Final Stop in Malaysia

Waking up to rain, but thankfully not nearly as hard as I hard seen before.  My speedboat back to Kuala Besut was at 8am.  Wet from the boat ride over to my speedboat and from sitting on a wet seat on the speedboat, I closed my rain jacket tight around me for the trip.  I guess I was so deep in concentration with my eyes squeezed shut tightly that one of the other passengers was concerned that I was seasick!

Arriving at Kuala Besut, I went to the bus station to find the bus for Kota Bharu, my last stop before heading to Thailand.  There I saw a fellow traveler who had been on my boat.  Turns out she was also heading to Kota Bharu and another Malay traveler had offered to give her a ride to Jerteh from where a bus could be caught to travel onto Kota Bharu.  Idris, the owner of the car, kindly extended the offer to me as well.  Idris was on vacation with his family and was just on the mainland to go to the nearest ATM which was in Jerteh, about 20 minutes away.  Rie (pronounced Ria), was from Japan and spoke some Malay and although Idris did speak some English, they two of them mostly chatted in Malay.

After being dropped off at the bus station, Rie told me that she was going to visit a hostel that she always stays at when she comes to this part of Malaysia and was now friends with the owners.  She was going to catch up with them before continuing onto Kuala Lumpur that afternoon via Air Asia (which is in internet airline that apparently has very cheap flights within SE Asia, especially if you book in advance).  Turns out that the hostel was the one I had planned on going to!  I felt that this was a good sign . . . .

The bus ride was about an hour and half costing 4RM (approx $1.15) which was so much better than paying 40RM for a taxi.  Granted it would have been much quicker, but time isn't really an issue for me.  Rie navigated us to the Ideal Travellers House located on a small street/alley off of one of the main streets.  I opted for a room with a bathroom costing only 2RM more (approx $.60) than with one without - no brainer on that one!  The place was adequate, but definitely nothing special.  The owner was nice and offered me what appeared to be a donut when I arrived.  I should have known that it would not be filled with jelly, but instead a sweat pea mixture, which actually wasn't that bad!

I spent the afternoon walking around the city with the ultimate goal to find out about a Malay cooking course that is offered by Roselan, the director of the Tourist Information Center.  I had read about the course in my LP and also ran into an Australian couple on the way to Taman Negara that had also recommended it.  At the center, Roselan was called and with eight employees sitting around him, giggling at almost everything he said (he was trying to crack jokes), he told me that it would be 75RM (approx $21.50) and that he would pick me up from my hostel at 5:15 to take me (and another person that had signed up) to his house.

Right on time, Roselan picked me up in a taxi that also had Simon, an Austrian and an apprentice (unfortunately, I never really caught his name) that had just finished school and was looking to get into the tourist industry.  Roselan's house was 20 minutes away during which we stopped a few times to pick up some of the ingredients for that night's course.  Roselan handed both of us a bottle of water and a small green drink.  Very dubious about it, mostly because of the color and the name, vegamin (can't be good ;)) I waited until Simon tried it.  Stating it was good, I decided to give it a go, plus I didn't want to be rude and not drink it.  To my surprise, it was actually quite delicious!  Tasted nothing like vegetables, so that must be why ;)

Once at Roselan's house, it was probably good that there were only two of us since the kitchen was not that big.  The course itself, turned out to be mostly a demonstration by Roselan, with him cracking jokes which unfortunately I didn't really understand since I could only really comprehend every 3rd or 4th word that he said.  Thankfully Simon seemed to understand him better and could keep the conversation going.  For the next two hours, Roselan prepared our dinner, with the help of Simon who cut up some of the vegetables.  The only thing I really did was to stir the vegetables in the wok, but I have a feeling that was mostly for a photo opp!

