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vol.8 no 1, June 2002
Malaysia by bus
by Jarvis Stoddart
We flew first to Singapore, sometimes called "Asia for Beginners". It has a mixture of Chinese, Indian and Malay cultures but English is understood almost everywhere. It is a beautiful city and is also efficient. The airport boasts that within 15 minutes of landing you will have your luggage and be cleared Customs. From there you can take an excellent subway systern to downtown.
After six days in Singapore we took the bus to Malaysia - first stop Malacca. This is an old city. As a consequence there are no sidewalks and Carol found it alarming to venture out with rushing traffic on one side and an open drain on the other. Malacca was first Portugese, then Dutch, and later English. Our hotel was called "The Baba House" (baba was the name for Straits Chinese traders). It was originally the home of a wealthy Chinese merchant. It had 15 foot ceilings, an inner court open to the sky and most of the Chinese d�cor intact.
From Malacca we took buses to the Cameron Highlands for a breath of cool air, and then to Penang on the west coast and Kota Baru and Kuantan on the east coast. Apart from cities we spent time on two islands-Pangkor and Parenthian. Both have empty sand beaches and the possibility of snorkeling.
Every other Malaysian we met had a relative in Canada or a friend whose daughter was in university there. Canada also appears on television through such shows as The Associates and Da Vinci's Inquest. With fewer TV commercials, music videos fill up the 60 minute time slot. One music video contained excerpts from McLaren's Pas de Deux!
For us Malaysia has many advantages for a winter holiday: hot and sunny 32-34 degrees; cuisine from different cultures; and airconditioned buses. It is also inexpensive-meals and hotels are one-third the price in Canada and buses one quarter the cost here.
Finally the return to Canada in mid-March was like going from full technicolour to black and white. We wish we had stayed longer.
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A year ago, I wrote an article for the Newsletter about our trip to Malaysia. In May of this year a woman in Denver who was using the internet to plan a trip to Malaysia came across my article. She was more interested in my name than in our travel experiences. My name is attached to a Stoddart family history which goes back to 1819 when the family left Scotland for Ontario. This woman was also into genealogical research on the family and anxious to contact me. The connection was only possible through the ONF-NFB website. Her e-mail request was forwarded to me by the NFB Club enabling both of us to fill gaps in the family tree. So in addition to reaching a world-wide audience, the Newsletter even has a Lost and Found department !
Jarvis Stoddart |
