I'm Free!

Hiya,

I got my new passport back this morning! Yippee, I'm free! The lady at the embassy said they were wondering where I was because I put it in such a long time ago. Umm, last week??! Very odd, and ANNOYING because I could have picked it up days ago, they processed it really quickly!

The last week has been incredibly dull. The people in Malaysia are lovely and polite but there is so little to do. The accommodation is expensive and generally not very good. I got eaten alive again by bed-bugs last night so am not particularly happy. Ended up sleeping on the floor. Never encountered so many problems with bed-bugs as I have in Malaysia! I don't particularly like the food either.

It would have been cool to travel to Sabah/Sarawak but without a passport I had no photo ID which makes traveling difficult! When I return to the UK, one of the first things I'm doing is acquiring a photo driver’s license!

Now, to illustrate the extreme politeness of Malay people, I would like to tell you a little story. I’m standing at a crossroads, can’t see any roadsigns – not that it makes much difference as not all the roads on my map have names anyway. A 45ish year old man asks me where I’m going. He starts to explain how to get there and then suggest I walk with him as he is going part the way there. So we’re walking along –
“where are you from”, blah, blah, blah.
“Are you married?”
No, but I have a partner (its just easier this way).
“is he Indonesian?”
No, English, we went to Indonesia together, I will be meeting him again soon.
“Have you ever been with an asian man?”
Um, well, no actually.
“I really think you should try being with an Asian man. They are different, you know”.
Yes, well, you never know.
“Perhaps you’d like to take my phone number and then when you come back to KL we could go out for dinner.”

At that point, he had to go to work, and I thanked him for his help, declined the invitation and carried on trying not to laugh. Definite s3xual undertones the entire time, but never did he become pushy, rude or lewd. Never happened quite like that before, and doubt it will again!

I went to Malaka for a few days. The town is OK. The hostel very good - the best I've stayed in (in Malaysia). They had a sitting room type area and roof-garden so I spent a lot of time just chilling. Met a few different people and went 10-pin bowling which was ace cause haven't gone for years (and came 2nd out of people!).

Next night we went and played pool which was also ace as have not played for about 8 months. Despite the absence my skills were still evident. Out of all the things I've done in my life, I'm particularly proud of being able to play pool. I suppose mostly because I spent about 5 years losing almost constantly and never gave up! Plus guys always expect you to be bad, and it's so much fun when you beat them : )

Malaka has quite a history. It was a very successful trading port until it was taken over by the Portuguese, Dutch, British, Japanese and British again. I toured some of the old ruins but found the Maritime museum most impressive. It is inside a genuine Portuguese trading ship. This ship is massive! I loved being on it, and could pretend that we were sailing across the seas in times of old. Probably a lot more glamourous in my mind than in reality!

One of the members of the sultans “cabinet” had the express duty of escorting the sultan during processions when mounted on an elephant : ) He also had to oversee market trade so was clearly an important man.

It also talks about how Islam was brought to the region. I have always felt that Islam grew by “accident” rather than by design, but they had missionaries too. Makes sense, just never occurred to me before!

Aceh was mentioned several times in the museum. Now, all I used to know about Aceh is that the Indonesians talk about the area/people with some derision, they have independence rebels and it was the epic-centre for the earthquake. What I didn’t know was that they used to be a huge trading centre in their own right with their own mini-empire! Clearly, the Aceh rebels still remember this. What I had dismissed as yet another group of people wanting their independence is actually founded on strong historical grounds (as most claims probably are). It is quite sad how fast we lose information in this world.

The “Investment Biker” (see Tower of Babel email) believes that America’s time is over (which I have thought for about 9 months now) and a new super-power will emerge. Something that also has only recently come to my attention is that many of the southern USA states were “stolen” or bought from Mexico. I’d never really thought about why the Latino presence was so strong there, but sooner or later Mexico is going to want them back, or they will want independence for themselves. Some of the Northern states also have muttered about a wish to breakaway and form a new country. Combined with their massive debt and their warmongering status, they’re in for a lot of trouble.

One of the reasons why I’m pro EU is that it should make it easier for countries to become independent and break-up so that are based more on groups of people who wish to be together rather than forced to co-habitate due to some Generals drawing lines on a map. In my lifetime, I think Scotland, Wales and England will all become completely separate nations. Something that the English will find particularly hard to deal with.

I never really appreciated that not that long ago South America was a strong power. As much as anything, reading his book has shown me how transient economic power is and how futile war is. Empires come and go all the time, it seems silly to try and hang on to them.

I spent a few hours just sitting, reading and watching in the Malaka town square – well the sort of square. Quite pretty with the river on one side and historic buildings all around. The feeling was quite relaxed, probably cause it was mid-day so too hot to do anything and also because there were no tourists around. I was sitting on a wooden bench drinking a diet coke. Infront of me was a man with a typewriter. It took me a while to work out that he was waiting for people who needed letters written for them!

Across the road, drivers from the trishaws decorated with plastic flowers and paper pineapples, played cards whilst they waited for tourists. Two Malay men sitting behind me were drinking beer and whilst already drunk and certainly animated in their discussions, they never bothered anyone else or became abusive. An Indian family pulled up in a taxi and then insisted on having their photos taken with the driver.

Short while after an ambulance drove past. I could tell it was an ambulance because of the siren and the way it had written “ecanlubma” on the front of the van : ) A group of schoolboys who had been hanging around, finally plucked up the courage to ask to have their photo taken with me. They were visiting this town from Kuantan (on the east coast). It was very sweet and “celebrity” like!

After several months of having friends around all the time, I've been feeling rather lonely and sorry for myself. It will be a relief to leave tomorrow and finally be on my way. I've spent hours trying to plan the rest of my trip and it should be so much fun. The last week I've just been stuck in limbo.

I have a flight to Phuket. It's so cheap with Air Asia, there is little point in spending more and going by road! I always said I'd never go to Phuket… Hopefully it shouldn't be too sleazy. I hope to be on a liveaboard leaving on 12th March. It leaves from Khao Lak which was one of the places devastated by the Tsunami. For the most part it is up and running although it is not recommended as a nice place to stay for the beach - will be next year.

I've heard many stories from divers and am not sure what to expect. The main town is still intact and everyone is rebuilding and getting on with their lives. Still the emotional impact must be huge. Bodies were being washed up on the shore for days after. I'll probably only go the day before my liveaboard leaves. Everyone says the same thing though, it's essential tourists still keep going otherwise the people who are still here lives' will be destroyed too.

On the dive side, the reefs haven't been too badly damaged (for the most part). Everyone else seems quite surprised but that is what I was expecting. It's not as if reefs have never had tsunamis before! It depended a lot on how much debris there was in the water, and where that hit. Some sites will take a few years to recover.

Right, I’ve been blabbing on for long enough. The only event of note is that I finally went to an IMAX theater and had my first 3-D film. I watched the Polar Express. It was pretty cool : ) You want to put your hand out and touch things that aren’t there! The IMAX was in a huge shopping mall which included an indoor theme-park and rollercoaster! Quite surreal!

Hope you’re all well and happy, next email will be from Thailand.
Love
kx