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S O U T H A T L A N T I C I S L A N D S
o f
S A I N T H E L E N A a n d T R I S T A N D A C U N H A
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M A L A Y S I A / S I N G A P O R E / I N D O N E S I A
C A P E T O W N, S O U T H A F R I C A
2 0 0 0 / 2 0 0 1
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This travelogue is for a trip taken December 22, 2000 - February 10, 2001
to the South Atlantic Islands of St. Helena and Tristan da Cunha, as well as
parts of Malaysia, Singapore, Pulau Bintan (Indonesia), Cape Town (South
Africa) and a sail-by of Gough Island.
The opinions expressed within are my own, and the information is subject
to change with the passage of time.
Rates quoted are in the local currency of the country being discussed,
though often the US$ equivalent is also noted. The approximate exchange
rates in effect during my trip were as follows (for one US$):
Malaysian Ringgit: 3.80
South African Rand: 7.50 - 7.90
St. Helena Pound: 0.68
Tristan da Cunha: 0.68
Note: the St. Helena Pound is tied to the British Pound, and the
British Pound is used on Tristan da Cunha and on the RMS St. Helena.
@1=US$1.47 / US$1=@0.68
Singapore Dollar: 1.72
Indonesia Rupee 9,288.00
The general country-by-country breakdown of the travelogue is as follows:
Malaysia: Dec. 24 - Dec. 27, Feb. 1 - Feb. 4, Feb. 8 - Feb. 10
South Africa: Dec. 27 - Jan. 1, Jan. 17, Jan. 30 - Feb. 1
Onboard the RMS: Dec. 30, Jan. 1 - 5, Jan. 12 - 17, Jan. 18 - 23,
Jan. 25 - Jan. 30
St. Helena: Jan. 5 - Jan. 12
Tristan da Cunha: Jan. 23 - Jan. 25
Singapore: Feb. 4 - Feb. 8
Indonesia: Feb. 6
(plus a Gough Island sail-by on Jan. 26)
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THE ISLANDS... TAKE TWO
For quite some time now, I've always wanted to visit the islands of
Tristan da Cunha and St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. I'm not sure
why exactly -- and though I certainly had more than enough opportunity to
think up a clever reply to the question with all the times it was asked, I
suppose the answer is simply that I have always been curious about what life
is like on remote islands. Most of my fellow travellers aboard the British
Royal Mail Ship RMS St. Helena had specific purposes for visiting the
islands: interest in Napoleon (who died in exile while on St. Helena),
botanists interested in endemic flora or fauna, journalists writing stories
for various South African magazines, or people simply visiting family or
friends. I had none of that though, and for better or worse, decided to
approach this trip with a fresh mind and only a minimal amount of pre-trip
research. On one level, this meant that I perhaps didn't know every
interesting fact about a place, but it also allowed me a clean slate,
without having in my head old, inaccurate accounts of life on these islands.
One important thing to note is that the impressions conveyed in this
travelogue are that of a short-term visitor, and should be viewed as such.
By no means am I an expert on these countries, nor do I pretend to be. With
such a limited amount of time, I had a chance only to scratch the surface of
these fascinating places, and the views and opinions expressed in this text
are nothing more than my own personal thoughts -- which are of course
completely subjective. Though a travelogue can only hope to represent a
brief slice of time at a particular place, I hope that through these pages I
can give the reader a feel for what it was like to pay a visit to these
interesting little corners of the world.
My trip this year was really the conclusion of a trip started last year:
in 1999/2000, I booked passage on board the RMS with plans to visit not only
St. Helena and Tristan da Cunha, but Africa as well (as the RMS stops in
Cape Town). However six weeks before I was to leave, the ship's crankshaft
broke off the coast of France, causing Curnow Shipping to delay its St.
Helena sailing (ultimately having to rent an alternate vessel) and cancel
the Tristan da Cunha trip altogether. Deciding to postpone the islands for
the following year, I wound up having almost three months to explore Africa
in 1999/2000... and finally making it to St. Helena and Tristan da Cunha
this year, I was also able to see a bit of Malaysia and Singapore as well.
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Dec. 22/23/24: Los Angeles / Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
The day started early at 6:00am — not with travelling, but with a full day at home.
My Malaysian Airlines flight wouldn't be leaving LAX until 11:35pm, but with so much to do
before being away for seven weeks, I had a full, non-stop day.
Arriving at LAX in the evening, I found myself waiting in a line typical for a holiday
period, but once checked in, I had plenty of time to walk around and explore the Tom
Bradley International terminal. Upstairs, I stumbled upon the internet kiosks on the upper
level... though they're no longer free (there's now a 10c/min charge), back in December, if
you looked at an ad for 30 seconds, you were given 10 minutes of free web surfing time —
and if you just kept the cursor moving, you didn't even have to look at the ad. For 20
minutes I was able to check my temporary web-based email account (making sure it was
retreiving messages forwarded from my shell account) and look up the weather forecast for
Kuala Lumpur: hot, with thunderstorms. Soon it was time to board, and with it being the
holiday season, the line to enter the gate area stretched the entire length of the terminal.
My flight this year was on Malaysian Airlines, and while they don't quite reach the
standards of a top-tier carrier such a Singapore, they're not a bad choice. Malaysia's in-
flight entertainment system is quite good, with each passenger (even in economy class)
having their own LCD TV, with a choice of 11 video channels as well as Super Nintendo
video games (though most of the controllers had been worn to the point where they no
longer worked). By taking MAS I was also able to stopover in Malaysia (something I very
much wanted to do), but the one drawback was the amount of time spent on board various
aircraft: just to get to Cape Town meant a routing of LAX - Taipei - Kuala Lumpur -
Johannesburg - Cape Town — and as we took off a half-hour late at midnight, the pilot
announced that due to strong headwinds, we'd need to stop in Japan as well to re-fuel.
It would be 11hrs 30mins to KIX (Osaka, Japan) where we'd make our unscheduled
stop to re-fuel, but I passed the time by watching various movies — including an interesting
Japanese one called "Space Travellers", about three guys robbing a bank who borrow names
from a ficticious anime series (many of the bank employees and customers wind up joining
them in the charade, though in the end it eventually goes bad). At 5:00am local time we
landed in Osaka to refuel for 70 minutes, and as we left to continue onto Taipei, the horizon
was just starting to show some light.
2hrs 45mins later in Taipei, we were allowed to disembark the plane and walk
around the airport for an hour. At the duty-free shop, I bought a telephone card (US$3.50)
to make some quick calls home and a Coke (US$2) and slice of cake at the restaurant. After
an hour it was time to re-board the aircraft, though once onboard there was an hour delay,
as the bags of two passengers who didn't return had to be found and removed.
The flight from Taipei to Kuala Lumpur was an additional 4hrs 20mins, but during
the flight I had a chance to peruse a local KL newspaper... some of the stories making news:
it's now the Hari Raya period (the end of Ramadan when many people take a holiday), and
an article urged people leaving the city to visit their hometowns to secure their homes
against theft... in recent school tests, English proficiency has gone down (Malay is the
country's official language), and another article urged readers using ATMs to keep alert for
people wearing helmets nearby, as there has been a lot of ATM crime with robbers getting
away on motorbikes...
Finally landing at KLIA airport in Malaysia, I approached the 24hr tourist information
counter for some maps and information, and received the first taste of Malaysia's cold-
shoulder attitude from the two Tourism Malaysia ladies (wearing traditional Muslim scarves)
behind the counter. This cold shoulder was surprisingly consistant with every Malay
Tourism official I encountered, and perhaps someone should remind them that if they want
to encourage tourism (as their brochures claim), they definitely need to change their
attitude.
This demeanor isn't just prevalant with Tourism Malaysia officials though — it seems
to be the general attitude of most Muslim Malays in the country. Thinking this first
encounter was just an abbaration (as I never felt such a cold shoulder in any other Muslim
country), I didn't give it much thought (except to wonder how they were given jobs in the
tourism sector) — but I soon began to see that this cold disposition is typical of the
country's Malay population, and is in stark contrast to the much friendlier attidute of
Malaysia's Chinese and Indian population. Later in the trip, I felt none of this coldness from
Muslims in Singapore or Indonesia, yet only once (on my very last night) did I ever feel
anything but coldness from Muslim Malays. In Febrary there was an article in a local
English-language paper about an organization boycotting American companies due to the
US' support of Israel, listing many of the boycotted companies and giving out the boycotting
organization's address and phone number as if it was a paid advertisement instead of a
news article — so perhaps there is a bit of anti-American sentiment in the country, but if I
stop to politely ask someone on the street for directions, how does that person know I'm
American and not German or Canadian? As much as I hate to write something like this, I
would be omitting an important observation if I didn't — for throughout my time in Malaysia
there was a clear, consistant difference in attitude between local Muslim Malays and their
Chinese and Indian neighbors.
After picking up a tourist map, I withdrew some local money from an ATM so I could
buy a telephone card. One important thing to note is that phone cards sold at the airport do
NOT work on phones outside the airport and are pretty much a waste of money. Making
things even more inconvenient, normal Telekom Malaysia cards aren't sold anywhere inside
KLIA. Not knowing this however, I bought two cards (MR20/US$5.26 each) at the nearby
shop — and though I eventually used them on subsequent trips to the airport, they were
virtually useless for my stay in Malaysia.
KLIA is a large, new airport... you must take an automated "Aero Train" from one
terminal to the other (where baggage claim/immigration is located), and seeing the cloudy
weather and wet ground outside during the short ride, I knew I'd be needing my umbrella
later. While reading the local newspaper on board the plane, I found a quote from a recent
letter-to-the-editor in which the reader complained that it took over an hour for him to get
his bags at KLIA. The paper then published a response from MAS disputing his claim, so I
thought I'd time it myself today to see how they did... sure enough, it was indeed slightly
over one hour from the time the bags were being unloaded off the aircraft to the time they
rolled down onto the carrosel (even the flight attendants were waiting) — and my student
violin (which I had checked in with a "FRAGILE" sticker) now had a collapsed bridge (I fixed
it right there in baggage claim, but it wasn't reassuring).
KLIA is located far from downtown Kuala Lumpur, and with no light rail yet
connecting the airport to the city (it's currently being built), the only real choice other than a
taxi is the Airport Shuttle bus, at RM25/US$6.58 each way (a price average for other world
cities, but expensive for Malaysia). The bus takes you from KLIA to a half-way terminal,
where you transfer to a smaller van to take you into the city.
Just minutes after the bus pulled away from KLIA, the rain began falling — so hard
and heavy that motorcyclists were taking shelter under bridges until the rain passed. From
KLIA into town there's very little to see: palm oil plantations, some open spaces with weeds,
and new cookie-cutter housing tracts with row after row of identical townhomes. People
drive on the left in Malaysia, and seem to be extra cautious on the toll expressway — though
once on normal city streets, drivers here are just as crazy and reckless as the rest of Asia.
As we approached the hotel the rain stopped, and for the next few days in Kuala Lumpur,
the weather seemed to follow the same pattern: clear morning skies, cloudy afternoons, and
rain from around 3:30pm-6:00pm.
Tonight, I'd be staying at the "Seasons View" hotel on Jalan Alor ("Jalan" means
"street"), one block in from the expensive shopping area of Jalan Bukit Bintang. A great
location, Jalan Alor is walking distance to the fancy shops and hotels on Jalan Bukit
Bintang, and every night between 6:00pm-6:00am the street comes alive with hawker food-
stalls, making it (along with Chinatown) one of the best places to come for dinner. There are
a handful of low-cost hotels along Jalan Alor (it's not that long of a street), but the only two
worth looking at are the Seasons View and the slightly-more-expensive Hotel Nova down the
street. Both are good places to stay, and while I stayed at the Seasons View at the start of
my trip, I opted for the Hotel Nova at the end just to try someplace different.
The Seasons View is a small, relatively new (1998) boutique hotel that's Malaysian-
Chinese run, with most of the guests also being Malaysian-Chinese. I found out about it by
stumbling across a Japanese-language web page on inexpensive area hotels
(http://lovebagus.net/hotels/jalan_alor.html), though there is also a special page with
pictures on the Seasons View itself: (http://lovebagus.net/hotels/seasonsview.html). The
place is cheap and clean, and all rooms have air-con, color TV, and an in-room tea/coffee
set. The hotel uses a computerized reservation system, so a few weeks before leaving on my
trip, I decided to call up and book a room (as it often fills up if you don't book in advance).
There are a few different types of rooms available (including nice ones with balconys
overlooking Jalan Alor), but I opted for the cheapst: Room #215 in the middle of the building
near the elevator — it has no windows, but it also meant I wasn't bothered with street noise
at night. The price with breakfast was RM63++ (which equals RM72/US$18.95 when taxes
are added), but if you stay at least three nights, the price comes down to RM68/US$17.89
per night including all taxes and breakfast (there's also an RM40 "day rate" according to the
sign outside). Though I'd need to leave for the airport at 10:00pm on the 26th, I thought it'd
be nice to have a place to shower and relax in before the flight, so I decided to reserve the
room for three nights instead of two. Walking into the Seasons View room that evening,
there was a buzzing noise coming from the bathroom — so I went down to ask if I could have
another room. Telling me they were fully-booked for the night, the receptionist sent a man
upstairs to fix the noise (the bathroom ceiling fan just needed to be tightened), and
everything was fine.
