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Mountain Biking
Cycling was once the
pass time activity for kampong boys besides catching fish in the
river, fighting spider among the fellows or climbing up the tree for
mangoes. That was before the introduction of satellite channels and
computer game to a simple village. Nobody in those days anticipated that
cycling will become a recreation and adventure activity, more over, an
international tournament in the modern days.
While the interior of
Terengganu is covered by mountain range, most of the coastal roads are
flat and properly sealed. Mountain biking is an activity that is newly
brough into the tourism agenda in this state ever since successfully
organized and introduced the world famous Tour de Langkawi international
cycling tournament into this country when Terengganu was one of the
cycling routes in the tournament, began from the north to the south of
Terengganu.
Unlike the East Malaysia where mountain biking is mainly carried out in trails in forests, cycling in Terengganu usually takes place in the coastal highway. Nevertheless, do not under estimate the challenges, indeed the slopping roads and the strong headwind from the ocean can be one of the great obstacles.
Despite the fact that
there are some local enthusiastic bands ride together on weekends into the
ubiquitous plantation and surrounding forest, the cycling route normally
covers from Kuala Besut in the north to Chukai in the south, passing by
those rustic traditional villages and small towns with view of the beach.
Certainly this is an alternative mode to explore this state.
It is not necessary you should go for a multiple days of biking. Sometime when the mood is here, you can easily rent a bike from the guesthouse or hostel and ride to nowhere to hunt for anything your heart wants to. Off course there are also travel agencies who organized biking packages which inclusive of accommodation.
Understand the potential of this activity especially in developing the tourism industry, biking activity is now being highlighted in the state tourism calendar and cycling tournament is organized for both the local and foreign whoever has bikes. Hopefully by then, the kampong boys’ activity will be ‘formalized’.
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