Monday, June 06, 2005
tried for the last 2 weeks to write up on my adventures since the big poker game. no such luck. instead i got stoned on homegrown weed freshly picked in northern thailand, not far from the burmese border. as my friend willow would say: the arrow that never aims always reaches its target. so here i am giving it another go.........
after losing S$ 300 in 5 days, my friends decided to dump me in johor bahru, just accross the border from singapore, only to meet another crazy crowd, whom i hung out with for the next week or so. meet habibi, former sarawak headhunter and animist, now a proud converted muslim and to be married soon to his 26 years younger malay wife suriyani. he has a wonderful backpackers in the middle class suburb of jb, far away from the sleazy site of this great city. his place feels like a malay kampong, including chicken, dog, rabbit and cats.
on the first night i woke up with bottles being smashed, a female voice shouting. reminded me very much of my former wife. anyway out of experience i kept away. habibi turned up the next morning with a badly scratched face. nothing was said about it.
meet omar, a tunesian, not much cash and an invalid passport, ready to go illegally across the border to thailand, god knows what for. his girlfriend rose, a filipina barmaid in jb, milking omar for his last money and turning up with new clothes every day.
meet a japanese guy, who never talked, just once. his question was: what does spitfire mean?? maybe his grandfather was shot down in wwII by a spitfire, who knows. just some of the interesting people hanging out at habibis place.
for food i usually went down the road to vedhas (advertised as: for the best northern & southern indian cuisine) stuffing myself with dum briyani, tandoori chicken and naans. life couldnt have been any better. realized after a week that i will never make it to the perhentian islands. urgent measures had to be taken. decided i might as well fly up to chiang mai in northern thailand, with an air asia ticket, cheaply booked on the net.
after losing S$ 300 in 5 days, my friends decided to dump me in johor bahru, just accross the border from singapore, only to meet another crazy crowd, whom i hung out with for the next week or so. meet habibi, former sarawak headhunter and animist, now a proud converted muslim and to be married soon to his 26 years younger malay wife suriyani. he has a wonderful backpackers in the middle class suburb of jb, far away from the sleazy site of this great city. his place feels like a malay kampong, including chicken, dog, rabbit and cats.
on the first night i woke up with bottles being smashed, a female voice shouting. reminded me very much of my former wife. anyway out of experience i kept away. habibi turned up the next morning with a badly scratched face. nothing was said about it.
meet omar, a tunesian, not much cash and an invalid passport, ready to go illegally across the border to thailand, god knows what for. his girlfriend rose, a filipina barmaid in jb, milking omar for his last money and turning up with new clothes every day.
meet a japanese guy, who never talked, just once. his question was: what does spitfire mean?? maybe his grandfather was shot down in wwII by a spitfire, who knows. just some of the interesting people hanging out at habibis place.
for food i usually went down the road to vedhas (advertised as: for the best northern & southern indian cuisine) stuffing myself with dum briyani, tandoori chicken and naans. life couldnt have been any better. realized after a week that i will never make it to the perhentian islands. urgent measures had to be taken. decided i might as well fly up to chiang mai in northern thailand, with an air asia ticket, cheaply booked on the net.
