Reading War and Peace
Thursday, January 29, 2004
I shouldn't have spoken lightly about Eddie's boil. I'm a bad mother. When it had grown to about the size of a walnut he slipped over and fell heavily on it. The infection spread and he spent several days in a great deal of pain. We went to the clinic in Kuala Tahan which was closed for the Chinese New Year. A friendly cleaner went to wake the doctor next door and he shuffled over in a sweatshirt and his lunghi. After poking around amongst a huge pile of tablets he produced some anti-biotics, painkillers and tablets for the pus (green ones appropriately.) Including his anti-malarials this took his daily total of tablets to eleven which he thought must beat even Grandma.
Andrew and I teased him and tried to remain light-hearted about it and then woke at three o'clock in the morning worrying about him. Fortunately a week later he is now walking proof of the amazing healing capacity of a young fit body and somewhat more graceful and upbeat than the Max Wall / Woody Allen composite character he had become.
Obviously the boil episode marred our enjoyment of Taman Negara a great deal but we still had some memorable experiences. Most notable was the 'Bat Cave'. I have to admit to being less than keen about crawling into dark, slimy, confined spaces but as Joe blundered ahead without even waiting for the torch I was shamed into following. It was well worth it and although it seemed at first as though at least one of the hundreds of bats around would definitely fly straight into you it soon became apparent that the whole echo location thing is not just a gimmick, it really works.
From Taman Negara we got a bus straight through to Kuala Lumpur, the skyline of which seemed to emerge like a cartoon from the clouds. First impressions were of a city equally as modern and impressive as Singapore and although they might not like to admit it they seem to involved in an elaborate and very expensive game of catch-up. Unfortunately although the individual components look impressive somehow everything doesn't quite seem to fit together exactly as it should.
If Singapore is the Manchester United of South East Asia Luala Lumpur is closer to Nottingham Forest. But listen to this from the Rough Guide to Malaysia - "Lot ten has evolved into Bintang Walk where there are a number of smart pavment cafes, often with outdoor air-conditioning." So maybe Kuala Lumpur is closer to the premier division than I'd assumed.
Meanwhile in War And Peace Pierre disgraced himself again by getting involved in a dual and has left his unfaithful wife. Prince Andrew's wife died horribly in childbirth while everyone in the household pretended nothing was happening. Apparently it was considered unlucky to acknowledge that a woman was in labour, a poor excuse if you ask me.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
We were welcomed to Singapore by smiley efficient staff and whisked into their shiny modern airport by moving walkways. I used a toilet which flushed automatically when I stood up, it was rather unnerving. Then to complete the impression of sci-fi film set we were scanned by infra-red beams to check that we weren't bringing any nasty chicken related illnesses into their nice clean country.
We lived it up for a few days at the YMCA, a place I had previously thought of as somewhere where you leave your bottle of meths at the door. But no, it was air-conditioned splendour with buffet breakfasts, fluffy white towels and a swimming pool on the roof. Joe proudly mentions in his diary that we stayed at the famous hotel that had a song written about it.
Despite the stiffling heat we managed to explore Singapore fairly comfortably, with frequent stops at air-conditioned cafes and trips on air-conditioned buses and trains. At the botanical gardens there was even an air-conditioned glass house to suit the mountain loving plants as well as the flagging tourists.
In a city where technology is everything you feel it is only a matter of time before they introduce air-conditioned pavements.
We went on a night safari at the zoo and saw enormous fruit bats at such close range we could feel the draught from their wings
We swanned around China Town for a while which was in full swing in preparation for the Chinese New Year, with lanterns and garish decorations squeezed into every available gap. Then when we were hungry we were spoilt for choice with all the food halls and numerous stalls.
After a few days we thought we should move on before we became too accustomed to such creature comforts and we bussed it into Malaysia. First stop Melaka.
Apparently Melaka is an historic picturesque city but the historic picturesque bits have unfortunately got lost in a sprawl of houses and shopping centres. We weren't impressed. Perhaps passing an enormous Tesco on the way in didn't help. We didn't come all this way to go to Tesco.
So swiftly moving on we are now in Jerrantut where we hope to catch a boat into the Taman Negara National Park tomorrow. That's always assuming Joe's bowels settle down a bit and the enormous boil on Eddie's bottom doesn't explode with dire consequences ( sorry Eddie ).
Happy Year of the monkey.
Thursday, January 15, 2004
It's our last day in India and it's Pongal, the festival for harvest. We're in Chennai which is strangely quiet as so many people are on holiday. The floppy fronds of sugar cane leaves decorate homes, restaurants and even the odd rickshaw. People have been keen to shake our hands and wish us 'Happy Pongal'.
