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February 26, 2008 Kota Bharu (MALAYSIA) Recovering in Kota Bharu and Chinese Hawker Centers I caught a 7:30 am boat off the island of Kecil in the Perhentians, and after another bumpy 45 minute ride I reached the shores of peninsular Malaysia. Along with a French couple I met at the docks, we chartered a taxi for 40 ringgit ($12USD) to the capital of Kelantan, Kota Bharu. I was in dire need of a shower - my bed bug bites were flaring up again - so I found my way to a small guesthouse called the Bunga Raya Backpacker's Lodge, located near the bus station. The owner was an elderly Muslim man who spent time studying English in the United States, and he kindly let me use the shower free of charge. Afterward, I sat down on the couch for a lengthy chat - he was curious about the upcoming presidential elections and I was curious about his brother's role with Petronas, Malaysia's massive oil company.
In the end, I decided it was too hot for outdoor hawker food, so instead I stopped at a Cantonese-styled Chinese restaurant where no one spoke any English. Initially, the waitresses were tensed up, thinking "What are we going to do about this foreigner when the entire menu is in Chinese characters?!", but after a short conversation in Mandarin they were more than happy to help me - as were all the other guests in the restaurant. When the waitress recommended a Sweet-and-Sour Chicken Dish that "foreigners always love," I responded that "not all people with white skin are foreign to China," and heard chuckles from across the room. My Mandarin is littered with grammatical errors and misused words, but in informal situations it serves me just fine! After lunch, I set off on a short walking tour of Kota Bharu, buying a couple three ringgit ($1USD) VCD movies in the process: Rambo 4 (Sylvester Stallone) and American Gangster (Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.) I later fell asleep watching these on my laptop, but only after re-lathering myself in Tiger Balm to ease the itching. If it weren't for the damned bites I would be having a lot better time on my travels, but this is the kind of thing I must put up with when I choose to stay in cheap hostels.
My only complaint of Malaysia (other than the need to eradicate bed bugs) is that something really needs to be done about the steep liquor tax as I was forced to pay 13 ringgit for one bottle of Tiger beer! |
When
lunch-time rolled around, I excused myself - jotting
down directions to a hawker center he recommended - and
set off for a bite to eat. However, after five minutes
of walking I spotted a Pizza Hut on a corner and
bought the owner a take-out, personal-sized pepperoni
pizza for all his kind generosity. After bringing the
pizza back to him (sending off emails while the pizza
was cooking), I continued onward in search of food,
albeit feeling slightly better about myself as the pizza
clearly made his day. 
All
in all, my current room, consisting of a single bed and
a broken fan, is a far-cry from the 5-star luxuries I
enjoyed at the Four Seasons in
Singapore only a few days ago. Even so, I don't
think
the
costly rooms were justifiable, as the pictures to either
side should demonstrate. In the picture to the left, you
can see the custom-made stickers to indicate a fresh
roll of toilet paper, while the picture to the right is
equally ridiculous: someone actually has to lean down
and carefully fold the toilet paper in each hotel room
on a daily basis. It is a bathroom for crying out loud,
who needs stickers and pleasantly folded toilet paper?
At
9:00 pm I headed out for some hawker food that was
recommended to me earlier in the day. I was the only
foreigner by a country mile, but once again speaking
Chinese immediately ingratiated me with the stall
owners. This may have been a ploy on their part as I
ended up ordering three separate meals:
spicy
mee hoon, ban mian noodles, and pork with
flat noodles and vegetables (shown to the left.) The food was tasty,
but it is the atmosphere of hawker centers that has made
me a life-long fan.