a solitary pilgrim

Melaka Melaka!

2011-11-12T17:51:00.001+07:00

I claim a speculation that ticket salespeople in Bukit Jalil, the temporary intercity bus station in Kuala Lumpur at my travelling time, consistently assumed that a passenger would go to Melaka without asking anyone first. I do not know if it turns out to be true for you or not; however, five or six men approached me with a same question "Melaka? Melaka? You go Melaka?" repeated many times as though they were decrypting my mind.

I chose a random counter of a bus company which I did not even care what its name was, and paid 12 ringgits for an one-way ticket. It was a pleasant bus trip in a quite cool and sunny morning. Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan highway was in excellent condition and amazingly green. To be sincere, I slept almost half time of the two-hour trip because it was so flat and green that my eyes got bored with staring out of the window.

It began very hot in the noon, a perfect contrast to the comfortable morning, when I got out of the bus at Melaka bus terminal. Then I had to wander around shops in the terminal to kill 30 minutes in waiting local bus to Melaka Old Town. It cost me just one ringgit for a dirt cheap bus trip to town. Trust me, it was literally dirt and cheap that there were no sign of cleanness, no airconditioner, and hot like a boiling pot. I absolutely empathise with the fatigued old driver whose shirt got soaked by sweat. Adding to the feeling of being stuck in an artificial desert, two old Chinese ladies turned loud the volume of their talk show after questioning me whether or not I was Chinese. You are going to feel me if you can survive the sound of tweets repeated one thousand times in just two seconds or so. At least, a British couple who were also sharing with me the pain in the ears; yet, that Chinese talk show could not interrupt our chitchat, blessedly.

What doesn't kill you, make you stronger. Any traveller on a shoestring should keep this quote in his heart.

This is my second speculation: People in Malaysia assumed me to be a Chinese.

I spent two nights at Jalan-Jalan guesthouse in the heart of Melaka's historic Chinatown. It was $8.5 per night for a single room, and ultimately not dirt cheap like the aforementioned bus.

The small Melaka river split the old town into two parts, Chinatown and Dutch-town. The Chinatown reminded me so much of Hoi An aside from the fact that the former is conserved better. The Dutch side merely consists of churches, colonial houses, and few lifeless forts. Contributing to the beauty of its multi-cultural townscape is a few mosques and a Islamic museum situated opposite to a small park with melaka trees, the origin of the town name, in Kota street.

My tip to visiting Melaka is that you should not hop on a day trip because the whole town looks most glittering and gorgeous in dawn, dusk, and late night when it was not invaded by visitors. Walking alone in the tranquil and empty town at about five o'clock in a rainy morning, one of the Islamic prayer times, the sound of singing berzanji truly grew a feeling of melancholy inside me; and the yellow light of lamps appeared even more mysterious when reflected by wet streets. I am assured that the spirits of the historic town must have become alive, then.

There is nothing much to do in nightlife inside the old town. If you want to make some noise or get wild, find somewhere else in the surrounding area. It might sound uninteresting but that is what I adore about Melaka. The people here do not try to commercialise this World Heritage site at the expense of its invisible values. Hoi An, for example, filled by restaurants and bars, it becomes so noisily crowded that there is nothing left for emotions. It is transformed into a tourist town, not a historic and old site like Melaka.

My Melaka photos:

Book: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

2011-10-30T16:37:00.000+07:00

In this digital life, there are just a few books which are too good for me to read on an e-book reader only. The Help by Kathryn Stockett is such that kind of book. I am so attracted to the novel that I spent three consecutive nights to finish it. That is rare for a non-fiction reader like me.

Setting in the 1960s in Mississippi, the novel tells the story of three ordinary women who are going to take an unprecedented step of releasing a book of colored servants’ lives. They are Aibileen and Minny, two middle-age servants, and Skeeter, a twenty-something white girl coming from the upper class.

‘The Help’ must have incorporated many memories and experiences from the real life of Kathryn Stockett, who successfully connected it with non-native readers. Although I felt a little awkward at her use of black English, the vivid and simple storytelling style made me feel overwhelmed by warmhearted and touching moments because the stories appear so real.

Throughout the drama, the women found themselves struggling with what choice is to carry on with their lives. Aibileen walked out of her black time since the death of her son, stood up strongly, and influenced her peers to speak up. Minny, a sharp mouth that had did not care any consequence from fighting with her white employers, came to understand the meaning of the truth, and found the way to freedom for herself and her children. Skeeter realized family values through her journey which was to uncover her lost past.

All of them were fighting for a same cause, the truth, even at the expense of their lives and loves as Kathryn Stockett wrote “I realized I actually had a choice in what I could believe.”

The adaptation of the book was also well-received.

Bangkok flood days

2011-10-24T09:09:00.001+07:00

I touched down in Bangkok amidst the worst flood days of Thailand in 50 years. Waking up after an almost-an-hour sleep feeling hurt in my shoulder and neck that probably caused by the low-cost seat without headrest and reclining button, I wearily looked out the window when the captain was announcing the preparation for landing in the Suvarnabhumi airport.

