Vagabond Jim

I passed thru KLIA 3 primary times (entry, transit KUA-LGK, homeward)  The first two times I withdrew RM1,000.  I still have RM1,000  Other than <150 Ringgit for Grab fares and <600 Ringgit for the Kuah Town hotel, everything was in cash.  And, I did not skimp.  And, I needn't share all the details but there was a good deed done in there too.  All food, drink, sundries (were there any?) came to less than $250 in 10 days.  Wow. In Narita, which is a better airport to exit than to exist inside of, I withdrew 50,000 Yen.   The bus from Narita to Haneda was Y6000 and worth it.  Fast and easy.  No stress whatsoever.  If I cannot connect both in and out of Haneda on future trips, I will not sweat it.  Not in the least.  Efficient. I paid cash for this hotel room ~Y17,500ish.  That includes the fees and taxes.  And, I'm not getting ripped off.  The bathroom alone was worth it.  Tiny but lu...

Up early.  I've never missed a flight.  Hope to never do so.  2,000,000 lifetime miles (many of which were credit card driven) since Mom opened my AAdvantage account for me in 1988.  Late occasionally, canceled occasionally, misconnected frequently, but never missed a flight.  Bring a book, find a quiet corner and just unwind. 2 roti pisang for breakfast.  Indulgent.  I'll miss that place. Grab to the airport.  Grab really is what Uber should be be.  Quick, easy, politely, timely, seamless. I had lounge access.  Some fried noodles and a bowl of Laksa.  Penang style laksa.  The broth was amazing.  Everything was.  Even the fish balls.  (Hey, we eat roe, no???)  No, this is meatballs made of fish.  Funky texture, but fine. 50 minute flight is a 50 minute nap. KLIA has great baggage handling.  It was set aside for me when I reached the baggage claim.  E-hailed another Grab.  I screwed up and...

No, just cardamon. It's the recurring scent of Kuah. I don't know why or how, but it's light and carries on the breeze.  When you're within a block of some restaurants you can tell.  The scent is delicate and wonderful.  Which is amazing.  At home it's used with a heavy hand and seems...(ob)noxious.  Here it's light handed and subtle.  Tasty, too. I awoke this morning in a sour mood.  Poor sleep.  My mood soured when I completely botched the NYT Connections puzzle.  Ugh. Breakfast helped sweeten things a bit.  I wanted mee goreng with a fried egg.  But after days of walking around looking for places and swearing a rad beyond profusely, I wanted to limit my walking a bit. Back to the banana roti place for this, instead, The eggs are fried inside the cooking bread. I broke the yolks before remembering to snap a pic. Chewy bread, perfectly cooked eggs.  Sambal.  Yummy. I was still hungry.  I ordered a roti pisang - banan...

 ...Very garlicky. That little dish of red sauce might define "piquant." It's very sharp with both heat and garlic.  Not a sambal.  A Chinese condiment of unknown, to me, name.  And beside it is wonderful pork.  With a flair for names, this dish is "Pork Rice."  Hard to decipher, eh.  The Han Chinese can be hard to decode with such culinary inscrutability. Not the best I have ever had, but mighty damn good.  A roasted and charred edge (on the bottom) with an wonderful unctuous thread of fat through the middle.  Soy drizzled atop it seeps down to the rice. At the time I texted to somebody that I might be weeping over it.  That was just sweat.  Still, a wonderful savory breakfast.  Cucumbers have always been a favorite and here they have only become more so.  Crisp, cool, wonderful contrast.  RM10.  Teh was RM1.50 Being fat, I was still hungry.  Something sweet was needed. No caption, I'm speechless about this...

NO! NO! NO! It isn't. It is so hot that my photo-chromatic lenses fail to photo-chromatisize! That's a real thing.  I did not know until this trip.  Early on I noticed I was squinting a lot and I wondered why.  In excessive heat or cold the molecules don't play nice.    The tandoori chicken place.  Breakfast included a stop here to get a roti canai with a friend egg cooked in it.  Yup, really good. Jim, we're operating in the read zone here!  Yes, yes we are. Yeah, I bitch and moan about it.  But it is really amazingly hot.  The locals don't seem to notice those.  Women in tudongs.  Women in sweaters!!!!  Men in anything.  Nary a drop of perspiration.  Not a one.  I'd tell you the few women in burkas weren't sweating, but... Breakfast: Nasi Lemak at a tourist joint.  OK food, poor prices (RM11.50 with Teh).  Still hungry, I went to the tandoor place.  Roti canai with a egg fried inside it and ...

