Kota Bharu
One year ago, I was flying from Jakarta to Taipei. I was excited at the prospect of jumping into the unknown. I was actively looking for gainful employment as an English Teacher. This time two years ago I was being moved to tears in Hiroshima at the Peace Park museum. This blog has had almost 45000 hits. I am looking forward to the 53000 hit mark since I regard this as a kind of mile stone. Why? Because 53000 hits matches the number of people inside St James Park on any given match day.
After the Penang Hill ascent/descent which left me with aching calf muscles for the next three days, I spent two days at Batu Ferrengi beach with Geir and Rose. We swam a little and enjoyed a ludicrously expensive Arabic meal here:
This is the restaurant displaying a range of sheesh pipes. It turns out that the lasses in the black robes with only the eyes showing are actually Arabic and not Malay as I first thought. I purchased an obviously fake Toon top for 10RM or 1.50gbp. They wanted 40RM but I got it for 10RM. I suspect it is not even worth that - Made in Thailand crap! Just look at the pathetic state of the badge! I wore it the other night but felt a little like a football hooligan with some of the disdainful looks I was getting:
I had an almost successful ‘pulling’ attempt. I met Lillian, 30 at a bus stop. She works as an accountant for the posh Holiday Inn in Batu Ferrengi. Interestingly, she is one of identical twins (no……I wasn’t fantasizing). She agreed to meet me for dinner but ended up cancelling due to my inate repulsiveness. No, she ended up having to attend some unexpected family thing - as is the way with Asians. You quickly learn that families come before boyfriends. Anyway she was gorgeous but, as ever, I was moving on to pastures new.
I ferried to Butterworth to buy a bus ticket to Kota Bharu. Coincidentally, I met Rem whilst waiting for the ferry. I first met Rem at the nameless Clinic Hostel in Bangkok in Feb ‘07, again in Phnom Phen in Mar ‘07 and finally in BKK in June ‘07 before I went to Burma. He is now teaching English in Thailand. He is in Penang for a visa run and he was full of joys of spring in his drunken haze. We spent the afternoon together talking bollicks. We were laughing how we’ve both been involved with English teaching in Asia given the dubious circumstances of our first encounter.
Rem - class!
Rem’s mates from Oz and Ireland eating an Indian banana leaf meal with their hands - filthy buggers!
I caught my night bus and arrived in Kota Bharu at 0400. This quiet Muslim town is dead at 0400. Luckily I found a Chinese run cafe and watched Liverpool spawn their way past Standard Liege in the Champions League Qualifying round. My Guest House opened at 0700 and I crashed until 1100. After some Malay food I walked to the Thai embassy to see how much a two month visa costs (110RM + 2 photos). I am typing this blog now since there is an absolutely ridiculous tropical down pour. Also this internet cafe is only 2RM/hr whereas on the Perhentian Islands it is 20RM/hr.
I am going to the ATM soon to get three weeks worth of cash. I am going to the bankless Perhentian Islands tomorrow where I plan to spend time watching palm trees growing. Other than my mobile I will be incommunicado due to the extortionate internet prices there. My Austrian friend Armin is there now. He lives in Thailand and told me that these Islands are better than anything Thailand has to offer. He has tempted me so off I go. I might even do some SCUBA!
Kota Bharu is very quiet, very Malay and very Muslim. There are fewer Chinese and Indians here. I will look at some sights when the rain stops. In Kota Bharu many people shout ‘Welcome to Maslaysia’ which is very nice. It makes you smile and shout ‘Thankyou’ back. I have had a lot of fun here with the locals:
Me with a couple of canny lasses from the internet place. I felt like I was standing in between a lime and a tangerine!
These kids were taking the pee out of me!!! That drink the middle girl is holding is a coconut shake - they cost 1RM (16p) and are truly morish.
I am currently reading a book called ‘Fortune’s Bastard’ by Robert Chalmers. This is an absolutely hilarious read and I strongly recommend it. I like it because the main character becomes an English Teacher in Barcelona after ruining his career as a tabloid editor.
Hujan - Rain
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