Gerik is the last town in Perak before the East-West Highway heads off into the jungle, and it has the feel of a frontier: a single main street, a few petrol stations, shops selling everything from fishing nets to motorcycle parts, and roadside restaurants serving nasi campur and roti canai to truckers and travellers. The town sits in a broad valley surrounded by forested hills, and the Perak river flows nearby. Thailand is less than forty kilometres to the north, and the border town of Betong is the nearest large settlement.
The highway that starts here, linking Gerik with Jeli in Kelantan, was built in the 1970s and early 1980s through some of the wildest country in the peninsula. It was a strategic as much as an economic project: the area was a stronghold of communist insurgents, and the road was meant to bring government control to the border region. Construction was dangerous, with workers and soldiers killed in attacks, and it was completed only after years of effort. Today, the road is a scenic route through dense rainforest, and the area is peaceful.
Just east of Gerik lies Temenggor Lake, a huge reservoir created by a hydroelectric dam, with forested islands and inlets stretching for kilometres. The lake is surrounded by the Belum-Temenggor forest complex, one of the oldest rainforests in the world, home to elephants, tigers, tapirs, hornbills and many other species. Boat trips from Banding Island, where the highway crosses the lake on a long bridge, take visitors into the forest to see waterfalls, Orang Asli villages and, with luck, wildlife.
For riders, Gerik is the place to fill up and eat before the long stretch through the jungle to Jeli, where services are few. The highway itself is well paved, with long sweeping bends and steep climbs, and it is popular with Malaysian riders at weekends. Watch out for trucks, which are slow on the climbs and fast on the descents, and for elephants, which sometimes cross the road, especially at night. Signs warn of elephant crossings, and they are not a joke. Ride in daylight, carry water, and expect rain in the afternoon.