2 february 2001

Georgetown

A ficherman's village

Cameron Highlands

Peherentian Island

Khota Bharu

Kuala Lumpur

Friends,

We’re sorry for the delay, but let us reassure you that we are no longer in the Gujarat, no longer in the non-existant Bhuj. Such a horrible story. Bhuj was like a garden of delights for us and to imagine the Anapurna Hotel, the mosque and the old town in ruins; the people hungry, crushed and suffering is difficult to bare.

Before Christmas we put the car in a container and the container on a boat and the boat took East of Eden from Bombay to Bangkok. There we had a million miseries with customs (NEVER try to bring a car into Thailand via the port!), and finally met the marvellous and brilliant customs officer, Mr. Pisit who got us out of that particular hell. By the way, they say that customs officials in this part of the world are easy to bribe. We tried. Nothing worked. These guys have integrity.

So now we’re in Malaysia after 10 horrible days in Bangkok and a few days of chilling out on Ko Lanta, a tropical island on the way to Malaysia. One of the upshots of leaving the computer in the car for that long and in this heat is that the hard drive was totally burned out by the time we were finally able to liberate it.

That’s why the site is so behind. Sorry. Malaysia is treating us well. The beaches are nice and peaceful, the food is sublime and here on Penang Island we found a little computer wizard named Yei Chung Yeap and if you’re in the area and have an I.T. problem then call him at 604 229 4285.

Farewell to India. One of the greatest parts about any trip to India is getting on the plane out. And yet at the same time we must stop, take pause and deeply thank the Bandrawalla family of Bombay who saved our lives, our souls and our bank-account with their sublime generosity and Jewish-mother caring. Also, a great thank you goes out to the finest mechanic in all Bombay. Here’s the address :

The Select Auto Works
Sunil Shanbag, Latif Villa
Dada Saheb, Phalke Road
400014
Dadar
East Bombay
Tel: 414 9910
Tel: 411 4447




We are currently camping out in a fisherman’s village, Teluk Bahang, on Penang Island in front of a guesthouse and in a neighbour’s garden. Oudi is a fine Malay teacher and a great landlord.

I’ve managed to fix the digital camera (thanks for nothing, Epson), and things should be back to normal soon.