Malaysia

The first thing different that we noticed about Malaysia, at first struck us as something similar. Getting through customs we encountered the same throng of desperate men hawking taxis and guesthouses and foot massages and snake oils and, as we've grown used to them, we now just push through the group to find the honest people on the other side. But this time we met a man who looked as shady as any we've seen, who tailed us and kept offering help. As I often do, I kept walking and let Nate get ensnared because he is often too kind to tell them to fuck off with his body language. This man followed us for a few minutes, guided Nate to a money changer and Kins and I to an ATM, then passed us on to his associate. This new man then followed us for a few minutes, answered a few of Nate's questions about the city and how to get to the Pantai Cenang beach, and then did the strangest thing. He wished us luck and walked away. He was only there to help us, which we had not yet encountered at a ferry terminal, bus station, train station, taxi terminal or anyplace where travelers arrive.
This was our first impression of Malaysia, and it would prove to be very telling.
We caught a cab to the beach and found that since it was the weekend and there was a school holiday, everywhere was booked. We eventually found a guesthouse that rented us a room that was not meant to be rented, as it had wallpaper on the floor, was dirty, small and had a secret room built into the side of the wall and covered by a curtain that looked fit to hide stolen children in.
So the next day, Sunday, we set out to find a better room, and since the weekend was winding down we found a place right next door with two big beds, a nice shower and even a large piece of furniture that we couldn't really figure out what to do with. The next day we moved to a different room in the same guesthouse that was just as nice if not better, and this is when the landlord informed Nate and I that she would rent this room out to us on a monthly basis for $350 RM (almost exactly $100) total. This is the moment when Nate and I began to think differently. We had planned on spending a few days here then moving on south to another island then to the mainland. But if we took this offer we'd be paying $50 each a month, less than $2 a day to stay in a perfectly nice room. She also told us she was opening a Rasta Bar in the next few weeks and that she was looking for a cook and a waiter, so we might be able to work as well. So, we decided to spend a few days in Langkawi to see if we liked it before we made the decision.
This is what happened while we were deciding.
One night we stumbled upon a bar called Submarine (so named because the bar right next to it is called Yellow) and we met some really nice guys that happened to be the house band. We all sat around playing guitar together, and when it was time for them to perform they invited us to play with them. So Nate and I fumbled our way through a bunch of cover songs, from the Beatles to Radiohead to U2 for about an hour. After we played, one of the guys in the band, Saiful, sat us down and paid us 20 ringgit for playing. It was the sweetest thing anyone has done for us yet and this led to Saiful and I spending the next five hours talking about music and religion and politics and to us becoming good friends. He teaches music to children and cooks at a restaurant, and when he's not working he plays in three bands. After the show we ended up going to a dance club called Sanba (still don't know how I was convinced to go to a dance club) with some friends we met at the bar. A.C. cleans yachts and looks like Jack Sparrow if he was a boxer (he's missing teeth). He's offered to see if he can get us jobs with him and wants to take us to South Africa with his company. He's also normally drunk, so I'm not banking on it. Mi sings in the band and has a great voice, and he can speak English very well (most people here can) but he can sing it fluently. His girlfriend Atti also plays music and sings, and Kinsey thinks she is the most adorable girl in the world. Yen plays upright bass and djimbe, and sings like John Fogerty. Matt and Lisa are from Canada and are brother and sister and somehow have found a way to travel with each other without killing one another. Brooke and I would never survive. Jevin is from Melbourne and gave us great advice on getting jobs in Australia. Jack is the employee at the mini mart where I go to buy beer and snacks and last night I found out that he is a tattoo artist who moved back to Langkawi to help his family run the store. He showed me some of his tattoos and they're remarkable. Jai and Bet are from the mainland in Kuala Kedah and they are our neighbors at the hostel. All the employees at our favorite Indian restaurant in town live a door down from them, and we're hoping to become good friends with them in the hopes of getting free food or cooking secrets.
