Town Guest House in Kota Bahru and wild boar BBQ
streets several feet under water
24.01.1985
28 °C
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1985
on 1985 trip's travel map.
Friday 25th January 1985
Day of Allah. Day of rest. Besides which we are having heavy intermittent showers. This is a bit unusual, must be the tail end of the monsoon. For about 2 weeks in December or January it rains all day and all night in this corner of Malaysia. The streets flood to a depth a several feet, and everyone wades about or has a little boat. The pavements are three or four feet off the ground, this looks very odd for most of the year.
Meet some interesting people; an American, a German and an Aussie have just come from Teman Negara. It has just opened again after being closed for the monsoon. Sounds quite an experience and get lots of info. Damien and Claude decide to come with me. A Burmese lady aged 54 comes to stay at Town Guest House. She has just popped over from Thailand in order to get a new visa. She fled Burma many months ago, fed up with the poverty and dullness of totalitarian isolationism. She borrowed some money to bribe someone to get a passport. She is teaching some English in Thailand to pay back the debt and hopes eventually to reach Australia she speaks immaculate English and had some English blood in her ancestry. She hopes to become an illegal immigrant in Oz and gets lots of advice from the anarchic types at the Guest House.
Town Guest House is very rickety affair, the dorm is more like a large garden shed several decades past its prime and rapidly returning to the jungle. It is run by a few young Chinese-Malays and has a very friendly atmosphere, there is no hassle and they patiently answer endless questions, very good guest book with lots of info.
Get ripped off in the night market, 5M$ for two pieces of BBQ chicken. Must remember to ask the price before. Pay 1M$ for 1.5 kilos of pineapple and 1M$ for a 2 kilo watermelon. Oranges are a expensive here. The evening is much enlivened by a wild boar and chicken BBQ in spicy sauce at Town Guest House. One of the owners had been up-country shooting. Enjoy a fine punch and the well cooked tasty boar all for 4M$.
