You can imagine that after the sensual overload of late night boozing in the Chinese markets, eating everything put in front of us and haggling for knick knacks in the Jonker stalls, we were very excited about waking up early to go for a 4 hour bike ride! HA! I knew I was in trouble because of the late night adventure, which was all my fault (of course), Kim missed her full 8 hours. We trudge along!
Alais picked us up in front of our hotel in his personal van and we rode in silence out of the city. I always wonder how we have have made it this far in life without being abducted by a maniac because we are fairly casual about sleepily jumping into a beat up ol' van and riding off into the hinterland with a complete stranger. Ah well, Alias had a good smile and an even better laugh, and we were all buddies by the time we broke free from the maze that is Chinatown.
30 minutes outside of Melaka we arrive at Alias' house and are immediately confronted by his guard duck. I try my best to look relaxed, but aggressive ducks always make me unsettled! We reached safety in the back shed, where Alais pulled out some mountain bikes from a row of about thirty bikes! I was amazed that I got a frame that was my size! Alias says he always saves the bike bike for the Dutch, because they are always too big for a normal bike!
So off we went through Alias' front yard, and across the street into the neighboring palm oil plantation. Straight away you could tell that Alias is a Maven for the local area. He was full of information and statistics on palm oil, rubber, coconut, banana and many other plantations in the area. In addition he could tell you how much rain the area got over the years, village festivals and what herbs were growing in the front yard of local woman 2 villages over. All that aside, he could identify every flora in the area, and had a keen eye for finding rare species. It was extremely impressive to say the least.
So as we leisurely rode through the first plantation we learned about life cycle of a palm plantation, ate the fruit from the tree (tastes like an oily avocado) , learned how the locals recycle all the waste left behind after a harvest and he shared stories of how he spent his youth playing in the woods.
We wound out of the palm plantation, down through a village, stopping here and there to look at lemongrass plants, termite mounds and listen to Alias tell stories about bikes, bike races, how his tour company got started. *Note - nearly every story starts with, "Oh man, I was like, 'Sheet man!'" Classic!
We cut through another old palm plantation (Palm fruit is harvested, however when the trees are too tall to harvest they are cut down and replanted. Older plantations have taller trees), then through a new plantation (shorter trees), then into somebody's back yard and down a drainage ditch. Some wild dogs took an interest in us and started jogging along side us. I felt like I was at home with friends aimlessly riding around looking for stuff to do...which was exactly what we were doing. It didn't take long to realize that Alias had a map of the entire area in his head, and as we talked we was thinking of things we would like to see. We were just cruisin'! We would get to a trail he hadn't used in a while and it would be over grown or blocked off, but no worries, we would just turn around and ride another direction. Before giving up he would always give it a go. He'd pick up speed and careen into the jungle and ALWAYS crash! If the trail wasn't too thick he pull out his machete and start clearing. All this time he never stopped speaking...unnecessarily expensive bikes, his kids' grades, childhood obsession with Daniel Boon...you name it!
Up a hill, down another, through a yard and into the endless plantations. We stopped at a convergence between a several plantations and parked the bikes. Alias chopped open a coconut and we and all partook ("Sheet man, no straw so is like mout to mout!). We walked around and learned how to make a rubber ball from the rubber tree, a clapper from a banana leaf, hung out under a lime tree enjoying the natural all you can eat buffet. We learned about the Tamil men who came centuries ago to work these plantations, and how the villages collaborate to sell their rubber in bulk.
On the bikes again we press on and suddenly there is a problem with Kim's bike. Wobble Wobble. Uh oh, "Just ride it babe it isn't a big deal." In the next village we pass two boys with bright smiles accented with a tinge of mischief. They start to follow as we wind through the next rubber plantation and then we hear it, "brrrop...brrrop...brrrop" Kim has now lost 2 spokes and her wobble is now hitting the frame. Alias flips the bike over and starts tearing it to pieces with a look of concern that I couldn't imagine him capable of. The boys circled us on their bikes; not wanting to get to close, but too curious to stay away. Alias fixed the bike as best as possible and away we went. "brrrop...brrrop...brrrop" Poor Kim.
We carried on, looking at plants all along the way. Peppercorn, citronella, curry leaves, pineapple and on and on and on. I was dumbstruck.
Eventually we made it back home to Alias' and packed up the bikes. We started naming trees and plants in his yard, so he walking around the yard, picking leaves, flowers and vegetables and munching away on all of it.
We loaded up and started our way back. We were quiet again, this time from not physical, but mental exhaustion! We learned so much! We paid the man and thanked him for the day. He nodded, then spun about and disappeared into the crowd looking for his next tour. Like that it was over...Sheet man!
Kim and I found a banana leaf restaurant and picked a table. In Indian (and Malay) restaurants it is very common for people to eat with their hands. It was confronting at first to see this, but as it became common to see it, we eventually tried and converted to eating with our hands as well (which actually takes practice to get good at!). Anyway, this was the first banana leaf restaurant where there wasn't silverware...at least that we could see. This was an indication that the food we were about to be served was going to blow our minds! Sure enough it did and I remember looking up only once to smile at Kim as we ate to our stomach's content.
With our potbelly's we walked to the hotel, and before we made it we received a call from our friend Jocelyn. She was in Melaka for Chinese New Year because it was her hubby's hometown. She wanted to meet up so we decided for 3pm...just enough time to get in a nap!
Jocelyn and Dennis drove us around Melaka, primarily outside of the tourist areas. It was a shame though because most the shops were closed and everybody was headed home for their reunion dinner. It was still good to ride around, chat, make jokes and see a side of town that most overlook. Dennis was even bold enough to share a few stories from his misspent youth in Melaka!
We were dropped in front of Hotel Puri...utterly and fantastically exhausted...time for more food! I won't go into the details, but it took two hours of wandering to find a restaurant! The combination of closed shops (CNY), indecisiveness spawned from fatigue and one restaurant that didn't have food, and didn't tell us it didn't food until 30 minutes after we had ordered said imaginary food left us unraveled. But with a bit of luck we poured ourselves into a table right on the Melaka river, while a waiter poured a glass of red for each of us. It was pricey, but perfect.
We mused about walking to the ferris wheel for a ride, but laughed off the wild notion and opted for AC and HBO. What a day...
