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Published: February 20th 2007
Inappropriate Nature
Grandfather and Grandmother rocks As Chinese New Year rages on here in Georgetown, Malaysia, Suz and I have finally resigned ourselves to the fact that our beach bumming days are over with. And while we are not too happy about it, we realize deep down that we have missed the bustling streets of a South-east Asian city, and certainly all the good eating that goes with it.
We had spent so long in Koh Lanta, that I was actually becoming bored of hanging out in the little paradise off the western coast of Thailand. It had been 2 weeks, and all we were doing was maintaining our tans. Sure, eating BBQ fish and watching fire dancers by the ocean every night was great, but variety is the spice of life, right? Sitting on a beach everyday and reading another book just wasn't appealing anymore, except to my sun-worshiping wife. Suz had become obsessed with getting up at 8 am everyday and claiming the best chairs with the best umbrella on the beach. She was beginning to eyeball all the other tourists at the guesthouse, convinced that they were out to get her favorite place. It was definitely time for us to break away.
We took an all day trip to Koh Samui, an island on the other side of the mainland. It was far enough away to warrant the use of two ferries and a 4 hour bus ride. The goal was to meet my friend Brendan, explore the island, and head up to the infamous Full Moon Party which is held on Koh Pha-Ngan, the island just a half hour to the north of us.
It didn't quite work out that way.
While we had a great time catching up with Brendan, the island itself was no better than going to hang out at your local shopping mall. There were dramatically overpriced western restaurants (it was actually difficult to find where the locals ate), go-carts, monkey-shows, huge resorts that occupied vast stretches of beach (and NO, you can't use it unless you are at the resort), aggressive tailors, laser shows, and of course, a 24-hour McDonald's. Suz and I made the best of the situation by renting a motorbike and hunting down anything out of the ordinary.
There was the "Grandmother and Grandfather" rocks, which resemble, well, the "naughty bits" of the human anatomy. There were the extremely
Fever
Must be lack of cheeseburgers... colorful fishing boats, packed to the gills with as many as 40 crew members, each one flirting and waving hello, desperate for one last human interaction before setting off to pull nets of fish for a week straight. There was Buddha Beach, a huge golden seated Buddha with the ocean behind him, surrounded by little vending machines that told your fortune according to what day of the week you were born on.
And then it was time for the Full Moon Party! 20,000-30,000 people showed up once a month to dance from dusk until the sun came up. Some people would drink buckets of whiskey-and-coke (and I do mean "buckets"), some would drink "magic mushroom" shakes, and everyone would pack themselves onto one single beach for an all night dance fest until the next morning when the ferries would come to take people back to Koh Samui. It is said to be the biggest, most exciting, and most debaucherous party in the world.....
...and we didn't go.
It is truly a testament to how old you are when a spectacle like this not only doesn't peak your interest, but makes you want to get as far away
Ecstasy
Brendan enjoys his banana roti from it as possible. We saw the boatloads of kids, mostly 10 years younger than us, all excited and jittery with the anticipation of partying. They were ready to drink copious amounts of Red-Bull to stay up and twitch all night long in a crowd so huge, you could barely dance at all. And forget about finding a bathroom to get rid of all that beer you've been drinking. It just didn't sound like a good time to us. Call us crazy.
Another thing that prevented us from attending this spectacle was a strange illness that kept coming back to haunt me. It would start out with being tired, then severe muscle ache, then a fever. In 24-36 hours all symptoms would disappear. On the night of the Full Moon Party, I had my third episode in as many weeks, and a swollen lymph node as evidence of my body's struggle. Over time, I've been told or read that I have Dengue Fever, dehydration, Meningitis, Mono, and Malaria. None of these diagnoses have come from an actual doctor. Most have come from other travelers who have been drinking since noon. One guy actually told me the other night that
Deserted Island
Off the coast of Koh Jum it came from lack of salt in my diet. Suffice to say, I haven't had an episode in weeks, and I am officially filing this little episode under "severe lack of cheeseburgers". Or any cheese for that matter.
We were running out of time and had to make a border crossing before our Thai visas expired. After looking at the map, we decided to head right back where we came from, only with a little stop-over to a very quiet island called Koh Jum. "Quiet" doesn't do it justice. There were no cars, no construction, and very few people. Suz and I took the opportunity to canoe out to a small island off the coast that was completely deserted, and we imagined ourselves being stranded and living like Robinson Crusoe. The beaches were littered with dead coral, some of the only evidence we have seen from the tsunami, which had literally picked up the reef and threw it onto the sand. Almost all the other beaches have been cleaned up by the resorts and guesthouses who occupy them, most of which had completely been washed away at the height of tourist season. One operation on Koh Jum had spent
$1.5 million to build a high priced resort on one of the most beautiful beaches. They opened on Christmas Day. The next morning at 10 am, 80% of the resort was destroyed. All has been restored to it's former, laid-back glory in the last two years on this island however, and we were happy to take advantage of it.
