Bush Craft 3: Is Not Phuket a City of Sins?

Bush Craft 3: 2300 KMs of Biking Adventure

By 8^th of January, I left KL to Bukit Minyak, Simpang Ampat, Penang.

Not sure of my own dwindling health, unjustifiably, I had this severe muscle pain. It was hard to stand up after long hours of sitting, riding bike or even lying down. Positively, I thought it was because of recklessly consuming Calcium Lactate pills, bought at RM2.50 from a local pharmacy. Earlier, my intention in consuming those white pills was to ease the recurring pain on my backbone and both knees. But was it true about over-consumption of Calcium pills could drive to Muscular Dystrophy? Or less so Myalgia? Negatively, I suspected a notorious spell of black magic. Old folklore calls it ‘jampi’ or ‘sihir’. The rise of that negative assumption, came after taking absolute consideration that there were no food poisoning, no extreme exercise, and not even wild attempts to drink alcohol, drugs or even cigarettes. So, the assumption of being in a spell, was halfway accurate. And along the way biking, I bore the pain.

It was about 5:30PM cruising in the lancing rain through suburb roads that began in Bestari Jaya. I like to choose the route from Kuala Selangor to Penang, because according to mileage, it is much shorter than the North-South Expressway. The sceneries of villages, paddy fields, jumpy and holey roads heightened the sensation of riding motorcycle. Especially of a moped size bike like mine. Yamaha Lagenda 110Z. Very hard to get, no approval from anybody, and pricey to maintain. And this bike is just like a legend for me, a genius peasant. And the long ride carried on; Parit Buntar, Teluk Intan, Gopeng, Ipoh, Kuala Kangsar until… up to Taiping. A royal town of northern Perak. A cool, obscure, distinct town. I ended up at the Taiping’s Hospital. For a ‘Green’ Emergency Treatment. Especially that related to my Myalgia. The hospital staff were all friendly and helpful. That is why I love government hospital. Otherwise, a genius peasant could not afford any treatment, especially from private hospital, because the cost of treating even a simple headache could reach RM150. After taking antibiotics and paracetamol, I continued my journey to Bukit Minyak.

***

It was an open interview for a line operator in a factory that manufactures and assembles PC’s hard disk. The waiting was long about half day since 9:00AM in the twitchy morning. This was because there were a lot of young candidates applying for the same job. After making new friends right on the spot, their petty jokes, frivolous questionnaires and answers filled the whole waiting hours. Just about half past 4PM, at Lincoln Backpackers, about 32.8 KM, via Jalan Baru/Route 1, Pulau Pinang Bridge/E36 and Tun Dr. Lim Chong Eu Highway/Route 3113, I got an upsetting WhatsApp message that: ‘I am not a suitable candidate’ – for the job. But as for me, who had prophesied earlier, that the outcome might be negative, had not been overly surprised.

Because many Asian countries do not create ordinary jobs that are tailored for workers above forties, travelers or even needy rags. Meanwhile, jobs in Malaysia are shrunken from time to time, especially during the reign of this new government. If there are jobs available, it would be prioritized to expatriates or even illegal immigrants like China, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. The Malays or Bumiputras are day by day being – out-casts. However, there should actually be jobs that are suitable for workers above forties, pensioners, handicaps of whom are frail to undertake heavy tasks. Like 4 – 5 hours work’s schedule a day, less heavy and stressful duties, even though the outcome may result in lesser pays. And contractual work that are calculated by weekly basis instead of monthly. So it can benefit travelers and homeless people too. But because of greed, political inequality, and also who acts like cats that lick from the front but clawing from behind, this matter might always be left aside, unnoticed.

***

The journey of once earlier intended to search for temporary jobs at different states, had transformed to an adventure. And this was the 7^th time I had passed the Malaysia-Thailand border. My ultimate drive was to travel all Asia, Middle East and lasted in Europe. 7,334.89 KMs (Malaysia-Dubai) with maximum hours of 47 days 10 hours if walking at 3mph. And another 6,275 KMs from Dubai to Frankfurt. If biking at the speed of 40mph, it might take 219 hours 46 minutes to complete the journey.

With a month of road insurance, costing RM29 plus visitor’s pass, I travelled at a slow pace in between 40-60mph. Danok, Sadao, Hatyai. The border, or Danok, was about 36 KMs from Hatyai. I rested and had my dinner at a TESCO Lotus outlet in Hatyai. By 5:45PM (Thai time), I continued riding all the way up to Patthalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat until to Surat Thani. At about 2:00AM after reaching the town of Surat Thani, I felt dizzy and the Mylgia recurred. I thought of having a night or two in Phuket, where I had miscalculated that Phangnga or Phuket was just about 30-50 KMs from Surat Thani. Originally, via route 4118, it really took 3.5 hours ride, covering 249 KMs in distance. So it was quite terrible.Yes, terrible. The bike had suddenly stopped and it was hard to kick start. I did not know why. Because of the dizziness, I had to sit on grassy road shoulder, and blankly stared at the starry sky. It was maybe like 20-40 minutes. Only one-two juggernauts passed by the empty road. Then later, I tried hard starting the bike and journeyed on. It was 5 mm to ‘End of Fuel’, whilst crossing the 85 KMs ‘obsolete road’ to a PTT Petrol Station in Krabi district. Along the way, I had to play the throttle. Because the engine had been overhauled few months earlier, so the cylinder’s bore was bigger by 0.30 cm. Once the bore is bigger, it swallows more oil to run faster. As I reached the big PTT Station, my fuel tank nearly emptied. And that was where I had really counted my luck.

