Chapter 5: Malaysia and Singapore

Monday, March 23

Most of Saturday was spent on the bus: from Koh Samui to Had Yai and then by mini-bus to Sungai Golok on the Thai border with Malaysia. Petra and I shared a seat with a middle-aged woman whose dream was to see and smell the Dutch flower fields she had only seen on TV. Once again, I was reminded of how lucky I am to live in the West.

Saturday night was spent at a "expensive" hotel in Sungai Golok--$4 for two beds! Ramadan had started, so we watched a festival down the street. Sunday, it was just a quick walk across the border. We then took a short bus ride to Kota Bharu, a town near the east coast. Though the distance from Sungai Golok and Kota Bharu was short, the difference was quite striking between Thailand's freewheeling Buddhist ways and Malaysia's stricter Islamic attitudes. Most Malaysian women here wear chadour, which covers them from head to toe. The people are more businesslike than the Thai, they seem busier, slightly more aloof.

Perhaps the most striking thing about Kota Bharu is its central market. Outside are gathered food stalls and other vendors in a large field. There is also a large 4 story circular building with an open center. The entire buiding is stuffed with produce and livestock vendors on the first floor and textiles and clothing vendors in the upper floors.

Tuesday, March 24

I arrived on the island of Penang after a day long bus ride through the mountainous jungle of northern Malaysia. The road was quite narrow and treacherous, and our driver was out to prove that he was the fastest man on the road. As Muslims do not eat during the daytime for the month of Ramadan, we did not stop to eat, though there were some bags of snacks available at one rest stop. While the Malay prayed, I ate dusty chips and drank warm soda. In Georgetown, there was plenty to eat, not only because the sun was going down, but also because the town has large non-Muslim Indian and Chinese populations who were more than happy to serve a tired and hungry traveler. Georgetown's diversity is quite striking. The different groups seem to get along well, despite totally different cultures.

The food here is terrific. The Indian restaurant next to my guest house was cheap, satisfying, and interesting, from the banana leaf plates, to the staff that rolled out tables and fell asleep outside the restaurant after cleaning up for the night.

There isn't an overwhelming amount of things to do here, but I spent some time on the mountain overlooking the city, and despite the smog, the view was quite nice.

Thursday, March 26

The Atlanta of Asia. That's Singapore. New, shiny, not particularly exciting, hot, and steamy are things that both cities have in common. You can drink the water in Atlanta also. Actually, Singapore has a great museum, with an eye-opening exhibit on the Japanese occupation during World War II. Many, many holocaust-style atrocities were committed. The art museum had a Japanese artist creating his work as he talked to the visitors. He was smashing pieces of granite, then arranging them on the floor into the Kanji for "peace," "compassion," and so on.

I wasn't in Georgetown long before it was time to move on, and now I'm in Singapore after another bus ride. It was easy to find a place to stay, not because the places in my out-of-date Lonely Planet guide were still in business, but because they pointed me to the right part of town to look for a guest house. And just as Singapore has laws about chewing gum on the street (not allowed), they have laws that are supposed to prevent guest houses like the one I am staying in. So I didn't exactly look for a guest house signs on the street. I wandered around for awhile on the street where there was supposed be a place to stay. Eventually I met another traveler who took me to a guest house. In a twist new to me since arriving in South-East Asia, the guest house is air-conditioned and the tap water is drinkable.

The food was also excellent. Every night, a large number of food stalls open up at markets around the city and diners go from booth to booth to put together a meal of their choosing. (Note: My memory is failing me here on the food; I know it was great, but I don't remember exactly what it was...)

One thing I won't forget was my attempt to shop for a new camera. I had heard from a number of people that the place to buy camera gear, or any electronics equipment for that matter, is Singapore. I'm here to tell you that it isn't true. Not only were the prices no better than New York mail order, but the staff was incredibly rude. First, I stood around in the store while the staff talked to themselves and ignored me. When I finally spoke up, the dialogue went like this.

Me:

He:

Me:

He:

I suppose I should have laughed, but it wasn't funny. I suppose I should have called him an asshole, but this was Singapore, so there was probably a law against that.

I met up with some Europeans, including a British guy who had 120 rolls of film that he lifted from his previous employer. He shot pictures of nearly every building and every person. We walked through one of Singapore's few surviving older neighborhoods, amusingly called Chinatown, since Singapore is a Chinese city. We also wandered through a older section where Asian Indians lived and snapped pictures of some interesting temples and vendors.

Later, I met up with a Canadian guy named Tim, and we began to make some plans together. After wandering around for awhile, we went to the famous Raffles hotel, and played billiards while sipping Singapore Slings at the Writer's Bar, famous for its former patrons such as Rudyard Kipling. Raffles prices could have been equally famous. Two drinks and a round of billiards cost us $30. That's US$30. At this point Singapore had shown us everything we needed to see, so we bought some tickets for the next part of the journey, a trip up the river and into Indonesia.

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