David took me around to a lot of touristy places the next day. By touristy I mean they are places that would appeal to tourists. Fishing village, prawn farms, shipyard, that sort of thing. Although I have been clear about the purpose of this ride - that it is not primarily a sightseeing ride - I still found these sights and sounds interesting.
Ultimately, all these places are run by people. Ordinary folk in a less urbanised environment, doing a myriad of things in the name of making a living. Sure, the jobs they hold are not the jobs I'm used to seeing on a daily basis but that is indeed one reason why it's interesting.
Another is David himself.
David had secondary education only until Form 2. Some years later, he somehow landed a job in a school library and took the opportunity to read books he might have read had he continued his schooling. This gave him a rudimentary alternative schooling and helped him go a little further in life.
A keen badminton player, he was Kedah state singles champion for 3 years in the 70s and missed out on trials with the national team simply because of administrative blunders. He eventually found a job with the Electricity Board, LLN, partly because of his badminton prowess and there he's been ever since.
The privatisation of LLN has been good for him - giving him a better income and health benefits for the whole family. He had an Angioplasty a few years ago and takes a handful of pills every morning to keep him going - the cost of which is borne by the health benefits scheme.
By all accounts, he is a remarkable fellow. Considering his very basic education, he has brought himself quite far indeed. Initially a very local chap, with no contact with Mat Sallehs, David went on a cycling trip through Southern Thailand, met a lot of foreigners and his life suddenly changed. He became comfortable with foreigners, and more importantly, found a great desire to show his country to them. David's Homestay followed soon after.
He now hosts cyclists and backpackers from all over the world and has become quite well known throughout the budget traveling community. Indeed, I found him on the internet and the idea of someone in Parit Buntar, of all places, playing host to international cyclists and backpackers was irresistible. I just had to drop by.
One couple who came to stay helped him set up his website and showed him how to manage it so now this chap with the Form 2 education manages his own site, creating pages, putting up pictures, etc. His spoken English is more than adequate, but his written English still needs work so David takes pictures of signs at tourist spots and painstakingly copies them onto his webpages when he needs to explain a location or event.
As for marketing David's Homestay, his army of friends often waylay passing cyclists and pass them his card. Many contact David and end up staying days, even weeks. David also has an active online presence and is a member of online hospitality and cycling communities. These get him coverage and visibility and has led to many visits from people who found him online.
Not bad for someone who left school at 14, eh?
I won't inundate you with the details of the touristy things we did. I will say that seeing the myriad of activities and industries available in the area (a herbal sauna in a kampung/padi field setting anyone?) was eye-opening. Seeing them with David was enlightening.
He gets around, that's for sure, for he knew people everywhere. And when he didn't, he knew someone who knew someone where we wanted to go and that is how we sauntered into the ship yard unchallenged.
After spending some time going around in his car, I'm also now convinced David has God on his side. If you were of a nervous disposition or if you'd failed to notice that his car is relatively unscathed, you would either suffer a nervous breakdown or have a cardiac arrest within a few minutes of travelling as a passenger when he drives.
David is an engaging fellow. One of his driving problems is that he sometimes gets so caught up with a particular topic he forgets to engage gears too. We drove a few kilometres in second gear at one stage, with David telling me about something or other and me too polite to ahem... tell him there were a few other gears if he so desired.
He also forgets the accelerator at times. That is he starts to lighten the pressure on the right pedal as he points out sights, or talks or listens to you. I would glance over and see the speedometer needle inch back from 60 to 55 to 50 then to 45 and even down to 40 at one stage. And this is km/h mind you...
All this while, cars would casually swing around him and overtake and not once, on our hours together did someone horn at him. Or stare as he went past. And then David would suddenly realise his right foot was not doing anything in particular and he'd find something to do with it and step on the gas and off we'd go at a saner 60 or so.
