Making News in Northern Malaysia as We Revisited Our Past

It was much easier crossing the Thai/Malaysia
Border with just our Peace Corps ID in 1979

When we left Malaysia in September of 1980, we had no desire to return.  We had worked there as Peace Corps volunteers in Perlis, the northern most and smallest state, for over two years and gave it our all. We both liked and disliked our job in rural health and economic development. 

Perlis on the Thai border

And the same could be said for Malaysia. The extreme heat and humidity, the bugs, bureaucracy, language barriers, our lack of privacy and productivity, government policies toward ethnic Chinese and Indians, and rising Islamism started to wear us down. We didn’t sign up for an optional third year, but we went out on top with good feelings and accolades by our neighbors, colleagues, the governor, and the local rajah (sultan), and yes, Malaysia still has six of them.

So after three months of travel through Burma and India, we booted up our lives 2.0 back in the States. We started a business, raised a family, hosted exchange students, and immersed ourselves in the community of Salem, Oregon. When we became empty nesters, we started traveling with a vengeance, all over the USA and the world.

Our house in Kg Santan. Rent was $40 per month

Eventually, curiosity and Google Earth maps of Perlis got the best of us. McDonalds? 7-11s? KFCs? New Hospitals? Three universities? New parks and tourist attractions? Ten story hotels and office buildings? Shopping malls? A major reservoir? Two and three lane paved roads?  Laundromats and car washes? And where was our home in the village? So when we were looking for “neighboring”places to visit after our Bhutan trip, we decided, “Why Not?”

At first we were apprehensive. Like any favorite wilderness campsite or childhood hometown, we held a nostalgic view of Kampong Santan (our village), its people and environs, and even our old rundown office building in the capital city of Kangar. Will the people and places we knew still be there? We wouldn’t know until the morning after we arrived, and arriving is a story in itself.

Getting There

We flew from Chaing Mai, Thailand to Hat Yai, then took a 50-minute taxi ride from the airport to the border.  It just seemed too easy, until it wasn’t. The border was not set up for pedestrians, only for a daily train, tour busses and returning minivans of Malaysian shoppers. 

Familiar landmarks we could recognize in the dark

Eventually we were directed to an office, not an immigration podium. The Thai official had us sit at his paper-strewn desk as he carefully reviewed our passports. He eventually stamped them, pointed out the window and said “Malaysia down road.” Well, the curved road was about a 1/2 mile of barbed wire frontier to the Malaysian check point, and it was almost dark. 

I think they were both money changers. But through our rusty Malay (it’s MUCH better now), they called a friend in a nearby town to come and take us through the frontier, Malaysian immigration, an ATM, and to our hotel in Kangar, 45 minutes away. Turns out, he knew our former boss! He detoured briefly in a nearby village to pick up his wife and young son, because they wanted to have a meal in “the big city.” 

A very happy reunion over great food.

We finally met our Malaysian Chinese friend Moee Choo, who we had known back in the day, when she was a 24-year old administrative assistant and wife to a Canadian World Bank employee we had met at the raja’s birthday dinner. Now widowed, she drove up from Penang, and it was like we saw each other just last week. 

Surprises, Good and Sad

A former neighbor in a colorful
Sarong and kebeya

Our biggest shocks were two-fold:  1) all the new roads, buildings, and vehicles we had seen on Google Earth actually exist at “street level” (the good) and 2) all the Malay women and often very young girls wearing head scarves and frumpy black gowns (the sad). They used to wear colorful batik sarongs and flattering kebayas (blouses), but Perlis and Malaysia in general have become more religiously conservative. You can see some examples of how they used to colorfully dress in the photo link below.

Our old office building, now substantially upgraded.
We worked there mornings, then rode our Honda 70
To the villages in the hot afternoon.

Our old office area was closed, because it was Sunday. Forty-five years ago, Thursday afternoons and Fridays were the weekends. And because the retirement age for government workers is 58, we moved on as even the younger ones we knew are long gone.

Homecoming

We drove around, and the only really familiar landmarks were the geological limestone formations. Everything else was new, big, and disorienting—but impressive. We had difficulty finding our former kampong. But, armed with some photos we had printed out at home, we spotted the shape of the top of our kampong’s renovated mosque and entered on the now paved lane.

Where our old house was

Our old teakwood home was long gone as its termites and ants keeping it together stopped holding hands. But within minutes, people materialized, some our age, most younger.  They all remembered us—especially those who were teenagers at the time—but we struggled to remember them. 