...that Kuah Town ("kwah" town) is even hotter than Kuantan?  How??? I just don't know.  But it is.  And, it was overcast!  B R U T A L  Brutal, I tell ya.  You don't care.  Truth be told, it's a hassle but I'll be fine. The "feels like temp" was 112F when I went out!  It's chillin' out now.  Yay! The day has been a long one.  I had an 1100 flight.  Not being sure how Grab would be I did not want to play it loosely. So at 0700 I was on my way to have breakfast.  With Bob.  Damn right I was gonna dine at his place again.  It's really good.  If you find yourself in his neighborhood before 1000 have breakfast there.  (They only do breakfast.) Bob's place.  It's soooooooooooo good. Mee goreng today.  Spicy, complex flavors, simple food that fills one's belly and soul.  I'll miss it. Then pack, shower, check-out, Grab ride all went to plan.  So did the airport (except the worst coffee I've had...

  The sun blazes with the heat of ... A single sun shining relentlessly on The Tropics.  Relentless. Hot. Relentlessly hot.  Threatening to blister tender white skin in seconds. Oh, wait, we tried to establish that previously. Lunch was tricky today.  Simple yet tricky. The warungs open at 1500.  I was hungry at 1300.  I decamped to the kopitam sure I'd find something I wanted on the menu.  Corn dogs?  No.  "Chaos Nachos?" Decidedly no!  OK, French fries and lemonade.  Cannot get any more Malaysian than that.  As the tourism office says here: "Malaysia is Asia!" (Honestly, that is their slogan.  This meal aside, well and the Subway franchise down the street too, it is very wonderfully true.) Kecap ("Ketzapt) originated in the Malay Archipleago ( The Good Stuff ) as a sweetened soy sauce.  The British took it home, back in the day.  And, of course as the British are prone to doing, butchered its name.  Worse...

 I miss them. Without them the sun blazes with the ... the heat of a single sun. A single sun shining relentlessly on The Tropics.  Relentless. Hot. Relentlessly hot.  Threatening to blister tender white skin in seconds. Luckily, I awoke before dawn for my walk today.  No intention or reason.  0500 hit and I was awake.  Might as well go for a walk. In the pre-dawn silence, and more importantly in the pre-dawn coolness, I wandered a circular route inland.  I saw the other mosque.  It looked like it was set up in a marketplace.  And had more heat vents that I have ever seen on one building before.  20+ whirling dervishes atop its sloping roof.   I would not have recognized if not for the onion bulb and 6 speakers.  Six.  50% more than the pretty mosque. Last night they were put to use.  After the call for the faithful at dark there was a "homily."  My Arabic is very weak.  Far worse than my half dozen phr...

 I do not know her name.  She had that "only in Asia" scowl on her face again today.  I think of her as Mama Tudong.  And, am coming to love her in her gruff way. I was ready, I mean really fucking ready, this time.  She'd not outfox, outwit, fool me once again.  I was gonna get my Mee Celup. I walked in, the first customer of the day.  And, "in" is a loose word when a restaurant only has three walls.  I mean, I walked under the roof. After a night of serious contemplation, strategizing, preparation I was really fucking ready. (Okay, the strike through was not there when I entered.) That says unambigously, and double checked against the big menu on the wall: "Mee Celup Beef." Take that, Mama Tudong!!! "No Mee Celup, you want Mee goreeng???"  Huh? Look over at the menu again, hmmmm what do I want. "You want Mee goreeng!!!  Mee goreeng daging!!!" I ain't gonna argue with you, Mama. "You want spicy?" "Of course I wan...

 ...left me with sore feet, of course. 😀 By intent this time. My feet have been a bit rough lately.  And you know what emory boards or paper are without backing or support?  Sand, baby! Anyone who has spent a day at the beach knows it can be abrasive on the little piggies.  And the rest of the foot.  So, go to the beach, rub off a bunch of dead skin.  Not as good as those little skin eating fish in Singapore spas.  But still effective. I walked north hoping to see the other pill box.  Why?  Dunno.  Efforts in futility - others' futility - amuse me.  I am reading Dortmunder with glee after all. So I trudged happily this cold and frigid morning.  Shackleton, Amundsen, Scott, Perry, VagabondJim... Yes, the feels like temp only required 2 digits! (It rained yesterday in the evening, that may have helped.  Maybe.) Fear not, the Tilley Endurable Airflow hat has ample protection from sunburn and tropical frostbite.  Soon e...

