ben and nina go to new castle

well, after i went to jerantut, i made my way to the town of Kota Bharu. the name kota bharu means "new castle in malay. kota bharu is located in the northern most state of kelantan. and for those who dont know, its a highly islamic area to be in. now the first thing every Matsalleh(white person) should know, is that when you go to Kota Bharu is that being a Matsalleh is going to create alot of attention, and being that i lived there for 3 months last year nearly nonstop (due to some money issues). alot attention was what i got.

anyways for those of you who are aware of what is going on in my life you will all know nina, so ill save time, and leave out the long history weve had. nina's home town is in the town of Pasir Mas (golden sand). and because kota bharu is a big town, the train doesnt actually stop IN kota bharu, but it stops in Pasir Mas which was my first stop. it was a long and boring train ride to pasir mas, it took nearly 6 hours and was very uneventfull. the ticket itself cost about RM 25, about the price of a single hostel room, so not bad from the way i see it. finally when i arrived in Pasir Mas i met nina at the train station. we exchanged big hugs, or as big as i could give, being that i had 2 huge bags weighing down my arms. so we found a taxi, and took off to KB.

At first sight, it appears that kota bharu is a pretty out of date town, and there doesnt seem to be a single castle in sight..... from what ive seen anywas. granted that it is one of the least developed places in malaysia, but that is changing quickly. you see since i was last in malaysia, there was a political party called PAS, which was a strong Islamic party. and recently there was a national election, which they lost alot of seats in. so what ive noticed was that since the elections that things have started to change in KB, now they have a much wider selection of western food, and they started to build the new KB mall, as well as a cinema, all of these things they diddnt have last year.

anyhow, life in KB isnt really for the fun and adventurous, to live there you really have to be a calm and humble person, for the sole fact that there isnt really anything to do in the town itself. last year a friend in KB said it simply that in KB you just eat sleep and work; there are no clubs, no entertainment. anyways, my time was spent going around with nina and old friends that i had in KB, talking for the most part. but im suprised that i was eating more fast food in KB than i did when i was in the states. the reason being is that everyone i knew had the idea "wow your from the states you must LOVE american food, lets get some american food". anyways it got old fast, but because my stomache wasnt used to the hot malaysian chillies, and the spicy curries, i reluctantly agreed.

some things that i did when i was there, was that i met a good old friend named micheal mohammed gana. who runs the international islamic and dekwah center in KB. he is one of the best people i have met in my life, he dedicates his life for helping people, people who arent always doing so well. and he does all this on his own, doesnt really look for any recognition or any sort of title, just because its the right thing to do. i really wish we had more people like this in the states. hell, i think that micheal would make a better politician than the majority of the ones taht actually get elected in the states. despite the fact that he doesnt know much about the local situation, his attitude would be a better asset than the lot.

him and nina are about the only reason i have for going to KB, nina is super nice most of the time, and very sweet, and if you ever need someone to lend you an ear, she is someone that you can go to. and surely if i was in trouble, i know that she would be there for me, and i for her. we really diddnt do anything exciting in KB we just went around shoping most of the time, and eating american food. and though i wish that we could have gone and done something fun, i guess it will have to wait for another visit . her birthday is on the 16th of november, which is also the same time as Hari Raya Eid Adha. which is a muslim holiday at the ending of the holy month of ramahdan. all muslims must fast for about 3 weeks, and at the end of the 3 weeks, they have a holiday that much resembles our thanksgiving in the USA.

thinking of her brings me to another point, people in the states have funny ideas sometimes, that women are suppressed in muslim countries, and truly malaysia isnt a place like this. women have the choice of if they want to wear a headscarf or not, and so because of cultural and religous reasons, many women choose to wear them. many people dont understand thats its a personal choice, and just because you wear one, doesnt mean that your repressed.

anyhow, no more ranting. after spending 5 days in KB, i made my way to Kuala Lumpur (river of gold).i spent what seemed like the good half of the morning, just walking around idly trying to get ahold of my good friend Yuki. she is a good friend from taiwan, she is always a light hearted girl who likes to have fun, and enjoy life. in the morning i had just woken up, so i decided it was best to freshen up first, and get some food, afterwards i took the Putra LRT train to KLCC home of the famous Petronas Twin Towers.

The petronas towers as they are called, have recently become the worlds second tallest building, now eclisped by a building in taiwan. they are a full 88 stories tall.and designed after the classic star of islam, (a twelve point star opposed to a 6 point star in judiasm). being that i got there early, and that it was friday (muslims have thier holy day on friday) i got tickets to visit the sky bridge of the petronas towers, and it was a great sight, i was able to see much of KL, and acually peep into a few offices with help from my 10x telephoto (no soul is safe from my telephoto lense). after the skybridge visit, we returned to the tourist center of the towers, and i went to some food shops, and eventually called yuki.

after the longest time, i met yuki in Bangsar LRT station. and we took the minibus to megamall. where we watched the movie, Resident Evil 2. it was a pretty good movie, not all that scary, ( for some reason i can never get scared by horror films). but for yuki it was terrifying, i saw her hold what looked to be a towel up to her face, and she reminded me of a kid, as light hearted as she is. and at one point, which coincidentally was probably the scariest part of the movie, i decided that i was going to try to scare her. so i waited until it came by, and i heard her scream a little, and then i took my hand and grabed her leg with a twitching fashion, and that sent her screaming even more and jumping from her seat, not only that but the girl next to her who was also watching the movie with her boyfriend screamed from yuki's scream..... all and all it was a good film

afterwards we went around megamall, to the petshop to look at some pets, and we went to the coffee bean. a horribly expensive coffee shop that i was reluctant to go to. but being that i diddnt want to be a poor sport, we went anyways, and i helped yuki with the planning stages of her project paper. and as much as i would love to help her more, i had to eventually make my way back to KL sentral (central train station). where we hung out, and window shopped until my train left for the airport,

in the airport, i was nearly late, the window closed just as i arrived, and so i was frantically looking for the check in station, lucky for me, the plane was delayed, so i had plenty of time. the plane ride was by far the worst ive been in, but for $20 i really cant complain, anyhow, now i am writing this from Kuching in the island of borneo. ill be here for a month i think while i visit a pair of national parks, and try going to indonesia. im going to upload the last of my KL + KB photos in a day, and there are more updates to come