Chicks in burqinis

Tonight is my last night on Redang Island. Am back to Singapore tomorrow for a night, then back to Darwin on Friday night, arriving at the convenient time of 2am... Actually, leaving here has come at the right time, considering it has started to rain and I've run out of books to read.

The rain kicked in at about 2pm and kept going til about 6:30. The entertainment from my balcony was watching the bamboo and plastic greenhouse they'd built fall to pieces. No Cert I in General Construction there... Eventually the rain stopped, and I headed out for a stroll on the beach at dusk. It's certainly a top spot for a wander, with the sky darkening and the clouds making an impressive display in the sky. There weren't too many people swimming, except for a group of three women wearing burqinis, which are those whole body and head covering bathers for Islamic women. They don't look very comfortable... At least they could get in the water. I try to be one for tolerance, but that kind of restriction seems over the top to me. By the time I returned from the other end of the beach, two of the women had left and one was lazing in the shallow water. I couldn't help but ponder whether she felt free, or just wished she was.

Redang continued....

I've come to terms with the fact that there are worse places to be when you have a cold, so I will stop complaining about it... And it isn't a particularly bad cold at any rate and hasn't dampened by ability to do what I came over here for, and that is to do not very much at all. Had a good day by the beach today, though it appears my sunscreen is getting a bit old (the labels are written in French and English, which is a bit of a concern, considering it's been 15 months since I've been in Canada...) so I have a bit of a reddish tinge to my face with matching panda eyes were my sunnies have been. But not so bad.

The beach has been a pretty sweet spot to hang out. The snorkelling from the beach has been fantastic, with heaps of fish and really clear water (though the coral, as I suspect it is in most places, is pretty much dead.) There is some sort of Bollywood-esque filming going on at the beach, with Indian actors doing crazy dance moves on the beach, in the water and standing on rocks. I say 'esque' because I'm guessing this is some sort of el-cheapon Indo-Malaysian Bollywood ripoff, since no doubt there are equally as nice beaches for the real Bollywood actors in India, although the more telling sign is the fact that the actors here are fatter and far more unattractive than India's best.... The entourage is entertaining in itself with a huge cohort of sleazy Indian men wearing their best 1970s porno clothing and matching moustaches, as if they have been lifted straight out of Apu's Kwik-e-mart... You start understanding where stereotypes come from, that's for sure.

Will continue on with another lazy afternoon. I am almost through my second book - reading Life of Pi right now, after slogging through a Richard Dawkins' account of evolution. Sadly, unless I figure out a way to learn German or Swedish overnight, it'll be it for the reading, since the books on the second-hand shelf are all European. And the TV isn't much better, with the same shitty Brendan Fraser movie the only thing in English shown over and over again. The 10 minutes I've seen of Inkheart are enough... At least there's still the beach!

A possible blog resurrection? Redang Island, Malaysia

So I haven't blogged in awhile, and was wondering whether to keep it up, but considering I'm on holidays at the moment, having come down with a cold, and with a comedy of errors seemingly stalking me the whole time, I figured now is a better time as ever to be grumpy!

I'm currently on Redang Island off the east coast of peninsula Malaysia. The island is really nice, with a clean, white beach and really clear water. The island is pretty well known for its resorts, rather than catering for the independent traveller, so it probably wasn't the best choice for me, but it's easy, with everything laid on (except booze, which is way more expensive than Langkawi or Thailand...)

I had originally intended to head a little further north to the Perhentian Islands, but after arriving in Kuala Terengganu on a Saturday (which is like our Sunday... nothing open) I wandered around the hot and humid streets looking for an ATM and an open travel agent. Despite passing about 384 Hotlink Mobile phone stores, you'd think you'd come across an ATM, but no luck. I had a handful of ringgit, but needed more and eventually stumbled into a 7-11 where there was an ATM, and got out the cash I needed. Not too far down the road, I wandered into an open travel agent and asked them to send me to the nearest island with a half decent beach.

Perhaps I may have investigated things a little further if being hot and bothered was all that was impacting on my mind, but sitting in Singapore airport a few hours earlier, I realised that I'd booked the wrong return flight, requiring a mad dash to an available internet terminal to rectify my stupid mistake (you think by now I could use a calendar effectively... I am a low level educational bureaucrat after all...). So I was flustered and didn't want to think anymore, so hear I am on Redang Island, home of the non-alcoholic all inclusive resort, and not a place designed for the independent traveller. But the beach is nice, the snorkeling pretty impressive and I can indulge in a bit of doing nothing for a few days to recharge the batteries.

I do have a few photos I will upload later - sadly, my brand spanking new Panasonic camera has decided to shit itself, so I won't get too many more shots (save the odd mobile phone photo). They are doing a bit of filming on the beach, including what could count as Malaysia's equivalent of Girls Gone Wild (but being conservative Malaysia, it was just a few girls in bikinis walking up and down the beach... oooh, risque!)

That's about all for now. I will keep resting up today and hope that this cold doesn't take hold...