Almost immediately I knew that the crew aborted landing after a sudden noise of increasing thrust was made by engines when our aircraft was being aligned towards the runway. "They have just aborted landing, maybe it takes another 20 minutes to touch down", I told the next Thai passenger whom I had assumed to be a Malay. However, I was proven wrong by the fact that it took us almost 30 minutes to fly around Samut Prakan province and then safely touched down. This will likely happen if your aircraft is landing at noon, the busiest time of the largest airport in Southeast Asia, and a ATC guy orders your crew to carry out a go-around.

It has been almost a year since my last landing in Bangkok at noon because the previous ones were always night flights during that time. Flying to BKK from Saigon will have a plane to fly over Cambodia and then provinces, such as Chon Burin after approaching Thailand sky, before touching down at Samut Prakan. I saw a few flooded areas which were just small and scattered.

I grabbed a Bangkok Post when boarding train to city. The front page was filled with flood disaster news in Ayutthaya. There was a photo of nervous Yingluck debating on flood prevention measures. There was a photo of Kittiratt Na Ranong, Thailand's commerce minister, in tears seeing the water swamping industrial zones in Ayuthaya. There was a photo of local people angrily arguing that the government was protecting Bangkok at the expense of Ayutthaya and their lives.

A day later, the front page carried news of Steve Jobs' death that was just a short title leading readers into an inner page.

Khaosan, Pathumwan district, Silom area, Siam Paragon, Centralworld, Pratunam market, and an uncountable number of sois in Sukhumvit - the places shaped "the Bangkok of the millions of international travellers arriving every year" where is still dried, crowded and dusty. That is the Bangkok without either night or day, wet or dry season. The air conditioners are still running at maximum operating levels, and those people keep shopping until they drop, eating, drinking, dancing and hooking up like crazy.

I was standing in Wat Pathumkongka. "Nan! Nan!" ("There! There!" in Thai), a Thai old grubby man replied to the broken Thai question that I had learned from Lonelyplanet Thai phrasebook while pointing his index finger at a swamped yard.

I felt anxious looking at the wide swamped area which almost covered the Wat next to Chao Phraya river. The water must be ankle deep. I put a desperate grin on my face that the man immediately understood what I meant. After looking around to find a dried walkway, he turned to me, smiled and shook his head. Fine. No problem. I took off shoes and socks, held the luggages in my hands, then stepped carefully in the water. I guessed that it had to be about 100 meters away from my hotel.

Friendly Khun Si and Khun Air asked me whether or not I felt inconvenient staying at this wooden house in such flood time as this. I told them it would not be a problem although the impression of flood news invading Bangkok and the swamp in Wat Pathumkongka probably made me worried.

I was in Bangkok when the streets were filled by red-shirts and soldiers, and tanks and military hummers were as many as infamous colourful taxis. I even walked in the middle of the night with a fear of random bombings on the street.

I am here to loy la long ('float freely' in Thai), not being sinked.

Every early morning, Khun Si or Khun Air uses coloured chalks to write times of high tides on a small blackboard at the lobby. But I really did not pay attention to it much because I gradually became accustomed to taking off shoes and socks.

Sometimes Loy La Long or its neighbours welcomed unexpected guests coming from overflowing Chao Phraya river, such as a big fish, crabs, or even water snakes. But the hosts did not eat these guests, but release them back to water instead. Khun Si once even saved a wet dog sinking in the river. Apparently Thais have strong belief in karma, especially for the people who live separately from the lavish Bangkok and spend every day of the life in this riverside wat.

I spent flood days in this riverside wooden inn without Excel, Word, and Powerpoint. All the time was reserved for eating, sleeping, and reading. I love living in such a bygone wooden house like this. A house is facing a green forest or possess a great water view that always embraces breezes even in a hot summer noon. That looking at the long river reflecting glittering Bangkok in a rainy sunset brought me a feeling of being completely separated from the Bangkok of millions of visitors. I was lost in an tranquil atmosphere and a melancholy sense of the old Krung Thep which outsiders had not yet called it "the prostitution parlor of the Orient."

From Loy La Long, I could see blue lights of the most luxurious Bangkok hotels, such as Millennium Hilton, Sheraton Royal Orchid on the left riverbank, and faraway Mandarin Oriental, where I have stayed at least one night at each of them during inspection trips. Thousands of people are eager to spend hundreds or even thousands dollars for a night at these places. Maybe it is only for a chance to experience what I was feeling then. The opulence has an irresistible power which makes humans become greedier, at the same time, more vulnerable.

I found a small and cheap food stall near Tha Tien pier. The night tide was not so bad, just about ankle deep, but the water surged to near my knees once series of waves hit the banks. I was sitting on a blue plastic chair, and naturally putting my feet in water. Nobody knew whether or not there was a diving water snake, or even possible electric shock. But I was still eating as usual, enjoying spicy son tam nua, and supping up hot tom yum kung delightedly. It is natural like the way Thai people are standing firmly in flood water cooking meals, selling things, and living their lives.

