A right royal cover up!

We had decided to give the convention a miss on Monday morning, and take a trip by Tuk Tuk to see the Golden Buddha and the Grand Palace. Most Thais are Buddhist, a religion I don't really understand and must find out about, and there are many temples here and throughout Thailand. This one is one of the most famous, in a courtyard of Thai buildings, very well kept and of course teeming with Tourists and worshippers.

The temple itself was very impressive, built on three levels - it is the top level that contains the Buddha, an statue that is some 15 feet high, and over 700 years old. Made of pure gold, it weighs over 5 tons, and is worth some £30 million, and is the largest golden budda in the world.

As is the way in all tourist traps, there are many vendors about, and I take great pleasure in bargaining with one of them for a postcard pack for which she was asking 130 baht, (about £2-60) I offered 20, (40p) and after walking away a couple of times she sold it to me for that price. She was happy, she had made a profit, and I was, it was quite cheap by western prices.

So on to the Grand Palace, an impressive complex of royal residences and temples, surrounded by high walls, about 2000 yards square.

The Grand Palace was built in 1782, at a time when the country was rich and powerful, and contains many monuments including a depository for Buddist sacred scriptures inscribed on palm leaves, and a Royal pantheon which contains statues of past monarchs.

The King here is revered almost as a god, pictures of him are on almost every street, and talking to the people tells us that he is greatly loved.

The surrounding walls are covered with murals telling the story of the kingdom of Siam since well before Christ. However because of the number of tourists here  it is almost impossible to get a good picture- so you'll have to make do with the one below!

We were unable to take a photo of the Emerald Buddha, one of the highlights of the palace, as the guards in the Royal Monastery were watching carefully to make sure that we obeyed the rules, which included sitting in a way the one's toes did not point at the Buddha.
This is one of the most venerated sites in Thailand, people flock from all over to pray here.The Buddha is raised on a golden throne, and is clad in a costume that is changed three times a year according to the seasons. The changeover is presided over by the King himself.
The Buddha is carved from Jade and was discovered in 1434 in Chiang Rai, in the north of the country. On the walls of the chamber are murals depicting selected events from Buddha's life.

Thailand has many attractions of great antiquity, which are very well preserved and displayed. As we travel through the city and on the rivers we can see many of them, both ancient and some quite modern, but all beautifully kept. However, some of the other sights are a little less attractive, including how Rotarians on holiday dress when they are forced to cover up to in Royal Palaces! The things one sees when one hasn't got one's gun..........

Breaking the traffic laws- are there any?

Bangkok is a bustling city- the traffic here is horrendous. But at least they have tried to do something about the worst of it - travelling in from the airport was reasonably painless on the overhead motorways that have been built since my last visit here twenty years ago. But once you leave them, and go on the city streets for the latter end of your journey- it is a nightmare! Tuk Tuks, a three wheeled motorbike with two passengers in the back, are everywhere, as are taxis. But that is only part of the problem, lorries, overloaded pick-up trucks, motorbikes- millions of them.

Anyway- we're here, and on arrival we discovered that we are some 40 minutes (on a good day!) from the Convention site, even though it is mostly on toll motorways. So we decided not to go to register until the Sunday morning.

I will say little about the convention in this report, as I intend to do a fuller report for Norwest which I will include in another page of the blog.

The hotel we are in, the Twin Towers, is in Chinatown, a quite rundown area in the inner city, with no major  shopping close by, but a lot of the streets are lined with stalls, many selling food, but some selling clothing and the like.

 The Hotel itself is quite good, with a good swimming pool on the 5th floor, and four restaurants, Thai, Japanese, Suki and International. So they can cater for all tastes.

However we will be eating out mostly, and the first evening we joined the British for Supper at the Sheraton, a few blocks away, to which we travelled in a minibus and a taxi from the hotel. What we had not realised is that taxis and TukTuks are about a tenth of the price, but we are quick learners!

It was great catching up with a few people from RIBI that I hadn't seen for years, and although the food was mainly Thai, that I just can't take, we had a great time.

Sunday was mostly taken up with the Convention, the House of Friendship as always is very good, but we had to leave the opening session, which was only moderately good, early to get back to go on a dinner cruise with the guys. They had been allocated the earlier session, while we had the afternoon one.

Getting back to the hotel was a nightmare. I won't bore you with it- but it took us two hours ten minutes from leaving the session to the hotel, two minutes to change, and then in a tuk-tuk to go to the Shangri La hotel from where the boat was to leave. We had 15 minutes to get there, and would have done it, but for the dreaded Bangkok traffic. Despite driving in the wrong lanes, going the wrong way up one way streets, and breaking traffic laws left right and centre, we arrived just in time to see the boat leaving the jetty.