After almost 2 hours, we had soup, a chicken and vegetable curry, chili prawns, a fish curry, a vegetable stirfry (something like spinach and mushrooms) and rice.  Unfortunately Roselan was not able to join us for dinner as he had to do his prayers given that he was Muslim.  I failed to mention that Kota Bharu is run my the Islamic Party and is the most conservative state in Malaysia.  It is clear to see how many muslims there are, just by the majority of women with their heads covered and wearing long tunics.  Back to the food, it was very good, with my favorites being the soup and the chicken and vegetable curry.  Finishing up with fresh pineapple, we left around 8:30 as Simon had to catch an overnight bus to Penang around 10pm.

The following day, I explored more of the city, walking through the central market offering brightly colored fruits and vegetables and then on through a handicraft market that unfortunately was closed up until the afternoon.  I stopped off at the Istana Jahar (Royal Ceremonies museum) that was housed in a beautiful wooden structure that dated back to 1887.  On display were exhibits about royal rituals and ceremonies, such as weddings, birth and circumcision.

On my way back to the hostel and almost to it, a guy on a motorbike stopped and tried to talk to me (although he couldn't speak any English).  I proceed to ignore him and walked into the hostel.  As I approached my room, I saw that the padlock was unlocked.  Wondering if I had failed to lock it properly, I opened my door to see that everything was there.  Before I had a chance to close the door behind me, the guy from the motorbike had followed me in and into my room.  As he fumbled with his pants, I started yelling and realizing that wasn't working, I shoved him out of my room and bolted the door behind him.  Standing there, incredulous about what just happened, I heard the shoutings of the owners and his replies before finally he went on his way.  I wonder how he was justifying his being there?

A little shook up over the event, I decided to remain in my room for an hour or so before heading out for some lunch prior to heading to the cultural center for some events they hold every couple of days.  I decided to try a Malay stall which unfortunately had no pictures and was all in Malay.  I sat across from one stall, trying not too look too obvious as I searched through my LP trying to find translations for anything that was up on the board.  I finally managed to figure out that "ayam" was chicken and "nasi" was rice so from that, I surmised that "goreng" must mean fried, or at least I hoped that is what it meant.  Pleasantly, the food was very good and in fact was plain fried rice with cold chicken on the bone covered in a sweet chili sauce, and accompanied by a small bowl of soup, that I wasn't too fond of.

Once done, I headed over to the cultural center.  Sitting outside, the first activity was to listen to some music played on typical Malay instruments.  After about 15 minutes, a man came out to demonstrate martial arts, which appeared to be more like a dance to the music that continued to play.  After he was done, he left and another man came out and did the same.  Once he was done, the first man reappeared and the two of them performed a mock fight.  It was so beautiful to see the way they moved and the detail of the movement of their fingers and feet.  After two rounds with two different sets of men, the audience was asked to participate.  A Japanese and French guy volunteered and were dressed in the martial arts attire of a cloth around the waist on top of the clothes and a cloth wrapped around the head.  The two tried to follow the teacher, the Japanese guy better than the French guy, but I give them both kudos for even trying!

Next event was the kicking of the shuttlecock, a ball of cane with feathers sticking out of the top.  Five or so men stood in a circle, trying to keep the shuttlecock afloat by using only their heads, knees and feet - very similar to hackeysack.  Not proving to be too interesting, the next event was top spinning.  Here, one man got his top spinning and then another tried to knock the top out of the way with his top.  A few of the spectators tried, one guy about 10 times to no avail.  I guess it was harder than it looked!

Ready to leave, I saw Roselan and as I was asking him what time the night's performance of shadow puppets started, a girl noted that she was staying in the same hostel.  Julie, another German (see a theme here?) who is currently living in New Zealand, and I walked back to the hostel.  We agreed to meet that night in order to go to the market and then back to the cultural center.  I was very happy about this, especially given the happenings from earlier in the day.

