August 1, 2017
Sungai Petani to Alor Setar: Why is the wind blowing from that direction ?
It was still pretty dark when we left the Rock Wood this morning so we quickly found a place to have a couple of Roti Canai each while the sky got lighter.
The road out of Sungai Petani was pretty busy - the first ten kilometers were on a major ring road encircling the town but after about fifteen kilometers we were on much quieter country roads.
There is something about this area that seems different to Malaysia south of here. The vegetation and landscape is much more reminiscent of Thailand (and so too many of the houses) and there is, for the first time, lots of rice paddies. We stopped to do a bit of birding at one of the and picked up a few of the birds we are accustomed to seeing in Thailand such as Baya Weaver and Yellow Bittern.
The road skirted a protected natural area of lovely forest. At one point we had a small but stiff climb over a small headland that was part of a geopark. Stopping to catch our breath, we chanced upon a pair of Raffles's Malkohas, a new bird for us.
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Once over the headland it was flat the whole way. We took a half and hour break in a roadside restaurant while the heavens opened briefly.
After that it was a bit of a slog into the headwind until we got to Alor Setar. The wind direction for this time of the year is predominantly southerly to south-west but we have had north-westerlies for the last three days. Today's is blowing quite briskly.
First business once we got to the town was lunch - a nice rice and chicken curry - followed by checking into the i-Homey Guesthouse which is in a quiet residential area just off the route one.
Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 3,677 km (2,283 miles)
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