Younger relatives of our landlords

All of the older people are long gone. We were invited in for tea and shared more photos. It was like we had never left; very fun and heartwarming. Our Malay came back quickly. Some of their children now live in either the US, the UK, or Australia, and get periodic visits from their Kg. Santan parents.

Making News

The kampong has a Facebook group page, dedicated to memories. It has 968 members, many who are scattered about Malaysia and elsewhere. The next thing we knew we were all over it with a few of the photos we gave them. 

Censored photo

We later added more of our digital photos, and so far there are over 500 likes plus many comments. They are having a blast trying to identify their younger selves or deceased aunts and uncles. However, one photo of Kathy cooking in the kitchen with her shoulders exposed was deleted!

A framed photo of us a neighbor
Had kept!

The Kampong’s Facebook memories group

The local newspaper picked up on our visit, and here’s the link. We  were the most interesting thing to happen to Kampong Santan back then, and today. In  fact, we were the only orang putihs (white people) we saw in two days throughout the state. Everyone wanted to know where we were from and why we could speak Malay. All were friendly and impressed that we paid for purchases and accepted change with our right hand supported at the wrist by the left hand (it’s still a habit with us).

It says “From America to Kampung Santan: Nostalgia 44
Years Ron and Kathy (Yes, Malay is a simple language!)

Economic Success

As we drove around, we were impressed by all the development that has occurred over the past 45 years. It was much cleaner, and we didn’t see poverty like before. Perlis is no longer the rustic pre-internet, pre-smartphone state it used to be.  But hey, that’s more than okay, and we are happy for the state and its denizens.  That’s what economic development is all about, although it does come with more sprawl, vehicles, traffic, and pollution. Were it not for the treacherous concrete open storm sewers and lack of sidewalks, I’d rate it almost a first world country.

Shuttered downtown Kangar. On street parking
Was eliminated so vehicles can blow through.

Unfortunately, the suburban air conditioned shopping centers of Perlis have had a detrimental effect on Main Street Kangar, just like they do on Main Street, USA. As we paid a visit to Albert Wong, a goldsmith we knew with a shop downtown, more than half of the shops and businesses were closed and for sale.

Penang 

Penang island, two hours south, is a boom town.  We used to take the ferry from Butterworth and enjoyed the quaint colonial architecture, and Chinese and South Indian vibe. It was our place for R&R and privacy. (Check out our before-and-after photos of the Swiss Hotel where we stayed for $2 per night). It now has two four-lane bridges and jaw-dropping residential high rises with many more under construction—at the expense of unique colonial and Chinese homes.

While there, one of the former teenagers from Kampong Santan reached out to us and we had coffee at a large shopping mall. He said we had inspired him to travel abroad, and he did.  He got his PhD in automotive design in the UK and just retired as a professor at Malaysia’s Technology University.  He showed up with his second wife, a PhD in textile design.  

Dr. Mohamad Hariri and Dr. Irma

It was a delightful conversation though we had trouble overlooking the younger second wife thing. The three of them get along well and it was fun visiting with them.

So Worth The Trip!

We are glad we came, if nothing else for the fabulous and cheap food. If we hadn’t, we would always have wondered how Malaysia—and Perlis in particular—changed.  We got to experience it before it was even at a crossroad, let alone in one.

At Kg. Santan

Our visit reminded us of our early marriage days and all we liked and disliked about Malaysia.  We had forgotten just how hot it gets here, even though there is much more air conditioning now than  back then.                                                                                   

Above all, it was so fun going down memory lane and reconnecting with  Moee Choo, our wonderful host, Penang guide, and friend from so long ago. It has been so fun learning about growing up in a poor Chinese family of 11 in Malaysia shortly after its independence from the British, getting through the 1965 race riots, and going through recent widowhood.

Bhutan—Our Happy Place

It is both luck and a privilege to travel to a country at its crossroads. We got to experience Nepal in 1977, Bali in 1979, and Thailand and India in 1980 before they went through massive transformations and became hot tourist destinations. 

We can now add Bhutan to the list—and declare it as perhaps the most favorite country we’ve ever visited out of about 46.

At the giant Buddha Point above Thimphu

Flying in from Kathmandu to Paro is quite an experience, both for the Himalayan mountain scenery and the dicey landing in Paro.  Only 50 pilots worldwide are certified to fly in and out of there.

The Paro airport from road to our hotel

A video clip of our landing in the narrow valley with a short runway is in the photo link below.  All that tension melted away when the immigration officer asked me “How was your flight?” She promptly stamped my passport, smiled, then said, “Enjoy Bhutan, Mr. Ronald.”