As the cock’s crows calling dawn, I rested for 1.5 hours at a roadside hut. Because there was no available hotel or hostel to check in during that wee hours, I had to switch my plan southward to Ko Lanta. Seriously a beautiful island, like Langkawi in Kedah (Malaysia). Only that Ko Lanta was bigger like Penang (Malaysia). About 7AM, I had stumbled with Rattana Resort, situated about 5 KMs from the Samakkhi Matsayit Mosque or 10 KMs from Hua Hin Pier. I had just thought that the scenic resort was expensive. Like above RM150. But to my astonishment, it was only around RM80 per night. Thereon, about 4PM, after heavy sleeping, I circled around Ko Lanta Island. Weekend Market, Crepes by Mina, Chai Hat Lang Sot, Koh Lanta Old Town and its pier.

The great thing about being in Ko Lanta was that I got this 3 hours job as a tour guide to 2 Indian guys from Bombay. Another unprecedented luck of the day. Because they were not accustomed to Ko Lanta’s surroundings, I had to guide them all the way to few scenic places. They ended their nights at Holiday Villa (close to Klong Dao Stadium), west side of Ko Lanta. Meanwhile, I got my 2000 Baht remuneration! About RM266.90 income!

***

I discovered Phuket after an amazing day in Ko Lanta. It was about 232 KMs from Hua Hin Pier. Nuea Khlong, Hula Hula Golf Club, Big C, Krabi Town, Mueang, Exciting Krabi Forest, Khao Khram Cockfighting arcade, Ao-Phangnga National Park, Sirinat National Park were all passed through Phet Kassem Road and Route 1002. It took me about 5 hours starting at 11AM (Thai time) and ended at 6:30PM in the evening. Got a pre-booked hostel, named 12 Month Hostel, I stayed there for 4 days.

The first night at Phuket was drastic and full of entertainment. It was just like the E.J. Entertainment in the film ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. Starred by Leonardo DiCaprio. Tiger Shows were wild at Bangla Walking Street, of which was close to Patong Beach. Especially with the accompaniment of this one Indian guy named Shuvam from West Bengal, India. But I did not focus much at the ‘Tiger Shows’ because the clubs that hosted them were demanding high fees. And they had not bothered me much because perhaps I was not an European or even wealthy. In one point of view, hosts, men, bodyguards or even women in Thailand knew how to measure their customers. They had these intuitions that could differentiate between the middle class, high class, social class, sex-oriented class, fighter’s or warrior’s class. So because I was unspotted, I enjoyed my night – shooting; with the income I got earlier at Ko Lanta. Guns and pistols with real life bullets were amongst the amazing attractions in Thailand. Luger, Smith & Wesson, Beretta, Colt are life and excitingly dangerous. Here, I got a trial of 15 rounds of ammo. The another 15 ammos were paid at 800 Bahts. So altogether 30 rounds. Another shooting arcade that resembled the real guns were the CO2 air pistols and rifles. The bullets were made from aluminium balls. I got 300 rounds for 6 sessions. And it was only 300 Bahts!

The next 2 days I wandered around Phuket. I swam 3 beaches including Rawai, Surin and Kamala. European ladies in bikinis were the wildest spots I had encountered. And the clear wavy sea was excitedly swum. In between those beaches there were tourist’s spots like the Wat Chalong, Kathu Waterfall, Phuket Mining Museum of which had  enthralled me. 

A review for Wat Chalong or The Chaitararam Buddhist Temple: “I’m in it now, a holy place, where the Thai people love to exist.” The deep meaning was truly felt by me, myself. I had once thought that the holy place was just an exotic museum or an unusual place of worship. But it seemed otherwise. The Buddha statues were like guarded by spirits or elves. Not by just supernatural spirits but, the so called ‘The Guardian of The Fruit of The Spirit: Peace’. Like the ancient quote: “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.” “There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.” And further elongated by Miyamoto Musashi as:

“There is nothing

Outside of yourself

That can ever enable you

To get better, stronger, richer,

Quicker, or smarter.

Everything is within.

Everything exists.

Seek nothing

Outside of yourself.”

So the peacefulness of the Wat Chalong was just like infusing the feeling of being a sage warrior. That was why Tomoi (or Kick Boxing) and the film Ong Bak could be established just by this type of spiritual infusion. The calmness regained makes one to be more active, resilient, focused and powerful. So that was what I interpreted from Wat Chalong.

Another spot where I could be able to do a yoga session was Kathu Waterfall. The waterfall was about 8 KMs from Phuket Town. And the running stream was tiny and not as scenic like other waterfalls in the world. But the pleasant and airy surroundings eased me to accomplish a 30 minutes Yoga session. Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. The spiritual sense of the word yoga first arises in the second half of the 1st millennium BCE, and is associated with the philosophical system presented in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, with the chief aim of "uniting" the human spirit with the Divine. The term kriyāyoga has a technical meaning in the Yoga Sutras, designating the "practical" aspects of the philosophy, of which it is the "union with the supreme" due to performance of duties in everyday life. And the result of it was that I ended up in the late afternoon performing prayer at Nurul Islam Mosque, in Central Patong!

So, Phuket was not as sinful as people might normally talk about. One or two spots would not denigrate Phuket as a despicable place. The way that we mingle with the crowds is by our own choice either to sinfully fraternize or socializing positively. Not the place and its attractions that provides us the ways for committing sins.

***

I tried to move on, but the budget was too small. So I retreated to Kuala Lumpur 8 days later. Concluding the journey, it was a great adventure. Instead of bush-crafting in the jungle, I city-crafted all the way 941 KMs road from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur. But the world exploration did not over yet. Might be if there could be chances again awaiting in the future. Especially through my Musical World Tour.