(Daniel) I got up to take the dog for a walk again this morning, then got a call from Lou, the guy from the boat shop, to say that I was in the Chinese language paper today.  So I packed up my camp and decided to go and find a copy.  As I drove out I noticed that the sand was especially soft, as it hadn’t rained for a few days.

The first few shops that I came to didn’t sell any Chinese papers, as this was a Muslim and Malay area.  So I drove down to Kuantan, stopping at the 7-eleven, I didn’t know which paper it was, and checked through the three on offer in the shop, but got a guilty feeling and ended up buying them.  When I checked in the car I couldn’t find the story, so I went back and asked if this was all the papers that they sold.  The attendant told me that one had sold out already.  I went across the road and found this other one, the Sin Chew Daily.  Inside was a big story on the trip, although it was in Mandarin, so I couldn’t read it at all!  As I went to pay, the shop staff were amazed, and asked how I could read Chinese, I laughed and showed them the story about me, and explained that I had no idea what it said!

When I returned to the beach, I drove back out to the spot where I had been camping, and showed Leo and his wife, who had now woken up.  Just then my phone rang, it was Aleyna.  She said, “you are in the paper today!”  I said “yes, but I can’t understand what it says!”  She said that was strange, as it was written in English, and it then emerged that I was also in the Sunday Times today.  I told Leo and Irene who then phoned her son Daniel, who was on his way and asked him to pick up a copy. I explained to Leo and Irene then that I had to leave today, as I was supposed to go to a place called Batu Rackit, where a friend of Aleyna’s had a house. They told me to stay for a beach breakfast, which consisted of egg sandwiches and coffee, which we made on the trailers kitchen, and after eating far too much of this, it was time to leave Kuantan and my new friends again.  I said my goodbyes to Leo, Irene, Daniel Regis, and the Boys at the Sunday Bar, and of course the dog! As I went to leave I got stuck in the sand as it was now after midday and the sun had dried it out completely making it very soft, but after a few careful manoeuvres I managed to get free without using any equipment!

On the way to Kuala Terrenganu and then Batu Rackit, I drove along the coast, stopping only once to buy a top up card for my phone.  I stopped at a bicycle shop that sold the cards, and as I walked out, a man sitting outside said, “You’re the Wolf! I read about you in the paper!”  I told him that my vehicle was the Wolf, but was really chuffed that here I was in a strange country, and an obscure little village, and the first person I see knows who I am and what I am doing!  Very funny!

When I arrived in Batu Rackit just as the sun went down, it was not really as I had imagined.  An obviously strict Muslim area, it seemed to be a fishing village rather than a tourist area.  It was obvious that I was not going to find the house on my own, and no-one that I asked spoke any English.  The people that I did ask were unwilling to try to understand, and after I drew a small crowd one man started to be quite persistent in asking for money, I used the little Bahasa which I knew from a previous visit to Bali, Jalan ducat ducat, which means “go away,” and then drove off to another spot.  I phoned the caretaker of the house, Pak Uda, but he didn’t speak any English either.  Eventually I managed to explain that I was outside the town clinic, and after a few minutes a man arrived on a motorbike, and asked me to follow him.

We drove down some very narrow lanes until we reached the beach.  Where there was a beach house made of dark wood, it seemed very nice, not a tourist house, but more like a nice simple local house, but of a build quality better than most.   There seemed to be a party going on next door, and after Pak Uda showed me around, some of the local kids from the party came over and asked me to join them.  I walked across, to see a huge BBQ taking place, I asked if they had killed the chickens (no I’m not obsessed with killing chickens!)  to which they replied that they had killed 20 chickens that day in accordance with the Muslim way.  It then turned out that today was prophet’s day, the birthday of Mohammed and this was a kind of birthday party.  The crowd consisted of local young people from ages 12 to 25, and as kids can often be, they were a little cold.  Only one of them, Sayid, could speak English, and he soon got bored of talking, I found that I was standing around and no-one was making the effort with me, despite my trying very hard to communicate with them.  Strange to wake up and be famous throughout the land, and then end the day unable to even start a conversation with anyone! This coupled with the sunburn which was still very much in evidence on the backs of my legs mad for a less than happy experience.

After a fairly exasperating time, where I tried hard to remember having this feeling about other countries, where it just took some patience and understanding to break through the communication barrier, I gave up, and headed back to the house.  When I returned, I took the opportunity to look around.  It was a simple place with three separate bedrooms, one of which had an outboard motor and some beach stuff inside, there was a rubber dinghy outside, and a simple kitchen.  The bathroom was outside the back, and didn’t have any hot water, but of course this was unnecessary as the temperature here is so hot.  I took a shower, and tried to cool my legs, which is when I noticed that they had swollen up quite considerably from the burns.  I looked at them and got quite worried.  But decided that whatever the problem was it would not kill me by morning and after setting up my mosquito net over a camp bed in the corner, I fell asleep waking up to every small noise in the night, some of which were quite loud and I put down to mice or rats in the room with me.

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