June 29 - July 8
Since we arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday evening, and some coffee shops, etc, in KL are not open on Sunday morning, and since there is a slight hunger in both Bob and me after an extended absence from church, we decided to go to worship Sunday morning at one of KL's Lutheran churches. We found a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malaysia and Singapore (identified as ELCMS - initials we had to think through carefully before choosing this church) not far from the dandy Coliseum Hotel. It was an Indian congregation and the service was in both Tamil and English - a few sentences in one language then repeated in the other. Speaking on the epistle from Timothy, the pastor discussed Paul's transformation from the most notorious of all sinners to a strong follower of jesus, and emphasized that that change is much more believable than the difference in one's hair before and after using a certain shampoo in a current television commercial. I told him after ward that I had not before heard Paul's transformation distinguished from a shampoo commercial and that I rather liked it, but he didn't seem too pleased by the remark. We talked to a lot of nice folks and drank Indian coffee with sugar and cream - no choice, that's how it's prepared - and ate Indian snacks. It was a good morning.
On our walk back downtown, we happened to see an unusual building down a small side street, which turned out to be an intricately carved, highly colorful Hindu temple. We were invited in and shown how to wash our feet and place water on our foreheads before entering. Many smaller shrines were open to view and reminiscent of the stone ones we'd seen on Bali, but these in KL were all brightly painted. A number of larger shrines were curtained closed. We were told prayer time was at noon, an hour from when we were there, and the curtains would be opened then. It was our impression that this temple was used by Indian Hindus, and it was not far from the church we had just attended, so from that and the restaurants, shops and clothing we saw we determined we were in an Indian neighborhood that must extend all the way from the Coliseum Hotel, where Little India begins one block over, to where we were over three KM away.
Mother liked to look at train stations, which she said were always beautifully decorated,and the station at Kuala Lumpur did not disappoint. It has seemingly hundreds of domes and spires in fine old Moorish style. Although modern KL is gleaming chrome and glass from the small newer shops to the soon-to-be-finished tallest-in-the-world twin KL towers, the old style buildings are shown off as highlights of the city.
Before leaving KL for our last beach bit, we went to the Myanmar embassy to arrange our visas. We had decided, after talking to many travelers and considering both our priorities for learning and pressing ethical issues, that we will spend time in Myanmar and shorten our time in Thailand considerably. Thailand is by now so touristed, we understand, that the original culture is difficult to discern, but Myanmar has bee nisolated for so many years that the real Myanmar is still apparent. The government, ie, the long-lived military junta (1962), however, will benefit from most of the money we spend to some degree. We will try to minimize that degree as much as possible, bring friendship and support to the people we meet, and hope to find a way to counteract the supportive effect our presence has on the junta. At any rate, the decision having been made, we completed necessary arrangements and jaunted up to the island of Langkani, on the northwestern coast of peninsular Malaysia.
Langkani is pretty much as Lonely Planet described it, a government sponsored tourist focus area. The island is small but has several beaches with accommodations from which to choose, so we made our selection from the book and asked the cab driver from the airport to take us there. When we arrived bulldozers were in the midst of smashing every structure in sight. The sign for the motel of our choice was still standing but people were quickly pulling foodstuffs, mattresses, and anything else usable out of harm's way. It seems the government had decided that this beach, described by LP as the best on the island, was too good for the budget cabins providing minimal tax revenues and would be better suited to a five star resort. I trust adequate compensation was provided to the cabin owners - more likely here in Malaysia, I would think, than in Indonesia.
Pantai (Beach) Lenang, our second choice, offered the dandy AB Motel and a beach with absolutely splendid body surfing. We had a marvelous time bouncing about and trying to get water our of our sinus systems, but got some small rides. Various accommodations and restaurants lined the beach and the place was definitely resorty, budget style. So we enjoyed meeting other travelers and doing resorty things: we went to the well done aquarium, hoping to learn the names of more fish, coral, etc. that we'd been seeing snorkeling, but foolishly took no notes. It was fun to be there at feeding time, though, to see how conscientiously the driver fed the turtles, sharks, and eels first, then tossed fish by handfuls to the rest of the tank residents, still watching to be sure enough went to everyone. Tried to take some photos of things we'd been seeing in the ocean, but may have no luck with such fast subjects in poor lighting.
We also paid a definately touristy price for a snorkeling trip to Palace Payar, a national park that's another island between Langkani and the mainland. Actually, Langkani is an archipeligo of 104 islands, the largest of which is Langkani. there were so many people there snorkeling that often the most interesting thing in your field of view turned out to be part of another snorkeler. But, again, the coral and fish were fine - including many reef sharks (one meter and smaller) that people were feeding their left over lucnh to! The fish would grab the food right out of your hand. We offered watermelon, which was nibbled up by the small fish Bob likes to play with, but not by the sharks.
At our dandy lodgings we met a traveler from Perth, Bernie, and the three of us rented motorbikes and did a splendid day trip around the island. One stop was supposed to be a kite making place, where they make intricately designed traditional kites, but unfortunately it was out of business by the time we go there near the end of June. And we'd read about it in a flyer dated June '97! So sorry, Matt!
We had an absolutely fantastic time, however, at a series of waterfalls where we slid down the slippery stone and swam in the crystal clear pool at the bottom. We three were the only travelers enjoying the afternoon in this way, along with about a dozen high school and university boys. I was the only female present, and I had noticed that I was often either the only female swimmer on a beach in Malaysia or other travelers and I were the only female swimmers on a beach. But when we were in Perkentian Kecil, I thought I had discovered why when I watched a Malaysian Muslim mother swim with her children behind a rock grouping, apart from the tourists on the beach. She was wearing an ordinary western bathing suit, and elastic waist long trousers, and knee length tunic top, and head scarf as well. the bathing suit was necessary for when the tunic top was pulled above her waist by the water. To confirm my thoughts, Bernie said he saw a similar incident, and had also experienced beaches where women had joined their friends or families on beach outings only to sit covered on the shore while the men enjoyed the refreshing water. Well, I, of course, swam to my heart's content in the waterfall pool and slid down the stone slide 'til I'd worn a hole in my basic tank suit and was working on one in the skin above my tailbone.
All in all, we had a fun, comfortable time in West Malaysia. We were sorry to have to leave the country without seeing Sarawak, but of course I would have had to have my passport the entire time to do that. But modern, western Malaysia is an efficient place in which to do business, and though my wallet and all contents were stolen the first night we arrived in this country, all replaceable contents were again in my possession on the night before we left the country after I picked up the package with our credit cards from the US embassy. So on July 8th we flew from Kuala Lumpur to Yangon, refreshed and content from our time of leisure, and excited anew at the prospect of the challenge of Myanmar.
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