After setting my bag down, I decided to go out for a walk down Jalan Bukit Bintang.
The rain had stopped, and at 5:30pm on December 24th, there were plenty of of foreigners
out walking around the area, with its Planet Hollywood, Marriot Hotel, and trendy shops and
restaurants (many advertising special Christmas Eve dinners). As well, plenty of local young
Malaysians were busy shopping and hanging out, with the streets quite crowded. At one
outdoor restaurant, employees wearing Santa hats were listening intently to their boss give
them instructions, and the stores along the street were full of Christmas decorations and
sale banners, even though Malaysia is predominantly a Muslim country. Walking into the
Marriot, I tried to take the elevator up for a look at the street below, but as a key-card is
required past the 6F, I decided the view wouldn't be worth any further effort. Besides the
area's fancier restaurants, there are more modest choices as well (from KFC to the food
courts in the large malls, where chicken & rice was going for RM3.80/US$1), but I opted to
wait for the Jalan Alor food stalls to open, as such stalls usually have better food.
In the area are some large shopping malls, including BB Plaza and Lot 10, as well as
plenty of smaller choices. There are a couple of "factory outlet" shops selling apparel
overruns, though their prices are pretty much the same as what you'd pay in the US for
such items (in fact, many of the clothes carried Mervyns and GAP labels on them).
While apparel is no cheaper than low-cost shops in the US (and more expensive than
neighboring Singapore), the one area where Malaysia is a shopper's paradise is in the
bootleg intellectual property arena: pirate music CDs, Video CDs (VCDs), DVDs, and
computer CD-ROMs are everywhere — not just at the outside markets, but in bright, well-lit
shops in the large shopping complexes all over the country (VCD — or "Video Compact Disc"
is a common video format in Asia which uses older MPEG-1 technology for a picture quality
about the same as VHS tape. Though the format is not popular in the US, many DVD
players can play VCD discs). The fact that these bootleg items are sold so openly is
surprising, but unlike Singapore or Hong Kong, the authorities in Malaysia do nothing to
stop it. In fact, there was a recent (confusing) newspaper article about piracy of CDs and
VCDs in Malaysia, quoting a Trade Enforcement deputy-director saying "we cannot have
laws to stop the public from buying pirated products" — before mentioning some recent
raids which have taken place. If the authorities were serious though, the bootlegs would be
found only in quiet street markets, not in dozens of high-profile shops at just about every
fancy shopping mall in the country. Below are excerpts from the article:
The local entertainment industry lost an estimated 60%, or RM300
million (US$78.9 million) out of last year's half-billion ringgit
market for CDs and VCDs to profiteers and pirated products. This has
prompted the industry to launch another nationwide campaign through
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Sri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi against pirated
products at Dataran Merdeka on Feb. 23. Domestic Trade Enforcement
deputy director-general Abdul Rahman Ghazali said full cooperation
from the general public is still needed to weed out illegal producers.
"We cannot have laws to stop the public from buying pirated products,
and the best approach is to educate and reason with them the
undesirable long-term effects of doing so," said Rahman. "We have
come to know that pirated products are most popular during festive
seasons. This has encouraged their makers to take advantage of the
festivities, and we are forced to increase checks during these
periods" ... He said major urban areas like Penang, Ipoh, and Klang
Valley remained top targets for illegal profiteers making quality
copies of originals, with poorer makes sold in rural areas and states
like Sabah and Sarawak. Rahman was speaking at a news conference on
the latest seizures made by his department, together with the
Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM) general manager,
T.S. Lam. Rahman said recent raids showed that illegal producers are
able to make pirated discs from homes and in luxury apartments, and no
longer in factory-type premises, using compact duplicating equipment
and stick-on labels...
The prices of these bootleg products varies depending upon where you shop and how
hard you bargain, but the general asking prices are: RM10/US$2.63 for a music CD, RM6-
RM10 (US$1.58-US$2.63) for pirate CD-ROMs (including ones with multiple programs such
as Adobe Photoshop 6.0, Microsoft Office, and Windows ME on the same disc), and RM6-
RM7 (US$1.58-US$1.84) for VCD videos of the latest Hollywood movies — available on
bootleg VCD literally only days after they've premiered in US theatres (in fact, most places
selling VCD movies display a list of the past week's Top-10 US box office — with the titles all
available for purchase on pirate VCD for RM6-RM7). There are legitimately-licensed VCDs of
course (usually in the RM10-RM35 price range, often with stickers urging people not to buy
pirated goods), but the vast majority of people just buy the bootlegs — and with VCD players
selling for as little as RM199/US$52.36, the format remains popular. Though VCD is still
the format of choice for Asia, pirate all-region DVDs are starting to appear as well, going for
RM20/US$5.26, though the selection of DVD movies isn't nearly as large and up-to-date as
VCDs.
After buying a large soft-serve cone at McDonald's (RM1.50/US39c for a large,
RM1/US26c for a small) I wanted to make a phone call, but finding a working card phone in
Malaysia is something easier said than done, as most are usually broken. Finding one
inside the Federal Hotel, I soon realized that the cards I bought at KLIA wouldn't work on
phones outside the airport, though one of the staff at the hotel mentioned I could buy
normal cards at a 7-11. Walking back to the 7-11 on Jalan Alor (across the street from the
Seasons View), I was told they were sold out — so I walked into another nearby shop where
the Chinese cashier sold me a "Time Kontact" phone card.
"Time Kontact" is a private company which sells disposable scratch-off cards where
you dial a toll-free number (1-800-182-661) and enter your card's number to place the call.
Available in different amounts, I first bought a RM20/U$5.26 card to try (minus 5% tax, it
had RM19 worth of calls), and even with problems in reaching Time Kontact's network from
time to time, they were still more reliable than the constantly-broken card phones on the
street — and as Time Kontact would work from coin phones as well, I wound up going
through quite a few of the cards. Upon first trying to use them that evening though, I kept
receiving a "Sorry, all lines are busy" recording... so when someone told me that the
newsstand next to the KFC sells "normal" Telekom Malaysia phone cards, I went over to buy
one. At first the Indian guy there thought I wanted to buy another "Time" card, but after
explaining to him that I wanted to buy a Telekom Malaysia card, he sold me one for
RM10/US$2.63. Finally stumbling upon a working card phone, I tried to call my brother
overseas — only to receive a recording saying "sorry, that number is not recognized."
Dialing slowly, I eventually did get through, though Telekom Malaysia card phones are
almost always broken in one way or another — and some (on purpose or by accident) block
calls to Time Kontact's 800 access number.
After walking around Jalan Bukit Bintang for a while, I returned to the hotel at
8:00pm to drop the camera off and look around Jalan Alor. Most of the food stalls along the
street stay open late — with some staying open throughout the night. The stalls were
already quite active, and at around 8:30pm, bootleg CD/VCD tables were being set up as
well (with "The Emperor's New Groove" and "Unbrekable" already for sale). Jalan Alor has
"normal" restaurants as well as the portable food stalls, and deciding to try a few different
things, I ordered two pork baos (RM0.90/US24c) from a stall as well as six pieces of Dim
Sum and chicken-rice from the "One Plus One" restaurant (RM7.50/US$1.97). Sitting down
at an outside plastic table to relax for the first time in 48 hours, I took out my journal and
began jotting down some notes in it between bites.
At 9:55pm I walked back to the hotel room and turned on the TV while washing
clothes in the shower. Looking at the TV listings in the newspaper, it seems that Malaysia
takes their TV ratings seriously: "U"=general viewing for all ages, "18SG"=for 18+ with non-
excessive violent/horrifying scenes, "18SX"=for 18+ with non-excessive sex scenes,
"18PA"=for 18+ with political/religious/counter-culture elements, and "18PL"=for 18+ with a
combination of two or more elements.
Leaving the clothes to dry in the shower, I went to sleep at 11:30pm — the end of a
very long day.
Misc. observation: many bookstores in Malaysia have Japanese manga (comics) for
sale in both Chinese and Malay editions (two I happened to notice were "Doraemon" and
"Chibi Maruko-chan").
Dec. 25: Kuala Lumpur
Waking up around 5:00am to the faint sound of morning prayers (I'm glad I had a
room without windows), I went back to sleep until 7:40am when the alarm went off. Going
downstairs for the included breakfast at 8:00am, I was asked to wait 10 minutes as they
were just getting ready, but returning a few minutes later, the eggs were already cold (you're
offered either a western or local breakfast — I chose western, which included two eggs,
toast, a slice of meat, some baked beans, and tea).
It was a beautiful clear morning (though hot and humid), and by 8:40am I was out
walking towards Chinatown. Most shops were still closed, but the area certainly looked
promising for later exploration. Continuing onto the Central Market, the shops there were
closed as well (the guard said they would open at 10:00am), so I decided to head to the
eastern end of the city where the museums and parks are located.
Arriving at the National Mosque first, I had a look inside (being given a black robe to
cover my inappropriate clothing — I was wearing shorts). It's large, modern, has a pool
around the building, and tour groups were already flowing out from their buses en masse to
have a look.
From the Mosque I walked over to the Deer Park, but the entrance gate was locked.
A sign mentioned the opening time was 10:00am on public holidays (Christmas is still
considered a public holiday in Malaysia), but even though it was just about 10:00am and I
could hear a radio blaring from down below somewhere, the gate was still shut. Deciding to
return later, I walked to the nearby Orchid Garden. Free most days (but RM1/US26c on
public holidays), I paid my RM1 and had a quick look around. It's nice enough, but nothing
special, so after a few minutes, I returned back to the Deer Park at 10:15am, where the
guard finally came by to open the gate. Admission is free, and for RM0.50/US13c you can
buy 5 slices of bread to feed the deer and rabbits with. Though small, the park is a nice
idea, and the tame deer are more than willing to approach you in hopes of receiving some
food (a Chinese family with a young boy was having fun feeding the deer that morning).
Bird Park is nearby, but as it has an entrance fee of RM5/US$1.32 and a "camera"
fee of RM2/US53c, I wasn't sure whether or not to bother with it. Asking three Americans
leaving the park if it was worth it, their reply was "if you like birds it is" — so I had a look.
The park is quite large with many different areas covered with overhead netting to keep the
birds in while giving them more space, and plenty of species from peacocks to flamingos to
pelicans to storks roam the grounds. Though I'm not really all that interested in birds, the
park was enjoyable nonetheless, and if birds are one of your hobbies, you can definitely
spend a lot more time here than I did (one bird in a cage even volunteered a "Hi!" and a few
cat-calls as I walked by). Leaving the park, I passed the Americans I had talked to earlier
(an older couple from South Carolina with their mid-30s daughter), who asked if I enjoyed
the park. Walking with them to nearby Butterfly Park, we chatted for a bit: the daughter
has been working at a hospital in Saipan, and the parents had come over to meet her in
Malaysia.
Butterfly Park is quite nice (RM10/US$2.63 with camera fee), having not only large
display areas catagorizing different types of butterflies, but a large enclosed area complete
with pond, where plenty of butterflies flitter around. With both astethic and scientific
aspects available here, most people will find it worth their while.
After looking around Butterfly Park, I left to continue on my own. With it being so
hot and humid this morning I had a suspicion that rain might come later in the afternoon,
so deciding to continue with the outdoor sights while the weather was still good, I walked
over to Merdeka Square, a large public green area in the center of town. Though the Square
holds historical significance, unless there's a special event occuring it's just a large green
square — though the area around it has many old colonial-style buildings left over from the
days when the British were in Malaysia.
From Merdeka Square I started walking north to find Little India, beginning to notice
how poor street signage can be in KL — there are many intersections where only one street's
name is displayed, and other intersections (including one in the Jalan Bukit Bintang area)
have the same street name posted for both directions, making it impossible to tell which of
the two streets is actually the one named on the sign.
Passing by the Masjid Jamek Mosque, I was only able to look at the buildings from
the outside (even with a black robe on), though it didn't look as interesting as the National
Mosque. Continuing on, I soon found myself at a large outdoor marketplace that stretched
along Jalan Masjid India and some nearby parallel streets. I'm not sure if it was a daily
market or if it occurs only on public holidays, but the streets were filled with stalls selling
everything you could imagine including clothes, fabric, watches, candy, food, shirts,
backpacks, and incense (no-name polo shirts were going for RM18/US$4.74). Continuing
down Pasar Malam (with stalls in the middle of the street), I also looked in at some of the
permanent shops that line the road. Stopping to change a roll of film next to a picture frame
shop (on a street filled with hawker stalls), the Indian man working there asked where I was
from, and we started talking for a bit. As it was a normal shop (not a hawker stall), I said
"you're open today!" and he replied "if I don't work, I don't eat!" — though he seemed to be
doing quite well. Like many of their Asian neighbors, Malaysians are extremely pushy and
shove all the time (especially in crowds and marketplaces like this). Though it's something
I'm used to when travelling in Asia, when I later returned to Malaysia after visiting St.
Helena, the difference between the two places (one where you'll get shoved and pushed
constantly, and the other where people will be happy to simply wait until you've moved
aside) was quite pronounced.
When finished at the marketplace, I decided to head for the tall Menara KL Tower,
which like the CN Tower in Toronto, offers good views of the city. However even though I
could see the Tower in front of me, the major road I was on (Jalan Ampang) didn't go
through to the Tower — so I had to walk all the way around and go out of the way to find the
one road that actually did lead to the Tower (on the last stretch of the road, I passed a group
of monkeys sitting on the fence, looking for handouts).
