Setiawan – Taiping - 90 km
“How old are you?” and “You must be very strong” are typical
remarks in this part of the world. My usual reply is that I’m not doing
anything remarkable, seeing there are women who give birth
naturally. That is strong and brave! I’m simply pedalling a bicycle—
not pushing a baby out of my vagina! There is no comparison!
Taiping made for a short cycling day, but I had no desire to push on
to Panang, an additional 80 kilometres down the drag. During the
day, I met two Belgian cyclists nearing the end of their year-long
cycle journey from Belgium to Singapore. They looked fit, lean, and
tanned—but mostly happy. Though they were looking forward to
seeing their children and grandchildren, I was sure they would miss
their life on the road. We chatted for a while before continuing our
separate ways.
I pulled into Taiping, thinking I might give the zoo at night one more
try, this time with a tripod in hand, but the weather came in and it
started raining, and nothing came of my nightly visit to the zoo.