Long, hot day of adventures

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Geo: 3.12433, 101.684

We woke up refreshed for our first breakfast at hotel. Joseph and Anita had a funeral so didn't pick us up till 11ish. We headed out to find a card for the phone (to enable us to use Google maps on my phone) and changed our old Singapore dollars for Malay currency. What a mixture of people and places near by, from a little girl weeing in the gutter, and laundry hanging everywhere, to highrises.
Joe & Anita confessed to never having EVER been to the Bird Park, which boasts the largest free-flying aviary - so most birds were not in small displays. Saw the show with clever parrots and macaws, and just wandered around. Can we "count" these on our list of bird-watching 😊 ???
Then we headed to the "Central Market" for lunch and shopping - as David tries to find a monochromatic picture of village kampungs rather than driving to Malacca to find the one artist of 1999 when we ran out of money!! Nice things but much more $$. Had amazing lunch. So far Jean is finding western toilets - just remember the toilet paper next time!! David was not so lucky.
We took the Pragasams' suggestion to invest in a "touch and go" card for the toll roads, which evidently are much more common for short drives than in the USA.
It's wonderful to be with such loving and knowledgeable friends - they know the back roads and the best places. Ended up at chinese restaurant that was crowded both in and out, for "beef balls" and soup.
By the way, there are security guards everywhere - we were not surprise to see them at the hotel - mostly they keep cars from parking too long at the front - but they are in just about any shop (or was it because the drug store has - well - drugs? Joe works in the security industry - business is good!
They explained the "skin tax" - prices set on basis of if you are a western visitor or local. What would happen to white locals? We asked about the political system and the parties are divided on ethnic lines - like Chinese, Indian, Malay. How wild is that? Joseph calls it legalized racism. Non-Malays experience discrimination in schools and jobs.

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Comments

[Debbie Moore]

Enjoying these blogs s much.....and the pictures! Love you both

[cjryman2016]

Very interesting indeed! Hope you are have lots of grand adventures! The birds are lovely and yes you can count them. xoxoxo

[Mary Keefe]

Nice photos. This is as close to Malaysia as I will ever get.