We were in a cohesive 11-person Road Scholar tour group for two weeks with Tim, our charismatic and humorous 38-year old Bhutanese guide, and Sonam, our skillful 20-passenger minibus driver.

Tishim (Tim) our guide

The amazing Sonnam

It often took six hours to cover 100 miles crossing several passes on narrow rough roads. But the time passed quickly through the beautiful mountains and serene valleys while Tim regaled us Bhutanese history and culture, and with stories of his youth as Bhutan was entering the modern world.  

Our two-week route, out and back.  The house icons are where we stayed for 2-3 nights. The knife and fork symbols in the upper left were the Tiger’s Nest near Paro, where we landed, departed, and stayed two nights.

A stupa and prayer flags

Countless Buddhist temples, stupas, shrines, monasteries, and prayer flags dotted the verdant countryside. Tim, a devout Buddhist, explained its belief system and demonstrated rituals as we entered holy places. “To understand Bhutan,” he said, “you have to understand Buddhism.”  He’s right, and I still don’t fully understand either.

Bhutan is so friendly and mellow! The people are reserved and polite. Drivers cooperate and don’t honk. Everyone aged 10-40 is fluent in English, and many older than that can also understand and speak it.

Friendly girls at a festival wanting to talk with us

It is relativity clean and litter free. Although we saw signs of new wealth, it wasn’t ostentatious, and we didn’t see the income gaps and poverty we recently saw in Nepal or Thailand. Or in the USA.  Beyond its mellow vibe, we got a sense of Bhutan’s cohesion, strong Buddhist faith, and national pride.  However, that comes with the price tag of conformity and sameness.

On our way back from a hike on Hwy #1,
The main road going east to west

Instead of GDP (gross national product) as a measurement of progress, Bhutan pioneered the GNH (gross national happiness) metric. We attended a lecture on the topic on how it is measured through surveys. It IS a happy place, and it was certainly our happy place in the two weeks leading up to the US elections.

Dochola Pass, elevation 10,000+ 
The Himalayas in the backkground

While Kathy and were playing cribbage in the small restaurant of our guest house in Bumthang, the Prime Minister came in and briefly chatted with us.  He wanted to know if Oregon was a blue state and if we had voted yet. He was very intrigued with our vote by mail system. Later the Home Minister came by. He was in Portland two years ago for a forestry conference.

Tourism is the second highest source of income (hydropower is first). Bhutan can go the path of many popular destinations that have become overbuilt and overrun with culturally insensitive tourists, party seekers, bargain hunters, and runaway development.  But I don’t think it will.

First, geography. It took us 23 hours of flight time, plus long layovers to get there. The narrow valleys and steep mountains prohibit jumbo jets. The nearest cruise port is Kolkata, 18 hours away by bus on torturous roads.  

The landlocked mountain kingdom of Bhutan

The altitude of Thimphu, the capital city in the center of the country is 8400 feet, but many of the sites and hikes are at higher elevations. It takes forever to get anywhere. We got farther east than 90% of most tourists do, but it took one week at a leisurely pace and we barely got past central Bhutan.  And by the way, our 20-passenger bus was the largest that the sometimes one-lane roads can accommodate. And we had to constantly make way for cows and dogs.

We each got a window, and turns to ride “shotgun”

Second, policy. Bhutan requires all visitors to either be on an organized trip or with private guides, which supports the travel industry in a labor-intensive way, promotes Bhutanese culture, and helps enforce temple etiquette.  And it discourages one from lying around the pool in the cool weather. Visitors must pay $250 per day to the tour operators/guide, but almost all charge more. The government takes $100 of that and applies it to health and education, some of which goes to traditional art training. Unlike Nepal, mountaineering isn’t allowed as the peaks are sacred places, home to gods and spirits.  Trekking, however is encouraged and abundant.

New hotel or apt. Under way in Thimphu
Note the bamboo scaffolding

Geography and policies aside, we saw a tremendous amount of new hotel construction underway.  Fortunately, all construction has to generally conform to traditional Bhutanese architecture and design. This supports local artisans that the government helped train. However, we were there at peak season, yet some of our hotels were only partially occupied. Is there a real estate bust in the making? Will the government loosen its policies to help fill them in the future? 

Bhutan isn’t for everyone. There are no bar scenes, beaches, or tobacco sales. But for uniqueness, culture, and beauty, this was our happy place and the trip of a lifetime that went by too quickly.  

What’s not to like?  Just two things:  the forgettable food and the feral dogs that barked all night long. (We made up for the food and the lack of sleep in noisy Thailand.)