After a brief stop back to our haven in Koh Lanta, where we received a hero's welcome from the fire dancers and bartenders at our favorite guesthouse ("James Bond! You come back AGAIN?"), we ferried and mini-bussed our way down to the town of Satun, last stop at the Thai border. After watching Thai soap-operas for 3 hours at the dock, we finally boarded our ferry to the Malaysian island of Langkawi, where we were forced to watch 2 hours of Malaysian sitcoms. I'm here to tell you folks, the only difference between TV here, and TV back home is that there are WAY less commercials. All the plots and jokes are the same, from what I can understand of them anyway.
Langkawi is a tax-free island on the north-west coast of the Malaysian peninsula, which means that not
Suspension Bridge
Over the mountains of Langkawi only tourists from abroad come here, but also people from Malaysia who have a long weekend. And since we came at the beginning of the 15-day celebration of Chinese New Year, you had better believe the island was packed. But people were not here to celebrate, or see the beaches. They were here to SHOP. Malls were packed, traffic was heavy, and the amount of alcohol and cigarettes flying off the shelves was staggering. See, Malaysia is a mostly Islamic state. And while they are very tolerant of other religions and cultures, when it comes to the "sin" taxes, they are not messing around. In a country where a meal might cost you $1, beers are going to be at or above the price you pay in the States. This might not be such a big deal to us, but when you live here, it's well worth the effort to pick up a month's supply of Johnny Walker when you can find the time.
Suz and I like shopping, but not when we have to carry goods on our back for the next 5 months. We rented a motorbike and explored on our own.
The absolute highlight of
Lost on the Beach
How far is home from Langkawi? Langkawi is the cable car ride that takes you 710 meters up a mountain over virgin rain forest. The scenery was incredible, and looking around, you could picture what the earth looked like before the age of man. Langkawi is actually an archipelago made up of 99 islands, most of which are uninhabited, and you could see almost every one of them from the curved suspension bridge at the top of the mountain. Which shook in the wind. And with dark clouds forming overhead, we didn't need a whole lot of convincing to take the ride back down.
We waited as long as we could for all the shoppers to go home, and took a 3 hour boat ride to the immense city of Georgetown in Peneng. With a history of British colonization, and a huge influx of immigrants from China and India, this large Muslim city made for quite a cultural melting pot. Suz and I would be eating tandoori chicken in "little India", surrounded by Chinese customers, and be hearing the call to prayer coming from the local mosque. This place has so much food, and so much space, that we could have easily spent months here
Segara Ninda
Our homestay, home of Ku Din Ku Meh and never eat at the same place. We've decided to extend our stay however, and just eat as much as our bellies can hold.
We're staying in the former residence of a very prestigious governor, at least he was 130 years ago. His great-grandson (who looks remarkably like him, moustache and all), has converted the place into a guesthouse which has small, but very romantic rooms. Stone floors, skinny painted doors, and tall ceilings are in every room. Even the trees outside are over 100 years old. The owner has sat us down at the cafe outside and talked our ear off about the ways of the world, all the time offering us more massala tea to sip on.
Everyone, and I mean everyone, is extraordinarily kind in this part of the world. People will walk up to us everyday and ask us where we are from, and where we are going. This takes quite of bit of getting used to, seeing as anyone who would have asked us the same question back at home would have been met with the same answer. "Why do YOU want to know?" But Malays aren't nosey, or looking to follow you
home and rob you, they're just very curious and very kind. When crossing the street the other day Suz and I waited patiently as a Malay woman was getting ready to take a photo of her friends. When she noticed us, she insisted that we get into the picture also. When she developes the film, I'm sure she will be surprised at the look on our faces. We were awfully confused as to why she would want to include us.
So Chinese New Year is winding down, Chinatown has eaten all the lavish feasts they've prepared, and there's nothing to do now but throw some oranges into the sea and wish for happy marriages and lots of children. We'll be sure to do the same.
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digital_explorer
Reymos
Greeneries of the countryside
Reading and looking at your photos reminded me my trip from Singapore to Bangkok via Malaysia by train. I stayed for few hours in Kuala Lumpur and visited Petronas. But along the way, Malaysia has still green fertile soil to develop. It seems you really enjoy your trip. Rey