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Published: January 4th 2010
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Day 31: Georgetown to Bukit Merah
The day came when it was finally time to leave the delightful Georgetown. So we set our alarm for 7 to get an early start. But we didn’t actually get up until 9:30, and we didn’t depart until 11. As we were on an island, we had to first bike across a four mile bridge to reach the mainland. The bridge had no shoulder and the traffic was intense. Guys working construction on the median of the bridge kept waving to us, but if we moved our hands from our handlebars to wave back, we risked crashing in to vehicles or going over the guard rail in to the ocean. So we kept our four hands affixed to our handlebars, inhaling exhaust fumes, for four miles, terrified to look away from the road.
Once we’d made it across we found ourselves on an old highway, with two lanes and a big shoulder. This soon turned in to new highway with four lanes and little interesting activity. No children and dogs staring and waving at us, no open pickups full of fruit or people, no roadside vendors. It was so different than Thailand; it felt more like home! There were rest stops with indoor bathrooms and restaurants, with only a single outdoor vendor set up selling drinks, chicken burgers, skewered nuggets and fried bananas. Every type of modern car and truck passed us on the highway, some filled with people honking and waving.
We rode alongside beautiful farms of fifty-foot tall palm trees, lined up by the hundred, stretching for thirty miles. There was no sign of people in the farms, aside from one van stuck in the mud in between some trees, accompanied by four men attempting to push it out. We stopped, and J ran down the hill to try to help, while I stayed with our bikes and gear on the roadside. He pushed and pushed with the men, but the van was lodged too deep, and it didn’t budge. We biked on.
Later, we stopped for water, orange drink and a chicken burger, but it was too hot to eat. 95 degrees, humid and sunny with stunning cloud formations. We kept riding, taking advantage of the breeze from big trucks wooshing by. J was suffering from lingering stomach pains so it was a rough day for him. For me, it felt great being back on a bike after the few day hiatus, though by forty miles, I was exhausted from the heat. When we spotted a sign for a rest stop with a cafeteria, mosque, playground and hotel just off the highway, we were stoked.
From the outside the hotel looked lovely and modern. From the inside, it was very poorly maintained, with stained rugs and curtains, and unusually dirty walls. And the price per room was listed at the desk, never a good sign for negotiations. But we were tired, and ready to rest for the day.
“This hotel is really dirty. How about 30 ringit?” I said to the clerk.
“It’s an old hotel, of course it’s dirty. The price is 49 ringit.” the clerk replied. The place wasn’t really old, it was just terribly maintained. The front desk boasted many shiny brochures, making the hotel look lovely and new.
“Do the rooms have hot water?” I asked.
“Some do. Some don’t,” the clerk replied helpfully.
“Well, could we get one with hot water please?” I requested. At least the bed was comfortable, the room had great A/C and a big TV, perfect for watching the Olympic cycling that was just about to begin. We rested and watched, showered then walked over to the massive rest stop cafeteria to eat.
The cafeteria was covered, but had open sides, and seemed to be a very popular stop for people driving through. The food was very ordinary, burgers, nasi goreng, cucumber and green bean salad, but the cafeteria did boast fantastic canned juices, like sugar cane and chrysanthemum. But this rest stop was different than others. This one boasted hundreds of arowana fish, a very special fish that supposedly, can only be found in this town, Burkit Merah, in one freshwater lake.
The fish were on display in dozens of tanks throughout the cafeteria, there was even a dark viewing room, filled only with tanks and lounge chairs, so one could sit comfortably to watch the fish for hours. We were stunned to learn that these special fish sell for $2000 US apiece, all over Burkit Merah. They come in many colors, pink, blue, gray, yellow, but gold is the most expensive.
Arowana fish, according to the local I spoke with at the rest stop, never stop moving and never sleep. The Chinese supposedly like them for their feng shui. Each arowana fish had its own tank. Each has two whiskers, lovely scallop scales and a mouth like a dump truck. Apparently a man came to this rest stop all the way from Germany, and spent an entire day just sitting, watching the fish. The local also told me his dad traveled to Germany last year to sell these fish. He packed each fish, individually, in a cardboard box, in a small glass tank, with water and oxygen, and then checked it. Checked it!
I was having such a nice conversation with this local fish expert that I decided it would be OK to ask him some of my more pressing questions about Islam. My mind was racing with these questions, having been biking all day past Malay Muslim people and knowing so little about their culture. First, I asked the expert’s wife why she wore the headscarf. She told me it was because of Islam and the Koran, but when I pressed her for more details, she didn't know anymore. They both spoke perfect English. The expert offered a more detailed explanation.
Men value women higher than themselves, he said. Women are like a treasure made for men, and that treasure is more valuable kept in a box than put on display. Therefore, a woman should be concealed. I thought about this and then said, so the woman is valued higher than a man, but only as an object, not as a human being. The expert agreed with me. He elaborated, telling me that very traditional Muslims, from Arabia, where Islam was founded, can’t see any skin of a woman, or it will drive them crazy. They believe the skin of a woman is a treasure that must be hidden for the woman’s safety. (A danger it seems they have created through this repression.)
But open minded Muslims, like the expert, don’t agree with that. His wife only wore a headscarf, not even covering her arms, suggesting her respect and adherence to Islam, but non-belief in the necessity of concealing women. Many women in Malaysia dressed like the expert's wife, though many others also covered all their skin, except their face. And a few wore burkhas, covering all their skin, including their face, excepting only their eyes. I think that Malaysian Muslims are very tolerant because they are used to living with people of different faiths and cultures, Chinese Buddhists, and Indian Hindus.
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arowanafish
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Nice pics. Keep the pics coming~! www.arowanasecrets.com