red shirt, yellow shirt

if you travel overland into Thailand they will only provide you with a valid 15 day entry. if you fly into Bangkok they give you a 30 day entry. since i'm going in overland i pay for a 60 day visa which they only issue from the consulate in Penang. go figure. wandering around Georgetown i hit the historic sites. this crossroad of colonialism, Chinese and Malay culture is the picture i had of Malaysia in my head. i turn the corner and amidst the chaos is a little french bakery! bless them because i really was missing bread. most of the fresh bread here is naan which is delicious but different.

as i was handing over my passport for the daily visa run an Australian guy runs up to the desk to cancel his bus ticket to Thailand. his intelligence sources in the Red Shirt movement are advising the thai army is mobilizing for a large scale military action to be taken against them that night. it's quite the topic as this is a big stopover for travelers going into Thailand. of course, nothing the Australian says turns out to be accurate.

determined to find some vegetarian Assam Laski [fish based soup with noodles and vegetables] i ask Paul from the Old Penang and he gives me very specific instructions which i follow. i stood on the outside looking in for a few minutes. knowing this was my last night here - i have my visa and ticket to Langkawi already - i'm trying to get up the guts to go in. there isn't another white skin in the joint. i step inside and an old woman, probably 85 to 90, asks a bunch of stuff and i respond "assam laksi". she smiles and says how many bowls. jackpot! it was some good stuff.

feeling cocky because i've successfully navigated my way to find the assam laski, i swagger back to the Old Penang Guesthouse. there are tons of shops along the way and since i'm headed back to the islands i decide to pick up a sarong. the woman asks for $6US and i know i'm getting ripped off when i pay $4US but i can't bring myself to bargain her down from there.

golden ticket

my whole life i have been in a hurry to get to the next place wherever that might be.  it wasn't any different yesterday when i left Tioman for KL.  it took all day and ended with me riding the subway in KL at 7PM looking for my hotel i booked and wondering what the hell i was doing.  i'm sure it didn't help that my back was on fire and itching with a combination of sunburn, jungle rot and bug bites.  in the end it all worked out great.  i'm staying in the chinatown area which was crazy with vendors and cheap knockoff.

i was looking forward to trying the fish pedicure where you put your feet into a tank filled with doctor fish [Caroline did this and told me about it] but it felt like bugs swarming on my feet and i couldn't do it. 

this morning i took the metro into the city center.  it's not user friendly and mostly by dumb luck i end up at my destination which is Petronas Towers and queue for a ticket to the skybridge.  there's a limited number of tickets given per day so i walk away like i'm the winner of a golden ticket for willie wonka's chocolate factory.   it was cooler to see the building than to ride up to the skybridge which took over an hour because of the lines and security and the required 15 minute commercial about Petrona.  here's the shot from the bridge.

what was really cool is they built a beautiful symphony hall in the Towers and i got a ticket [no line] for a performance tonight of a Malaysian performance.

monkey 01 jeanne 00

i spend a lazy day on the beach.  i hate to encourage the indigenous animals to eat off the tourists so i shoo away the monkey when it comes onto my porch looking for a snack. it snarls at me and i remember how ebola is spread through monkey bites.  i'm not even in Africa and it's the first thing i think of when i see monkey teeth. i have nothing but an empty potato chip bag so i back down pretty quickly, okay immediately, and let him have it.  fucker.

i'm off to Kuala Lumpar.

night of the bug attack

after a couple of days in ABC the Canadian and I store our bags, take a toothbrush and sleep clothes, and hike over to Juara. it's about 2.5 hours through the jungle and it's hot. it's hard to explain the amount of sweat it is possible to generate in the jungle climbing uphill. since there is no fixed path they say this is an unspoiled jungle walk.

there are trees along the way where they are collecting rubber and the only other guys i see on the path find a purple crab. wait, there was one old man who i passed. he had a half burnt cheroot hanging out of his mouth and a huge knife on his belt. he says "Juara?" out of the side of his mouth and i reply, "yes". he walks on by. until just a few years ago the path was the only overland route to Juara but now they have put in 'road'. as the path widens a 5 foot snake cross my path and also the monitor lizards are everywhere. still Juara remains an isolated little used bay with meager accommodations. the beach and water are pristine.
 