Waiting in line to buy tickets at 2:15pm, when I finally reached the front of the line, a
tour leader cut right in front of me without a thought, ordering sixty tickets for his group.
The young guy behind the counter was happy to serve him first with no apology to me, and
as each ticket had to be individually printed, it was taking quite a while. After a few
minutes, a second cashier opened and motioned me over to him to buy my ticket, but this
didn't exactly give me a good feeling about the place.
Built in 1996 after four years of construction, the Menara Tower is the fourth tallest
tower of its type in the world — and though it was beginning to get hazy outside (and was
now not the best weather for viewing), it was still worth the RM8/US$2.11 admission
charge. There is a revolving restaurant at the top, but advance reservations (made
downstairs in the lobby) are required, insuring no one sets foot in it unless they actually
plan to dine there. According to the menu downstairs, the cheapest options for dinner were
RM85-RM95/US$22.37-US$25.00 — extremely expensive by Malaysian standards, so at the
top, I opted simply for an ice-cream at the snack bar, resting for a bit to write a few notes in
my journal after taking in the 360-degree view. Up on top were three Telekom Malaysia card
phones, and as was proving to be the norm, none of them worked correctly.
Back down walking into town again, I stopped at a Shell petrol station along the way
and had my first "100 PLUS" soda — a "refresh" drink made by Coca-Cola that's pretty
much a carbonated version of Pocari Sweat.
It was now cloudy, and a few drops of rain were beginning to fall. As I passed the
Telekom Malaysia Museum I decided to have a look, as I've always been interested in
telephones and the sign outside indicated it was open until 5:30pm even on public holidays.
As I tried to enter though, the lady at the gate said simply "closed today!" (I guess I should
have expected this from Telekom Malaysia). Expecting the few drops of rain to soon turn
into a downpour, I headed back for the indoor Central Market now that everything would be
open, and walking past Masjid Jamek and Merdeka Square, found it just as it started to
sprinkle.
Inside the Central Market are various shops of all types, mostly for tourists, but a few
for locals as well — and everything from Malaysian arts & crafts to souvenir T-shirts to
violins can be found here. Near the entrance was a booth with a large crowd gathered in
front of it: the police had set up a graphic display (complete with gory video) to warn people
of the dangers of drinking and driving, but instead of being scared by it, locals were glued to
the screen, watching it as pure entertainment. After spending some time looking around
both levels, I was about to leave just as the sky opened up and heavy, pouring rain began to
fall, complete with thunder and lightning. People outside ran into the Market for shelter,
and I realized I'd be stuck here for a while.
Walking over to the corner of the market where the phones are located, I managed to
place an overseas call using my Time Kontact card before walking over to buy a set of made-
in-USA earplugs from a nearby shop (for my upcoming trip on the ship, as I'd be sharing a
cabin with someone else). After buying a newspaper from the downstairs newsstand
(RM1/US26c), I went up to the 2F food court to sit down, read the paper, and have a late
lunch (a good beef/rice bowl served in a clay pot for only RM3.40/US89c).
Looking through the paper, I couldn't seem to find any cinema times, so when
finished eating, I returned back to the newsstand to check inside another English-language
paper — but still couldn't find any. The man at the newsstand said "they should be in
there," and helped me look through all the English papers he had, but couldn't explain why
none he sold had any cinema times. "I guess not today," he finally said — but just a bit
later while walking around, I noticed a man reading today's Sun (one of the English-
language newspapers I had just searched through). When I asked him why no papers list
the cinema times, he instantly turned the page to show me the cinema listings (the section
must have been missing from the papers from the newsstand). Looking down, the man
pointed out the times for the cinema at the Central Market annex (just across the street),
with the two choices being "102 Dalmations" at 4:45pm and "The 6th Day" at 4:55pm. With
the time now 4:55pm, I asked the man for directions and thanked him as I left (the cinema
is located upstairs in the building directly opposite the Market). With the rain coming down
hard, I was out in it for just a few seconds as I darted across the street to the annex building
to catch "The 6th Day" with Arnold Schwartzenegger (RM8/US$2.11). Though the movie
was pretty bad, it was interesting to note the almost-empty theatre (with only 3 other people
inside), probably due to the fact that someone could already buy and own the movie on
pirate VCD for less than the cost to come to the cinema and see it once (as both "102
Dalmations" and "The 6th Day" were hot sellers at the VCD stalls). The small theatre had
only mono sound, but the projection was sharp and wasn't bad for the price. The movie was
shown with both Malay and Chinese subtitles, but just as the ending credits began to roll,
the projector was immediately turned off (the norm for much of Asia).
When the movie finished, I walked back to the main Market building for one more
quick look (the rain had now become only a light drizzle). Up on the 2F was a shop selling
bootleg CD-ROMs, but they were asking RM20... stalls in nearby Chinatown ask only RM10,
and stores elsewhere in the country asked only RM4-6 for the same CD-ROMs. Also on
display were plenty of bootleg PlayStation games, as well as pirate GameBoy cartridges
(including a "19-in-1" cartridge for an extremely expensive RM189/US$49.74).
As the rain was letting up, I decided to leave the Central Market and head to nearby
Chinatown. It was now about 7:15pm, and the area around Jalan Petaling was bustling. In
the evening, the area is closed to traffic as stalls set up in the middle of the street to sell
everything from fake Rolex watches (RM50/US$13.16 first price — I didn't bother bargaining
as I wasn't interested) to souvenir T-shirts (RM8/US$2.11) to pirate VCDs and CD-ROMs.
Some pirate CD-ROM stalls were charging RM15-RM20 (trying to grab the tourists before
they had a chance to compare prices elsewhere), though one stall was selling everything for
RM10 (later in Penang, the going rate for the same CD-ROMs was RM7 — which was
voluntarily dropped to RM6). While most stalls concentrated on VCDs (at the usual
RM7/US$1.84 price — though occasinally you could find them for RM5-RM6 elsewhere in
the city), a few had a small selection of pirate all-region DVDs as well for RM25/US$6.58 (in
Penang, these DVDs were RM20/US$5.26). On the pirate VCD front, the stalls already had
for sale "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" — a movie which opened theatrically in the US only 3
days earlier, and most stalls have a VCD player and TV set so you can verify that the disc
works properly — though none of the stalls selling DVDs had a DVD player to test the discs
on. One stand selling cheap knockoff watches had one with a "RM238" price on it... I
stopped just to peer at it, and as I walked away, the price suddenly dropped to RM50,
RM20, and even RM10. Though there are dozens of stalls, most are usually selling the same
items, so bargain hard and don't be afraid to walk away.
Besides the stalls and small shops of Chinatown, there are two very good indoor
shopping malls to check out: S&M Plaza (the better of the two), and the neighboring Koto
Raya Mall. One of the many interesting stores in S&M is a Japanese-themed shop ("Kyun")
where everything the store offers (candy, clothes hangers, coffee mugs, marbles — even little
beckoning cats) is sold for RM5.99/US$1.58 (though most items were labelled in Japanese,
the majority of them came from China). Entering Kyun to look for a plastic cup (as I had
forgotten to take one with me from home), they had only ceramic ones for sale — but visiting
the large S&M sundries store upstairs next, I found a set of 4 plastic cups for only
RM2.80/US74c (needing only one, I wound up just throwing the other three away). At the
cashier's ready to pay for it, a local teenager walked up with a pair of earings, cutting right
in front of me to pay for them, and the Malay cashier waited on her first. Returning to the
store a few minutes later, I also bought two ultra-tiny, made-in-Malaysia "Winnie-the-Pooh"
spiral notebooks (RM0.90/24c each) which I would use everyday on my trip to jot down
notes while out walking and exploring.
S&M Plaza has a nice large supermarket upstairs with good prices on food, and
they're the cheapest place in the area to buy sodas from (the typical price for a normal can
of soda is RM1.20 from a vendor or machine, RM1.40 at a 7-11, and RM1.50-RM1.80 at a
restaurant — though a "special" soda such as 100 PLUS will usually be 10c-20c more. At
the S&M Plaza supermarket, normal sodas were RM1 warm, RM1.10 cold, and only RM1.20
for a cold 100 PLUS). For a change of pace however, I tried a soursop soda from a vending
machine in the hall (RM1.20/US32c).
One of the ground-level shops of S&M was selling Q+Q watches (the low-end range of
Japan CBM Corp. — decent, inexpensive watches). While in Jordan last year, I picked up a
bootleg "O+O" (not Q+Q) watch with traditional Arabic numbers on the face for about
US$3.50, and here in this shop, found the "real" Q+Q model of the same watch for
RM39.95/US$10.51. Q+Q watches can be found all over Malaysia and Singapore, but it
pays to shop and compare before buying... though many shops wanted RM50-RM60 for the
same watches this one shop was asking RM39.95 for, I later found them elsewhere in
Malaysia selling for RM29.
The basement of S&M has some good CD-ROM/VCD shops, including one I found
the next day selling Japanese animation on pirate all-region DVDs (including the Shin
Kimagure Orange Road movie and the Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli films). These movies
aren't legitimately available on DVD yet even in Japan (I own them on LaserDisc), though
the pirate DVDs have Chinese subtitles on them (I'm not sure if the subtitles can be turned
off or not as the sales clerk wasn't sure herself, and the store had no DVD player to try them
out on).
Many shopping malls (including S&M Plaza) have video arcades in them, and though
I had just read a newspaper article mentioning that arcades would be forced to close their
doors under new rules scheduled to take effect January 1st, when I returned back to
Malaysia in February, the video arcades were still open and operating.
Chinatown is one of the best places in the city to have dinner, and though the bao
stalls are RM1 here (as opposed to RM0.90 elsewhere), the food is still cheap, and the sheer
amount of choice is worth the trip. One type of stall found here (but not on Jalan Alor)
offers dozens of different types of skewers (with raw fish, pork, meat, chicken, etc.) which
you choose and cook yourself right at the table by dipping them into a pot of boiling water
for 30 seconds. Fresh and incredibly delicious, most are only RM1.50/US39c each, though
a few (on shorter sticks so the cashier knows to charge you more) are RM3.00/US79c — for
items such as real abalone. As all of the outside tables were taken, I was seated next to a
Chinese family who was just finishing... after they left, a Singapore Chinese family sat down
next to me, and we talked for a bit while eating. For nine tasty skewers, the total was only
RM13.50/US$3.55, and I was stuffed.
When finished, I walked back to the Seasons View via Jalan Pudu and Jalan Bukit
Bintang. As the 7-11 on Jalan Bukit Bintang had a huge line, I left to visit the less-crowded
7-11 on Jalan Alor (across the street from the Seasons View) to pick up a some soda waters
(RM1.40 — though I later discovered the independent convenience store on the Seasons
View side of the street was selling them cold for RM1.20). Too nice of an evening to sit
inside, I sat down at one of the outdoor tables for the Seasons View cafe (they didn't mind)
and wrote a bit in my journal.
At 11:50pm I returned to the room to take a shower and do some laundry in the
shower as well. Turning on the TV, I caught an English-language news broadcast (Channel
2) from 12:00am-12:15am, followed by a different English newscast from 12:15am-12:30am
on NTV/Channel 7. Taking a bit of time to look up things to do tomorrow, I didn't turn out
the lights until 1:15am.
A few misc. notes: in places like shopping malls, the escallators are reversed from the
U.S. (the "UP" escallator is on the left), and are usually set up so that you must walk
through each floor in order to catch the next escallator in the same direction... "Good
Humor" ice-cream (known as "Ola" in Africa and "Miko" on Mauritius) is known as "Walls"
here... "Nandos", the chain of hot & healthy peri-peri chicken restaurants popular in South
Africa, is expanding in Malaysia, with 9 current locations and a planned 25... the various
prayer times throughout the day are printed in the newspapers... as with the rest of the
world, cel phones are extremely popular in Malaysia (perhaps because the payphones here
never work)... KL is a very walkable city, and nothing is too far away that you can't walk to it
if you enjoy brisk walking... and "Bukit" is the Malay word for "hill."
Something interesting today: even with it being December 25th, I was surprised at
how many people asked if I celebrated Christmas. The Indian gentleman at the picture
frame store asked, as did the Muslim cashier at the Butterfly Park (to which she would wish
people a Merry Christmas if they answered yes). Though a few shops were closed (a
motorbike repair shop or two, and of course the Telekom Malaysia Museum), most
everything else was open.
Dec. 26: Kuala Lumpur
It was a nice thought, but the complimentary newspaper being shoved under the
door at 5:56am woke me up. Not having much luck with going back to sleep, I decided to
get up and look for some ideas on what to do today. Skipping breakfast, I left early, and
noticed yet another intersection with poor signage: right at Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan
Pudu (a major intersection), the signs as to which street is which are extremely confusing.
The first thing I wanted to do was take the monorail mentioned in the Lonely Planet...
but it was hard to find that morning for the one simple reason that it hasn't been finished
yet! The book shows the monorail on all its maps (with a notation that it'll be completed in
1999), but the reality is that when Malaysia's economy became shaky a few years ago,
construction was halted, and the project is far from complete (along parts of Jalan Pudu are
concrete support structures left abandoned, with no track or train above them). When I
stopped to ask the Indian clerk at a small store about it, he said "not finished yet" — but
construction on it has now resumed, and when finished, it will reach the Jalan Bukit
Bintang area.
