Less than an hour away from Port Klang, Ty frantically signalled that we had passed the Genting Highlands turn-off. This is problematic on Malaysian expressways with long distances between breaks in the road centre barriers. Our solution - turn around and ride carefully backwards along the road shoulder to the exit runoff.
As a plan, this seemed entirely simple and logical. In execution, it also meant coming 'off'' the 'on' ramp, We decided that this was too risky and would need to cross the grass median via a 60cm gap between a very large tree and a metre deep water culvert. The maths of this are interesting, because the KLR motorcycles are 1.2m wide from pannier to pannier. Ty and Gary (just) managed to negotiate this gap, but I was not so fortunate. A nudge of the rear pannier against the tree sent me pitching into the water culvert. The bike remained upright, but it will be a day or two before my voice returns to normal due to heavy contact between the petrol tank and various parts of my anatomy.
The road up into the Genting Highlands is world famous amongst motorcyclists, and for good reason. It twists and turns its way impossibly up into the mountains, with the landscape changing from tropical to near-alpine in a matter of an hour or so. The ascent is dizzying at times, with ears popping and the motorcycle motors labouring. Arriving at the top of the mountain is stupendous; with restaurants, hotels and resort style infrastructure that would not be out of place in the Swiss or Bavarian alps.
High season in Genting Highlands is also comparable to Europe in terms of prices, with nothing available under $120aud per night, We decided to press on and head down the other side of the mountain instead, with Krabi in mind as a destination.
Exhaustion indiced by wrestling with twisty roads defeated us, and by the time we reached Hat Yai, we could not go any further.
