Back Into the Chaos of Malaysia

October 28th (Friday)

After a nice long run through the Botanic Gardens, and a lunch with Sean and company in his school's cafeteria, I have to leave Singapore.

But what a horrible time to leave Singapore for Johor Bahru. It's Friday evening, on the weekend before Hari Raya (or the Muslim New Year). So the roads are packed! I mean so packed that maybe a mile or so from the immigration point, the buses empty and the people just walk the rest of the way. Then they walk across the causeway to the Malaysian side. All of this walking is much much faster than the thousands of buses and trucks and cars and motocycles crammed tight and honking like crazy.

By the time I get to Johor Bahru, I'm just happy to check into a hotel. Meldrum Hotel (RM 75) is the most expensive, and thus the nicest, hotel I've been to on my trip. It has a TV! So, after some spicy mee rebus and a delicious honeydew and logan drink, and after watching an ex-monk trying to sell some weird snake stuff, I go and watch TV (a strange mix of heavily chopped western tv shows and movies, chinese dramas, and malay news).

**It's actually a little strange that I felt quite at home back in Malaysia. It's noisy and dirty and energetic!**