With the monorail not being available, I decided to take the Star LRT (light rail)
instead (there are two LRTs: the Star LRT line is above ground, and the Putra LRT line is
underground). Walking towards the Hang Tuah Station, I turned the wrong way, but a nice
older Chinese security guard pointed me back in the right direction, where the station was
only a few minutes walk away.
The LRT operates like metros in many countries in which you buy a flimsy card,
insert it, and keep it until you reach your destination, where you'll insert it once more to
exit. Since the ticket was cheap enough (RM1.20/US32c), I decided to buy a second one to
keep as a souvenir. At the station were signs advertising available service-sector jobs, and
on the LRT itself was a sign indicating a RM500/US$131.58 fine for eating, smoking, or
littering. Wanting to go to the Chow Kit Street area, I took the Star LRT to a station which
for some reason was NOT listed on my city tourist map: Pasar Seni, between Sultan Ismael
and the Putra World Trade Centre Stations.
The area around Chow Kit Street has a lively morning market (mostly Malay, though
there are some Indian and Chinese stalls as well). For RM10/US$2.63, one vendor had a T-
shirt for the Orange County California Planet Hollywood, not to far from where I live (and
ironically, recently closed). The VCDs here were among the cheapest in Malaysia, with most
vendors asking RM5, and one vendor selling them for 3-for-RM10/US$2.63 (having missed
seeing "The Emperor's New Groove" at home, I thought about buying it on VCD here, but
passed). While there are people selling VCDs and T-shirts, most of the marketplace consists
of dozens of stalls selling fresh fruits, nuts, peppers, spices, meats, and other foodstuffs —
and it's quite crowded, even in the morning.
Knowing now that KL weather this time of year tends to be nice in the morning but
rainy in the afternoon, I decided to head for the Petronas Towers while it was still sunny.
The Towers are argueably the tallest buildings in the world (if you count the masts), and are
a landmark of the city and an icon of KL. With it being such a nice morning, I thought I'd
try walking there even though it was quite far... on my side was the fact that you can see the
Towers from most points in the city, but working against me was the way maps of KL tend to
be inaccurate. Still, it was a nice walk...
From the Chow Kit area, I walked down Jalan Raja Alang — and stopping at a 7-11
for a snack (as I had skipped breakfast), found a UFO-catcher (a claw machine in which you
insert coins and try to grab yourself a stuffed animal) playing "Odoru Pompokorin" (the
theme song to the popular Japanese cartoon "Chibi Maruko-chan"), exactly like the UFO-
catchers I had seen in South Africa a year earlier. Chuckling, I ate my snack and continued
on my way. The shady streets in the area were quiet this morning, and very pleasant to walk
down. The area has a relaxed feel to it quite different than the rest of hectic KL — laundry
was drying from the windows, guys were out leisurely working on their motorbikes in the
shade, and perhaps with not many tourists walking around here, people were quite friendly
(a man I passed greeted me with "Merry Christmas"). A bit later, I came across an obvious
night market area where Jalan Raja Alang and Jalan Raja Muda Musa meet, and though the
stalls were now quiet, I'm sure the area becomes quite busy in the evenings. According to
the tourist map I had, the small street Jalan Raja Ali crosses the river and goes through to
the other side — but it actually doesn't (it dead ends at a large concrete wall supporting the
highway and bordering the river). Reaching the wall, I realized I'd have to walk all the way
around, as no street in the area crossed the river — so having no choice, I walked back all
the way to busy Jalan Sultan Ismail (which does indeed cross the river).
Walking down Jalan Ampang towards the Petronas Towers, I stopped in at the
Malaysian Tourist Information complex, located inside a large historic mansion with
beautiful grounds (far enough removed from the street that you can't tell if it's open or
closed without approaching it). Inside, I found one of the few Tourism Malaysia officials
without a cold shoulder (perhaps becuase he was Chinese, not Malay), who told me that due
to the holidays (Hari Raya), the nearby Petronas Towers were closed until January 2nd.
When I then asked about visiting the Batu Caves (located a short distance outside of town),
he said there would be a bus tour leaving at 2:30pm (R35/US$9.21), but looking me over,
guessed I wouldn't be interested in a guided tour (he was right). So instead, he told me to
get to the caves on my own (by catching Bus 11D near the Bangkok Bank behind the
Central Market or Bus 69 from the Pudu Bus Station) — but his information that "the bus
leaves every two hours" was incorrect — the buses actually come quite frequently, as unless
it was an amazing coincidence, I never had to wait more than a couple of minutes for a bus
in either direction.
Since I had walked quite a ways to reach the Petronas Towers and was practially
already there, I decided to finish the walk, and reached the Towers within a matter of
minutes. The two 88-story Towers are based on an 8-sided star pattern with Islamic
designs and motifs molded out of shiny silver steel, complete with fountains out front with
plenty of tourists busy taking pictures. There is no public observation deck in either of the
towers (and security is tight), but the public is allowed up in controlled groups to the 41F
"Sky Bridge" which connects the two buildings, though its closure this week meant I'd have
to return at the very end of my trip in February.
Walking inside the Towers, I saw the sign indicating that due to Hari Raya and
Christmas, the Sky Bridge would be closed until January 2nd. On a longshot, I asked the
two guards if it would somehow be possible to go up anyway, but they politely said no.
Deciding to have a quick look at the attached shopping center, I missed many of the better
shops (finding them only upon my return in February), but did check out the dull, boring
"mall" portion of the complex — no different than a multi-story American shopping mall with
expensive trendy shops and franchised fast-food outlets (including Famous Amos, charging
R3.40/US90c a cookie). However, there is an Isetan in the mall (a Japanese department
store), and I managed to find some "Shige Kicks" candy in their food basement (Japanese
"shock" sour gumi candies that really give you a kick when you put them in your mouth... I
really got hooked on them while in Japan a few years ago). Even though they were
expensive here I picked up a few — though I couldn't figure out why the Orange flavor had a
different price (RM5.40/US1.42 vs. RM5.20/US$1.37 for the other flavors). Schweppes
Grapefruit soda was also on sale for RM1.09/US29c, so I bought a can of that as well.
Hanging in Isetan was a sign indicating that the store would close at 8:00pm tonight, and
would remain closed on Dec. 27 and Dec. 28 for Hari Raya (Sogo also had a similar sign).
Deciding to get something to eat, I ordered an egg-on-toast at the "1901" Takeaway
(one slice of toast and an egg for RM4.70/US$1.24), and during the 15 minutes it took to
make, I walked over to a nearby bakery selling egg tarts for only RM1/US26c.
When finished at the Towers, I took the LRT from KLCC to the Central Market to
catch the bus to the Batu Caves. Outside the Central Market, I asked a policeman where
Bus 11D leaves from and was told to "wait there" — but I knew that was incorrect, as it's
supposed to leave from next to the Bangkok Bank building. Asking someone else on the
street, I was told (correctly) to go to the Bangkok Bank as he pointed it out. As I approached
the bank, I noticed the 11D bus leaving its stop and heading towards me. Flagging it down,
the driver stopped to pick me up, and the fare all the way to the caves was only
RM1.60/US42c (as I didn't have the exact change though, I put in RM2). There were other
tourists on the bus, and the 30-minute ride out of town takes you through some nice quiet
residential areas before leaving you off just across the street from the start of the entrance to
the caves.
At the entrance is a nice Indian-style structure and a line of hawkers selling water,
snacks, and peanuts (to feed to the monkeys). The caves are reached by a 272-step
staircase... I know this because walking up, I was behind a small group of Japanese tourists
counting the stairs as they went. At the top, one of them shouted "ah — koumori!" ("ah —
bats!"), but she was mistaken, for the "bats" turned out to be just a group of birds. There
are plenty of monkeys around though, and they're constantly looking for handouts, often
drinking from discarded soda cans or even a baby bottle. The caves themselves have
stalagtites, dripping water, and an Indian religious hut used for praying (local Indians make
a pilgrimage here on certain holidays), and while the caves are mildly interesting, if you only
have limited time in the KL area and wind up missing them, it's not a great loss.
As it was sunny and hot walking back down the stairs, I bought a can of 100 PLUS
soda out by the main entrance to drink while waiting for the bus — but no sooner did I buy
it than the bus came by (without exact change again, I wound up paying another RM2 for
the RM1.60 fare). On the trip out to the caves, some of the areas we passed closer to town
looked pretty interesting, so on the way back, I decided to get off early and explore the last
leg of the trip on foot.
Leaving the bus quite a bit earlier, I started walking back to the center of town along
Jalan Ipoh... there were no tourists here — just lots of everyday businesses and shops,
including an area full of house and bath supply shops (selling tile, sinks, fixtues, etc).
Noticing a McDonald's across the street, I jaywalked across busy Jalan Ipoh to buy a soft-
serve cone only to find out it was probably the only McDonald's in all of Malaysia that didn't
sell ice-cream.
After walking for quite a while, I finally came to Jalan Raja Laut, and continued down
the street to the center of town. Jalan Raja Laut has a lot of interesting, inexpensive shops
on it: one store selling watches as cheap as RM9.95/US$2.62 also had good prices on
Chinese electronics and household items... across the street and just a bit further down
were two wholesale watch shops where you could buy low-cost watches (single or bulk) quite
reasonably cheap... passing the "Bestel" Hotel (where rooms were RM75), a sign on the door
said "NO DURIANS, RM1,000 FINE"... further down Jalan Raja Laut was an inexpensive
food and clothing shop selling nice polo shirts for RM16.80/US$4.42, and though I didn't
buy anything, the items here were much cheaper than at other places.
Heading south back to the center of KL, Jalan Raja Laut becomes boring once you
reach Jalan Sultan Ismail, but I continued walking until arriving at Sogo. There I found
more Shige Kicks for sale (at RM5.20/US$1.37 for all flavors), and picked up a few. In the
basement food area I bought two McDonald's chocolate soft-serve cones, and as I had
developed a small blister on my foot from walking too much with a new pair of sandals,
bought some terrible German-made Band-Aids (which didn't stick at all) at the small
pharmacy (RM1.50 for just a few).
From Sogo I walked to the Central Market, thinking I should buy a pair of socks for
myself since the Band-Aids weren't working. There, the shops selling socks were asking
RM12-RM15/US$3.16-US$3.95 for just one pair, but on a longshot, I asked at an Indian-
run clothing store if they sold socks, and was shown a pair of brown socks for
RM3.50/US92c. Still continuing to look though, I went upstairs and noticed the music
store which had been closed the other day — inside, everything from Chinese-made student
violins (starting at RM350/US$92.11) to Dominant strings were for sale. I talked with the
young Chinese owner for a few minutes, but soon went downstairs to buy the RM3.50 socks
— as every other shop was asking quite a bit more.
Sitting down on the floor by the front entrance to take my sandals off and put the
socks on, I heard a "hello!" coming from somewhere. Looking up, I saw the mother and
daughter from South Carolina I had met at the Bird Park yesterday. The mom had
developed a blister wearing sandals as well, and thanked me for my suggestion to eat at
Jalan Alor (where they had lunch earlier in the day).
From the Central Market I wanted to head to Chinatown and look around the Jalan
Petaling area during the day, as so far I had been there only early in the morning or at night.
Knowing it would probably rain soon, I started on my way... and once there, I only had a
little time to look around before the rain came at 3:50pm. Heading for S&M Plaza and Koto
Raya, I had plenty of time to look around there again, as the rain only became heavier as the
afternoon wore on.
The VCD shops on the lower level of S&M Plaza are cheaper than the outside stalls,
with most charging only RM4-RM5 rather than the RM6-RM7+ charged outside (computer
CD-ROMs are also quite cheap here, at RM9 rather than RM10-20 from the street vendors).
New titles arrive on bootleg VCD almost daily, with movies such as "Family Man" (which just
came to US theatres on December 22nd) already for sale on VCD. Today I noticed a VCD
shop in the S&M basement selling some of my favorite Japanese animation on both VCDs
and all-region DVDs: "Kimagure Orange Road Memoir" (VCD... RM9.95/US$2.62),
Mononoke Hime (VCD... RM12.95/US$3.41), "Shin Kimagure Orange Road" (DVD,
RM$69.99/US$18.42), the Studio Ghibli films sold separately (DVD, RM69.99/US$18.42
each) or as a set (RM240/US$63.16 — which went down to RM200/US$52.63 when I asked
about them later in February). While the store had a VCD player to demonstrate VCDs on,
they had no DVD player — and the packaging on the 4-DVD set (mentioning 11 movies on
one side and only 10 on the other) didn't reassure me.
From both the S&M entrance as well as from the window of a CD store, I could see
the lightning bolts and hear the loud thunder which quickly followed. For a while, I joined
everyone in sitting on the entrance steps (even though there's a notice saying not to do so),
just watching the rain come down. While sitting there, a young Chinese lady came up to me
with a questionaire on internet e-travel services in Malaysia, which she asked me to fill out
(with questions such as "do you feel safe buying over the internet?", "do you have a
computer?", "what would you like to see in a travel site?", etc). As I was finishing the
questionaire, the police came up to ask a couple of locals sitting down to produce
documents, but didn't bother anyone else... and while the restroom at S&M has a
RM0.20/US5c fee for cleaning, it was pretty dirty inside.
