I have become a
slob. I'm sure many of you will
find that hard to believe, knowing the sense of style I display on Savary. But the heat, the humidity, the humping
of heavy bags on and off public transportation, all cause one to sweat like
Phil Esposito by the end of a tough game. Each day I set out with new fresh clothes and literally
within minutes, no matter how I try to keep cool, my clothes are sopping, stuck
to me, and I'm standing in a puddle of sweat. It's simply true; we travellers generally look a disgrace. The locals, on the other hand, all look
crisp and cool. Personal
appearance is very important to people in these countries. Judging from the clothing choices
tourists and travellers make, an entirely different value system is at play.
Anyway, I have
nothing of real excitement with which to follow up my Borneo adventure. But to bring you somewhat up to date, on
leaving Sarawak I flew to Kuala Lumpur, a leap into a hot, crowded, noisy, busy
big city. (Flying with Malaysian
Air as I am, Kuala Lumpur is an obligatory stop, but it otherwise holds little
interest.) While there I, of
course, visited the twin Petronas Towers, the world's tallest buildings at
1,452 feet (even when the World Trade Center was standing). Both towers are 88 stories high but
visitors can only go to the 41st floor where a sky-bridge joins the two towers.
Clad in polished aluminium, they
are striking on the skyline, particularly with the sun reflecting off them. As you can deduce from their name, they
are owned by a large Malaysian oil company.
A few days in the
city were enough for me, and I headed to Malacca about 200 km south of KL
hoping to find a beach to toast up on. Malacca is only about two degrees north of the equator. Founded in the early 1400's by a
fugitive Hindu rapscallion, Malacca was also the place where Islam was
introduced to Malaya, again in the early 1400's. The city was invaded and taken over by the Portuguese in
1511, and in turn Malacca was ruled by the Dutch and the Brits until
independence in 1957.
Malacca was a
welcome relief for me after the heat and noise of KL, but unfortunately the
weather did not co-operate, and it rained at least for a period every day I was
there, so no beach time. It was
nonetheless an interesting city to visit, small enough to walk around, lots of
colonial buildings, and a busy Chinatown.
I returned to
Kuala Lumpur somewhat earlier than I wanted in the hopes of obtaining the visas
I require for Vietnam or China. But it was not to be. On arrival back, I learned that Chinese New Year had
embassies closed for the better part of week. My early return was in vain and I just ended up spending an
extra three days in the city before flying to Phuket in Thailand.
Phuket is
raucous, noisy, garish. Ao Patong,
the main beach, is wall to wall bars, and strip clubs, all filled with mostly
raucous, noisy, garish tourists. Many of the bars feature "Lady Boys". Who invented that? There appear to be
thousands of these people caught between genders here in Thailand. I don't recall seeing them anywhere else
I have travelled, but they certainly abound here. To me the whole scene is a mess. But I did spend two days on the beach and it felt pretty darn
good.
I then flew to
Koh Samui (Koh means island in Thai) a place I had enjoyed so much last year. Koh Samui has its own share of wild
nightlife, but I found a nice little resort, called Nice Resort 2, some
distance from the busiest parts and spent a full week just lying in the sun and
cruising around the island on a Honda Dream. Honda motorbikes can be rented for about $5.00 per day and
they are a great way to see the island. No one wears a helmet, and most are just wearing flip-flops
and shorts. I confess I felt quite
vulnerable, particularly so as the local government displays many signs which
stress that Samui has the highest incidence of motorcycle fatalities in all
Thailand.
I did spend one
day on the nearby island of Koh Taen. It is reached by a long-tail boat from the south of Koh Samui.
Koh Taen is still almost
uninhabited, only about 30 families live there. I spent two or three hours on a completely isolated beach,
snorkelling and sunning. The
island is noted for the fact that dogs cannot live here. They apparently die within a few days of
arriving. Several explanations are
put forward, ranging from the mystical to the silly. At least to me, the most probable explanation is that dogs
cannot stand the high pitch sounds of the millions of bats that also live here.
Like people
everywhere, the Thai are concerned about the Iraqi situation. Most people I
have talked to, both here and in Malaysia, are opposed to a war, UN sanctioned
or not. Although one taxi driver I
had was all for the US going in and bombing Iraq back to the Stone Age.
Most headlines in
Thailand concern a war on drugs launched February 1st. It is scheduled to last three months
(after which another initiative is to be launched). To date over 1,000 people have been killed. Most are being killed, the police
allege, as drug dealers shoot each other to prevent their competitors from
ratting them out. The police
acknowledge killing some twenty odd people themselves, all in self defence they
say. But this is widely viewed
with scepticism as many police and other officials are on the government’s
published 'black list'. A recent
victim was a nine year old boy. Witnesses claim he was shot by the police. Even with all the killings, polls
apparently show wide spread support for the campaign.
The papers are
also full of stories of other corruption; highway tolls stolen, waste-water
treatment plant five times over budget, cops on the take, a state run
employment agency scam, irregularities in design and specification changes made
to a new terminal planned for Bangkok Airport, police involvement in the
midnight demolition of a night market, a deputy minister accused of rape. And on and on. It makes our political scandals at home
seem pretty small.
On the bright
side, the Thai Minister of Health, in an attempt to forestall the growing
number of breast implant operations, has started major a campaign of exercises
for women to naturally increase their cup size. Thousands of people have been hired to train women in the
exercises, all of which have been given coverage on TV and in the papers. (Bend forward, let them hang, give them
a shake, then push them up and in, seems to do the trick.)
That's it for now.
I do hope you are all well. And don't worry; this is not
the short report. This is both the
short and long.
Merv.
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