That's life! But the Maitre'D was very good, letting us have a meal in his hotel restaurant instead, an excellent buffet, while we waited for our friends to return.

Day two over- What will tomorrow bring?

Ipoh heritage.

Ipoh railway station was built in 1927, and replaced an earlier wooden building after the powers that be decided that the former was not grand enough for a town of the status of Ipoh. At that time, Ipoh was not even the capital, the British having decided that a smaller city some 75k north was better for them, and refused to transfer south. However, when the Japanese invaded in 1941 they made Ipoh the capital, so when they returned the British were presented with a fait-accompli.

An interesting clock tower was built in the centre in by the son of a British administrator who served here in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Apart from the clocks, which are not working at the moment, there is a frieze with eleven figures on each side, showing civilisation from BC to the early 20^th century. I said elevn on each side- in fact on the south side there are only ten, as the image of Muhammed has had to be painted out as Islam will not allow an image of their prophets to be shown. An interesting omission was that of Jesus, it was explained to us as he was crucified and had risen again he was not eligible!

A walk through the old part of the city with many descriptions of the happenings took us about two hours, our local guide would not use one word when ten would do, but mostly it was interesting, in particular the narrow streets where Ipoh was founded, mainly by the Chinese, in the 18^th century.

Lunch in the Royal Ipoh club was pretty good, three courses and coffee, overlooking a sports field where one could imagine the British playing polo or cricket in the afternoon after a big lunch. Built in 1895 at the height of the British Empire, the interior or the rules had been little changed since then, still very exclusive, we were only allowed in as Rashpal is a member there. We even had to change our shorts for long trousers!

After packing in the afternoon we had a final meal at a Chinese restaurant with our hosts, then home to bed for an early start in the morning to KL and Bangkok, it looks like being a long day tomorrow as we have an RIBI dinner in the evening after we have registered for the convention.

How the other half live!

Just half an hour took us to Kuala Kangar, the town where the Sultan and his family live in several palaces. Unfortunately, as the Sultan had just lost his favourite son a couple of weeks ago and was in mourning, we were unable to go into the palace, having to make do with a drive by which only gave us brief glimpses of it’s sumptuousness through the trees that surrounded it.

We did, however, get to see the mosque that the Sultan worships at, and the grave of his son, still under guard after the funeral. The outside of the mosque is really beautiful, while the inside is comparatively simple, consisting of a carpeted floor and not much else. We were obliged to remove our shoes and wear gowns to enter as we were in shorts, yet Julia was in a sleeveless top and not asked to add anything., which I found peculiar as I had always understood that female arms and shoulders had to be covered. Apparently not.

Onwards to what was for me the highlight of the day, the past president of the local Rotary club is the CEO of a firm that makes medals and any other presentation item that the state or the Sultan may wish to present to his guests, or to honour his subjects.

Most items are unique, one-off, and are designed in house and made by craftsmen on the premises, and we saw all the stages from the designing to the manufacture of many items.

 

 One in particular was a plate to honour the Girl Guide movement in Malaysia, which is 80 years old this year, and of course had the Guides insignia on it.

We saw the making of many medals, including the Malaysian equivalent of Knighthood medallions, many items of great value and beauty were shown to us and explained how they were made.

They also source from all over the world anything that the Sultan or his family may wish to have, and in the showroom we saw many of these items, including arms and body armour, uniforms, jewelry, and decorations.

We were unexpectedly treated to a lovely meal in the boardroom, given some small gifts to remember the visit by, which really are superfluous as I shall never forget the craftsmanship and hospitality that had been shown to us at the Mariwasa Kraftangan.

In the evening we were taken to Rashpal’s mother-in-law’s house for “pot luck”- quite common in Malaysia, where

everyone brings along a dish and perhaps some drink to a party. There would have been 50 or so of us there, a very pleasant evening of fellowship.

It’s a long way up.

Almost a mile actually, straight up! It took us almost two hours by bus to arrive in the village, a surprisingly large one, where we transshipped to two smaller minibuses in order to negotiate the narrow roads in the area. Our guide, Mary, was waiting for us, and drove us even further uphill to a tea plantation, BOH teas. There we learned how the tea is grown and processed actually on the mountain tops, we saw the cropping being done by hand and machine. Mile after mile of tea shrubs are planted here, around two feet high, and only the top two leaves are harvested every three weeks to make the tea.

The very best tea is higher in the mountains, and is picked by hand, and Anne swears that it is wonderful taken without milk. I don’t know about that….