With the rain finally letting up, I walked to the skewer restaurant where I had eaten
at the night before. Due to the rain, they needed another 15 minutes to set up and get
ready (I sat down and waited), and soon I was once again eating wonderfully fresh seafood
and pork, having ten "regular" sticks (RM1.50 each) and two "short" abalone sticks (RM3.00
each), bringing the total to just RM21/US$5.53 for a filling, delicious meal. Sitting there
relaxing with all the good food, I realized that my flight would be leaving in a few hours, at
1:20am.
Walking back towards the hotel, I stopped to call MAS to make sure my flight was
still leaving on time... and along the way, also stopped at an internet cafe to check my email.
Earlier at the Central Market, I saw a sign advertising a rate of RM4/hr or RM1/15mins for
a nearby internet cafe, but here it was RM4/hr or RM3/30mins. Still, they allowed telnet
(my preferred method of checking email, even though this time I had set up a mail-forward
to a temporary web-based account), and I was able to catch up on all my mail for
RM3/US79c for a half-hour.
Finally reaching the hotel (passing the Puduraya Bus Station area along the way and
continuing up the light-lined street towards the Jalan Bukit Bintang area), I took a shower,
re-packed, and relaxed in the room. On TV was the Malaysian version of "Who Wants To Be
A Millionaire" (in Malay) followed by the local version of "Wheel of Fortune." Downstairs, I
received my room deposit back from reception (I had paid with cash rather than a credit
card), and with about 30 minutes left before I'd have to leave for the airport, took a leisurely
walk down Jalan Alor.
Seasons View had called the Airport Shuttle for me, and with Jalan Alor being
typically crowded this time of night, the driver came a few minutes early. Grabbing my bag,
I hopped in for the ride to the half-way station. As the Malay driver was quite friendly and
spoke decent English, we chatted a bit... he asked if I had seen certain sights, and
mentioned that as he had to work during Hari Raya, he would go back to his hometown
after the holiday period. At the transfer station (to the large bus), I paid the RM25 fare,
offering some Shige Kicks to the Muslim ladies behind the counter (the one lady brave
enough to accept some soon convinced her colleague to try them as well).
While checking in for the flight at the airport, I asked the MAS agent if the plane was
sold out or not (curious, as when making my reservation a few months back, this one
segment was highly overbooked, with only one agent with a friend at MAS being able to
squeeze me in — at $100 more than other agents who couldn't get me the seat). The agent
told me it was only about 25% full, but that wasn't true: on board, about 90% of the seats
were taken, and I was seated right in the middle of a huge group of mainland Chinese
tourists before being able to find another seat by a window.
Before boarding I had time to look around the airport, but as the hour became late
and the shops closed, KLIA became very quiet. After exploring the airport a bit (there are
Muslim prayer areas for both men and women, as well as a hotel), I relaxed in an empty
waiting area to catch on up CNN. I also used the otherwise-useless KLIA telephone cards I
had bought earlier to make a few calls, noting that the phones displayed a BARRED CALL
message when trying to call the 800 access number for Time Kontact — though I don't know
if it was intentional or just a glitch, as returning back in February, calls to Time Kontact
from the airport went through. Finally it was time to head for the gate, and soon I was being
herded into a secured area with everyone else waiting for the red-eye flight.
A few misc. things: the ambulances in KL are silent, with their sirens turned off... the
national language of the country is Bahasa Malaysia (Malay), and many words seem to have
been borrowed from English... the sidewalks of KL aren't always smooth, but it's still a very
walkable city — though the traffic can be horrible... the local Chinese and Indian population
speak English (plus Malay and their own language as well) much better than most Malays...
and people jaywalk everywhere, even where pedestrian overpasses have been built.
While efforts are sometimes made to bring the three major ethnic groups in Malaysia
(Malay, Chinese, Indian) together, one can sense tension beneath the surface, and people
tend to stay in groups of their own kind. There is a rigid affirmative-action program in effect
in the country guaranteeing native Malays certain jobs and barring Chinese, Indian, and
other non-Malays from applying for them (in the paper, the available-jobs notices will often
mention if only a native Malay will be considered for the position). Political power and policy
is definitely set by (and for) native Malays, though economic power is held mostly by the
country's Chinese (non-Malays are excluded from much of the political system, meaning
many Chinese and Indians have become entrepaneurs). There seems to be a sometimes-
spoken, sometimes-unspoken jealously between Malays and their more affluent Chinese-
Malaysian neighbors, and the politics of race and affirmative action is a touchy subject in
the country.
Recently, when the Election Appeals Committee of Siqiu (a Malaysian-Chinese
organization) commented that the special favoritism granted native Malays should end, an
uproar soon followed — so the organization backtracked somewhat. Here's an article I saw
on my first day in Malaysia:
The Suqiu committee said today it supported the special positions
of the Malays and the continuation of the Government's affirmative
action programmes, taking into consideration the nation's current state
of affairs. "...Further to an earlier statement issued by the Suqiu
committee on Dec. 22, we reaffirm our commitment to the continuation
of affirmative action programmes for the truly needy in this country.
In this context, we support the 'special positions of the Malays and
natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak' as provided for by
Article 153 of the Federal Constitution," the committee said in a
statement... Article 153 of the Federal Constitution touches on
reservation of quotas in respect of services, permits, etc., for
Malays and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak. Suqiu
had, before the 1999 general election, submitted a 17-point memorandum
with 83 demands, including a request to abolish Malay rights. It
drew severe criticism and protests from various groups, organisations,
community leaders, and politicians... At a sitting earlier this month,
(the Prime Minister) had said the Government could not entertain
demands by Suqiu as it was tantamont to abolishing Malay rights and
could result in chaos...
Here's an excerpt from another newspaper article on the subject from February, with
the headline of "Malays Have Nothing To Fear":
Malays need not fear for the future as their rights have been
enshrined in the Federal Constitution and through the New Economic
Policy (NEP). This was the message given by Finance Ministry adviser
Datuk Mustapa Mohamed and parliamentary secretary at the Prime
Minister's Department Datuk Noh Omar when speaking with Universiti
Sains Malaysia students... Noh said Article 152 of the Federal
Constitution refers to Bahasa Malaysia as the national language which
has to be used in all official matters, including correspondence...
He said that Article 153 refers to Malay reserve land, services,
permits and their special rights according to Article 153(1)...
Article 159 states that before amending the above articles on Malay
rights, the Malay rulers had to give their consent, otherwise,
parliament could not interfere in these rights through any
amendments, he said... Noh also said Article 181(1) guarantees the
rights of the Malay rulers and their special status... (Mustapa) said
that Malays here did not have to fight like the farmers in Zimbabwe
to forcibly take over control of farms from white settlers, because
Malays here have reserve lands and they have been given a piece of
the economic pie. "They are given opportunities to be involved in
businesses which give them the chance to learn and earn and become
successful and affluent just like the non-Malays," Mustapa said.
Dec. 27: Cape Town (South Africa)
The long red-eye flight to Cape Town tonight would first land in Johannesburg, but
that was still quite a few hours away. On the plane, I managed to sleep a little between the
multiple warnings to return to the seat due to turbulence, but only for short intervals.
Finally landing in Johannesburg, we were allowed to disembark and wait in a secured
section of the airport, but the area had no ATM or telephone card dispenser, and we weren't
allowed to wander off. When I asked an employee if there was a place to buy a telephone
card, she pointed the way to a Telkom office which was supposed to open at 6:00am, but
walking there, I found it dark and closed, and even when we began reboarding the flight at
6:20am, no one had shown up. In the meantime, the coffee stand had opened at 6:00am, so
I hung out there talking with an older South African couple (originally from Britain) and the
waitress about our recent American election. Once open, I also had a look inside the main
duty-free shop, and was surprised to see Nando's peri-peri sauces available for sale in
souvenir take-home bottles.
On board the plane again, our takeoff to Cape Town was delayed by 1hr 20mins
because three passengers didn't re-board as they were supposed to. With a list of
passengers, the stewardesses walked through the aisles asking people their names as they
tried to figure out who was missing. Once the identities of the missing passengers had been
ascertained, we then had to wait as a search was done for their checked-in baggage (so it
could be removed) — though in the end, it turned out none of the three passengers had
checked in any bags.
Finally in the air again, it was another 1hr 50mins to Cape Town, and before landing,
the stewardesses walked through the aisles spraying the plane with disinfectant (though I
have no idea why they did this before arriving into Cape Town, as they didn't spray before
landing in Johannesburg). Looking down at the thousands of shanties below, I remembered
what Paula (of One City Tours) said last year: that she knows it's soap opera time when the
planes start flying overhead.
Standing in line at Cape Town immigration, I had a sense of deja vu... one year ago at
the same time of day in the same sunny weather, I was here in the same line, waiting for the
entry stamps. There was a shorter wait this year, but the lady stamped my passport with a
visa expiring Feb. 1st (the day I'd be leaving South Africa back for Malaysia) — though I
wondered what would happen if I wound up needing a few extra days in the country. Unlike
KLIA, the baggage at Cape Town airport came out quickly, so I soon found myself looking for
an ATM and a place to buy a telephone card.
There's construction going on at the airport, and a sign indicating that the new
international arrivals terminal would be finished by December 2000 (oh well...) Hopefully
when it finally is completed, someone will think to install an ATM and a telephone card
dispenser at the terminal — for even though these are arguably the two most important
services needed for incoming international passengers, you have to walk over to the
domestic terminal to find them. Once at the domestic departures area, one ATM had a
"closed" sign on it, and the other dispensed my request using only R50 notes. Needing
change now for the telephone card machine, no shop would give it to me (the bank had a
long queue), so I had to get some by buying a small snack at a kiosk. The rand was very
weak against the dollar (at US$1=R7.5), but by the time I returned to Cape Town in mid-
January, it had fallen to US$1=R7.9. As good as the exchange rate was though, prices
didn't seem to be that much cheaper than they were last year when the rate was
US$1=R6.1, with Q+Q watches still selling for US$30, and very few real bargains.
Though last year I found and stayed at a wonderful B&B in the Oranjezicht area of
town (Bridle's), the B&B was booked for some of the days I'd need to stay with them... so the
owners instead set me up with a friend of theirs just starting a B&B in the nearby
Vredehoek area. Because I was exhausted from the flight and just wanted to get to town, I
didn't call the B&B from the airport even though I probably should have (as the owner would
have come to pick me up). Instead, I looked for the Intercape airport shuttle office — but
Intercape no longer operates an airport shuttle. I thought about calling Rikkis at first (as
they do an airport shuttle for a cheaper price), but didn't want to wait for them to have to
drive to the airport from town (otherwise I would have just called the B&B)... so I walked up
to the other shuttle company booths to ask their prices: there were 3-4 choices, and though
the first one charged R90/US$12, their van had just left (I saw it leave before entering the
building). Not wanting to wait, the lady showed me to another booth which first wanted
R110, but then agreed to R90 (I wound up being the only passenger).
Driving into town, the weather was typical for Cape Town this time of year: warm
termperatures with sunny skies, and a cloud just over Table Mountain. Arriving at
11:30am, I didn't have R90 in change, so just paid the driver R100 as the owner of the B&B
(Kritz Odendaal) came out to greet me. Located on Pinetree Crescent in Vredehoek (off of
Derry Street, and just below the left-most of the three ugly "silo"-shaped apartment blocks),
Kritz has a nice house with a separate attached structure for the B&B — though as he is
just starting the B&B (I was his first guest), he's in the process of building onto the unit,
changing it slightly, and making a braai (BBQ) area in the front. A nice retired Afrikaaner
who used to work with newspapers and advertising, Kritz greeted me alone today, as his wife
was away for a few days helping their daughter nurse a cold and look after the grandkids.
Though the room has no air-con, it's still quite a nice place, with a ceiling-fan, its own
bath/shower, a refrigerator, a new Konka color TV, and plenty of space. It's still very much
a work-in-progress (in fact Kritz installed the closet shelves later that afternoon while I was
out walking), and I'm sure will be even better when complete. The view of Cape Town below
isn't as impressive as from Bridle's (it's partially obstructed here), but is nice enough, with a
good view of Robben Island in the distance (there are also plenty of guinea fowl wandering
the streets up here).
Looking from downtown, Vredehoek is located up on the hillside just a bit to the left
of Oranjezicht, and is an extra 10 minutes further to walk to. Kritz also has an apartment
closer to the center of town where his daughter used to live, and when he's finished fixing
up the first place, he's going to set up the other flat for longer-term rentals.
In the driveway of the B&B were two cars: an older gold Honda Prelude and a newer
white Honda Ballade/Civic (the same car I drive at home). When I mentioned to Kritz I have
the same car, he said he was considering selling the Ballade in order to buy a Dodge Neon
instead, as the Neons are (relatively) cheap in South Africa — but I advised him against
doing it.
With it being a beautiful sunny day, I immediately wanted to go out and walk around
Cape Town. Leaving me off at the V&A Waterfront in his car (Kritz didn't yet realize how
much I love to walk to-and-from town), I received a short tour of the neighborhood along the
way. With the weather as wonderful as it was, the last thing I wanted to do was spend time
inside a shopping complex, so after walking inside just to ask how much a disposable
camera was (an expensive R50/US$6.66 for one without flash), I immediately turned around
and walked back out.
