Malaysia and Serendipity
I came to Malaysia hoping to get a 3 months, double entry visa for Thailand. From Nepal I had emailed to travelhubmy@gmail.com and let them know I was coming to stay a couple nights at the Travel Hub Guest House a second time because it’s clean and inexpensive with all the tea and toast I can eat, a kitchen where you can prepare your own food inexpensively, and there’s an Attic Bar with cold beer on the top floor with a balcony over looking China town, Kuala Lumpur. The Pasar Seni train station is around the corner for easy access all over town. Go up for a beer or something stronger and enjoy the great view from the balcony at night. The music is good too. Sash-the-Rash was bartending with a gal from Zambia and a brief Irish girl friend or roommate I couldn’t figure out except she’s a chemist. She had a story or two to tell with a smile.
I went to the Thai Royal Embassy and filled out the paper work, gave them a picture my passport and 150 Malay Ringgit expecting all was finished. The next day I returned in the afternoon to pick it up and a man named Noah from somewhere in Africa, I think, was standing behind me. A couple of his friends were there all getting visas for Thailand for a 21 k race. Noah was a nice guy and kind and we got to talk while the line inched forward. I got my visa and it was only for 2 months and that is all they would give me. I was not pleased and went out side to cool off in the sweltering heat. Noah followed me out and asked how it went and I rolled my eyes and explained I’m going back in for a second attempt at finding out why it didn’t happen. Noah was in a situation; he had the visa but not enough money to get to the race. He needed 30 ringgit for the bus ride that night. I gave him 50 and wished him the best of luck. He was all smiles and thanked me. I went back in and they said it was out of their hands. I didn’t argue, I’ll fix it when I get to Thailand. The photo below is Thailand, NOT Malaysia.
I headed off for the TBS bus station across town with a couple options on different trains to get me there. The trains are fast and comfortable enough. I looked at the map for my shortest transfer point and headed for KL Sentral and it turned out I should have gotten off two stops back and hopped on the yellow line which looked like it had more stops but it’s included in the ticket I had. I had to buy another ticket to hop on another train company’s line, the KL Komuter. There is a schedule and the trains are about every half hour instead of every 10 minutes. Lesson learned for the trip back.
I bought a ticket for Malacca. I was heading for the yellow line from the bus station to get into KL Sentral and who should turn the corner but Noah coming the other way. He couldn’t believe his eyes and we spoke for a minute or two and he explained that the 50 Ringgit I gave him covered the bus to the border but not to the race inside Thailand. I laughed and asked if he had any money at all and he said no. I pulled out 1000 baht and handed it to him. His response was worth every baht and he wanted my Thai phone number to meet up in Hat Yai and he said he’d call me on the 12th. He was all grins and I commented on the fact that I was supposed to help him, who else wanders around the world carrying 1000 baht note and then hands it to a perfectly good stranger. He agreed that something was up and we laughed and off he went. The end of this is not clear but I’ll post if something comes of it.
While doing laundry I took a look around and found a construction site and asked a security guard what was going in and they said another train system from Bangkok to Singapore. Malaysia already has one but the Japanese were contracted to put in another right through the Malaysian jungle and underground when need be. Personally I’m opposed to the idea of ripping up the jungle for a second train line but that isn’t enough considering they are also tearing out the jungle for Palm Oil Tree plantations. Palm Oil is in everything and it isn’t good for you, just FYI. Lots of jungle has been clear cut and burned across Indonesia and Malaysia over the last 20 years and it is of no benefit to wildlife except Cobras and Rats.
I took a bus to Malacca and spent the day looking for something interesting to no avail. Malacca has great colonial history but its buried and decaying under hotel grounds and empty shops. Most of the hotels are at 50% or closed due to lack of business. The Malacca hospital has more clients than the hotels! Sirens run steady. The river is dark brown and toxic with dead fish floating to the ocean along with the garbage and pollution from up stream. Signs line the streets saying, ‘Don’t Mess with Malacca’. I’m sorry to say it but it’s too late. Big business, mostly Chinese, are still building more hotels that will have less success than the last but nobody learns anything these days, they are more interested in shopping and staring at their I-phones for confirmation that they are secure in one way or another. By the way, we are not okay and we are not secure. The only ‘front man’ making money in these real-estate deals is the guy in government who signs off on the permit and pockets the money so his kids go to school outside of whatever uneducated, deformed and dilapidated country they come from, be it Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar or any other fledgling country with less conviction than greed. The black market, bribery, coercion, and government payoffs are GLOBAL.
I dropped into Jokker Street and was wowed by folks from all over the world. I had a $10 Carlsberg pint at the Hard Rock that cost more than it does in England or America. I won’t return and you shouldn’t go either. Boycott. I hung out at the Discovery Guest House where I watched European football live and had a 650 ml of Guinness for $ 5 with veggie spring rolls. Nice place on the street with live music after a fashion. The whole city was against me as a Yank and I got double charge and taxis ran around in circles to up the anti. The stories of the town go back to the 12th century when the Portuguese and such were warring. It’s okay, they buried it except for some insignificant exposures they couldn’t ignore. Garbage goes down this 'butt mud' river everyday all day around the world.
Capitalism, Communism, and Socialism are all titles for nothing; they were advertisements and threats like religions back then and now we buy it like toilet paper in a recycling world that should be biodegradable. Go ahead and recycle your toilet paper, it’ll all still going to follow you.
A lot of the world’s problems may be due to the private sector and international mob buying government individuals, policy makers and others to pass laws against man for industry and money. For some reason some think they are going to live through this. The story will unfold well after my time and we will all have a hard go if we don’t take a new path that never existed before, but does now, it’s called awareness. ‘They’ don’t want you to know anything, keep you stupid, ignorant and self-destructive; you asked for it, you are going to get it. You ladies want to buy more shoes, go for it; you men want to watch a sport and drink beer, buy it, it may be your last.
In American baseball or Australian cricket there’s a phrase, ‘It’s time for a stretch and if we don’t stretch we will have political cramps and the public will bleed worse than the Nazis, Stalin purges, Hiroshima; the lot. Better buckle up cause your children are going to have a very hard time with this and you and your mate brought them here so protect them at all costs with education and don’t let the government take it away, EVER. Start new schools outside of their wielding arms. YOU will have no insurance but you are their insurance. Home school if you can, stay away from the institutions and teach your children something that schools can’t teach, humanity comes from nature that big business is destroying. The world is not that big anymore. Pay attention! I’m the one wandering the globe, not you; you have a family, a wife, children, and possibly a job; no time. Bon Chance, bon Nui.
