The Pervert

The Pervert

Yesterday was rather unproductive, as with the exception of my blog posting I got very little done.   I had been hoping to see a little bit of the island while I had the chance, but by the time I got going after I got off the internet it was coming up to four, and I wanted to walk back to where I’d been hitching the previous day just to take a look for that blasted ring.  No joy, surprise, surprise.

By the time I’d done there, it was almost time to start heading back to the camp to get ready for the gang who were supposedly coming over to watch the sunset (at around seven).  It was definitely worth seeing, the whole sky glowed red and orange, and, as the sun continued to dip further behind the neighbouring island, the colours seemed to slowly flow from the east to pool together in the west with a fierce intensity.  It was nice.

The girls didn’t show up, but the Irish lad did come along so we had a few cans before strolling off to find some food and a bar, where we got talking to some girls from New Zealand, got into an argument about what the long row of lights dotted along the horizon were - I reckoned they might be fishing boats, as I thought I’d seen some out there earlier on, while one of the girls was adamant that they were marker buoys.  We ended up betting on it, and on asking one of the bar staff and trying to decipher his somewhat broken explanation it was decided that I lost, so I paid up and bought her her next G&T.  However, while at first he said that they were markers, he also used the word boat, so I wasn’t entirely happy with the result (losing aside).

The girls left, we decided to try and find a nightclub that apparently EVERBODY goes to, and I left to return to my tent at about 04:00, quite tired, it must be said.

At first I thought the area was deserted, but then I made out a figure sitting about ten metres away from my tent.  I said hello, he pointed at my tent and enquired if I was staying there, saying that he was a security guy, presumably for the motel further up the beach.  I asked if it was alright for me to camp there, and he replied that it was no problem.  There was a pause as we both looked out to sea, and he gestured at the lights on the horizon and said simply, ‘fishing boats’.  

Anyway, I left him where he was as I was ready to sleep, so I got ready for bed and lay in my tent.  I have taken to sleeping with the fly screen closed, but otherwise the tent is open to allow the maximum amount of air circulation, so I could still see him sitting there.  A few minutes later however he moved closer, little over a metre from the door of my tent and sat down.  I found this a bit odd.  I was keeping an eye on him from where I lay, and saw him lie on his side with his back to my door.  It took a while for me to understand what I was seeing in the darkness, but then I realised that his pants were pulled down below his ass and he was fondling his buttocks…which was a little bit much.  I asked him what he was doing and he mumbled something and stood up, which I expected to be the end of it.  But then he just went on from where he stood, still facing away from me.  “OK”, I said, “go away now!” and he muttered something else and slowly pulled his pants back up, then walked down to the shore and off along the beach.

I was happy with myself for clearing him, but I wasn’t certain that he wouldn’t double back again either, so I left my tent to see where he’d gone to.  No sign of him.  But I sat in wait outside my tent just to make sure.  Sure enough, he came along again, walking along the tide line.  I’m not sure if he spotted me sitting outside and thought I’d changed my mind and wanted a chat and watch him grope himself, but he started making his way back up the beach towards me.  Shouting, “Go on, go away, I don’t want you here!” seemed to be enough as he did an about turn and headed back towards the motel.  I stayed out a while longer, and did a bit of a patrol of my area, which felt very macho indeed.  Eventually I went back to bed and slept the rest of the night undisturbed until the sun started cooking me in my little kiln at 8 this morning.

Now there’s a guy who needs to get himself a webcam, if ever there was one.

For no particular reason I’ve decided to change location for this evening.

The joys of camping and unexpected hospitality

Still on Langkawi, and it's looking like I may be here for at least two more days, because life is proving to be quite inexpensive, I'm still holding out for a response to the message I put on the notice board in the yacht club from anyone who wants to whisk me away for a sail, there's a barbecue at a CouchSurfer's house tomorrow, and I've sent a load of washing into the laundry to get seen to (extravagant I know, but I'd worn every shred of clothing I own and sweated buckets in everything several times over, so drastic measures were needed - I shall try to return to sink washing from now on).

My camp on Sunday night was a bit sketchy, found my way out to the nearest beach to the jetty and main town, only to find there's a reason it's not a famous tourist destination.  A decrepit beach resort was undergoing much needed renovations, there was no shortage of debris on the beach, the sea was cloudy and the sand dirty.  I wasn't bothered trying to find a better spot, though, it was going to have to do me for the night.  So I lugged my baggage up a rocky slope behind some trees in the hopes of finding a more secluded spot to pitch my humble tent.  Found a patch of dried grass with an area down the middle about my size that didn't have any nasty stones close to the surface, and decided to put myself down there.