Meeting up at 6:15 we headed out, only to get a few blocks away before the rain bucketed down.  It is amazing at just how much rain can fall and keep falling.  Drenched from just trying to find shelter, we decided to wait it out.  After half an hour, we realized that the rain wasn't going to stop anytime soon and given that the market kicks everyone out between 7 and 7:45 for prayers, we decided to find food elsewhere.  Thankfully, we found a stall on the same side of the street and had some very good friend rice (with breast meat) and fresh vegetables.  In chatting with Julie, I learnt that she had followed her boyfriend of 6 years to New Zealand was trying to be a resident as she just loved it there (another person trying to convince to go there after my travels in SE Asia).  She was talking 3 1/2 months off with just two weeks left before she headed back to her job at STA Travel, a travel agent for students.  She was very sweet and nice and I wish we could have hung out more together, but she was heading for the islands and I was heading to Thailand the next day.

On our way back to the hostel to see if the cultural center would still have the shadow puppet show, just before reaching our hostel, I guy decided to expose himself to us.  Now really, what is up with the guys in Kota Bharu and especially such a a conservative state?  Sheesh.  Once back at our hostel we ended up talking to a very nice couple from Holland (although the guy had spent his first 10 years in Germany).  Benjamin and Japke (pronounced "Yupker") had been traveling for 3 years, stopping to work to make money for their further travels and to volunteer in Sri Lanka after the Tsunami.  They were heading back to Milford Sound in New Zealand.  We all decided to skip the puppet show and headed off to our original destination, the night market, that despite the rain still had some stalls, some with televisions showing football.  We stopped to get dessert, a crepe like dessert filled with a mixture of bananas, raisins and condensed milk, then cooked over a flat round griddle like cooking apparatus.  As we waited for our dessert to be cooked, a local asked where we had come from.  When I told him I had been at the islands, he started laughing and pointing at me and saying how pale I was.  Little did he know that I actually had somewhat of a tan, especially my arms!  Anyhow, with the crepe desserts (only 1.5RM (approx $.42)) in hand, we found some seats, and then chatted and ate our very yummy desserts.  This was also the first time I tried the fruit mangosteen that has a fleshy inside that is kind of like a lychee.

Given our midnight curfew at the hostel and that I had to get up at 5:30 the following morning, we headed back.  Once packed, I had a fitful night's sleep, thinking about that guy who entered my room and because of my upcoming trip to Thailand.  I was concerned about crossing from the east, given all the uprisings and killings that had been happening in the southern states of Thailand, but getting a ticket to Penang and an 8 hour trip there and then another 8 hours up into Thailand, was going to be hard - took Simon 5 days to get his due to the public holiday that Friday.  Given that the unrest was not focused on tourists, I figured to go ahead (and I am in Thailand now, so all was good ;)).

So, some final thoughts about my travels so far and Malaysia, in no particular order:

• Malaysia is a very easy country to get around especially since most everyone speaks at least some English.
• I definitely enjoyed the much smaller towns, despite still being touristy, over the larger towns.
• I was surprised to see so many palm trees as I traveled throughout the country it seems like the country is overrun with them!
• The air conditioning on the buses seem to be either on or off, with on being an ice-box!
• You can't change Malaysian currency outside the country.
• Lots of cats roaming around - made me miss Zoe :(  Some have tails mostly missing.  I had heard that there is another species of cat that have this condition.  Simon thought it was because their tails had been run over.  We agreed to believe it was the latter.
• A lot of motorbikes that will have no problem running you down if you aren't looking carefully enough, especially around corners!
• Families piled onto motorbikes, babies and all.
• Getting used to eating alone - always make sure I have a book to read!
• Having to write down my age for tickets and hostels and having people curious about how old I am.  Thankfully, the consensus is that I am 10 years younger than I am (Thanks Mom and Dad for the good genes!!).
• Malay food wasn't nearly as good as it was made out to be.
• When do anything that requires being asked how many people, the requestor seems to be surprised that there is only one of you.
• Traveling alone has it ups and downs, but I have enjoyed meeting those fellow travelers that I have so far.