Maleisie Part 1: The respectful, easy going and western loving Malaysian citizens

The population of Malaysia consists of three big ethnicities: Malaysians, Chinese and Indians. The Malaysians are 99% Muslim, most Indians are Hindu and the Chinese are mainly Christian. They speak their own language and communicate beside the Malaysian language mostly in English. In many countries, these differences provide a gap between the populations, in Malaysia it seems they live together in harmony. The man who sells Chinese noodles helps his Indian friend who sells roti next to him and after they went to the church, mosque or temple they have a drink together.

Alor Setar: 30.05.15

My first night in Malaysia I drove around Alor Setar while I was looking for a cheap hotel. After asking a few locals for a cheap hotel I found someone who wanted to bring me there. Hotel 1 and 2 unfortunately were full, and when we got to hotel 3 drove my engine suddenly stopped working. I lost my local guide and had to push my bike to the nearest hotel. The next day a mechanic basically replaced all components around the engine, but it worked out. After five hours of tinkering the engine roared as usual. I had enough time left to run around Muzium Padi for 15 minutes. A museum that tells about the making of rice in the rice fields around Alor Setar. Fifteen minutes was enough to see the main attraction: an animated vertical circle where you could stand in the middle. The circle visualized the rice seasons, the work tasks and the living conditions in the rice fields. I pulled out more information in these 15 minutes, than when I read books full of text.

Penang: 31.05.15

That same evening I went to Penang, an island connected to the mainland by a bridge of 21 kilometers, and thus the longest bridge in Southeast Asia. Most visitors flock to the historic city of Penang, called Georgetown. Georgetown is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which attracts entrepreneurs like bees who smell honey. For each hole drilled in the well, they need granted permission, but as long as it is has the title ‘’UNESCO’’ it is worth that.

I visited with a Frenchman and a French-speaking Swiss, who were forced to speak English because of me, a lot of the art spots in Georgetown. Streetart, 3D paintings, fine art, everywhere was visible that artists were trying to make their mark in Georgetown. Art has value for me if I could read the mind of the artist of the work. My brains worked hard to understand the paintings, but unfortunately I seldomly had an eureka moment.

One of the exhibitions was in a luxury hotel. Once inside a 5-star hotel, there are more interesting things to do than visit an art exhibition. We walked into the garden and did what was forbidden; take a dip in the sea. Quickly the guards marched to us and commanded us to swim back to shore. The Frenchman made up a story that we were driven away from the beach, what the guards believed crazy enough. They could even laugh, and left us alone.

Sometimes I think my tour by motorbike is pretty extreme. My journey, however, was very boring in compare to what an elderly Frenchman doing. He had ridden on a bicycle in 10 months from France to Malaysia and traveled 40,000 kilometers. Yet he still had a little belly, probably because he had hidden his wine stock in his panniers.

Taiping: 01.06.15

My next stop was Taiping, a small, little-visited city in which I had one of the most memorable days so far.

I started the day with a walk along the Maxwell Hill, a hill praised for its beautiful view at the top. That summit I never reached.

The walk on the wet ground and slippery tree trunks I made on my slippers, that was not the best choice. Along the way I met a Chinese man of 60 years old which made this walk daily in his work break to stay in shape. At the first break after two kilometers the man turned around and I decided to join him in his way back. It was not prepared to do the next 8 kilometers on my plastic frameless slippers.

The man offered me a tour at his company. He worked at a company that packaged palm oil, the man was responsible for the sale of palm oil. It was a small farm where the palm oil was produced, was done in plastic bags by machines, and then by hand in boxes. The Chinese man did a lot of work in the morning, so he had time to have lunch with me and his son. For them it was unique to be with a white person, for me it was unique to meet someone incidentally while strolling around, and who pushes everything to the side to give you a glimpse into his life.

Taiping is known for its charcoal. Large stone ovens are filled with tree trunks, whereafter the timber is ignited and remains 70 days in the oven. The Taiping charcoalm which is so famous, remains.