last night i slept with the windows open in my room. it was late and i was reading with the light on when a big [like four inches] bug flew into my room and attacked the light, shutting it down. i was doing a freaked out dance for a few minutes. outside i looked for the kind man who runs the bungalows but he was gone to bed. the only person around was a drunk girl wandering back and forth. i summoned all my courage, grabbed my headlamp and chased the bug out. gosh i'm proud of me. tonight i'll sleep with the windows shut but that will always be the night of the bug attack.

i'm making friends with the troll who runs the internet access on the island. although they have internet he doesn't seem to really understand the wireless part. since i have been using my laptop he is awed by the magic and has started letting me use the internet for free.

beach, snorkeling & fresh fish

Tioman island is spectacular. we arrive by ferry at ABC and run up and down the beach looking for accommodations. there are five of us in the group and we each find accommodations just steps from the beach. we swap clothes for swimsuits and are in the water in less than 5 minutes from checking in.

it's perfect then BOOM. i feel a sharp bite on my leg and look down to see a fish making it's getaway. we get hit a couple of times and i think they are baby barracudas. we check out the village and stop at a place for dinner and the sunset.
i am sharing accommodations with a Canadian. my share of the room is 17 ringets [$5.34 US]. food is fantastic. fish is caught daily and fruit is plentiful. a typical meal in Malaysia is running 10 - 15 Ringits which is $3-$4 US.

the next day we hike through the jungle to Monkey Bay. it's not a strenuous hike but the path is overgrown and it's really more of an electrical line repair access than a path. also, it's the jungle so it's really hot and we sweat buckets all the way. at one point the monkeys are angry and throw fruit down on us. fortunately we had snorkel gear and could use the fins as shields for our heads but they didn't have very good aim so i didn't get hit anyway. finally, we find our way and it is worth every drop of sweat. we have the whole bay to ourselves and it is spectacular. the snorkeling there is pristine. the coral is green and blue and pink which attracts a variety of colorful fish. it is isolated, peaceful and clean.

it's an hour back and it's already 4PM. here's the thing. all the food vendors shut down between 4PM and 7PM so if you don't eat before it's a three hour wait. as soon as someone tells you can't eat... that's exactly the time you'll want to eat.
everywhere there is talk of the volcano eruption in Europe and how it will affect the plans of travelers who plan to fly there in the next few days.


tomorrow we are hiking across the island to the village of Juara where we plan to stay a night or two. thankfully there are no starbucks on the island so there is no temptation. instead i drink coffee offered at cafes along the way. usually 1-2 Ringets [.30 - .75 US]

did i mention how much the locals hate to break big bills? it's crazy but i remember this attitude from traveling before. if you don't have exact change it can take quite a long time for them to find it for you. as a result i'm hording all my 1 Ringet notes. it's like carrying around a bag of pennies in the US.
 
there is a troll that runs the only internet access on the island.  there is another second internet cafe but the modem is broken and could take a month to get repaired.  the troll sleeps until 11am everyday and closes at whatever time he is drunk or stoned.

old dutch stuff

political conflict in Bangkok. i love the right of the people to participate in the political process. there are as many opinions about the conflict as there would be if it was taking place in the US. the violent protests are localized to a small area of Bangkok. so while i remain interested and monitor the situation i am not concerned about safety as i have no plans to travel to Bangkok or anywhere near it. from talking to the people here it seems this is just a power grab by the party not in power. in any case i'll be leaving my red and yellow shirts in Malaysia.

i arrived in Melaka from Singapore and had a look around. it's hot here. there are some old dutch buildings and a bunch of new stuff. after Singapore it seems dirty and chaotic and lacking in any charm.  i'm not the only one who thinks so either.  the locals feel since it received the UNESCO historical site certification it has become overdeveloped. i'm looking for a beach to sit on for a few days so i will head off to Palau Tioman.  haven't seen a starbucks yet.

the guest house in Melaka is run by a wonderfully outgoing Malaysian named Howard. each night he would take a group for a bike ride city tour and stop for dinner.