Thursday, July 06, 2006
Tea, Scorpions and a Romanian salsa dancer
Today I ventured out into tea country. It is certainly very different from Indian tea country which is indicative of how much Malaysian society has advanced in the post-colonial area. India is 50 years behind Malaysia. The reasons why I think this has happened I will not get into here, instead I will talk about what I saw. First, Malaysians don't work on tea plantations picking the tea anymore. The population has become so educated that no Malaysian would want to pick tea as a job. Malaysians still operate the mechanized tea factories, but there are really not that many Malaysians employed in the production of tea anymore. Instead, they recruit male workers to come here from Indonesians on three year contracts to pick the tea. Whereas, in India I daily saw illiterate women with calloused hands picking the tea by hand, here, Indonesian workers use prunes and weed trimmers to clear huge swaths of area in fractions of the time. They get paid about $5 U.S per day, and because many of their expenses are covered, they can actually send some money back to their families. I am sure that it is still very hard work, but it seems to be a lot more humane than the system of semi-slavery that is used for picking tea in India.
After touring the plantation and the tea factory, we drove to the summit of the highest mountain in the Cameron Highlands. The view was spectacular. Then we visited a butterfly farm. I didn't find it that interesting, but I enjoyed watching people squirm when the guide picked up a scorpion and put it on an attractive Czech girls shoulder (she was married, I checked!)
This afternoon, I relaxed around town. I had to move hotels, which sucked, but the owner of the hotel was very nice and phoned around and found a room for me and negotiated an excellent price for me. I like my new hotel even more. People here are super friendly and easy going. For instance, today I was trying to cash a couple of travellers cheques. I went into the HSBC Bank and the helpful teller told me that he could cash my cheques for me, but that I could get a better rate and pay a lower fee if I simply walked across the street to the competition!!! I've been walking down the street and people have just come up to me and asked me if I needed help with anything. They aren't looking to take me for tea, or sell me anything.
The other thing that has blown me away is how well everybody speaks English. The use of the language is not restricted to the upper and upper-middle class as it was in India. Here, everybody is taught English and Malay at school. People who trace their ancestrary back to India or China also learn their own language at school, while Malay students spend that same class time studying Islam. And from what my driver told me today, everybody, regardless of race attends school together. This may not be the whole picture, but it is impressive. I'm not sure how universal education is, but it sure is a progressive approach that I wish we'd copy in Canada when it came to language.
I had an interesting encounter at lunch with this bizarre guy from Romania. I was sitting down enjoying a late meal of vegetarian Indian food when this guy plopped himself down at the same table. We started talking and through his broken English he explained that he was in Southeast Asia for three months, and get this - he had stayed in KL for 25 days because he had found a great salsa club. No other reason than to dance salsa. I know that salsa is fun, but you'd think you could do that as easily back home, or if you really like salsa then GO TO MEXICO!!! Whatever floats your boat I suppose, it is a free country and I am not to judge.
Tomorrow, I am going to rise with the sun because I am going to hit the links, it has been six months since ATP, Andy "Tiger" Pearcey has played a round. The day after I think that I will be heading to the jungle, I may not have access to the internet there, but I will try to post a message.
After touring the plantation and the tea factory, we drove to the summit of the highest mountain in the Cameron Highlands. The view was spectacular. Then we visited a butterfly farm. I didn't find it that interesting, but I enjoyed watching people squirm when the guide picked up a scorpion and put it on an attractive Czech girls shoulder (she was married, I checked!)
This afternoon, I relaxed around town. I had to move hotels, which sucked, but the owner of the hotel was very nice and phoned around and found a room for me and negotiated an excellent price for me. I like my new hotel even more. People here are super friendly and easy going. For instance, today I was trying to cash a couple of travellers cheques. I went into the HSBC Bank and the helpful teller told me that he could cash my cheques for me, but that I could get a better rate and pay a lower fee if I simply walked across the street to the competition!!! I've been walking down the street and people have just come up to me and asked me if I needed help with anything. They aren't looking to take me for tea, or sell me anything.
The other thing that has blown me away is how well everybody speaks English. The use of the language is not restricted to the upper and upper-middle class as it was in India. Here, everybody is taught English and Malay at school. People who trace their ancestrary back to India or China also learn their own language at school, while Malay students spend that same class time studying Islam. And from what my driver told me today, everybody, regardless of race attends school together. This may not be the whole picture, but it is impressive. I'm not sure how universal education is, but it sure is a progressive approach that I wish we'd copy in Canada when it came to language.
I had an interesting encounter at lunch with this bizarre guy from Romania. I was sitting down enjoying a late meal of vegetarian Indian food when this guy plopped himself down at the same table. We started talking and through his broken English he explained that he was in Southeast Asia for three months, and get this - he had stayed in KL for 25 days because he had found a great salsa club. No other reason than to dance salsa. I know that salsa is fun, but you'd think you could do that as easily back home, or if you really like salsa then GO TO MEXICO!!! Whatever floats your boat I suppose, it is a free country and I am not to judge.
Tomorrow, I am going to rise with the sun because I am going to hit the links, it has been six months since ATP, Andy "Tiger" Pearcey has played a round. The day after I think that I will be heading to the jungle, I may not have access to the internet there, but I will try to post a message.