Over the last few days we seem to have been quite busy. We've been to the beach and the circus -complete with maniac motorcyclists and a hippo. We've wheedled our way onto packed commuter trains and with only slightly more difficulty managed to wheedle our way off again at the right station. We negotiated our way across town to one of the big film studios and watched as would be stars tried to make an impact as extras.
It's been a big contrast to our first few days in Delhi where, jetlagged and disorientated, we didn't seem to be able to get anywhere. Now, just when we're really getting in to the swing of things, it's time to leave.
Tonight we depart from the anarchy of India and hopefully tomorrow we shall arrive in the ordered tidiness of Singapore. I've been trying to impress upon the boys that in Singapore a sign that says 'No Ball Games' really does mean 'No Ball Games', and not 'we could use this as the wickets' as it does in India.
We shall leave India a few pounds lighter and take many memories. We have a yearning for bland food and tea without quite such a ridiculous amount of sugar in it.
War And Peace is looking a little frayed around the edges, perhaps we all do, and I've only read a pathetic 343 pages. I shall have to read more and play less whist. There's a long way to go yet.
Goodbye India. Happy Pongal.
Saturday, January 10, 2004
We stayed in Kollam for several days longer than planned because of Andrew's inability to keep anything in his digestive system for longer than fifteen minutes.
It was his own fault and he didn't get much sympathy from me. I'd told him we should have gone to visit the ashram of the hugging mother. 'It will bring you good fortune and lots of energy,' I'd been advised. 'Although queue for hugging is long.' But he wouldn't have it and then to make matters worse he passed his horrible bugs on to me.
Making up for lost time we finally headed off through the hills to Tenkasi on a small but incredibly noisy train. We had one evening to enjoy the enormous temple and bustling market before setting off again. The next day we arrived in Madurai with its even bigger temples. Hundreds of pilgrims mingled amongst the tourists, the temple elephants, the parrots, the flower sellers and the best dressed bullock in town. We sat for a while by the pool of the golden lotus and enjoyed the activity.
Another five hour train journey and an hour on the bus took us to Pondicherry. It was bracing, it had a prom and a pier. Bournemouth with croissants and gendarms. They cooked things that didn't just taste of chilli. We liked it a lot.
And now a little further up the coast we are in Mamallapuram which will always be remembered as the town where Eddie fell out of an auto rickshaw as we were going round a corner. Fortunately he jumped up again unscathed. It's a good job we haven't attempted transporting the whole family and a weeks shopping on a motorbike as seems to be the norm in India.
It's also the place where Joe had his fortune told by a parrot and was very pleased to discover that he's going to be rich and own a fast car. I've had to warn him that the parrot may not be entirely reliable.
As for War And Peace. I haven't forgotten about it. It was just slow going through book three as the boys kept distracting me with games of whist.
The Russians have discovered that the best thing about having allies is there's someone to blame when things are not going well. "..the disorder was readily and naturally attributed to the Geramans, and every one was convinced that a dangerous muddle had been occassioned by the sausage eaters."
Friday, January 02, 2004
Kollam seems to specialise in keeping people awake. First there's the mosque which starts up at five o'clock in the morning. Eddie asked if we could go and remind the man at the mosque that 'we're not all muslims you know,' but tempting as it sounded I had to advise him that it might cause offence. Then there's a mysterious siren that goes off when you least expect it. I'm sure there's a good reason for it but it's not immediately apparent.
Finally Kerala as a whole is far too hot. Even with a wet sheet draped over me and the fan whirring for all it's worth it's still much too hot for my liking. And if that sounds ungrateful because it's cold and miserable back home I don't care.
It just goes to show that nowhere's perfect, even 'God's own country' with it's idyllic network of backwaters and palm-fringed beaches.
I had wondered if the eight hour boat journey here from Allaphuza might be a bit of a drag but even our fidgety boys managed to enjoy life at ten kilometers and hour for a while, watching all the other boats and keeping an eye out for jelly fish.
Andrew mentioned that I hadn't mentioned much about the wildlife so far and instead of telling him to go and write his own blog I very graciously admitted there might be a gap.
The trouble is that if I say anything about widlife I could very quickly expose a level of ignorance that won't do me any favours. I can spot a kingfisher and a racket tailed drongo,(that sounds impressive, surely). There have been dozens of geckos, langars and butterflies as big as birds. The elephants were brilliant as were the painted cranes. But after that I very quickly get into the realms of 'that brownish bird with the green legs'.
The best things in Kerala have been the hundreds of sliver fish that fly through the air when startled by a boat and the elegant white birds that perch on the fishing lines but sadly I don't know what either of them are called.
All in all Kerala has been a beautiful and relaxing place to bring in the new year and after being woken at a ridiculous time in the morning I now feel fully justified in spending the rest of the day relaxing under the palm trees by the waters edge and watching the world go by.
