The back of your fridge

I am afraid that having lived in Vanuatu the past year has thouroughly spoiled me as far as truly unspoilt nature is concerned. On my last holiday in Europe before I set off, a Scottish lady told me that a friend of hers once described Vanuatu as: "Vanuatu makes Fiji look like something that grows in the back of your fridge". I have never been to Fiji, but perhaps the statement also applies a little bit to Malaysia?

The Lonely Planet describes the tropical islands I went to last week as follows:

"The Perhentian Islands are Malaysia's showpiece islands. This is a paradise of
expansive white-sand beaches, turquoise-blue water and a jungle-fringed interior
refreshingly undeveloped - no cars, no high-rises, and no mainland hassles."

Quite a write-up! Even so, I am afraid I was quite disappointed. When I arrived it turned out that almost all of the beaches were built up with wooden cabins (providing accommodation), diving schools (lots of them) and little restaurants (all serving exactly the same food for exactly the same price). What beach was left was filled with backpackers: it was very busy! Also, electricity on the islands is provided by generators, which means that 24/7 a sound similar to a truck running in 4th gear can be heard. I went to the islands fully planning to stay for at least a day or five, but left after two truly amazed and a little disappointed. To be fair though, the snorkeling was really good: I saw all kinds of very colourful fish, three sharks, and lots of turtles - I even swam side-by-side with one for a few minutes; wow!



(Seeing colourful fish while snorkeling always reminds me of eating fish at the market in Lakatoro. Whenever one of the mama's had fish on the menu we, the sticklers-for-detail-volunteers, initially had the habit of asking innocently: "What kind of fish is it?". We soon found out that fish do not have names in Vanuatu. Just characteristics such as colour or shape. So after a moment looking at the fish the woman in charge of the stall would invaribly answer something like: "Thick skin!" or "Red fish!" or "Blue fish!" with a look on her face as if to say: it is just a bloody fish, who cares about colour?! To catch them you get in your canoe, peddle to the reef and pull one out. Who knows or cares about silly little details such as protected species or names? Fish are food, not friends.
Talking about Lakatoro: I just received news that at the moment all government employees in Lakatoro are prevented from going to work because some-one has used black magic to put a spell on all provincial government buildings! Because of a dispute between three families over the land on which the provincial offices are built, some-one put Nemele leaves on the doors of the buildings. Anyone who tries to remove the leaves will be bitten by a snake! I guess from now on volunteer organistions really do need to consider including some 'Defense against the Dark Arts' lessons in their induction programmes)

Anyway, after two days on the not-quite-so-unspoiled-as-I-had-hoped island I left for Kota Bahru, 'the Islamic City', according to the promotional slogans plastered all over the city. It did not seem particularly more Islamic than Terengganu to me, but I enjoyed walking and looking around in Kota Bahru just as much. Markets are always good places to wander around and sniff a little bit of the culture:

Unfortunately the MacDonalds in the Islamic City had closed down...


I am now in Melaka, on the west coast. Put off by my Perenthian experience I decided to skip the 'must-see' jungle in between the two coasts. Have seen loads of junge in Vanuatu just looking at the side of the road... (See the post entitled 'Green and lush" a couple of months ago).
One of the reasons I came to Melaka was to visit a special restaurant:

The boiling vat in the middle of the table is actually filled with... sateh sauce! You pick and choose a tray full of skewers with all kinds of goodies on them and have yourself a lovely sateh fondue! Why this briliant idea has not spread all over the world like MacDonalds is beyond me. (Perhaps the Mac in Kota Bahru was closed to make room for one? Who knows!) Melaka is also a good place to indulge in some Western style entertainment again for a bit: chocolate cake and Earl Gray tea at Starbucks (5 euro - an enormous amount!) and the latest Harry Potter movie (1 euro 50 cents - reasonable) in a cinema in one of the biggest shopping malls I visited since leaving Singapore.

The population of Melaka is much more mixed than the cities on the east Coast, so lots of Chinese and Indians around. This morning I visited a Chinese temple right next to an internet cafe.


I love the way the temples are situated in the middle of a street with ordinary houses and shops next to them. Inside too, despite the beautiful statues and interiors, they have a quite informal, almost homey feel to them. I spent a lovely hour or so talking with two men who were getting ready for a big festival in the temple next month. They were folding lots of fake 'money' that will be burned to appease the spirits into required shapes:


I suggested I gave them a hand and as we sat drinking tea and folding the little yellow squares I learned a lot about the temple, their vision on multi-cultural Malaysia, their (pensioned) lives etc. A real pleasure.

Tomorrow I am off again, heading north.

15,00 room

8,90 cooked breakfast

2,00 internet

1,00 water

7,00 two indian sari blouses (for quilt project)

1,00 teh tarik

9,00 one beer

10,50 indian dinner

2,00 internet