bicrom abroad

swimming with the fishes

after an absurdly air conditioned overnight bus ride from penang to kuala besut we jumped onto the first speedboat out to the perhentian islands and found ourselves splashing onto the shore of perhentian kecil at about 8am on tuesday morning. i had actually been on the island a decade ago and whilst there were a few more chalet outfits than i remember, the thatched roofs replaced by corrugated iron, it was still not prima facie as built up as i might have feared given its burgeoning reputation, retaining a certain rustic charm. it was if anything more beautiful than i remembered, with crystal clear water lolling onto crispy white sand. having dumped our bags in a little hut we set out for a spot of breakfast on the beach. looking around as the island started to wake up it became evident that we had stepped onto a new, specific subroute of the backpacker trail: unlike sumatra, we were now firmly in gap year travel territory, surrounded by (annoyingly) fresh faced british teens slurping on milkshakes and swapping tales of last night's session on the beach which no doubt would be collated with their other gap year stories to bore new acquaintances at fresher's week. i'd be sniffy but that would probably be inappropriate given that i was the same ten years ago, so i think it's best to just to stick to feeling old.
after a nap on the beach we ventured into the water which was gloriously warm. i'm not much of a swimmer but with much encouragement from vicki i managed to splash around a little, and even had a crack at snorkelling (which i found much easier). we ended up spending three or four hours primarily in the water, paddling and snorkelling around the rocks to the north of the beach trying not to disturb, or be nipped by, the crabs which were scuttling around us.
despite an excellent first day however as the next morning dawned we realised that there were consequences to the clarity and warmth of the water as, despite having slapped on the sun tan lotion, vicki had burnt her legs. in particular, the new epidermal layer on her shins and ankles, slowly working its way to the surface after the dr fish had happily removed the old, tougher skin in penang, were red raw. fortunately our little hut jutted out on a small rocky headland and so had an amazing view over the sea: less helpfully, there was no electricity during the day. still it remained a good place to while away a day admiring the views, reading and generally relaxing before on wednesday vicki was (just) mobile again.
taking advantage of this recovery, we set off in the afternoon to do some snorkelling around the islands. this clearly was a big deal for me, but with multiple encouraging words and the odd encouraging paw from vicki i got in there. it was fairly spectacular looking down on small black tip sharks and coral as shoals of inquisitive fish darted in and amongst us: definitely a completely new experience for me. i wussed out of getting into the water to try and search for turtles as the sea was much choppier and there were scores of other snorkellers splashing around, but vicki did and managed to spot a couple of turtles swmimming along as well.
all in all, despite making us feel old and vicki's burnt legs, the perhentians worked out well: there is simply no arguing with the beauty of a picture postcard tropical island paradise. we got the first boat out on friday morning and after stumbling into and out a number of mini vans (and going through the pattani and yala provinces in south thailand which we now realise are on the fco black list because of islamic insurgency, which in retrospect explains all the blockades and soldiers with machineguns on the road: oops) we made it to krabi after about twelve hours on the road. krabi itself is a pretty joyless place but we'll spend the day today checking out the limestone formations in ao phang nga (man with the golden gun anyone?) before heading off for a proper splurge in ko lanta.

posted by bicrom @ 2:30 am

happy birthday buddha

put your hands up if you know what wasek day is. me? no. vicki? not so much. all malaysians? given that it is the day designated as buddha's birthday and consequently a public holiday, very much so. what's more, vast numbers of them elect to use the corresponding long weekend to flood to the more scenic parts of the country, much like penang, for a break. so it was that we arrived in penang late on friday night to find a town almost entirely devoid of available rooms. after a brief panic wherein we thought we were going to be sleeping in a shopping mall we finally found a room on jalan penang which, though marked up a little, was not too exorbitant. delighting in the presence of ac and lack of bugs we dumped our stuff and set out for a bite to eat in a little food market, our biryani and noodles complemented by some storming multilingual karaoke in the background.
penang is good for a weekend's mooching. wandering through the back streets of georgetown's chinatown the dilapidated buildings still retain enough hints of grandeur to allow you imagine the city in its colonial pomp. nestled inbetween crumbling late nineteenth century facades are scores of chinese and hindu temples, rendering the air smoky and fragrant with incense being burnt and waved in homage to any number of gods. whilst penang showcases any number of cultures and peoples living side by side, with south indians and chinese bumping shoulders with ethnic malays and the odd expat, there does not appear to have been much of a process of syncretisation. indian canteens may sit alongside chinese noodle carts but the neighbouring influences have not fused into each other. the chinese temples have few if any hindu touches, the tandoori chicken no orientalised hints. and yet the kek lok si temple, itself a blend of chinese, thai and burmese buddhist styles, was full of south indian penangese, foreheads glistening with sweat and freshly painted tikkas from the hindu temples which they had visited en route; the street tables on jalan chulia are full of ethnic chinese chowing down on romali roti and curried mutton. the city is simultaneously compartmentalised and yet, almost unthinkingly, integrated, a casual unforced and therefore natural-feeling blending. we have really enjoyed it; small enough to wander around on foot, various unexpected delights to stumble upon and proving once more that the most wondrous side effect of multiculturalism is almost always great, great food.
a relaxed day here tomorrow, possibly getting our feet nibbled by some "doctor fish" (very much vicki's bright idea this) before getting aboard the overnight bus to the perhentian islands at night.

posted by bicrom @ 11:02 am