross to follow to Taiping. This will lead you to the road to Kamunting
and Taiping and it is preferable then to follow the trunk road.
If you decide to take the road from Parit Buntar to Kuala Kurau,
you will skip Bagan Serai. My little friend Johan and I cycled this road
in 2006, see
our report about this journey.
The second road goes to Bukit Mertajam, Kulim, Selama and then on the old road
to Taiping. It's
described in more details here
If you decide to stay a night in Taiping, which is more then
worth, see our Taiping
page for details about Taiping.
The amazingly quiet and beautiful road from Kulim to Selama
Taiping to Pangkor
Leaving Taiping is easier and nicer than at first sight looks.
You will get out of town following the directions to the motorway but before the
big bridge, you will see directions leading to Air Kuning and Changkat Jering.
This saves you the bridge and the busy road and a piece of the trunk road to
Changkat Jering, even though it's only 7 km or so.
At the crossroads in Changkat Jering, follow the motorway signs
(if you come from the trunk road, follow direction Lumut). The junction is right
at the market of Changkat Jering. There's also a little bicycle shop for some
basic help.
There are two ways to follow to Pangkor. Many locals will advice
you to follow the direction to Pantai Remis. And for good reasons. This road is
easier to drive by car. But the road is also busier and less scenic. There are
several junctions you can take, the first is in Trong (also spelled as Terong).
Here you can have basic meal in one of the little restaurants, I usually eat
(lunch) in a small basic but OK shop before the crossing to Pantai Remis.
If you don't want to decide between Pantai Remis or Bruas, the
other direction, you can decide later. There are three more junctions to Pantai
Remis. But you can stay on this road too and follow the directions to Sitiawan.
This will leads to the small town of Bruas at the southern foot of the hills
south of Taiping. Nearby are some nice waterfalls. There are a few plantation
roads and although they may look shorter on the map, they are in fact longer and
it's not impossible to get lost in the plantations.
If you have time, you can do some detours on the plantations, this the
plantation path that leads to Teluk Senangin
Contrary to Bruas, Pantai Remis has a few hotels. The Lam Seng
Hotel on the north end of the town is nice enough for RM 50.
The Turtle Breeding Station
For those who stay here, you may like to do a bit of a detour.
Leave Pantai Remis south. After about 7 km there's a junction to
the Powerplant Lumut. Take this junction and follow it for about
6 km until you reach another small junction leading to a (to me
unknown named) beach.
Here is more about the turtle breeding station.
Instead of cycling back to the main road, you can take your
luck and cycle over the plantations to
Teluk Senangin. After visiting the turtles, take the dirt path to
the picnic tables and follow that for a few hundred meters. Once
you see a reasonable big path to your left, take that. It will
lead to a sandhole. You pass the sand hole and go into the plantation.
Go left (south) and basically keep going south. You will end up in
Teluk Senangin, only 10 km from the turtles.
Turtles in the Segari Turtle Breeding Station
Damar Laut
No interest in the turtles or afraid to get lost in the Plantation? I
understand. You cycle back to the main road (Road 60). It's about 25 km to Lumut.
If you decide a splurge, you may want to stay a few days at the
Swiss-Garden
resort. Follow the signs after Segari, it's the same junction as Teluk Senangin
but beware, you need to book in advance!
The next junction after the Swiss-Garden is the Damar Laut. (not to be confused
with Damai Laut). Damar laut, although big on the Perak map is no more the a
house at the Dinding river side and a ferry pier. Every 45 minutes or so.
Damar Laut is no more then a board and a jetty pier. A tiny ferry brings you for RM 1
to Lumut. Ferry times are: 7.30, 8.35, 9.35 and then from 10.15 to 18.15 every
hour. It saves you probably about 15 km cycling over 3 bridges and crossing 3
river arms of the Dinding river.
A young lizard on the water side
Alternative roads
There are alternatives for coming in this direction. Most people
come either from Penang or Kuala Lumpur. However, there's another,
far more quiet road to cycle.
The details of this road are described
here. Roughly this road goes from Hat Yai in Thailand to
Betong and then south to Kuala Kangsar and Pangkor Island.
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