March 23rd: Lake Kenyir to Dungun – 99.09 km

Day 161

A light shower at 6am woke us up, and it motivated us to pack up quickly before everything got wet. As soon as we were packed, the rain stopped, allowing us to have a leisurely hot breakfast.

Untitled

Cloudy skies, cool breezes, and largely empty downhill roads from Lake Kenyir back to the coast made cycling a pleasure. Before noon, we had done 70km.

Untitled

Instead of backtracking up north to Marang for hotels, we decided to follow our general direction, heading south. We were bound to find something along the road, or so we thought. 10km later, we found a roadside homestay for 70 RM, but longing for the beach we pressed on. A storm rolled in before we reached the seaside. Soaked and tired, I was determined to take whatever came up next. However, what came next was not ideal, we found a fully booked chalet, two abandoned beach homestays and a horrible overpriced chalet for 100 RM.

At almost the 100km mark near Dungun, we came to another lodge and this time we didn’t hesitate to take the room for 70 RM. With in room WiFi and air-conditioning, we couldn’t ask for more. However, we’ve had to lower our standards considerably. This room was double the price of some very good accommodations we found in Thailand and Vietnam, but it was still very much a budget accommodation with a dripping mossy bathroom, and clapboard walls.