I think they said they make tea for about 5 million cups every day here- a lot anyway.

Most of the outdoor workers are Bangladeshi and Indian, on five year contracts, and are not allowed home leave for the first three years. They live a little way down the valley in dormitory huts, looking after themselves, with a “Tesco” store in their little village itself. Their spiritual needs are well taken care of with a small mosque, a Hindu temple and a Christian church in the village, and their health is looked after in a clinic on site. So, apart from being away from their families for long periods, they are happy and healthy.

We witnessed the process of making tea- starting with the leaf drying, which takes place overnight under heat, to the rolling process which grinds the tea into smaller pieces, to the final sorting and drying, culminating in bagging to be taken down to the packing stations near KL.

Afterwards we enjoyed a lovely cup of tea and a scone, courtesy of Mary, while we watch the thunder clouds gathering over the mountains a short distance away.

Down to the village again to a butterfly farm- well, although there were many butterflies there it was more an insect and a reptile zoo. We were able to handle some if the snakes and lizards, as well as some of the larger insects.

It is amazing how these large insects are able to camouflage themselves, the stick insects, some 12 inches long, look exactly like the twigs they are attached to, and the leaf insect we would not be able to pick out ourselves had our guide not found them for us.

The colourful butterflies were all around us, some even settling on our clothing, a pleasant experience for the ladies and ourselves.

Lunch was taken in a golf club, where a choice of European and Malaysian food was available, not exactly brilliant but edible. As we ate the clouds gradually lowered until we could see nothing of the course below us, and as we had seen 4 golfers going out some minutes before wondered if they would ever be seen again.

Later we were taken to a Strawberry farm, where I enjoyed a large portion of fresh strawberries and cream- bang goes the diet again! But that was not the only item grown there- row after row of hydroponically grown lettuce of all colours, shapes and sizes were on show, with nutrient filled water running through their roots. While we were there the rain came down with a vengeance- it is amazing how much can fall in a brief period.

So- tired and happy we made our way back to the bus and back down from the mountains, slowly I might add as the road was tortuous and steep in places, took us some two hours to get back to Ipoh.

On arrival we were whisked off to a restaurant with president Sushil, John & Julia Mather  and Dr Majumber. A good meal again with a variety of options- I am very wary of the Malaysian dishes as many are curry or well spiced. So it’s European for me!

Rotary Fellowship

Its three hours from the airport to Ipoh by bus, the lads and lasses from the Uk were worn out after their twenty hour flight from Newcastle via Dubai, so we can’t blame them for catching up on some much needed sleep on the bus.

We are staying with Dr Madhuri Majumber, (Dato), an impressive lady of almost eighty who is a dermatologist among other things. She still works, treating patients and teaching her specialty, but she also looks after mental health patients, is president of their society, president of the children’s association, and involved with the local RSPCA.
I don’t know how she finds time for Rotary, as she also travels all over the world to seminars about her specialty and mental health- she has been away four times already this year!.

She has the Malaysin equivalent of a Knighthood, as well as numerous other awards, including one awarded just the previous night, "A Woman of Inner Beauty".
There are those in life that make a difference with everything that they do - the Doc is one of them.

She has a lovely house, in a beautiful garden, with a cook and an outside boy, as well as a couple of maids. So we are well looked after!

 But there was no rest when we got to Ipoh- the club’s weekly meeting took place just one hour after arriving, so it was a quick shower and change.

As always the fellowship in the club was tremendous, we were welcomed by all with a handshake and a hug. It was great to meet everyone again, to chat about our adventures and to hear what the club had been doing since our last visit in August.

Workington President John Mather gave an address after dinner- about the links between 1190 and Greentown club, and as it was his first visit Roger presented a banner.

A fairly early night was in order, even we were wilting with the heat and humidity, much worse here than in KL. Fortunately our room has aircon- so we were very comfortable.

The following day was a bank holiday here- May Day, so this morning we were up and out at 9am for a special ceremony in the park.

In Centennial year,2005, the club planted 44 trees in the park to provide shade for picnics, and as the old sign had deteriorated over the years it was appropriate to make a new one, and the two presidents unveiled it in a short ceremony. Afterwards we walked to another part of the park where the President Sushil and John jointly planted a tree to commemorate our visit. Almost all of the Greentown club and their partners were there, and after a short walk round the park, in which there were many children and their parents enjoying the holiday, we retired to an area where we enjoyed an al-fresco brunch under the trees.

Once again, the fellowship was superb, this club really knows how to lay on a spread!

