Malaysia 2000, Part 5

How are you all? I hope you are all doing fantastically well!!! At the moment we are in Denpasar,
Bali. Arrived here last night from the spectacular Bromo-Tengera-Semeru National Park in East
Java. Later today, we head for Lombok where we will do an open water diving course in one of the
Gili Islands. 

Inshallah, will return to Bali on Sunday to take a flight out to Brunei on Monday (17 July). That
flight is confirmed, but the one from there to Perth is still to be confirmed. Inshallah it should
OK too and we will arrive there on the 22nd. Otherwise we will have to spend longer than the
planned 5 days in the Islamic Sulatante of Brunei. I wouldn't mind that but it is very expensive
there and we don't any contacts!

Do any of you have friends with whom we can stay in the very expensive Islamic Sulatanate of
Brunei Darussalam ? 

Please let us know as soon as possible!!!

Anyway, below is the remainder of Malaysia....


THURSDAY MAY 8

Went to the biggest mosque in South East Asia - the Sultan XXXXX (? Forget the name)  masjid in
Shah Alam, about 30km from KL. Being also Malaysia's most expensive, it has the biggest dome in
the world. It was mightily impressive and we took some mightily impressive photos too, hopefully. 

The bus to Malaca was for 4pm. Partly because we kinda lost our way in getting back to the train
station from the masjid and partly because of the train being delayed due to rain, we got to the
bus station with not more than a minute to spare.  Arrived in Malaca at about 6:30pm. 

Didn't do much in the evening besides writing to you guys. Bumped in to the Canadian (Ottawa) I
shared with in Vientiane. Had dhal and rice for dinner again!


FRIDAY MAY 9

We hired a couple of bikes and after brunch cycled to the oldest mosque in Malaca - the Sumateran
style Kampung Kling Masjid.  The main building looked like one of Thailand's wats while the
minaret looked much like a pagoda. 

After Jum'a, went to another went to another Sumateran style masjid and then split up to continue
exploring the city alone. I spent a while in China Town and then took a tour of the historic
sights of Malaca, from the Portuguese, Dutch and British eras and also from Malaysia's
contemporary history. 

Next went to a fascinating museum. But the beautification museum, though fascinating was also very
sickening at times. It told of the many ways that people beautify, or have beautified, themselves
around the world. Most of the things were heavy stuff, from tooth extraction and filing to
scarification and head flattening. The exhibits also showed people beautifying themselves by
wearing huge pieces of wood, pots and drums on their lips; wearing corsets to narrow their wastes;
piercing all parts of the body; wearing feathers in the wierdest of places; slimming; plastic
surgery; tattoos; feet binding, etc. It had some interesting things to say about 'modern
primitives':

"A punk with pierced ears and nose, with safety pins in his cheeks, a tattoo on his face and
violently coloured hair, is obviously calling attention to himself. If one looks at him, he will
threaten: "What are you looking at?" when it is plainly obvious that you are looking at a modern
primitive of the new age tribe."

After the museum I emailed for about 3 hours (catching up the diary to you guys!). Following yet
another omelet and rice meal returned to the hostel to get some sleep. That was the plan anyway.

There are many reasons why people shouldn't drink (alcohol). One of the most important is that it
makes people so damn inconsiderate! There were these western backpackers staying at the same place
as us (who I found watching a semi-porn movie when I returned to the hostel just after 11pm.)
After the film they started drinking and singing.  They were still doing that when we were ready
for bed at about 1am. We tried to sleep anyway. Mustafa managed to fall asleep only to wake up
soon after. I couldn't even fall asleep.

Tried until about 1:45am but in vain. So I went and asked them politely  "PLEASE can you keep the
noise down, we have an early bus to catch in the morning." They said they'd keep it down but I was
only slightly hopeful.

They were quieter for a while but the noise soon reverted back to the unbearable level. I tried to
ignore it. It was now nearly 3pm. I couldn't try anymore. No politeness either. "Is this a hotel
or a club? Why don't you go to a club or something!" I was mightily pissed off. I'd spoken to the
management beforehand but they were an unbelievably lame bunch. 

Guess what? It worked! I guess politeness doesn't work with certain people. Sad. Oh, did I mention
that they were all drinking alcohol, not that it should be used as an excuse as it's often done so
by drunks: "Yeah, I was an asshole but I was drunk". Sad.  I was so angry and I'm so even now when
I think about the lack of consideration shown. It's sad that it all happened in Malaysia.  

PS: Mustafa lost his address book.


To be continued...

Wassalamualaikum,
Muhammad ibn Rashid

PS: Where we are going in Lombok there is electricity for only part of the day so emailing is out
of the question! Hopefully I will have time to email you guys when we get back to
Bali....otherwise see you in Oz!!!