The Beach

We went to the beach this past weekend-- Port Dickson it's called-- which is supposed to be a 90 min drive. I think it took us more like 2.5 hours, and there was some yelling and swearing going on, at least until we were able to get back on the right highway. (needless to say Miles has started swearing again).

Malaysia has only recently added a maze of highways so that getting around is "much easier than it used to be". I'm just dying to know what it used to be like, because this "system", and I use the term very loosely, doesn't quite fit the bill. Some maps, people and books talk about certain highways like "E23" and "E1" or "Seremban" and "Pechala Link", but since neither number nor name is used across the board, it's almost impossible not to get lost. Where I come from, you follow on a map, google (not possible to google for directions here) or ask someone and you will probably hear "Take 101 North, to the 405 South then exit onto the 5 South and go 20 miles until Exit 'Santa Clause Road'." Period. And you know what? The signs will say "101 North" and "405 South", etc. Here for the equivalent trip you would hear, "Head out towards Ipoh, then follow the signs for Ipoh and Klang on the North South Freeway, but don't go to Klang, and then don't go to Ipoh, just stay on and go towards Damansara on the E6, go through the toll and you'll see a mosque." Problem is it won't say "North South Freeway" or "E6"-- ever. So you guess. And get lost. Problem is there are a few Expressways now and once you're on it, you're on it. For a goooood long while. It's as is the freeways were built without ever taking into account that they need to be labelled, the same thing every where on signposts. What a concept!

Okay, enough complaining. The hotel had free pony rides (Miles declined-- you know my boy....safety first as always!) a fabulous pool with two water slides. He was afraid to go down, so I climbed the stairs and sat down with him and readied us for the fun-- I thought if we did it once together, he would get into it-- wrong. But imagine for a minute the situation. White lady with tattoos on her back, in a bathing suit without any pants or long sleeve shirt on over it not to mention no burqa, heading down the kid's slide-- it's absolutely no exaggaeration to say that every single person by the pool watched us go down-- with jaws agape. And I do mean agape. And that was just at the pool. We hit the beach (the one in front of our hotel was pretty rocky but there it was so we checked it out) and I was feeling more and more uncomfortable-- I kept my sarong wrapped around me and sat there sweating. Fun. But seriously, I just wanted to sit in my bathing suit in the sand and make sand castles with Miles, but I also was trying to be respectful of my host country and it's (modest, muslim) customs. So the next day at a different beach a few km up the road (this one had fine white sand and few rocks), I didn't even take off my pants....I was getting tired of the stares. Thankfully it was overcast and getting ready to rain, so the sun wasn't beating down on my black pants.

Miles and Gilbert went into the ocean (the Strait of Malacca, opposite Indonesia) as far as they had energy to, and Gilbert was still only up to his knees. It was such a subtle grade-- and that was at high tide. We took a bunch of pictures-- it was really pretty.

Today Miles and I went to Ikea to get a few things, and had a fun little lunch at a sushi place. You know, the kind that had a little assembly line of sushi rolls, etc going past your head at eye level. This particular place also had computers for each table, which was where I was supposed to click in my order. It was too much to pay attention to while Miles was fingering every plate that went by, so I ordered the old fashioned way. Thankfully Miles didn't grab any octopus or eel!