So it was pretty easy to love this place, and we had all but made up our mind when the following day, Yen passes us on the street as we're taking a walk. He asks us to get in a then drives us out to a beautiful new restaurant right on the water. He tells us his band is playing there tonight, and since it's the grand opening there will be free food and drink. We tell him we'll meet him there later that night, and continue our walk where we eventually veer far off the main road and find ourselves in a small village apparently populated only by children who want to smile and wave and yell "Hello!" and "Goodbye!" at you over and over. At one point there were probably twenty kids yelling hello at us. On the edge of town as we walked by a small house we hear a very desperate sounding hello coming from behind us. We turn around to see this gigantic child (seriously he was less than five feet tall and weighed at least 160) running after us wearing nothing but his bath towel which he is fighting to hold up, and when he finally comes face to face with us he simply says, "hello", then takes a moment to catch his breath and triumphantly announces, "goodbye".
We arrived at the restaurant at seven and found Yen and his band mates eating before their performance, and we were instantly encouraged to go get as much food as we could handle. So we loaded our plates then sat down to watch Yen cover everything from CCR to Pink Floyd to Robbie Williams. Apparently the only music people in Malaysia want to hear is classic rock or pop, because that's all every band around plays, and they can make good money doing it. While eating we met Adam, and Australian who started the restaurant with another man with the help of some locals and a connection to a powerful politician. We attempted to sweet talk him in hopes of getting a slot to play at his restaurant, which pays a few hundred RM (ringgit) a night. Nate and I live off of 35 RM a day, so that would be quite a bit of money to us right now. Later in the night Adam smuggled Nate and I free beer which endeared him to both of us. Some of the more strict Muslims expressly forbid alcohol, and since there were some rather powerful people in the Malaysian government (which is comprised mainly of Muslims) in attendance, we had to be careful for Adam's sake.
So we spent a few hours eating and drinking for free, watching our new friend Yen play music, and when he was done he offered us a ride back to town where he was performing at another bar on the beach. This was basically the same band but since they play on the beach they are allowed to play at a much higher volume and use electric instruments. As seems to always happen now that people know Nate and I play music, eventually we are called on stage and told to start jamming. So, I picked up a guitar and Nate picked up a bass we started playing something very random and thought up on the spot. Of course, Nate and I thought it was total rubbish, but the crowd would explode into applause at certain points, and there was a very drunk, very white, very just-graduated-from-college-and-I-miss-my-frat-buddies dude about our age that danced very badly and very near to me the entire time I played. He loved it, so I guess we succeeded.
After the show we sat down with Yen and talked to him about his life and family and how he liked living on Langkawi, and like everyone before who we asked the same question, he thinks it the best place in the world and has no desire to ever leave.
At this point, Kinsey was pretty sure that she was going to fly back home in a few days from Singapore, since it was much cheaper than flying out from anywhere else. To get there, she needed to take a ferry down south to Penang to get back to the mainland and catch a bus to Singapore. So, Nate and I had planned to go with her to accompany her as far as Penang to see her off, then return to Langkawi. We told Yen about our plans to catch a cab to the ferry the following day and he would have none of it. He had a car and the day off, so he would wake up to drive us there himself.
And he did. The next day we came to his house and woke him up and he drove us all the way across town (a taxi would have cost 28 RM, $9) to the jetty, then had lunch with us and hung out until our boat left.
At this point our minds were well made up, we would stay in Langkawi for the near future. We had already made some great friends, found an outlet for music, could live for incredibly cheap, maybe work, swim in the ocean every day and stop moving for a little while.
Right now, after spending the last week in Penang, a loud, congested, busy city of over two million people where beer is more expensive than it is in the states (I haven't had one the entire time I've been here) and the people are noticeable less friendly (except Durai, who after ten minutes had invited us to stay at his house and use his car and his motorbike), we are even more certain of our choice.
Kinsey left us on Sunday to catch a bus to Singapore and a flight back to Austin in time to be with her family for Thanksgiving. We all had a great time together and we wish her the best as she now faces the very scary world of working for a living. Oddly enough, since she left, Nate and I have been to three malls, one of them the biggest in Southeast Asia. She probably would have enjoyed them more than we did, as we were trying, unsuccesfully, to find guitars. We did have a chance to catch the new James Bond movie, which we both thought was great, so it wasn't a total waste.
We head back to Langkawi tomorrow.