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Whilst we were driven
through the streets in the taxi we could see that a lot had been
modernised, as Noi said, 'a lot different than the time she worked
here'. On arrival at the hotel Tanglin Court, we looked at each other
as if to say 'pretty Old', but unloaded and entered the foyer, which
was very small. I asked for Reception to an young Indian chap, and he
said this is it!! We looked - it was a small Formica table with room
keys on some nails which had been banged into the wall.
"Is it a room for 2?" the chap said. 'Noi said "yes please." He got a
key and took us up the rickety old stairs and opened the door of the
room. We were pleasantly surprised. "Les it's lovely and big" Noi
said.
The chap showed us all the room. It was like a suite of rooms done in
the Victorian era, must have been a private home at one time, plenty
of room, not like the small hotel rooms we normally have.
The only drawback was some car noises, so I looked through the wooden
slatted window and just below us was a set of traffic lights, a very
busy road. Noi told me it was ok, for a few days??, but I was not
certain.
We moved into the Queen's Hotel on Orchard Road the next morning. I
unfortunately cannot get a link to the hotels as it seems they have
changed their names. At Noi's consternation 'we are NOT moving again',
we had no need to as it was nearer the city centre and same price
$S36. Noi wanted to get up and get going on the exploration of an old
city, but first she wanted a snap of yours truly.
The visit started with a look at the present day shops; thankfully Noi
was in charge of the money and did not want to dip into our rations
that had to last the whole tour.
We went to the Tiger Balm Gardens to have a look around, a sort of
pilgrimage, as we do in the Tiger Balm Gardens in Hong Kong, great
place to visit - the old Chinese water tortures ha ha..
Worth a visit is the Raffles Hotel, on the beach road, only that the
beach is now about 3 miles away. Noi loved the museum that they had
created behind the hotel itself, really worth a visit. I got a bit
lost in the area. I asked an attendant to the nearest 'jomban' and she
pointed to the main complex, but I ended up in the hotel's luxury
suite area, beautiful toilets, could live in there so luxurious. As I
was coming out an hotel attendant asked if I wanted any towels?? Not
sure why, except she thought I was a guest as I was using one of the
hotel toilets. I pretended to be a guest and as I tried to get back to
the museum, I took a wrong turn and was walking down the grand
staircase into the lounge. I never varied
my step and proceeded into the reception area, said 'Selemat Tengah
Hari' and walked through the large front hotel doors past the Indian
guards, around the back and into the arms of Noi who was worried by my
absence, but looked in astonishment at my being lost in the hotel.
"How did you manage that?" she said.
We returned to the hotel, had a sleep then dressed up for the evening
exploration. She guided me to the former harbour area, which was now
beautiful with rows of flowers and the main Merlion Statue lit at
night, really lovely night, warm but sultry.
The following day we decided that we must make a move towards getting
to Malacca. The trains were a No Go - they only went to Tampin, about
an hour by bus taxi to Malacca, so it had to be a bus, so down to the
bus station down in the Indie (Indian) area. Not a very salubrious
place. People may think that there is no racism between the different
groups but I had seen how the Indians lived in Malacca in years gone
past, living in nothing more than hovels, looked down upon by the
Malay and especially the Chinese, and therefore the poorest part of
town.
As we left the hotel we found a taxi hidden behind the hotel. He said
he didn't have the special licence to be on Orchard
Road, it cost too much, but he could enter the inner triangle if he
had passengers so we asked him to take us to the bus station. He asked
if he could drive us around the city on a sort of sightseeing tour,
just a bit more cash. We bargained a price and he took us through the
streets where the Japanese had carried out the atrocities. He pointed
out the Union Jack Club and said on the first day of occupation, the
Japanese had got the first Chinese man they found, got a crowd in
front of the Union Jack Club and cut off his head and put it on a
table in front of the Club. They said any trouble and that is what
would happen. The head was left there on the table to rot, no one was
allowed to move it.
He drove around to a nuns' building where during the occupation the
Japs went in and raped all the nuns, then killed them all. They
collected people, took them to the beach and put a hosepipe in the
Chinese people's mouths and filled them with water then bayoneted
them. A favourite was to dig a hole in the sand and bury the victims
up to their heads, then kick their heads. The taxi driver was quite
old. He just hated the Japanese. He pointed out all the large modern
buildings built and owned by the Japanese. We finally got to the bus
station. The driver was not too happy about staying around, so we paid
him off and went into the station. The bus would be a luxury air
conditioned bus and take about 4 hours. We paid a deposit and we had
to be at the station at 8am.
