Langkawi

After a few days in KL we flew last week to the holiday island of Langkawi, just on the Malaysian side of the border with Thailand.  We stayed in a slightly rundown resort hotel with a big pool next to a quiet beach.  People fly to Langkawi from all over the world and I don't think I've ever been to a place with a wider mix of tourists - Indian, European, Australian, Chinese, US, Malaysian and many others I'm sure.  Oddly it seems particularly popular with Russians with several Russian restaurants in the main tourist hotspots.

For me the highlight was a visit to a museum devoted to rice cultivation.  In Borneo we see lots of activity associated with rice growing and the museum helped us make sense of it all with a gallery explaining the cultivation process surrounded by working padi fields.  What struck me most was how much hard work is involved in rice production by comparison to wheat.  The fields have to be prepared and flooded, the irrigation carefully managed and traditionally rice seedlings are raised and individually planted, rather than the seed being broadcast across the fields.  The whole process comprises a complex, time-consuming and back-breaking set of activities which require communities to work collectively and must have an enormous impact on the culture and world view of rice-based societies.  Seeing the working padi fields also allowed me to understand more about the South East Asian diet as land used for rice production can also accommodate duck and fresh water fish in abundance.

The next morning I went on a long run from our hotel out into the countryside, starting before sunrise to take advantage of the cooler air.  At the half-way point I stopped before retracing my steps and looked around. Dawn was breaking over the padi fields with Langkawi's mountainous interior as a backdrop, the air was filled with bird song and I felt, maybe for the first time since I stepped off the plane in Borneo in December, in tune with my surroundings.

KL

It must be a sign of old age, but Sue and I are finding that travel knocks the stuffing out of us these days.  Last Friday night we arrived at Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Carrier Terminal (KL LCCT) at ten at night after an hour and three quarter flight from Kuching and a five-hour drive from Saratok barely able to stand.  We got it together to find a taxi driven by a trim Malay lady complete with headscarf and cruised near empty neon lit motorways as palm oil plantations, mosques, smart new housing estates and industrial units flashed past.

After forty long minutes the Petronas Towers came into view, illuminated like two giant feature lampstands and I suddenly realised that “play that funky music white boy” was coming softly out of the car stereo.  I looked at the driver’s eyes through the rear view mirror and noticed they were beginning to flicker shut and the car to drift over to the outside lane.  “I like this song” I said, loudly.  “Mmm, me too” she said, snapping awake.  Soon we were crawling through crowded brightly lit city centre streets and I’m thinking: “I’m in South East Asia being driven through what looks like Oxford Street by a female Muslim taxi driver who likes 70s soul music – my how this world is a changing.”

We’ve spent the last three days shopping and sightseeing – the main reason for coming to KL being Sue’s urgent desire to buy Marks and Spencer’s bras.  By my calculation, including flights and hotels, they worked out at about £100 a cup.

We also got to see our first hornbills at the KL aviary.  They are indigenous to Sarawak, look like something out of a Punch and Judy show and bark like an Alsatian.  Honestly, I’m not making this up.

Next stop the holiday island of Langkawi for a few days rest and relaxation.

Doug the Dependent

OK it's official.  I got my passport endorsed last week with a permission to stay in Malaysia until September 2013.  The downside is that I'm classified as a "dependent" and am not meant to work.  Sue and I knew this would be the deal even before we embarked on this adventure, but it still feels strange.

So, Sue is working incredibly hard being a mentor and also studying with the Open University for an Msc and having the time of her life.  She loves the work and the people she is working with and it's great to see.  Meanwhile I am playing the role of the house husband.  I start most days with a run or a cycle ride, I go to market every other day, do much of the washing and the housework, watch daytime TV (much better than in Italy, we have an HD TV and I could, if I wanted watch UK soaps), have an afternoon nap and cook supper.

There is the possibility of some informal teaching work and I have volunteered to do some work for the British Humanist Association's Celebrant network, but nothing has come of these things so far.  The situation is a bit complicated by the fact that Dad is still in hospital following his knee replacement in early December and I may have to go back to the UK at some point if and when he is finally discharged home.

All in all I'm having to make some mental adjustments to my new circumstances and housework in Borneo can be unusually challenging.  For example, we share the house with around 15-20 assorted geckos.  Very cute and they do keep the insects down, but they also produce an amazing amount of poo for such little creatures.