Heading North (left); Heading South (right)
Kuala Lumpur
If you can help it, don’t go to the centre of KL on a bike, or try to leave it on a bike. The airport is quite far out to the south, so if you do fly in stay near the airport and avoid KL. We stayed in the centre of KL for bike repair reasons plus naivety.
When we left we went from the Bukit Bintang area and headed West/Southwest in the direction of Klang. There was a nice bike lane through the Sentral/Brickfields area and by the river.
The problems start around Mid Valley City. It’s a major junction, and there’s no provision at all for slower vehicles. All the roads are multi-lane, and it’s almost impossible to turn right across traffic (driving is on the left) so it involves picking your way around. This isn’t easy either, because this junction is on several levels of bridges and flyovers, crossing a river, train lines and expressways, so you don’t just have to get the direction right, you have to get the level you’re on right. Eventually we somehow got onto a bridge which joined highway 2 heading West. This then becomes a road which is 5 lanes in each direction. Continuing in the right direction requires moving across traffic into the righthand lanes, which would be suicide on a bike. We took the slip road off to the left at this point (on to Jalan Kerinchi Kiri), looped round and rejoined the main road after the junction (where the University KL Gateway station is.) As we were about to rejoin Highway 2, there were blue signs for a moped lane, which is completely separate from the road and allows you to safely follow this route all the way to Klang, at which point there are options of smaller roads heading north or south.
Route North
Up until about Teluk Intan we rode on nice small rural roads, which were in great condition, very quiet and gave us the opportunity to see lots of wildlife – monkeys, otter, lots of tropical birds. North of that the deltas and huge rivers tend to funnel you onto main roads to use the bridges. We tried to stay on smaller roads and use ferry crossings instead, but both times we did so the boats weren’t running. There were also flood warnings further north, and after we nearly got caught out on one barely passable section, we stuck to more main roads. We crossed the border to Thailand at Padang Besar.
Route South
The Wang Prachan border crossing with Thailand is a quiet one and beautiful. There is a bit of a climb on the Malaysian side, and it is fairly remote so stock up on water the Thai side.
The sections around Alor Setar down to past Bukit Mertajam has very heavy traffic and is very unpleasant. It all kind of bleeds into one big mass of busy highways and huge towns/cities. Although it’s unpleasant, we found it was better to stick with the main roads because they usually have a wide shoulder. They felt safer than the smaller roads, which in this area are just as busy, but also very narrow.
The route across to Ipoh is much quieter and much of the route south to Kuala Kubu Bharu is beautiful, and the road is very quiet.
The climb up to Fraser’s Hill starts around Kuala Kubu Bharu and continues for around 40km. It’s a really comfortable climb. There’s a scenic rest stop at the lake created by the Sungai Selangor dam, not that you’ll probably need one that early. The climb doesn’t get spiky until “The Gap” which is where the turnoff to Fraser’s Hill starts. The final 5km or so is where the gradient gets much steeper than the proceeding part. The road is one-way (as is the downhill back to the main road.) The way up is much more scenic than the way down, though when we were there, there was lots of deadfall severely encroaching onto the road making it particularly narrow, and in some places there was barely enough room for car and a bike on the same stretch of road. The downhill is not too steep.
The route from Bentong via Temerloh to Segamat is fine. Fairly quiet, lots of jungle, good roads. From there south to Johor Bahru it starts to get really busy and more unpleasant until JB itself, which is a huge city of expressways.
Here is some advice on the route across the border to Singapore.
Hotels
Budget hotels are in the £9 to £15 range. They were kind of clean and fine for passing through. Obviously they are basic, and older ones can be run-down (things like loose tiles, exposed wiring, sometimes mould, holes in the plaster,) but often in decent locations. There’s a reasonable chance they’ll be windowless.
They are often noisy. Malaysia is late to bed, late to rise, so if it is noisy it is going to be like that well into the early hours. Cheap hotels usually have a very small entrance with the rest of the ground floor taken up by other businesses, so getting your bike indoors usually means carrying it up flights of stairs. In our experience, these hotels always had: Air con, own bathroom, towels, telly, double or twin bed with sheets/duvet or blanket/pillows, sit down toilet plus water hose, at least a cold shower, thermos flask (with boiled water available in the lobby.) Usually: A kettle, hot shower. The thermos and hot water, or kettle, are great for instant noodles which saves money on food.
The only problems we’ve ever had with storing the bikes inside have been in Malaysia. Twice we had a bit of a stand-off when we were told we had to leave them outside locked up on the street. In the end though they were always kept in the hotel, usually in the lobby or in a storeroom. We never asked to take the bikes into the room, but this was offered a couple of times.
From January 2023 there is a tourist tax of RM10 per room per night. Not a lot on its own, but it adds up in a country that already isn’t great value for accommodation. Be aware when booking online whether the price includes the tax.
Other stuff
Opening Hours: Malaysia is late to bed and late to rise. Shops never opened until at least 9am, and often not until 11am. We get up early and leave early, so we often got drinks the night before, or used petrol stations (which do have earlier hours) to get drinks from. Most of the food stalls and roadside restaurants weren’t open until the evening, so while Malaysia is great for food, it doesn’t suit hungry cyclists who like early starts.
WiFi: About 50/50 in hotels whether it works or not.
Food costs: Food was much cheaper than we were expecting. A plate of chicken rice plus a drink came to around 12 ringgit per person, eating at simple outdoor places. It’s about 30-35 ringgit for a large dinner and drinks for 2 in a sit down restaurant. Indian banana leaf or canteen style places are cheaper still, as are basic Chinese noodle soup type places. Sit down Chinese restaurants are more expensive than average. If you do want a beer then Chinese run places are your best bet.
Ramadan and holidays: Ramadan itself was not a problem. Malay stalls and restaurants won’t usually open in the evenings because everyone is themselves eating, but Indian and and Chinese places are unaffected. Hotels often serve a fixed price Ramandan buffet in the evenings, which is well worth experiencing.
When we were in Malaysia the end of Ramadan celebrations were over a long weekend, which was then followed by a couple of national holidays. This was a huge problem. Everything was shut for days, including restaurants in the evening. Fast food places were open though, and fried chicken is such a popular Malaysian dish that even small towns tend to have a KFC, so there is always that in a pinch.
Walking: It was really, really difficult to walk anywhere, even short distances in towns. There were often no paths or crossings. Everyone has a moped and they’re used for tiny distances. No one walks anywhere.
Water: Tap water in Malaysia is kind of safe to drink: It is safe on leaving the treatment plants, but its passage through the pipes to your tap might make it dodgy. I drank the water straight from the tap and didn’t have any problems, but boiling it eliminates any risk if you’re worried about it.
Toilet roll: REALLY difficult to get loo roll in anything other than a pack of about 20. Some 7 Elevens sell single rolls.
Blog posts for Malaysia:
Ride & Seek 