There was a problem getting a taxi back to the city centre, probably
no use for the Indian sects in the area. This was the area of the
unclean sect, the poorest, so not much to look at, very poor but we
managed to make a headway back to town where we ate at an outside
stall, near to the government buildings. We finished off the morning
by visiting the Raffles Museum proper, not the Raffles Hotel but near
to the metal bridge that the British had erected in the 40/50s. Lovely
museum. There was an exhibition of Japanese artwork, beautiful.
There was a special section in the museum devoted to a Baba-Nyona
religion of Malacca. These were Chinese who had adopted the Malay way,
wearing the Malay dress sarong. My friend Helen is one. They do NOT
speak Chinese but only Malay. There were some great articles of
clothing and marriage dresses on show from Malacca. Noi explained it
all to me in her wonderful knowledge of everything. She was a worldly
woman, very intelligent in the customs of all her people, different
Chinese and Malay sects. When in England I would take her to work
early and at times she would point to the moon and its different
positions and point out that it was now the sign of the Moon God
taking a bite of the moon and this would show that he was hungry and
Moon cakes would have to be baked and left out for his fill.
We booked out of the hotel the following morning early. Our taxi
driver was in the area and took us to the bus station, where we stood
in the early sun. The Indians were preparing for an Indian festival.
Banners were being slung across the road. In Malacca there was a large
Indian population so we would see the festival.
Well our luxury bus turned up. Looks the same age as the ones that
used to take us to Blackpool on the club trips in the 50s - single
decker, scruffy, the air conditioning was the open windows. Noi was as
usual calm and collected. 'What do you expect?? It will get us
there!!' We had the accommodation list with us that I got from the
Malayan Embassy. We were going to have a look at the list on our way
up to Malacca and get an hotel there.
We were very excited about going back to Malacca, it had been a long
time since Noi had seen her Aunty Loh Kan and friends. Wonder if the
Happy Lands hotel was still going?, the KOYLI watering hole on
weekends, ha ha.
The first stop was the Customs on the Causeway. We were waved through
with the Singapore Customs, but the Malay Customs made us unload all
our cases and take them into the checking hut to be checked for what I
don't Know??
I had put some clean white trousers on that morning and by the time I
had dragged out the cases, had them checked and put them back under
the bus luggage area, they were utterly black, dirt, oil, God knows
what. Noi said don't worry we can get them cleaned in Malacca. I think
I am an Impererialist at times, what a bluddy pain I am. I was a bit
worried at how the driver had one leg on the dashboard and
accelerating with the other. 'Noi are we insured?'
'Of course we are, you silly fool.'
I don't know if you have done it, but when someone is driving, you
feel as if you are driving and pushing your foot on an absent brake as
the driver JUST misses another car/bus/trishaw/pedestrian. Well I was
driving that bus in absenteeism, fingers were clasped on the seat in
front, my heart was in my stomach. Noi just lay back and rested.
Others were just sleeping away and I was mentally driving it. Urghhh.
We pulled in on a site where roadside food stalls were set up with
noodles/rice dishes. Everything had to be bought and eaten quickly as
we didn't get the time - we were leaving. My aim was to find a jomban
(toilet). This was a non-English area, so
'Ada Jomban tulong? (toilet please). 'Aya ada sana' (there). If you
have ever been to an Indian/Chinese basic hole in the ground urinal
don't go before a meal or after. There is the remains of everything on
the floor - you are awash in urine/shit/spit and vomit, probably from
a white woman. The stink is atrocious. Noi declined my asking if she
was going. 'I will wait ha ha.'
(By the way my phonetic Malay is an abortion of Brunei Malay taught by
char wallahs/Borneo/and Perempuan Kechil, a Brunei Malay woman, so may
not be the world's finest as at that time the Brunei/Borneo was
different from Malay Malay, but it worked on reflection.)
We reached Malacca. Noi was refreshed and as beautiful as ever and I
was a nervous wreck. I am not sure how we got this far without piling
into a truck ha ha.
My next will be on arrival at the Malacca bus station, and a further
shock with the driver and how we got an hotel at the bus station..,
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