I leave a little earlier than usual and try to stay ahead of the heat. Today's destination, my last one in Malaysia, is a small village about 50 km before the Thai border. It is a short route of 160 km and that gives me the opportunity to visit a beach before I leave the island of Penang, because I have not yet seen the coast.
When we arrive there, some school classes seem to have had the same idea, so it's nice and busy. The water is brown and there are many fishing boats. Apparently the coast here is not suitable for swimming tourism, even the young people just hang around. After a few conversations and pictures with the schoolboys I leave again.
I take the motorway for the first part of my route so that the chance of getting stuck in a traffic jam in the city is the smallest. Once on the road I take the local roads again and that suits me better. I enjoy the tropical landscape that increasingly changes into rice fields.
Along the way I come across a lot of restaurants, it seems that everyone eats out here. Dishes such as rice, noodles, fish, chicken and vegetables are ready in rechauds and when paying you have to tell (or indicate) what you had.
My place to stay is located in the middle of the wide rice fields: a bamboo hut on the grounds of a nice family. The owner is a motorcyclist himself and has made many trips to exotic destinations. I am the only guest and instead of him making my included breakfast, in the morning he takes me with his scooter to have breakfast a few hundred meters away. It is another typical restaurant along the road where we enjoy a warm 'breakfast' together with a number of rice farmers. When I ask whether they always eat such an extensive breakfast, he tells me that the farmers have to work hard all day and sometimes skip lunch. Ah! I recognise that. Skip lunch then. 😉