A restful afternoon was followed by an outing to the state hall, where 600 people were gathered to enjoy an Chinese vegetarian dinner, and Indian dancing. Dr Madhuri is a patron of the local Hindu temple, and this evening funds were being raised for a new temple devoted to the poor in Ipoh. The food was surprisingly good for me, I have great problems with local food here, the spices and seafood etc, so I was delighted that I was able to eat most of the dishes.

Being on Dr Madhuri’s VIP table I was seated beside a former first minister of the state, who I found very interesting to talk to. He told me details of the Temple and it’s works, and we discussed his present job of senior advisor to the present first minister. He was interested in what we are doing here and our trip to the convention, and indeed our Australian adventure.

The entertainment for the evening was Indian music, dancing and singing, which, I have to admit, I would have been bored to tears with ten years ago. However it was extremely enjoyable, the dancing in particular, and although it was a late finish we were both very happy to be able to witness how the Malaysians go about raising funds for their religious buildings.

To bed- an early start tomorrow for the Cameron Highlands, a full day.

I can't be perfect always.

Brisbane Airport – 8pm Friday. Arriving at the check-in desk for the 11-20 flight to Kuala Lumpur (KL) we were told we could not be found on the system. Of course, we have no paperwork, everything we do is by computer and we cannot carry a printer to print out itineraries as we would do at home- so we have to fire up the computer to look at the details- which takes time. Horror of horrors- we were there on the wrong day- booked for Saturday, not Friday. Of course it can’t be my fault – must be the computer has done it wrong…..

After going on bended knee and pleading poor English pensioners the booking lady took pity on us and transferred our flight to the Friday. (It might have been that the Friday flight was almost empty!) Having kissed her feet and swore undying love we slinked away to join the flight.

Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea after all- we had a screaming kid just in front of us- she screamed for an hour shortly after I dropped off, so I had no choice but to don the ear-phones and watch a film. Little b****r- should have been drowned at birth.

It’s a long way- 8 hours flying and two hours time difference, so it was two tired bodies that made it to KL. The airport is 50+k away from the centre, a taxi job, just £15 ($22) so not expensive at all. Took about three quarters of an hour, but when we got there they gave us a room right away so we could recover.

The Istana is a lovely hotel, 23 floors right in the heart of KL, with a great swimming pool in the garden, and the staff are so helpful.

A couple of hours sleep and a swim to wake us up got us back on our feet, so we took a walk to Suria KLCC, a large mall underneath the Twin Towers, KL’s famous landmark building. As expected it contained all the store names that are found worldwide in every large mall- including Marks & Spencers! Not a good start.

We would have liked to take a tour of the Colonial District but were warned off- apparently a riot was taking place there with some 400,000 students protesting about electoral reform, we believe there were 800 arrests and many broken heads. Made the world news it did. So that was out.

Same the next day, although the riot was over the police were still restricting access so we had no alternative but to go to the Central Market and Chinatown. For shopaholics like Anne ( and myself  but we won’t mention that) it was heaven. Shoes for £5, shirts for $7, dresses for a similar amount- bargains to be had all round. A very full day if you include a couple of hour’s swim and tea round the pool!.

Of course now we are overweight for traveling on- hmm- I really must get Anne trained to pack lightly…..

Due to meet Patricia at lunchtime on the Monday, we had half a day to go to the Batu Caves. 13k north of the city, it is a huge Hindu cave complex , their principal place of worship in the area. The central temple cave is reached by a flight of 272 steps, which ascends beside a 43m tall statue of Lord Subramanium, the patron deity..

Getting up there is one thing- at least we are fit and could make it with a couple of stops on the way up. We passed a young man ascending on his knees, we are unsure whether he is crippled or making a penance, it seems the Hindus do this sort of thing in thanks for deliverance from serious illness or the like. He was still only two thirds of the way up as we came down.

There are monkeys in the caves, they bite and rob unsuspecting pilgrims of anything they can get their hands on. We had been warned by our driver.

I have to say that the shrine was a little disappointing, I didn’t really know what to expect but the outside looked better than it did in- apart from the stalactites, which were quite impressive.

It had been fairly easy going up- but just to look at the steps going down gave me vertigo.

I had to hang on to the rail, and as there was just one in the stair’s width of some twenty feet it was a fight with the people coming up!

Anyway, back to collect our luggage, and off to the railway station to meet Patricia, then to Kl airport to meet the chaps from Workington and Accrington. There will be a party of 14 of us from the UK, initially making our way to Ipoh to be hosted by the Rotary Club of Greentown, then on to Bangkok for the convention, and beyond for more fun and frolics!