Outside the V&A, I called the local office of Curnow Shipping (the company currently
running the RMS St. Helena ship I'd be taking in a few days) to let them know I was in town
and find out where the ship was docked: it was to arrive in at "J Berth" of Duncan Docks
later today, and embarkation would begin at 11:00am on Saturday. Duncan Docks is the
"real" dock area of Cape Town, down from the artificial made-for-tourists V&A (from where
only pleasure cruises and the Robben Island ferry depart). Deciding to find the ship and
have an early look at it (and get a heads up for Saturday), I asked around at the V&A on
how to get to Duncan Docks — but almost no one there could give me directions, as it's not
a place that concerns most tourists. Duncan Docks is part of the large Cape Town docks
area neighboring the V&A, but is a world apart in both appearance and functionality. Its
entrance is at the CalTex station just outside the V&A's gate, and once inside this industrial
area, it's very easy to get lost, as there are no signs or directions to tell you where the
various berths are located. With only some general directions, I tried in vain a few times to
locate the RMS, but as it took quite a while to walk the long distances with each try, I finally
decided to give up for the time being and try again later.
Heading downtown, I stopped at the Hungry Lion on Adderly Street for an
R0.85/US11c soft-serve cone (McDonald's nearby was asking R0.99 for their cones), and
just as I had done a year earlier, spent some time looking inside Woolworths, Edgars, and
the other shops along Adderly Street. Woolworths was expensive, and though Edgars did
have a nice polo shirt for R59/US$7.87, its sleeves were too long. Walking into the Golden
Acre Centre, I ordered an egg-toast sandwich for takeaway (R11/US$1.47) from a small
snack shop near Wimpy's before looking around at some of the shops inside. Walking
around a bit more, I was surprised at how quiet Greenmarket Square was today, with only
two or three hawkers out in the pedestrian mall. Wanting to look for some cheap clothes, I
decided to walk over to the wholesale area of town, but most of the shops there were closed,
with signs on a few indicating they were closed for Eid (the same as Hari Raya, I believe).
Later in the afternoon I decided to head back to the V&A (as it's one of the few places
in town where the shops are always open), and spent a couple hours walking around the
overpriced tourist area. At the red crafts barn outside the main mall, nothing had changed:
I found the stall where I bought two overpriced pillow covers and a T-shirt last year still
there selling the same items, though the barn now closes at 7:00pm instead of 6:00pm (just
for this week closing time was 6:00pm due to the holidays). In the main shopping building,
the 1F T-shirt shop "Greatest Little T-Shirt Shop in the Whole World" should be renamed
"Most Expensive T-Shirt Shop in the Whole World" — as they wanted an incredible (for
South Africa) R130/US$17.33 for a T-shirt with a tiny embroidered flag. As I commented in
last year's African Travelogue, the V&A is the biggest tourist rip-off in Cape Town, and I
wasn't surprised to see that nothing in that respect had changed. As with last year, the only
shops offering decent prices on their wares were the two AudioLens camera stores (with
average prices on Fuji film, and no-flash disposable cameras going for R39.95/US$5.33
rather than the R50 everyone else was charging), and the official Ngwenya Glass shop,
which was selling their items for very good prices (much less than the neighboring souvenir
shops were selling them for).
Walking up to the 2F of the V&A, I noticed a bomb bag on the wall ("Barrett Bomb
Bag") with a picture of two popular bomb types (the Mini Limpett type 158 and the Soviet
SPM), along with directions on how to use the bag. While malls in most countries might
have fire extinguishers, in Africa, bomb bags are common in places like this, and I
remembered that the first time I saw such a bag was last year in Windhoek, Namibia.
In one of the CD shops, I noticed a CD for sale called "District Six: The Musical", and
going back to one of the AudioLens camera stores, I bought a disposable Fuji camera (no
flash) for R39.95/US$5.33. The Pic 'N Pay supermarket had a no-flash disposable Kodak for
R36.99, but the import Kodak disposables never indicate what film speed is used in them,
so I opted for the Fuji. In the Pic 'N Pay however, I did buy a bottle of fresh orange/guava
juice, as it's virtually impossible to find 100% pure orange juice (by itself) in South Africa.
Finished with the V&A, I was feeling a bit disappointed that I had been unable to
locate the ship earlier... so being a bit stubborn, I decided to forgo returning back to the
B&B in favor of heading back to Duncan Docks for another go at trying to find the RMS.
Asking directions, I walked down the long road (for the third time today) to finally see the
ship's yellow funnel sticking up above a building. Satisfied, I decided to call it a day.
Walking back to the B&B, I followed the same general route I had come to know so
well last year, though further up the hill at the 7-11 (which no longer had an "Odoru
Pompokorin"-playing UFO-catcher), I veered to the left to head toward Vredehoek. Walking
briskly, I left the CalTex station by the V&A/Duncan Docks entrance at 6:10pm, and
stopping briefly at the KwikSpar down the street from Kritz' place for some sodas and
snacks, reached the B&B by 7:15pm.
Earlier in the day, I had left a message with Russell and his wife Judith, whom I had
corresponded with on the internet's St. Helena Mailing List (they had taken the RMS to St.
Helena the previous year)... locals in the area, they invited me to give them a call when I was
in town. Walking in at the B&B that evening, Kritz mentioned that Russell had phoned
while I was out, so I gave him a call back. Russell teaches sailing right at Duncan Docks,
and talking to him on the phone, we arranged to meet tomorrow, when I'd join his class for a
sail in the morning.
Having had a long day with a lot of walking, I asked Kritz if it'd be OK to use his
phone to call Mr. Delivery (for pizza) — but instead, Kritz offered to drive to dinner
somewhere. We settled on Nando's (it was Kritz's first time eating there), where I ordered
two single chicken burgers with extra-spicy peri-peri, and shared an order of spicy rice.
After returning back to the B&B, the day was beginning to catch up with me, and it was
hard to keep awake. I managed to stay up for a bit to catch up on the journal, but as soon
as I was finished, I immediately went to sleep.
Dec. 28: Cape Town
I woke up this morning to heavy rain — in the middle of summer! Wondering if the
sailing class would still be held (Kritz commented "of course! — if it's a South African
teaching it!"), I called Russell to check... and sure enough, he was planning to teach and sail
today, even with the rain. Since I couldn't walk down to the docks with the weather the way
it was, Kritz volunteered to take me down in the car.
With a bit more time now, I had a chance to talk with Kritz over breakfast. Retired
now, he worked in the newspaper and and advertising business for most of his life, holding
pretty much the same political views as most white South Africans his age (and most white
South Africans in general): unhappy with the ANC, he was delighted that they had lost seats
in Cape Town during the recent local elections.
Driving around the dock area in the rain with Kritz after breakfast, it wasn't easy
finding the non-descript building where Russell was teaching, as most buildings didn't have
signs indicating what they were — though I did see a dark blue VW kombi with "Tristan da
Cunha" painted on it (as I would later find out, it belongs to Tristan House, a place run by a
Tristanian living in the area, where fellow Tristanians visiting Cape Town for medical
reasons or holidays can stay). At 9:30am we finally located the correct building (very close
to where the RMS was berthed), and I walked up to the 2F where Russell was teaching his
class. Five students were in class that morning (most having sailed before), and Russell was
covering subjects ranging from right-of-way to the correct sail adjustments for various wind
conditions.
Though still cloudy, the rain subsided for a bit, so we decided to leave the classroom
and go out for a sail in the 34ft boat belonging to the school's owner. Because of the rain
and weak wind, the on-board motor was used most of the time... leaving the slip, we sailed
right past the RMS, as I had my first good look at the ship I'd be spending close to a month
on. With everyone given wet gear to wear, our clothes stayed dry, but I had only sandals
with the Central Market socks for shoes. With it once more starting to drizzle, we passed a
group of large container ships as we headed out for the open water... the sails soon went up
for teaching, though with the lack of wind, the motor remained on. Russell took the boat to
a neighboring marina to deliver a book to someone on a catamaran about to leave for the
Carribean, and walking around the marina's slip area, it was decided that because of the
weather, the class would return back to go over more classwork for the rest of the day, and
instead have an extended overnight sail tomorrow. Anne-Sophie (a student from France
staying on the boat who spoke English quite well from having lived in the US) had been
steering most of the morning, but with Russell's OK, offered me control of the wheel for a
few minutes.
Back on land, we walked into the warm and dry restaurant at the Royal Cape Yacht
Club for a cheap lunch: R24/US$3.20 for "fettucine" (in reality, just noodles & tomato
sauce), though the hot chocolate (served in tall, thin glasses) was excellent. Sitting around
the table, we had a great conversation about everything from electronics to the recent
elections in both South Africa and the US.
After lunch as Russell returned to teaching in the classroom, his wife Judith came by
to pick me up and show me around the Cape in her little 1984 Toyota Corolla. First we tried
to stop at the V&A, as she needed to pick up mail from her PO Box there — but there were
so many cars trying to get into the complex that the wait would have easily been a half-hour
just to reach the parking lot. After about 15 minutes, she decided to try later in the day,
and made a U-turn before reaching the aquarium.
Judith spent the next few hours driving me through various areas of the Cape, taking
me through towns such as Sea Point, exclusive Clifton, Camp's Bay and Haut Bay.
Stopping for an ice-cream along the way, Judith pointed out Chapman's Peak Drive from a
distance before driving me as far as you can currently go on it (6kms along a newly-paved
stretch of road) — the famous drive was closed last year due to a rock fall, and the general
deterioration of the road coupled with a lack of funds for fixing it has kept it closed and its
future very much in doubt. It's a shame, as not only is it one of the few ways to get from
one side of the area to the other, but the views from the famous road make it one of the
Cape's premiere tourist attractions. One idea suggested for raising the necessary repair
funds was charging a tax for the road — but to date, the status of Chapman's Peak has
remained in limbo, with no firm plan on what will be done with it. Driving up as far as we
could (at which point the road is blocked), I got out to take some pictures... looking past the
roadblock, you can see the potholes, mudslides, and severe deterioration of the closed road,
but from the lookout the view was spectacular, and I'm sorry I missed taking the drive last
year before the road was closed.
Driving back into town via Consentia Valley, Noordhoek and Fish Hoek, I recognized
the area as the same that Francois had shown me last year — but this time, I was finally
able to have an idea of the Cape's layout in my head. In the car, Judith and I had some
good conversations as she shared with me her views on the current state of South Africa:
her view of the ANC is that it's bad to have a one-party political system, as it only invites
corruption (currently the ANC has a virtual lock on political power in the country), and
mentioned that unlike other countries, you don't actually vote for a particular person in
South Africa — you vote for their party. Earlier in the day when Kritz was telling me about
the election, he showed me his thumb — marked with a special paint that cannot easily be
removed (to show that someone has voted), and weeks later, I'd still see people walking
around with paint marks on their thumbs. Judith commented on everything from
affirmative action (feeling people are given jobs in which they have no idea what they're
doing) to how small and useless the government retirement scheme in the country is, to how
expensive it is to get a car — with the buyer not only having to afford the price of the vehicle
itself, but having to deal with loan rates above 20%.
While whites in South Africa are still much better off than their black counterparts,
it's important to note that the current economy is hard on everyone: salaries are low, the
rand isn't worth much, and many whites are struggling. Though their struggle can't
compare to the uphill battle the country's black majority faces in obtaining even the most
basic living necessities, it'd certainly be a mistake to believe that whites in South Africa are
all well-off: many hold down multiple jobs (including low-paying, service-sector jobs), and
have to work hard to make ends meet. One thing I noticed over time was how people living
throughout Africa tended to be much friendlier and helpful towards each other (when not
killing one another) than Americans would be in normal, everyday life. Even in South Africa
where there is still a definite interpersonal separation between whites and blacks (and this
attitude usually only showed itself with people of the same race), I was surprised to observe
the friendliness amongst strangers, and a willingness to give assistance to someone instead
of just passing them by, as Americans — at least in much of the US — would most likely do.
After a while, we stopped at the famous little seaside town of Kalkbay, where Russell
and Judith live in a nice old house with 3 dogs, 2 cats, and 7 birds. When Russell came
home from teaching, the two showed me their photo album of St. Helena from last year, and
gave me an idea of what to expect.
With it now being time for dinner, we went out for a walk to get something to eat.
Strolling down the pleasant main street of Kalkbay, Judith commented that the items in the
windows of the expensive antique stores have been there since she was growing up — only
they're a lot more expensive now that the town has become a tourist area. Still, Kalkbay is
nice small town (there's not even an ATM here — the closest one is in nearby Fish Hoek)
situated right at the water, with the train from Cape Town stopping right by the shore.
Walking onto the sand for a minute or two, we soon decided on the Matisse Cafe for dinner,
a nice little place to sit and relax. I opted for a pizza with chicken (having half and giving
the rest to Russell and Judith), and we chatted on everything from music to how South
African banks charge customers to make deposits and withdrawls from a teller.
After dinner Russell and Judith drove me back to the B&B, and though there wasn't
too much to write about today, it really was quite nice spending it with Russell and Judith.
Returning to the B&B at 10:50pm, there was a note on my refrigerator mentioning that due
to the main house refrigerator breaking, Kritz had put a few of his items in mine just until
the main one could be fixed tomorrow. After writing a few notes in my journal, I went to
sleep about an hour later.