That's not all... you know those diagonal white lines that denote areas on the road you should avoid because there's a merging lane or something? Well, it's perfectly safe to drive over them. Even when they technically belong to an oncoming lane. I should know - we kept doing it and I'm here typing this aren't I?
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Ultimately, all these places are run by people. Ordinary folk in a less urbanised environment, doing a myriad of things in the name of making a living. Sure, the jobs they hold are not the jobs I'm used to seeing on a daily basis but that is indeed one reason why it's interesting.
Another is David himself.
David had secondary education only until Form 2. Some years later, he somehow landed a job in a school library and took the opportunity to read books he might have read had he continued his schooling. This gave him a rudimentary alternative schooling and helped him go a little further in life.
A keen badminton player, he was Kedah state singles champion for 3 years in the 70s and missed out on trials with the national team simply because of administrative blunders. He eventually found a job with the Electricity Board, LLN, partly because of his badminton prowess and there he's been ever since.
The privatisation of LLN has been good for him - giving him a better income and health benefits for the whole family. He had an Angioplasty a few years ago and takes a handful of pills every morning to keep him going - the cost of which is borne by the health benefits scheme.
By all accounts, he is a remarkable fellow. Considering his very basic education, he has brought himself quite far indeed. Initially a very local chap, with no contact with Mat Sallehs, David went on a cycling trip through Southern Thailand, met a lot of foreigners and his life suddenly changed. He became comfortable with foreigners, and more importantly, found a great desire to show his country to them. David's Homestay followed soon after.
He now hosts cyclists and backpackers from all over the world and has become quite well known throughout the budget traveling community. Indeed, I found him on the internet and the idea of someone in Parit Buntar, of all places, playing host to international cyclists and backpackers was irresistible. I just had to drop by.
One couple who came to stay helped him set up his website and showed him how to manage it so now this chap with the Form 2 education manages his own site, creating pages, putting up pictures, etc. His spoken English is more than adequate, but his written English still needs work so David takes pictures of signs at tourist spots and painstakingly copies them onto his webpages when he needs to explain a location or event.
As for marketing David's Homestay, his army of friends often waylay passing cyclists and pass them his card. Many contact David and end up staying days, even weeks. David also has an active online presence and is a member of online hospitality and cycling communities. These get him coverage and visibility and has led to many visits from people who found him online.
Not bad for someone who left school at 14, eh?
I won't inundate you with the details of the touristy things we did. I will say that seeing the myriad of activities and industries available in the area (a herbal sauna in a kampung/padi field setting anyone?) was eye-opening. Seeing them with David was enlightening.
He gets around, that's for sure, for he knew people everywhere. And when he didn't, he knew someone who knew someone where we wanted to go and that is how we sauntered into the ship yard unchallenged.
After spending some time going around in his car, I'm also now convinced David has God on his side. If you were of a nervous disposition or if you'd failed to notice that his car is relatively unscathed, you would either suffer a nervous breakdown or have a cardiac arrest within a few minutes of travelling as a passenger when he drives.
David is an engaging fellow. One of his driving problems is that he sometimes gets so caught up with a particular topic he forgets to engage gears too. We drove a few kilometres in second gear at one stage, with David telling me about something or other and me too polite to ahem... tell him there were a few other gears if he so desired.
He also forgets the accelerator at times. That is he starts to lighten the pressure on the right pedal as he points out sights, or talks or listens to you. I would glance over and see the speedometer needle inch back from 60 to 55 to 50 then to 45 and even down to 40 at one stage. And this is km/h mind you...
All this while, cars would casually swing around him and overtake and not once, on our hours together did someone horn at him. Or stare as he went past. And then David would suddenly realise his right foot was not doing anything in particular and he'd find something to do with it and step on the gas and off we'd go at a saner 60 or so.
That's not all... you know those diagonal white lines that denote areas on the road you should avoid because there's a merging lane or something? Well, it's perfectly safe to drive over them. Even when they technically belong to an oncoming lane. I should know - we kept doing it and I'm here typing this aren't I?
Post to del.icio.us