Once I was set up I decided to go for a quick swim before heading into town.  Bobbed around for a bit in the water and when I came out I saw the police car, and a solitary cop sitting at one of the resort benches watching me.  He was soon joined by another officer from the car.  I decided that there were only two possibilities, the most likely being that someone had ratted me out on my free camping (a bit harsh, I felt, as if anyone had said anything I'd have been more than willing to shift and find another spot), and that they were waiting for me to dry myself off before pulling me up.  The second possibility was that they were on a break and enjoying their cigarettes while glaring at the stupid, guilty looking foreigner.  I threw on my t-shirt gathered my things and began to make my way back to the gap in the trees where I began the scramble up the rocks (noticing as I did so that this entrance was directly in front of the resort reception - oops), expecting at any moment for the police to call me back, but they didn't.  I made my way back up to the tent and hung up my wet things, waiting for the fuzz to follow me up.  Nothing.  It wasn't until they drove off that I realised that it must have actually been their cigarette break.

Later I got a lift into town, but wasn't sure exactly which town, as we went a round about way to get there, moseyed around for a bit looking for a landmark that would correlate to either of the two rubbish free maps I'd picked up from the information centre at the jetty, and finally came across the Bella Vista Hotel, which unfortunately was a dead end and meant that I had to plod all the way back around this artificial lake that I'd been hoping to circumnavigate to make my way back to the main road.

At this stage I was just patting myself on the back, thinking how clever I was to take anything that I really, really needed with me (passport, laptop, wallet being the main concerns) so that any raid on my tent would be ultimately fruitless for a thief that would chance sacking it.  "All of my important things are nice and safe", I thought smugly, "unless..." I looked around the derelict street I now found myself on, "...unless I get mugged."  It was just as this thought crossed my little mind that the rough, homeless-looking lads sitting on the curb drinking beer saw me looking lost and started shouting directions back to the main road at me.  I thanked them and kept walking.  One of them shouted after me asking what country I came from, but the accent was so strong that it took me a few seconds to register that he was talking to me, but then I turned around and called back that I was from Ireland.  I don't think they'd been expecting an answer, and so they called me over and started asking me questions, inviting me to sit with them a while.   The chattier one jumped on a scooter to make a beer run, which I tried to decline, but his response was, "Mr Damien, what is the biggest ship in the world?"  I didn't know.  "Friendship!" he smiled.  Who was I to argue with such logic, although I was fairly sure he'd got the line wrong.  So I was left with the other two guys, one a fisherman, the other an electrician, making small talk until he came back.

After my new friend arrived with the drinks, and passed the cans around, he ran upstairs to make me something to eat, which I said wasn't necessary, but he insisted on doing.  We chatted a bit longer, another beer run was made (I paid this time), and more food was brought out for me.  The beer runner brought me over to the lake while he checked his eight crab cages (all empty) and told me that if I needed a place to stay I could stay with him for nothing if I liked, as I'd told a bit of a pork pie, saying that I was staying in a hotel at the other side of town.  By this time it was approaching sunset, and I really wanted to get out of there before it got dark, so I excused myself, and they let me go, but not until I agreed to come back the following day for dinner with them.

The next day, after moving my camp to a much nicer area, with the help of two guys from Pakistan who gave me a lift out to the beach-side motel where they were staying and let me leave my big bag in their car so I didn't have to cart it around all over the place while I was looking for a suitable site.  Met up with a girl from CS and her visiting friend for a while, had a swim with the Pakistanis, collected my bag and set up my gear and made my way back to town to keep my promise and let the guys cook me dinner.  I wasn't entirely sure about bringing all my stuff with me again, but I had nowhere else to leave it, and seeing as I hadn't been accosted in any way the evening before I felt I was probably going to be OK.  They were almost in the same place I'd left them, except now they were sitting in the stairwell of one the run down building where the beer runner lived.  More beers were bought, and I was brought up to the sparsely furnished apartment, which my host showed me with pride had a bathroom and his own TV and DVD collection.  I was given a chair, the only one, and he threw on a DVD - American Ninja - a film which he liked a lot (he was also a big Chuck Norris fan).  I wasn't allowed lift a finger while the guys gave me rice and some fish - caught in the lake (I tried not to think about how polluted the lake water must be) and fried in a wok, over a wood fire on the concrete floor of the corridor outside the front door of his apartment.  

The hospitality was refreshing, the food simple but really very good.  As sunset once again drew near I started to say my goodbyes, and my host rooted about in a drawer, fishing out a ring which he presented to me, saying that he wanted me to have it to remember him by.  I told him I couldn't accept such a gift, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. He also gave me a cap that he didn't want, and made me promise to give him something to remember me by before I leave the island.  I hit the road then as I wanted to get a lift back to my camp site before dark (but I failed).  As I was hitching I moved the bulky ring from the ring finger on my right hand, as it was uncomfortable (I don't usually do rings), placing on my little finger, which looked a bit silly.  I decided then that I'd have to get a chain and wear it on that.  It wasn't until I was sitting in the foul smelling back seat my next ride approaching my destination that I realised that the ring was gone.  It must have fallen off soon after I changed fingers, but it wasn't in the car.  I feel pretty terrible about it.

Met up with the girls again for a few drinks, and bumped into a guy from Dublin who's teaching in Thailand (the first Irish guy I've met out here).  I showed them the photo I took of my friends in town, and realised then that they all look like they're in the buff.  They were all wearing pants though, honest.

