I Wanna Penang

I left Kota Bharu as soon as I got there. Well, not as soon, but like, 6 hours later when the bus for Penang/Pinang left the station. It was just too much. I couldn't stand it. One moment the loudspeakers from the 6 mosques in city center blared the call to prayer, and then the next minute, the storefronts on the streets were raising the volume on Westlife's newest single. Followed by an old 98 Degrees track. It was just too much, and I got confused. Was this, as the Islamic museum in the empty tourist quarter misspelled, "The second Mekka" – where Southeast Asian Muslims made their haj, or was it, as I saw, a sultanate on the verge of being swallowed by the infidels from McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut?

Mostly, I left cause there was nothing to do and nothing to see. The women were covered up by shawls and things, and if they weren't covered up, well, someone needs to tell them about the 'wear makeup if you're not Keira Knightly' rule.  I don't have anything against covering up – goodness some fat girls I see in New York can cover up their spare tires, and well, our culture has fallen in love with nakedness so much that we worship at the altar of emaciation just so little girls can imitate the Britneys and Parises and that girl with the red hair from the Herbie remake. 

What I do have a problem with that there is nothing to do after 8 pm, when I've gorged myself on roti and prawn mee and biryani.  There's nothing to do in Kota Bharu besides eat.  The museum I went to had a display of tourist souvenirs that apparently some local guys brought back from Egypt and Saudia Arabia (e.g. watches, keychains and holograms of mosques). There were no cinemas – where was I going to get my da Vinci Code fix? And the streets stank of sewage.  No beers, no spirits – all in the name of faith, of course. And the shops weren't that interesting. The usual night markeplace hawking belts, smelly garments and second hand cell phones.

I got to Penang at 5 am. Walked around Chinatown and Little India before I realized that I was an idiot -- none of the guesthouses and hotels were opened.  So I waited in front of a Seven Eleven (great slurpees!) for 3 hours. During that time the streets were empty save for:

• Rats scrambling over refuse
• Refuse trucks scattering refuse
• Prostitutes (a little dazed I must say) walking into Seven Eleven during their lulls. I think a couple of them were guys with breasts
• Shifty guys cruising along on motorbike into Love Lane for a little action before breakfast

But the sunrise was great -- really turned out a nice blue in the sky, the kind I want to paint my bathroom walls.

EDIT: I think the dude next to me at the cybercafe is looking at pr0n. How awesome is that?! (Ok, not that awesome but good to see hormones are still underneath.. messing up every society.)

Hmm. Kota Bharu sounds a lot like Banda Aceh!

Posted by: Sharon | May 26, 2006 at 07:03 PM

Yeah. In small doses it's ok but I wouldn't like it so much over the long haul.

Posted by: j.fisher | May 27, 2006 at 04:12 AM