Dec. 29: Cape Town
Walking down the street to the KwikSpar this morning to pick up some Omo laundry
soap for the ship, I noticed that the KwikSpar (two blocks down on Derry, open 7am-9pm)
was more expensive than even the 7-11 just a few blocks away. I was also hoping to pick up
a cheap disposable shaver, but the KwikSpar sold only the expensive refillable ones. It's
interesting to note that the 7-11s in South Africa aren't part of the international 7-11 chain
— nor are they open 24rs... when I asked a cashier at one once what their hours were, I
received a look indicating I must be stupid, with her reply being "from 7 to 11."
It was a beautiful day, and after chatting with Kritz over a nice breakfast, I left at
9:00am to walk into town, stopping first at the Gardens Centre for a look around. There in
a stationary store, I bought a lotto ticket for R2/US27c (I didn't win), and inside Clicks (a
general drug/sundries store that's part of the Pick 'N Pay chain), I bought a cheap
Philishave 30 battery-operated travel shaver on sale for R99/US$13.20. As the camera store
in the Centre was asking an incredible R85/US$11.33 for a disposable camera with flash, I
passed on that, but did pick up a nail clipper at the pharmacy.
Leaving the Gardens Centre, I backtracked a bit to walk over to Kloof Street. The
map I had showed that the small residential street I was on would intersect and connect
with the street I was trying to reach, and though it did for pedestrians (after walking up
some steps), if I was driving a car, I would have come to a dead end.
Walking down Kloof Street, I noticed the listings in a reality office window: homes in
this area typically ranged from US$100,000-US$150,000 — though one was going for a
hefty US$433,000. On the other side of the street was a shop called "Melissa's: The Food
Store", which was much like a California "Trader Joes" only on a smaller scale (I bought a
brownie before continuing my walk down the street).
After a while, Kloof St. turns into Long Street, and while passing a travel agency,
noticed a sign in its window advertising an internet connection for R0.40/min — but going
in and using the service for only 5 minutes, I was charged R5 (a minimum perhaps? It
wasn't mentioned on the sign). With the lady busy helping another client, I figured it wasn't
worth the time to wait and ask about the R3/US40c difference (especially as most of the
other internet cafes in the area were asking R0.50/minute), so I just went on my way.
Finding myself back near Adderly & Strand, I bought another R0.85c/US11c soft-
serve cone from Hungry Lion before walking over to the large Cape Town station. Here on
the roof of the station (near the kombi/minivan ranks), a large outdoor marketplace was in
full swing, with dozens of stalls selling everything from T-shirts to toothpaste. Browsing but
not really needing anything, I soon made my way into the nearby GAME store (located in the
Grand Central complex near the station). GAME is one of the better stores in South Africa,
selling everything from electronics to food to hardware at a very reasonable price. There,
Kodak disposable cameras with flash were only R59.99/US$8 (the cheapest in Cape Town),
but I decided to wait for a Fuji disposable instead. Even with the wonderful exchange rate
and a discount store such as GAME, electronics in South Africa were still much more
expensive than in the States. To give you an idea of such prices, GAME was selling the
same Chinese-made Orion DVD player that both Target and WalMart had put on sale for
US$89 in the States the previous month — but even at one of the cheapest stores in the
country, the price was still R1,899/US$253.20. GAME also had the Sony PlayStation 2 in
stock (it was the first time I physically saw one, for in the US it had been in short supply in
the stores and was a popular item up on Ebay) — but not only was it 220V and PAL (the
South African TV standard), but it cost R4,999/US$666.53.
From GAME I walked to the garment district (around Corporation and Barrack
Streets) to look for some cheap clothes. The two places I mentioned in last year's African
Travelogue are still here selling clothes at very cheap prices, but nothing there caught my
eye this time. However, in the same area is also Li's Clothing (29-31 Buitenkant Street —
look for the blue entrance), where boxes full of polo shirts (without pockets) in various colors
were only R10/US$1.33 each. Buying myself a blue one, I left the store and immediately
stumbled upon the new site of the District Six Museum, just a few doors down from Li's
Clothing.
During the Township Tour of Cape Town I took last year, we visited the museum at
its temporary location in an old church a bit out of town... but since then, it has moved to
its current location in a newly rennovated building right here in town. Even though I had
seen the museum and many of its exhibits last year, I spent time looking through it once
again, as there are some excellent new interactive exhibits. These exhibits are wonderful...
you approach a display focusing on music in District Six, and music automatically begins
playing... and there are museum docents walking around eager to answer any questions you
might have, or volunteer information on what life was like in District Six before the area was
razed. Speaking to one of the docents, I found out there is an active effort by the new
government to try to return the land to those who once lived there — and if you can bring in
proof that you lived in the area, you could put in a claim for land. Entrance to the museum
is free (with donations gladly accepted), and it's a must for any visitor to Cape Town.
Making a quick stop at "Costaless" (19 Buitenkant Street), I picked up a Cape Town
souvenir T-shirt for R14.99/US$1.99 (quite a bit better than the R130/US$17.33 the shops
at the V&A were asking for souvenir T-shirts), and picking up an egg & cheese sandwich at a
nearby takeaway, I walked around the area a bit more before returning back to Strand &
Adderly. Once downtown again, I decided to visit the nearby Castle, a landmark in Cape
Town — and about the only site in town I didn't bother to see properly last year (when I had
just looked around briefly after it had closed).
Walking up to the Castle, I saw a sign mentioning a 2:00pm tour, so I paid the
R15/US$2 admission and walked inside. The Castle is the oldest surviving building in Cape
Town (dating back to 1666), and still has many of its original stones... I stayed with the
guide for most of the tour, but wandered off on my own towards the end. Kritz had asked
me to call and check in with him at 2:00pm (as he had wanted to show me a shopping
complex located outside of town later in the day) — but giving him a ring outside the Castle,
I let him know I probably wouldn't be back until dinnertime (it was a beautiful day and there
was other things I wanted to do more than visit a shopping mall).
Walking back up Adderly, the street turns into the Company Gardens (a nice stretch
of green with historic buildings, museums, gardens, and places to relax). There's a new
Jewish Museum in the Gardens, but after walking uphill to reach it, found it closed in the
middle of the afternoon. Turning around to walk back into town, I headed off for the V&A
again, though stopped in first at the large new Cullinan Hotel to use their bathroom (the
hotel always appears to be vacant from a distance because there never seems to be any cars
outside it — but indeed there were people staying there, with the current single rate being
R555/US$74 a night without breakfast).
At the V&A once more, I went to AudioLens to pick up a Fuji Superia 800 disposable
camera with flash (R69.95/US$9.33), as I didn't have a flash unit for my Canon AE-1
Program. Buying a milkshake at a food stand, I should have waited, for at St. Elmo's (where
I went next to buy a slice of pizza), the milkshakes were only R4.90/US65c.
In the ampatheatre outside, a group of 5 young singers in their 20s (a white girl, a
black girl, a black guy, and two coloured guys) were giving a concert, singing light,
entertaining South African songs concerning the country's history (being the V&A, the songs
weren't political or controversial, but rather happy and upbeat). Many songs were in
Afrikaans, but others were in Dutch, English, and even Xhosa. Between numbers (sung to a
pre-recorded tape) the group put on little skits, and the crowd (including many locals) loved
it, laughing at some of the South African historal references I wasn't aware of. The
ampatheatre was packed, and it was a nice way for everyone to relax in the late 6:00pm sun.
I had planned to leave the V&A at 5:30pm (to be back by 6:30pm), but was enjoying
the show so much, I didn't leave until 6:00pm (though I still left before the end). Stopping
only to pick up another phone card at the Telkom shop, I left the V&A entrance (by the
CalTex station) at 6:05pm, walking very briskly back to the B&B. On the way home, I
passed the internet cafe I used to pass everyday last year (between the Mount Nelson and
the Protea Lodge, next to the pharmacy), but didn't want to spend time checking my email
tonight, as I had told Kritz I'd be home at 6:30pm. When I arrived back at the B&B at
6:54pm, Kritz was outside working on his front lawn, and showed me what he planned to do
to the place over the next few weeks. When finished, he needed a few minutes to get ready,
so I sat down to watch some TV until we were ready to go.
Soon I was driving with Kritz out to Century City, a huge new shopping complex
located outside of Cape Town (near the Ratanga Junction amusement park). Century City is
a large American-style mall done even one better — with African and European-style murals
gracing the walls and marbled floors and domes, the new mall has an opulant look, even
though the stores inside are the same ones you'd find anywhere else in the country. The
mall is divided into two large sections, and as you're allowed only one hour of free parking,
we looked around one area for an hour before going out to move the car for another hour of
free parking. Pick 'N Pay and Clerks had both closed by the time we found them (9:30pm),
but downstairs in the food court I bought a schwarma for R14.95/US$1.99, letting Kritz try
a bit of mine as he had never tried one before. If you're an American, the mall is nothing out
of the ordinary, but for Kritz (a 65yr-old retired South African), I can see where it really
might be something different than what he's probably used to (one thing different than
American malls: bomb bags, of the same type I saw at the V&A).
On the drive back from Century City I listened as Kritz told me South African history
from the Afrikaaner point of view, and once back in town, we stopped at the 7-11 on Kloof
Street — but as they were out of the cheese Kritz was looking for, we made a stop at the 7-
11 on Vredehoek St. and Buitenkant St. as well (the one I'd usually stop at while walking),
as Kritz was good friends with one of the guys working there.
Misc. notes: in South Africa none of the stores (from the supermarkets to the 7-11s)
have pre-sliced bread — instead, the bread is sold whole, and each store has a bread slicer
for people to use... and the oft-used South African expression "just now" doesn't mean "now"
as it would in American English, but rather "sometime later."
Dec. 30: Cape Town / RMS St. Helena / Cape Town
Today I was to board the Royal Mail Ship RMS St. Helena and set sail for St. Helena.
Waking up early, I walked down to the KwikSpar before breakfast to look for a comb, but
with none in stock, I decided to walk a bit further over to the 7-11 on Vredehoek and
Buitenkant streets, where I found one for R2.99/US40c (walking back to the B&B, I also
stopped along the way to use the payphone down the street from the KwikSpar to call
home).
With the RMS embarkation set for 11:00am (though I wanted to arrive early) there
was plenty of time for breakfast this morning, and while preparing it, Kritz handed me an
Afrikaans paper and asked if I could understand any of it. Over breakfast, he talked again
about how lazy some blacks were, but when he saw the student violin I was taking with me
to St. Helena, asked if I would play a few tunes for the black handyman he had working on
his lawn that morning. Taking it out, I played a few quick tunes for both of them before it
was time to go.
Leaving for the docks at 10:10am, we arrived with plenty of time to spare at 10:30am.
In the building next to J Berth (by the RMS) plenty of cargo was stacked high (including
sacks of sugar), though at this late hour, it was obviously not bound for St. Helena. There
in the building, I met John and Cecelia from the UK: John was a botanist probably in his
early 60s, and his friend Cecelia was a retired flutist who liked travelling to far-off places,
even at the age of 80. Kritz was curious to see what the ship was like, but once
embarkation started, his request for a look around was denied (though it's quite possible to
have a look on board if you arrange it beforehand and don't ask to do it right before
embarkation). Going through a metal detector, I said goodbye to Kritz, and walked onto the
ship.
On board the RMS, the first thing I did was try to find the cabin I'd be staying in:
C49. The cheapest rooms on the RMS are 4-person cabins, with the next-cheapest being a
two-person cabin... I managed to reserve the only 2-person cabin with a porthole (C49) for
three of the four segments I'd be on board, but would have to move to a cabin without a
porthole for the St. Helena -> Cape Town segment.
A bit of information on the RMS St. Helena: the current vessel to carry the name was
built in Scotland in 1989 specifically to replace the "old" RMS (which had been a mail ship
converted to a passenger liner), with the purpose of supplying the South Atlantic island of
St. Helena with transportation, cargo, and mail (RMS = Royal Mail Ship). The bulk of the
RMS' sailings consist of routes between Cape Town, St. Helena, Ascension Island, and back
to the UK (Cardiff, Wales) — though once a year there's a Cape Town -> Tristan da Cunha
sailing as well. The length of the ship is 105m, though I was told by crew members on more
than one occasion that it was originally meant to be 50m longer, as the shorter size makes it
rock more in rough seas. The ship does have two stabilizers though, and they help smooth
out the ride considerably. The RMS carries a crew of 56, and can hold 128 passengers
(though most segments had about 95 passengers, as some people prefer to book private
cabins for themselves at a higher cost).
The bottom deck of the ship is "C-deck" (where I was staying). This is the level with
both the galley and the budget cabins (for 2 or 4 people), though to get from the C-deck
cabins to the galley, you must first walk up the stairs to B-deck, go to the other side of the
ship, then walk down another flight of stairs. There is one lift on board the ship between A,
B, and the galley side of C deck, but as there's little other exercise available on board, I soon
found all the stair-climbing a plus. The cabins on C-deck are of the bunk-bed variety (one
on top of the other), and while some 4-person cabins have portholes, only one 2-person
cabin does (C49 — the one I managed to reserve for 3 of the 4 segments). As the cabins on
this deck have no en-suite bathroom or shower, there are four communal showers and Mens
and Ladies toilets nearby.
"B-deck" is the level passengers embark and disembark the ship on, and is also the
level with some of the nicest cabins (the Governor of St. Helena and his wife stayed in B-36).