Anyway, when I finally made my way back to my tent I found the guys from Pakistan waiting for me at my tent to make sure I was alright, and that I didn't want to crash in their room for the night.  Apparently they'd tried to drive along the beach to where I was camping but got their car stuck in the sand for about forty-five minutes before they got it out with the help of some locals.  We've all been there...

That's all for now, my battery has just finished charging - I had to actually go into MacDonald's and buy something today, instead of sitting outside it like I usually do, in search of a plug socket.  Bloody hell it gets noisy in here, I wanted to clatter several screeching kids and their parents.  But I controlled the urge.

North from KL to the party Island

Right, last time you heard from me I was in Kuala Lumpur, trying to cut down on baggage, and promising to keep updating the blog.  Since then I’ve been hitching my way up north, and started several uninspiring posts which I never finished.  

Made it from KL up to Kuala Kangsar and Taiping in one afternoon, a distance of approx 290k.  I was very lucky with my lifts, after getting a city bus out of the busy centre to a place where I could set out on a relatively calm road.  My second lift of the day was from this really friendly Indian guy, who was just on his way home from the airport, and going all the way to Ipoh, which is most of the way to Kuala Kangsar where I was to meet my next CS host.  A self employed truck driver by trade, he was full of interesting stories from the road.  At one stage he gestured towards a highway police car, and explained that all the truck drivers are fearful of them, as they like pull them over to inspect licenses and what they’re carrying and dole out fines.  Then he pointed out an old grey hatchback with four aerials stuck on the back, telling me that every month these guys collect a little bit of money from the truckers, and in return they follow the cops around, broadcasting their position to give the guys a heads up if they are in the area. 

Not only did he drive me all the way to Ipoh, but as his father needed to get from Ipoh back to his home in Kuala Kangsar, he kindly offered to bring me all the way to my destination while dropping of his dad.  But only after he’d bought a gift for his nephew, which turned out to be a MASSIVE remote controlled artic truck, which barely fitted across the back seat, and which I found myself wedged under once his father got into the car.

As well as being incredibly helpful, he was very concerned for my safety, admitting that the reason that he picked me up in the first place was that he was afraid I’d be robbed or cheated or otherwise mistreated, although I assured him that I’ve had no trouble yet.  What’s more, he wanted to meet my CS host to make sure that he could be trusted before he left me with him, as I’d briefly explained that we’d met over the internet without going into the intricacies of CouchSurfing with him.

He needn’t have worried, my host was a complete legend, who went to great lengths to show me the sites of Kuala Kangsar, where he has a café, and Taiping, where he lives (and has another café).  I was treated like a Sultan for the two days I spent there, and enjoyed my time hanging out with him immensely.

When the time came to leave Taiping, he dropped me off at the toll gate for the motorway, a position that I hadn’t yet tried in Malaysia, thinking that too many cars would be going through too fast to have the time to stop for me, and I was afraid of causing a crash.  But he’d recently hosted a French hitch-hiker who’d claimed that the gates were the best place to start from.  Nevertheless, after dropping me off he waited down the road in case I did run into any trouble.  And as it turned out it was super easy, in the three minutes that it took me to catch a ride, I had to turn down several southbound cars before finally getting in with truck driver heading to Penang (my next stop).

He dropped me off at the ferry to the island, as he was staying on the mainland and over I went, looking for a place to pitch my new tent for the first time.  In my travels I came across an old abandoned building on the shore, which I was eyeing up as a possible place to stay for the night, as a storm was coming in from the sea, but just after I’d satisfied myself that this place didn’t have any regular human visitors that may disturb me in the night, I squelched into something nasty and quite fresh which suggested otherwise.  Thankfully I’d worn my shoes.  I decided to get out of there.

Penang was alright, eventually found my way to a place to camp (after a free ride from a friendly taxi driver who was going my way anyway), not in the national park camping grounds, as planned, because I was too late to get in, but on a little bit of sand by a jetty, near the gates to the park.  Not the best night’s sleep I ever had, especially as there were fishermen coming and going all night, but you get what you pay for I suppose.

I’ve since moved even further north again, getting a lift with a  CSer who was going my way yesterday and staying with him and his friends for the night in Kedah.  I even went to watch a football game with him!  Only realised after I got there that the local team's colours are green and yellow (as it's the colour of the many rice fields in the area) so I could have worn my Kerry jersey.  Sickened.

Just got dropped off at the ferry to Langkawi Island (famous for its beaches and clear water, as well as being a duty free island, so despite being a tourist party spot it’s hopefully cheap like a budgie) by my new friend this morning.  I’ve heard that it’s possible to hitch rides on sailing boats from here…although that remains to be seen.  Planning on camping on the beach for a few days and trying my luck with it, and if I don’t get anywhere, I’m going to move off to the east coast and bum around on the beaches there until my time in Malaysia is up on the 6^th of May.

Watch this space!