Despite the Promenade hotel giving me a free 30 mins yesterday in my 2 1/2 hr session, I'm not paying MYR10/hr when I can sit round the corner, once again in a dingy cavern surrounded by small excitable boys playing computer games, for MYR1.5 /hr.
Last night having completed the epic, went out in torrential monsoon rain, sloshing ankle deep in warm water in my good old warehouse sandals and protected to the knees by my poncho. Ate chicken adobo at a Filapino cafe, reminiscent of 2002 with the Christmas tree flashing, the music, the whole atmosphere. And it was very cheap, MRY 8 for the meal ($3.20) and MYR5 for an apple smoothie, with a whole whizzed apple.
So once again MYR 15 or so for dinner, and some others in the party had thought 75 was very reasonable.
Our free day, so I have had my long-awaited viewing of the cultural museum. The hotel concierges were in disbelief that I would try to walk there, and surely fail and end up in a taxi which they could have provided from the beginning. I set out at 7.40am.
On the way, passed a supposedly deserted building site, out came a Mum and washed a small boy from a bucket.
Paused at a bridge and off slithered/crawled two big lizards. Almost a metre I'd say. Got a good pic of one as it sized me up. You don't see that from a taxi.
OK I won't bore you with another museum but I was there 4 hours, you get the picture.
Sweating right thru everything again outside, so inside, I went into a tandas cubicle and stripped right off to have a shower with the little hose. Ahhhhh . Except the pressure isn't flash so I had to crouch by the ceramic hole in the floor to get any water over my shoulders.
With the floor wet as usual I just dressed wet into clothes and popped out with bare feet. I explained I'd been washing my feet.
Couldn't fail to meet a wonderful group of school children and teachers. They all had the same spirit as me. They were outgoing yet polite, and I was interviewed by a couple of groups as part of their school project.
A teacher explained they had travelled 10 hours by bus to get here. They are the top 10% achievers in a poor school, and this was their special trip to the big smoke. They had a free trip as the teachers had gone round some companies and arranged 100% sponsorship. I have now had hundreds of kids in uniforms buzz past me in museum, these children from Tawau were are delight.
I popped out for lunch and down the lane.the only food place in sight was Moslem and full of men, so in I went, and asked for an explanation as the words were different (maybe local and not Malay?). I enjoyed ikan tulai (its important later they wrote it for me), sprouts and other vege, rice, and some sort of milky drink kinda like bubble tea. Total cost MYR8 , $3.20 really filling. Ikan tulai is the whole fish, with a yummy sauce over, I picked it to bits and licked my fingers.
Getting home was a bit of a mission on the feet, I took the long route round a hill (bukit) and had to ask for directions at a shell station as I realised I was off the map. I noticed the hill was called bukit Tulai, same as the fish. Also, pretty damn hot. Hooray for a bottle of 100+. I was over an hour walking back to the hotel.
Arrived in the lobby with a good sweat up again. The concierge this morning asked if I'd actually found the museum. When I explained I had enjoyed walking there and back and the museum is fantastic, he called all his cobbers. When I said I'd walked round the far side of bukit Tulai on Jln Kebagikan (see map, hotel is on the waterfront by the roundabout) )and asked at a shell station, they were truly amazed and with the evidence of the shell station, believed me.
Tonight we're out to dinner with the local orchid society. As I'm clearly the most interested in orchids of my groupmates, we'll see how it goes but I'm really looking forward to meeting local orchid people. I'm sure there will be plenty to talk about all round regardless of the flowers that have brought us together.
Better go and get glammed up. Have explained to the team yesterday that I have only my 1. today clothes and my 2. yesterday-and-tomorrow clothes and 3. something totally different. Their having seen me pretty much in the nuddy yesterday, it can only improve.
xxM