We took a LOT of photos, but here a link to but a few that can give you a feel for Bhutan more than the above words. They are best viewed on something larger than a phone. About five photos and our route map were taken by fellow travelers, and all of our photos cannot convey the fun spirit of our group and the beautiful interiors of on the insides of the Dzongs (temples). Some rival that of European cathedrals.  My favorite photo/vido is at the end. Enjoy!

“What We Can, While We Can”

“What We Could, While We Could”

PS:  Bhutan update:

About the time this blog was published, CBS 60 Minutes aired a segment on Bhutan.  Very interesting, especially as it talks about its brain drain and the king’s efforts to create a “Mindfulness City” near the southern border to bring the educated young back home.  Here’s the link.

View from our room in Punakha

Tiger’s Nest view point, elevation 

10,240 feet

Road Tripping Around Iceland

Our last full day of road tripping. It was our first 
day without strong winds.

 If we were geologists, our happy place would be Iceland—in the summer at least.  Kathy and I are not, but still Iceland was nothing short of amazing, and we are glad we finally got to go there. We wish we had gone a few years ago before it was so crowded, even in the cold autumn. Through June of this year, visitors to Iceland increased 14% over the same period last year, and the years before it also had big increases.  It was a busy mix on narrow roads of tour busses, sprinter vans, and people like us renting small vehicles.

 

Simply Beautiful and Stunning

We were privileged to view this twice with
different lighting and clouds, as we missed
a museum sign and had to backtrack 13 miles.

But once we got on the northern side, it seemed rather lonely at times as we circumnavigated 1200 miles around the island over two weeks. The miles passed quickly, even at a 54-mph speed limit. There were so many places where we wanted to pull over and take a photo, or simply marvel at what we were seeing. But we couldn’t, hence, you’ll see a few windshield photos in the link below. We’ve never seen so many waterfalls in our lives, and stunning ones at that.  What wasn’t pastoral and green was “recent” geology in action, some of it reminiscent of the Columbia basin and Yellowstone. 

 

Wildlife

It was roundup time, so these were some of the few sheep we
saw that were still out and about before being herded into large
sheds for haircuts and warmth in the upcoming winter.

And unlike Yellowstone, about the only form of non-bird wildlife we saw were unique sheep, goats, and horses, all brought by the Vikings and protected by strict import controls. In fact, the estimated 800,0000 sheep population is double that of Icelanders, 60% of whom live in Reykjavik.  By the way, 20% of Iceland’s population are immigrants or guest workers from all over the world, mostly in construction and tourism. Iceland couldn’t pull it off without them.

 

Logistics

How did we (Kathy) plan this trip? We engaged an Icelandic company called Nordic Visitor. We gave them our parameters for costs, time, and activities.  They designed the itinerary, rented the car (complete with a robust WIFI hot spot), and booked the hotels for a reasonable price. We were on our own for food and entrance fees*.  After visiting family in the UK, we flew three hours on Icelandic Air from Heathrow. The flight home two weeks later was a miserable seven-hour flight, and we will never fly Icelandic air again!

 Geothermal and Hydro Power

A geothermal electricity and hot water plant we visited
outside of Reykjavik. The photo link includes a photo
of Kathy demonstrating the diameter of the hot water
pumps that surge through the buildings of Reykjavik.

One of Iceland’s delightful features is its geothermal pools and power production. Electricity is cheap and many cities and towns are heated thermally with piped in heat. Our hotel floors felt so nice on our feet, laundry dried quickly, and like many Icelanders, we slept with an open window on a cold windy nights with clean consciences. Interesting fact:  Iceland exports tomatoes! Their greenhouses are geothermally heated and lighted with cheap electricity. 

 Food

Note Kathy's expression after ingesting the shark meat, but before
a swig of the local brew to wash it down.  The post-drink photo
in the photo link shows her much happier.

The food was excellent! We took a five-stop walking food tour of Reykjavik and tried everything but the horsemeat. And we lived to tell about eating fermented shark meat, which tasted like ammonia. The
dinners at our isolated accommodations were date-night, Michelin Star quality, kind of like what you would see in The Bear Hulu series, with priority given to presentation and locally sourced food.  Not cheap! Even a small pizza and two wines for lunch could cost $50.

 

Northern Lights

The camera makes them look
impressive. This was the
most colorful one we were able
to photograph.

Yes, we got to see the Northern Lights.  But here's the secret--they look better in photographs. In real life shivering outside they look like streaky cloud formations. Our photos are not enhanced; otherwise, they would be more colorful.

Will We Return?

