Pelotome –
around Malaysia on a bicycle.
“We thought of ascending the hills some 3,000 ft. to the hotel or sanatorium, but the heat of the day decided us, and we passed it, substituting a long ride under shady groves of palms and delicious breezes, laden with the perfumes of nutmegs and spices.
We skirted along through miles and miles of this kind of country, all the while keeping to the flat land, and occasionally crossing a clear little mountain stream that tumbled down from the precipitous hills close by.”
~ Round About the World on Bicycles – G.W. Burston & H.R. Stokes (1890).
My Life and Times
by Jerome K. Jerome
From £4,75
December 1888 – Published 1890.
Round About The World on Bicycles.
“The pleasure tour of G.W. Burston and H.R. Stokes, Melbourne Bicycle Club, Australia,” follows George Burston and Harry Stokes on their 56-inch high-wheel bicycle journey around the world, setting off from Melbourne, on 1st November 1888, arriving back in Australia on the 14th December 1889.
The Malaysian section of their journey, with its incredibly racist language, was chronicled in The Australasian. on 25th May, 1889.
Landing in Penang on their journey from Singapore to India, they find time to cycle 50 miles around George Town, to the Botanic Gardens, before seeing in the New Year (1889) off the coast of Rangoon, Burma.
- by G.W. Burston and H.R. Stokes.
- Published by George Robertson and Company, Melbourne, Australia “for private circulation only”
CYCLING THROUGH PALM GROVES.
“Penang does not indulge in footpaths, for almost all the people go barefooted ; we have not seen side-walks since leaving Thursday Island.
The streets are narrow and shops huddled together, the main street being a jumble of bullock carts, Chinese bamboo-loads, jinrikishas, Chings, Malays, and an occasional Englishman, who all stared curiously at us as we slowly threaded our way amongst the throng.”
~ G.W. Burston & H.R. Stokes – Round About The World on Bicycles, 1890.