This gets complicated, stay with me. The Warungs across the street are open! Jimmy The Kid is the 3rd Dortmunder book.  Written by Donald Westlake.  Westlake wrote the incredible Parker series under the name Richard Stark.  You should read all the Stark books.  And, I assume I'll say the same about Dortmunder soon. The Ransom of Red Chie f is an American treasure by O. Henry. I set forth, alas without my phone.  But that is not really key to the story. Nural Tomyam has been closed but looked tempting.  When I saw signs they'd be open today I decided it would be a good place to try.  Tomyum is something I know from Thai restaurants.  It's the spicy lemongrass broth with yummies in it. Delicious and absolutely the best soup for a head cold.  I've passed enough places here to decide that Tomyam is the Malay spelling of it.  I've also seen signs for "Mee Celup."  Mee is "noodles."  As in "Mee  Goreeng" - fried noodles. ...

This is a condo building.  A mix of residents, Air BnBs, and timeshares.  And it's 12 miles from town.  Not the best for exploring.  But, simple, comforting (AC!!!), and relaxing (well, other than the noise at times.)  The local "warungs" (family owned restaurants and stores) don't seem to open much.  Not sure why.  Off season?  Holiday week (tomorrow is both a state and federal holiday)?  "The Tropics"? "Whatevies"?  Sometimes my choices are rather limited. Especially when I fear the heat (weather or yesterday's sambal...) and don't wander far. Sunday I started to wander a bit.  It continues.  Not fearlessly.  But at least happily. Sunday was a beach stroll to the south - the pill box photo.  And, a refreshing Mango Mojito.  Nope, not booze.  This place is dry generally.  Just carbonated water, lemon, and mango puree.  Pretty damn good.  Sorry, no photo - think peach colored fizzy water with ...

They're moving furniture upstairs at least 10 times a day.  Literally. The calls to prayer coincide with many of them. They're moving stuff to lay down prayer rugs. Duh. And, the mosque in this morning's picture is the source of the calls.  I heard it much more clearly when outside.  Echoes may have made it seem otherwise inside.  Or, I could just be an idiot.  Let's assume the later.

  I'm neither brave nor proud...but I am in possession of the chicken across the road! Tuna of some sort Tiny cockles and clams This is very close, but not in the direction that I hear the prayer calls. 2.25 miles in the morning heat. I was drenched.  And, hatless (foolish) - we'll see if that comes back to haunt me. Breakfast was at the kopitam - the folks across the street were all closed.  I'm not sure why.  But the coffee shop is pretty good.  Hot tea with nasi lemak is wonderful.  Today it was tea with lemon - even better!  So good I had two nasi.  And, They're not pyramids, they're tetrahedrons.   

There have been some fights as to whether I am "Boomer" (no, born in 1965, early X.)  But the difference between simply enjoying some bourgeoisie habits and objects is in no way, shape, or means the same as a greed driven jackass.  I am only a jackass. The last time I was in the Malay world, it was Singapore.   I stayed at the St. Regis.  It was luxee and bougie beyond belief.  I loved it  Simple wooden furniture.  A view of the guardhouse and parking ramp.  A surprisingly comfy bed but the couch is a wreck (so what, it sits just fine.) Simple, sufficient, and oddly satisfying. Alas, not quiet. Tile floors everywhere...   Someone walks down the hall - I hear every footstep.  And the odd rail-road like clickity-clack of rolled luggage crossing the grout. Housekeepers with carts and vacuums too. The folks upstairs have a serious propensity to drag the wooden chairs across the floor -- they just did  are doing it now - at al...

I believe this is the remains of a rather useless coastal defense pillbox the British had here.  (Saw them on a YouTube before I got here.)  The Japanese sunk 2 British warships in Kuantan at the start of WWII.  Surely time and tide have taken a toll.  But there's nothing that could be housed in that structure that could have stopped the planes that sank two warships.  Nothing.  Maybe we shouldn't pick on just the Maginot line. I think this may be what the Japanese used to attack the warships.  Mothra lives!  It's about 10-12cm across.  Pretty cool.  Just glad it was in a stairwell not my room.  

  Is that Mario dressed as one of the Three Amigos??? Or,... Mario as Father Guido Sarducci Whoever Mister Potato actually is, he makes good chips.