Gerik sits in the far north of Perak, close to the Thai border, on the road that people call the East-West Highway, which cuts across the Malay Peninsula through some of the oldest rainforest on earth. The town itself is small and tidy, with shophouses around a main street, a market, mosques and a few modest hotels, and it exists mainly as the last proper stop before the mountains. West of it the land is flat or gently rolling. East of it the road starts to climb, runs along the vast Temenggor lake, and plunges into jungle that is said to be well over a hundred million years old.
The Belum-Temenggor forest is one of the great wild reserves of Malaysia. It shelters elephants, tigers, tapirs, gaur and the clouds of hornbills that cross the lake at dusk, and the indigenous Orang Asli, among them the Jahai, still live in and around it. You will not see much from the saddle except green walls and the occasional warning sign, but the sense of a huge, living forest on both sides is unmistakable. Bring some patience for the occasional elephant sign: they mean what they say.
The highway was built in the 1970s and early 1980s, partly for security reasons and partly to link the west coast with the poorer east, and it is one of the best rides in Peninsular Malaysia. The tarmac is good, the bends are long and rhythmic, and the climbs and descents give a real sense of travelling through mountains. It is also a road that demands attention: logging trucks and buses run it at speed, landslides sometimes close a lane after heavy rain, and the surface can have loose gravel or fallen branches on the bends. Do not ride it at night.
Gerik has fuel and a reliable stock of everything else, and that is the point of stopping here, because the highway beyond has long gaps with little in the way of services. Top the tank, check your tyres and water, and take food. The local cafés serve good rice and noodle dishes, and the fish from the lake is worth trying when you can find it. Thai influence is visible in the food, and the heat and humidity make an early start wise.