Located near the entrance is the ship's store (selling St. Helena souvenirs and books, film,
snacks, laundry soap, toiletries, and other miscellaneous items), the purser's bureau, hotel
services, and the booth with the satellite phone, a South African cardphone (for use when
the ship is docked in Cape Town), and an email terminal. There's also a bathtub and private
bathroom for anyone to use at the end of the hallway across from cabin B39, but hardly
anyone even knew it was there. On both B and A decks, there's a pantry where you can go
anytime of the day or night to make yourself a cup of tea or coffee.
"A-deck" has a lot of cabins, a pantry, the ship's laundry (two washers and two dryers
as well as a drip-dry room — free for anyone to use), public bathrooms, the doctor's office,
the exercise room (suspiciously right across from the doctor's office — when I mentioned
that fact later to the doctor, he chuckled), and the main lounge (facing front, though as it's
in the middle of the ship, there's no view of the water in front). The exercise room is better
than nothing, but is by no means a gym: a small room with windows, it has only one
exercise bike, two "pull-up-bike" machines, one sitting bench, a floor mat, and a scale. The
main lounge on A deck has a bar and tables to eat at, but only a small portion is declared
"non-smoking", and smoke circulates through the entire room. The small alcove which
constitutes the non-smoking section has a curtain which can be pulled shut when showing
videos (there's a TV and VCR), and you can borrow videos from the purser's bureau and
watch them here late at night, as many people wound up doing. The ship's reading library
is also located in this lounge, stocked with a moderate selection of boring books. The eating
tables in the lounges have round, sticky peel-off covers placed atop them so your plates and
cups won't slide when the ship is sailing in rough water, and free tea and coffee is usually
served here in the afternoons and evenings (as is "afternoon tea" — cookies, cake, and
tea/coffee, usually from about 3:50pm). There are two slot machines in the bar area of the
A-deck lounge as well, though one was currently broken.
Above A-deck is the "promenade deck", with one expensive cabin (though it's not a
good place to stay, as it's right by double doors which like to slam shut in the wind), the
children's playroom (complete with chalkboard and a 13" TV and VCR — if there are no kids
using the room, you can watch videos in here as well), and the sun lounge (unlike the main
lounge downstairs which has no doors leading outside, the sun lounge exits out to the sun
deck and swimming pool). The sun lounge is also the alternate place to eat breakfast and
lunch should you opt for a lighter meal than that being served down below in the galley (a
light breakfast and light buffet-style lunch are served here, as opposed to the full-course
meals down below). There's also a bar here, as well as another slot machine by the door out
to the sun deck. The sun deck has tables with umbrellas, chairs, and chaise lounges to
relax on, both in the main rear section as well as a few on the sides of the ship. The small
swimming pool (square-shaped) is located here, and though it can be refreshing in warm
weather, don't expect to swim laps, as it's quite small (it actually uses filtered sea water,
though you wouldn't know it from swimming in it). There are some crew accomodations on
all levels except for A-deck, as well as cabins set aside for clergy ("purple patch") and
students when they travel on board.
Above and looking down onto the sun deck is a small balcony with chairs and a
table, though the "covering" lets the sun through and it's quite easy to get burnt, as the
tables there have no umbrellas like the ones out on the sun deck. Further up is the funnel
deck, where the base of the ship's yellow funnel is located. The back of this deck is used for
games such as deck quoits, with the front being where the ship's bridge is (shuffleboard and
cricket are played down below on the sun deck).
The RMS keeps an "open bridge" policy, meaning that anyone is free to enter and
walk around on the bridge at just about any time (unless there's an emergency or special
meeting going on). Though this policy is probably a bit of a burden on the officers, it does
make the sailing quite a bit more interesting for the passengers, and I think perhaps some of
the officers actually do welcome it at times (as the norm is to have only one officer on duty at
a time on the bridge, and it can get quite lonely on some shifts... I wound up spending a lot
of time talking to some of the officers up on the bridge throughout the two sailings).
The RMS St. Helena is described as a "luxury cargo liner" — a working cruise ship,
and while I had never been on a cruise ship before, I can tell you that it's definitely not the
QE2. On some levels, I'd describe the RMS as a "Motel 6" cruise ship — but that's not quite
accurate, as the RMS is different than any other ship in the world. The vessel's primary
mission is to provide transportation for people and cargo to-and-from St. Helena, but within
that charter, the staff tries to make the long days at sea enjoyable, and the food served on
board is quite good. Even with my accomodations being the "basic" shared type (rather than
the expensive private cabins), I still felt quite out of place on the ship though, as I'm
someone who doesn't care for luxury at all, preferring to just get from Point A to Point B in
the fastest, cheapest, and most practical manner possible (I would have easily opted for a
dorm on a container liner if one were available). Still, the staff of the RMS tries hard, and
the food was teriffic — to give you an idea of some of the food choices, take a look at the
sample lunch and dinner menus below. Note though that most of the food uses British
names (for instance, "pudding" isn't a mousse as Americans would understand the term, but
rather a cake), and almost everything is rich. You can order as much of anything (or
everything) as you like, but it's useless asking for smaller portions of something, as most of
the time the portions wound up being the same size anyway...
LUNCH (Jan. 4) DINNER (Jan. 29)
Jellied Consomme HORS D'OEUVRE:
Minestrone with Parmesan Tristan Crayfish Tails
—— Wedges of Brie Cheese
Fillet of Haddock SOUPS:
Grilled Lamb Cutlets Rich Port and Game Broth
Cheese and Tomato Omelette Cream of Parsnip
A Wide Selectin of Cold Meats MAIN COURSE:
and Seasonal Salads Flour and Butter Grilled Slip Sole
—— Prime Fillet Steak O'Brien and
Ciboulette Potatoes Stir Fry Vegetables
Baby Carrots A Wide Selection of Cold Meats
Roasted Pumpkin and Seasonal Salads
—— VEGETABLES:
Bakewell Tart Pont Neuf and New Boiled Potatoes
Chocolate Caramel Slice Buttered Leeks
Various Dairy Ice Creams and Sorbets Glazed Carrots
—— DESSERTS:
Cheeseboard Light Peach and Vanilla Tart
Lemon Gateau with Dairy Cream
Sticky Toffee Pudding & Ice Cream
Coupe Rendezvous
Various Dairy Ice Creams and Sorbets
SAVOURY:
Garlic Sauteed Clams on toast
CHEESEBOARD
Most costs on board are covered with the fare, though drinks (including sodas and
squashes) are extra, as are certain other activities such as bingo (tipping is also extra,
suggested at £0.50/US75c a day for your cabin attendant, dinner server, and bar man).
Email is available, though file attachments aren't allowed (if you absolutely must send
attachments, see the purser... you can do it from the machine upstairs, though it'll cost a lot
more). As it is, it's quite expensive to send an email or place a call, as both go through
INMARSAT (the International Maritime Satellite) — and as email is only sent out in packets
four times a day, there's no web-surfing or access to your own personal email account at
home (all incoming and outgoing email must go through the ship's own account). You're
also instructed not to use the CC: or the BCC: carbon-copy options, though they're available
if you really want to. In the end, I never bothered with email myself, as without access to
my account at home it seemed useless — though a lot of other people made use of the
service.
All announcements made on the ship are preceeded by two musical notes (a "B"
followed by a "B" an octave lower), and lunch and dinner are announced with a silly pre-
recorded tune (a little ditty which sounds similar to what you might hear on a Japanese
train as it approaches the station).
Most of the staff and a good portion of the crew on board are "Saints" (native St.
Helenans), as working on the RMS is one of the few job opportunities available on an island
with high unemployment. Except for Carol (who is the ship's only Tristanian), all the
waiters and waitresses are Saints, as are the cabin attendants, maids, and most of the
service staff. While the two captains, the 1st mate, the head pursers and head chef are
Brits, the 2nd mate (Andrew), a 3rd mate (Jolene), two assistant pursers (Nigel and Carl),
the head waiter (Tubby), and the galley supervisor (Michael) are Saints.
Throughout the course of the two sailings, I gained a lot of respect for the staff of the
RMS: they must put up with people of all different temperments, memorize their names and
needs, and a few weeks later, start the routine all over again with another set of passengers.
While the officers have private quarters, the crew must share quarters (two per room), and
there's never a day off while out at sea. To the officers as well, my compliments... they also
have no days off while at sea, and it can't be an easy life for them either. Saints are
extremely nice people, and the many hours I would spend talking with the staff and crew of
the RMS was one of the nicest things about the voyage.
There were two policies on the RMS which I didn't particularly like: the seating
proceedure for dinner and the lack of any decent non-smoking areas. As far as dinner
seating is concerned, while you're free to sit anywhere for breakfast or lunch (which is
served both downstairs in the galley as well as upstairs in the sun lounge), you're given a
specific seat, table, and time (either 6:45pm or 8:00pm) for dinner. There seems to be some
confusion as to what determines your dinner time though, with one brochure asking you to
indicate which sitting you'd prefer, and another mentioning that all passengers staying in
budget-grade cabins would automatically be given the earlier sitting. The Captain, most of
the crew, and all dignitaries are assigned to the later sitting, and while changing from the
later sitting to the earlier one usually isn't a problem, they generally don't allow those
assigned to the earlier sitting (ie, budget passengers) to switch and join the later one. I
suppose this class separation is an example of the Britishness of the ship, but to me (as an
American), it seemed absolutely ludicrous here in the 21st century — though for some
strange reason I was actually given the 8:00pm sitting!
Because of my assignment to the later sitting, I had dinner with the upper class of
the ship for the first two nights, and hated every minute of it. First, the type of people on
this sitting weren't exactly the best to share a meal with: while nice, most were what I would
consider to be the stereotypical upper-crust weathly Brit — not the kind of down-to-earth
person I prefer having a conversation with (as well, there was a loud, drunk Dutch writer
assigned to my table — she was always either smoking or drinking somewhere on the ship,
and had a voice that could give anyone a headache). All of the Saints (as well as most of the
"normal" folk) were on the first sitting, and while I'm able to walk between the two worlds
just fine, I vastly prefer to hang with people a bit less conscious and concerned with who
they are. As well, 8:00pm was simply too late for me to eat a heavy dinner: with all the
appetizers being served, the main course wouldn't arrive until 8:30pm or so — not the time I
like to eat a heavy dinner.
After the first few nights, I asked to be switched to the less-stuffy 6:45pm timeslot,
but even here, my seat and table were pre-assigned — another ridiculous policy that
deserves to be challenged, and challenged it was. Over those first few days, a group of about
8 fellow passengers and myself began to click and hang out together... and we soon decided
that we should be able to sit together for dinner as well. Noticing one large table that was
never used (Table 16), we all decided one night to just to sit down at that table and eat
together as a group (while it was a South African who first suggested doing it, everyone went
along — including the Brits in the group). When the staff came over to see what was going
on, we all politely pointed out that we were a large group that would like to sit together, and
this particular table wasn't being used. The response was "Yes, but this table is never used
for the first sitting!" Still, we politely refused to move, and the following day, one of the
members of our group worked it out with Michael (the galley supervisor) that we could sit at
that table from then on. Later, we found out the reason Table 16 is never used for the first
sitting: it's the table where the Captain and Governor (when he's on board) dine on the
second sitting — but the other tables have to be cleaned, so one more shouldn't make a
difference! Through special arrangemet we were able to sit together and enjoy our dinner,
but the policy is sorely out-dated and needs to be changed. I understand the need for
having two sittings at dinner (the galley can't hold everyone at once, and for breakfast and
lunch many people choose the sun deck instead), but I don't think it would bring doom to
the line if people were allowed to choose where and when they can eat their dinner. Making
matters worse, the assigned seating chart only put a few people at each table — most with
only 2-4 people (at my original table, there was only myself and the loud, drunk Dutch
writer... that's it). It almost seemed as if they were trying to separate people instead of
letting everyone enjoy each other's company and conversation. Though an opportunity is
given to switch your table for the return sailing, half the trip is over by this time, and the
seating policy should just be completely abolished.
The second item that bothered me (and others, as I later found out) was the lack of
any real non-smoking area on the RMS. I am quite aware that being from California (with
some of the world's strictist policies against smoking indoors), my being used to rooms
without cigarette smoke isn't something the rest of the world is used to — but it was still
annoying that the only place on the entire ship where you could go to escape cigarette
smoke was the galley downstairs. That's it. Every other place is fair game for smokers, from
the cabins to the decks to the indoor lounges (as mentioned earlier, there is one section of
the main lounge set aside for non-smoking, but as it's all just one large room, the smoke
drifts right into the non-smoking section). At the end of the trip when we were filling out
survey cards about the RMS, I was surprised to hear how much the smoke bothered some of
the others in the group as well, with some of them writing it down as their main complaint
(one of the South African journalists on the Tristan voyage who had taken the RMS to St.
Helena a few years ago mentioned he had commented on the lack of non-smoking areas at
the time, but that nothing had changed).
While my luggage was in a crate being lifted onto the ship by a crane, I went to find
the cabin I'd be staying in: C49. The small cabin has one set of bunk beds (49B is the lower
bunk, 49D the upper), two small half-height closets about the size of my backpack (with one
on top of the other), a set of four thin drawers (two of them lockable), a sink with cup-
holders, a mirror, and small individual flourscent lights and ultra-mini fold-out tables next
to each bunk. There's no "desk", but the person in the lower bunk can put his things on top
of the set of 4 drawers, while the person sleeping in the upper bunk can place some items
(such as a book or a glass of water) on the windowsil underneath the porthole. A chain
suspends the metal covering of the porthole when open, but there never seemed to be a
reason to close it