Blogs from Malaysia, Asia - page 746

In this part of the world your right hand is used for almost everything: you shake hands with your right hand, you eat with the fingers of your right hand, you use your right hand to exchange money or goods. 'So why do you even have a left hand?' you may ask. Well, my friends, your left hand has only one job. And it is a shitty one. The left hand is used, in cooperation with a hose, to wipe your arse. There is no toilet tissue between you and your ass, not even a measly one ply square. It's just you and a little trickle of water from a hose conveniently located to the left of the porcelain hole. But beware- don’t wipe with the hand that feeds you. I haven't 'gone native' yet. I ... read more

Malaysia, Truly Asia Our JB trip started late today. After meeting my friends (Yq and March) in Chinatown at 6pm, we proceed to drive up the causeway to cross the Malaysian border. March was doing this religiously every weekend, rain or shine because he could save 50% off his expensive petrol bills at his favourite Shell Station at JB's Taman Sri Tebrau. Like a typical weekend, the causeway was packed with vehicles - Malaysians rushing back home after a day's work and Singaporeans for their weekend seafood therapy. I do not know if the escalating crime rates in JB have deterred Singaporeans from visiting. All I know is that we were stuck at the Woodlands customs for a good 40 minutes before reaching the Malaysian border. It was about 7.45pm when we checked in the url=http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298278-d302264-r5796526-The_Puteri_Pacific_Hotel_Johor_Bahru- ... read more

So in almost exactly one day we have seen everything there is to see in Kota Bharu. We went to the cultural musuem (I don't know how to spell that and I can't find a word processor on this computer- sorry) and shopping center, ate at the local eatery, found the waffle place, went to the Thai consultate, and two tourist offices looking for things to do. They sugested Kite and Puppet Making Classes. Seriously. (It's okay- I laughed too, but I really think that is what this town does in their free time). There is no bar, no movie theater, no beach, everything closes at sundown. And I'm scared of puppets. I don't want to make one. Kites I'm okay with (generaly) but there is no wind here and it's too hot to run around ... read more

Hello, hope your all well. We are in Kuala Terengganu at the moment which is one of only three places in Malaysia with a Malay majority so it's all very cultural and well Malay. But most interesting news first...we had our first trip to A & E yesterday. Sam managed to walk into a bit of low metal roof and hit his head pretty badly. He was talking complete jibberish and shouting a lot so I inspected his head and found it was bleading. He was still talking jibberish so I got a taxi and we went to the local hopsital. By the time we got there he had calmed down rather. We had to pay RM50 (about 8 pounds) becuase were not malaysian. Sam saw a Dr then got a stitch in his head. When ... read more

Gosh we have done LOADs of cool stuff since the last blog, when we left KL we got a bus (an economy, not an 'executive', the difference? four seats in a row instead of the luxury of only three.. no we are not sure either) to the Cameron Highlands. The highlands are the home of Malaysia's tea industry and it is so high up that it gets (shock) cold at night and rains every afternoon. we rocked up to a place called Father's Guest House (so called because it is on the site of a religious mission) where the rooms and dorms are in old Nissen (?) huts. We quickly met a new buddy called Patrick, a French Canadian maths teacher, and Chris an Australian /Malaysian on his holidays before heading up to Thailand. With our ... read more