It is still safer than Ayutthaya, and even more peaceful than devastating floods in the Central Vietnam.

A Thai friend warned me through Whatsapp that the flood was approaching Bangrak, Bang Sue, and even some areas near Mo Chit. There was severe traffic congestions and the life totally turned upside down. There were more water, muds and sandbags in flood days of Bangkok. Along Chao Phraya river to its sea mouth, people were building shelters by sandbags. The situation became more intense.

The media said that the government officers had wanted worshiping ceremonies to beg River Gods and Water Gods to stop the floods. Thais did not believe their government anymore. They only trust the Buddha, Gods and the King.

From this wooden house, I was looking at the river and the boats passing by. Keeping my ear to the floor, I could hear the increasing sound of tidal waves hitting the bank.

I was amidst the worst flood of Thailand in 50 years. However, there may be no more Bangkok, no more Singapore, no more Saigon in a half of that time from now on. The Orient Pearls are sinking as scientists warned.

In Bangkok flood days, I was floating freely on the water of Chao Phraya.

But fears and worries are still afloat. That is the way our life goes.

Do I really need a AirAsia loyalty programme?

2011-10-16T22:56:00.001+07:00

This week, AirAsia launched officially its frequent flyer programme under the name "BIG" in which its passengers accrue "Biggies" points to earn free flights or hotel nights. It sounds as much attractive as other loyalty programmes of traditional airlines. However, I do not think that I really need it.

Why? Because it is expensive.

Let's put aside a ten-ringgit admission fee and a cheaply-designed membership card which you will receive within 30 days because you can decide later on whether it is worthy or not.

Since full-service airlines, such as Singapore Airlines, are running their loyalty programmes on milage basis, passengers can earn as many miles as possible at a lowest flex fare. However, the AirAsia programme is operating on point-per-dollar-spent basis to lure people to pay much money as possible.

Now I assume that you are going to fly between Singapore and Denpasar in the fourth week of this October. The distance between Singapore and Denpasar is 912 nautical miles. It means that you will have flown approximately 1,824 miles for a whole trip.

The lowest flex price of Singapore Airlines for the return trip is about 1,450 MYR. Let's remember that you can earn 100% milage at this fare and it is the amount you will pay without any additional charges. Thus, a mile of Singapore Airlines takes you only 0.8 MYR and the benefits of its programme are obviously unquestionable.

Earning points with AirAsia is another story: You have to pay the highest available fare to earn as many points as possible. Because the airline quotes a net fare of 1,440 MYR which is only ten ringgit cheaper than the Singapore Airlines' full fare, you are going to pay more than that amount including add-ons and extra charges.

AirAsia states that you can earn 1 point for every 4 MYR spent on flights-only purchase (with no add-ons), or 1 point for every 2 MYR spent on flights with add-ons. That 2-to-4 MYR per point is unreasonably expensive in terms of their mediocre service.

Here is the lesson: the BIG loyalty programme is not necessary unless you are a AirAsia's frequent traveller living in one of its hubs, such as Thailand, Indonesia or Malaysia.

As a budget traveller, I get very excited at bargain fares of AirAsia on flights which take less than two hours to reach destination. That surviving on a two-hour flight in a bland seat with tight legroom, no headrest, and non-reclining is enough torture.

The colors of southern Thailand in Bangkok

2011-10-10T17:47:00.000+07:00

It is natural that many people often think about resort towns, such as Phuket or Krabi, when being reminded of southern Thailand. These places are likely detached from the political unrest in Surat Thani, Pattani and Narathiwat where the rich and diverse culture is overshadowed by the news of shootings, killings and bombings.

While it is quite easy to locate restaurants serving good southern Thai food, you have to need some harder efforts to discover visual arts of Malay-influenced southern land in Bangkok. Fortunately, there was a such exhibition of contemporary art called "Emerging Patterns" in Bangkok Art & Culture Centre during my vacation time.

The audience are going to see two important aspects in the arts of the South portrayed by young local Muslim artists: a colorful landscape of life and culture of the locals, and a high-contrast display of their beliefs and thoughts. The exhibition of paintings and installations focused not only traditional values, but also the current picture of local insurgence; though I think the latter is somehow limited.

It has to say that the "Emerging Patterns" successfully gave the artists the opportunities to share their stories and inspiration with outsiders who have merely seen the southern Thailand as a land with travel warnings issued.

These are some photos of the exhibition taken from the Bangkok Post. I highly recommend that you should buy a photo book of the exhibition because it is completely invaluable with only 100 baht.

A collection of wau bulan, Malaysian traditional kites, at the exhibition.

The "Emerging Patterns", contemporary art of Songkla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, has taken place from 4 Aug to 16 Oct, 2011 at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre adjacent to National Stadium BTS Skytrain station.