On the waterfront I saw a camera crew, which made me interested. I walked towards it I was greeted kindly. The production people explained to me that they were filming for a cooking program, now 14 episodes devoted to cooking in nature. The '' chef '' turned out to be a famous singer, and not being able to cook. He struggled by cutting an onion and could discern a tomato from a red sweet pepper. According to the production, a familiar face is more important than someone who cooks professionally.

Where a class Malaysian student was expelled from the set, I was watching at ringside how it was filmed. After filming the host came up to me to have a chat and the people took some time to tell me about the program. As a gift, they offered me the final dish. When watching a cooking show, I'm always envious of the one who gets the dish, now I was so. I imagined myself that one million people where the program with watery mouths, and I ate their prey.

Another reason why people visit Taiping is because of its fireflies on the waterfront. I was in a boat with a number of Malaysian tourists. One of the tourists stood out to me because she could tell very passionate about her travels through Asia. How she swam with pink dolphins, crawled across the seabed at Langkawi and was able to tell me all about the firefly. They have a three-week lifecycle, the females make light to lure the males and blink more often when it rains. With my iPhone 4, however, it was not able to make a picture of this animal light show.

My day in Taiping was not over because I decided to make a night safari. In an electric car, I was driven around the zoo and because I was the only foreigner I got a private guide. In half an hour my guide fired an encyclopedia full of information on me, and after the tour he offered me a second part of the guide; a guided walk through the zoo. The boy was able to tell much about the animals and knew with certain sounds to lure animals to the side, as a tiger swam towards us and the monkeys came to the gate if you called their name. I thought he was doing this all from a passion for the animals, but this appeared to be from a passion for me. I thanked him for a nightly encore.

Ipoh: 03.06.15

With a list of tips I toured through Ipoh. Maybe I did not visit the right places, but I found that Ipoh had few special places.

Well, I found a special museum that told about the private lives of the rich Chinese in the time that much tin was mined in Ipoh. The museum was located on the site of the former clubhouse of a group of wealthy Chinese tin traders. Membership was reserved for the richest people, at it’s the club had hundred members, and was considered a great honor. In the clubhouse they held a wild lifestyle. '' Normal '' women were not welcome, but prostitutes instead were warmly welcomed. The members also gambled, smoked opium and formed secret gangs in the house. Many members became addicted to opium or alcohol, which eventually became their death. Certainly was that they knew how to please themselves in the clubhouse.

Cameron Highlands: 04.06.15

Further inland the Cameron Highlands are a popular spot for tourist, as its lower temperature environment is suitable for tea plant. I was warned that the highlands were too steep for my motor bike, but the bike showed no problems with it.

The largest tea producer in the area, BOH, has a few tea gardens opened to the public. One can walk through between the plantations, from vantage points see the bright green, smooth, rolling plains tea, take a look inside the factory where the tea leaves are processed and visit a museum which explains more about tea. BOH makes clever use of this place to promote the brand positively and tell visitors continuously how special and good their tea is. The result there is a big cue at the tea shop of people who want to buy their package of BOH tea, but nobody reads the general information about tea.

Furthermore, the area offered several attractions like a bee farm, a small zoo, a strawberry farm and more, but it did not impress me. I enjoyed more of the motorbike trip through the highlands.

When I drove out of the Cameron Highlands to Kuala Lumpur I did not see any sign of life, besides a few cars and trucks, the first 60 kilometers. In one of the first villages, I suddenly saw a man lying on the ground in an uncomfortable position besides his motorbike. I stopped because it did not look good. He did not respond to my touch and voice, luckily his chest still moved up and down. I was not an expert at this topic, so I went to some local people for help. I told two women that the man might be having a heart attack, in which they ran panicked to their husbands. These two valiant men drove with me to they guy on the ground. Arriving, it all turned out better than expected. He was a known alcoholic and was just very drunk. I looked like a fool, because I behaved like he was almost dead.