As amazing and beautiful it was, no. We’d do it in a heartbeat for the first time, but we have too many other priorities on our bucket list while we still can undertake this type of active trip. Maybe with better weather we would have hiked more, but the windchill factor made for some cozy times in the hotel, hot tub, or even in the car. Even the rental car agreement didn’t cover door-hinge damage caused by strong wind gusts!

 

Fjaorargljufur Canyon. Don't ask me
to pronounce it!

More Photos

Here is a link to more photos and some very short video clips. I have organized them in groups, starting with waterfalls, then geologic formations, glaciers, road trip scenery, Reykjavik, and food.  Enjoy!

 

What We Can, While We Can.

What We Could, While We Could

 

Pay to pee! Only tap accepted.

*Security cameras note your license plate coming and going into the parking lots of major tourist attractions to enforce the entrance fees, typically $7-15 via phone app.  We never once used any cash the entire trip.  Even the pay toilets cost $3-5, payable by Google or Apple Pay. (Note: another turnstile photo is in the photo link.)

PS:  It wouldn't be a post from the other side of the pond without a gratuitous photo of our four-year-old grandchild, Hazel.  We got to be there when she mastered her new bike and became a fearless speed demon. And we also got to walk her to her first day in public school kindergarten. What milestones!

"I'll race you down the hill, Grandpa!

"

Our 6,000-Mile Road Trip to See a Second Eclipse

 

Getting ready for four minutes of totality

Chances are, if you experienced one total eclipse, you wanted to see another one.  That’s what happened to us following the August 2017 total eclipse in Oregon. So last year at this time, Kathy spotted an opportunity to attend a 160-trailer Airstream rally in Greenville, OH to see the April 8 2024 total eclipse and immediately signed us up.

 

We could have attended other rallies, and the weather getting there in late March can be dicey (it was), and the odds of a clear day in Greenville weren’t that good either. But the campground at the fairgrounds had full hookups, it was close to the Airstream factory and three major museums: Armstrong Aerospace, the Wright Brothers, and the HUGE US Airforce which featured three Air Force Ones.  Photos of those places are in the photo link below.

Marcelene, MO, the hometown of Walt
and Roy Disney.

 In case weather blocked our view of the eclipse, we made up our minds that this trip was all about the journey with the eclipse as a bonus.  We traveled on backroads about 60% of the time, going through Midwest towns in decline, recovery, or doing just fine, thank you.  It seemed like every one of them had a museum.  (Fun fact:  there are more museums in the US than there are McDonalds and Starbucks combined!).  This was our fifth cross-country road trip since 2016, and it was nice to explore places we haven’t been before.

 

Willa Cather's hometown. After the museum
we downloaded 'O Pioneers, which perfectly
described the countryside we were driving through

Ten days later we arrived.  The sky cleared and we got a magnificent four minutes of totality to the tune of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon playing on someone's boom box. Unlike the Central Oregon one, we didn’t have hills and coniferous trees blocking the 360° view of twilight that seemed to last forever. Definitely worth the trip!

 

The amazing 360° dusk

This time sequence and the two dusk photos above are courtesy
of fellow Airstreamer Walter Lundahl from northern Ohio

Our trip home was longer, but not long enough.  We would have loved to have driven all the way from Nashville to Natchez, MS on the 404-mile Natchez Trace Scenic Parkway (see photo link) and spend more time in Utah.  But we had commitments back home.

Capitol Reef NP.  Europe has nothing like this!

 Besides the Natchez Parkway, our most surprises of the trip were in Arkansas.  First, it was beautiful. Second, the Walmart-funded Crystal Bridges art museum in Bentonville was probably the best art museum we have ever experienced in the US.  The third surprise –the Clinton Presidential Library--was more of a disappointment.  Unlike others we have visited, it was too policy wonky, and not enough about his childhood and how he became president. By that standard, even Andrew Jackson's hermitage outside of Nashville was more interesting.

One other surprise was how full the National Parks in Utah were. Most campgrounds had been booked months earlier, many by foreign tourists renting RVs.  We can’t blame them—Europe has nothing like the desert SW.

 Like all trips, it’s good to go, and very nice to be back home.  We’re enjoying our three-butt kitchen, queen bed, robust internet, and a beautiful spring.

 Here is a link to some photos.  But unlike in the past, this one is a brief slide show I recently made to the Mid Valley Travel Club with many of the photos labeled. Enjoy!

"What We Can, While We Can."

"What We Could While We Could."

Last evening of spring from our deck

 

First road bike ride of summer to the hills of Polk
County from the old Willamette River RR bridge in Salem