Cheers Doll
I'm in Borneo now, in a paradisal place. A wooden village on stilts above the ocean, thick wooden pillars crusted with bright soft corals. Gleaming acquamarine shafts of light flicker up from cracks in the walls and floors. Three rooms to myself. After the squalor of Kuala Lumpur, the tacktacktack sound of cockroach approach, the urinal showers, the filth and abuse and explosions, this is Heaven.
Closed, gated heaven.
If I go out, the whole fucking town follows me. Cars screech to a halt, people drop things, stare open mouthed.
I thought it was perhaps my hair colour, or perhaps my clothes - but no, theres about 8 other tourists in Semporna, who all dress in tank tops and shorts. I cover up entirely.
Turned out the crowd inducing thing was: I'm out on my own. They've never seen a foreign woman without chaperone. Without a man.
Now when I see some daffy tourist girl floating about in a bikini behind her conveniently placed boyfriend, I want to stab her, frankly.
Cheers, doll. You just made my life that bit easier.
Closed, gated heaven.
If I go out, the whole fucking town follows me. Cars screech to a halt, people drop things, stare open mouthed.
I thought it was perhaps my hair colour, or perhaps my clothes - but no, theres about 8 other tourists in Semporna, who all dress in tank tops and shorts. I cover up entirely.
Turned out the crowd inducing thing was: I'm out on my own. They've never seen a foreign woman without chaperone. Without a man.
Now when I see some daffy tourist girl floating about in a bikini behind her conveniently placed boyfriend, I want to stab her, frankly.
Cheers, doll. You just made my life that bit easier.
posted by Lectrice at sábado, octubre 22, 2005
5 Advice:
Dear V.
Your Upsaid Web Journaling Service tells me that:
"Sorry, the owner of this journal does not allow visitors to post comments on his/her entries."
I was going to leave the same comment earlier. But I got all involved in reading this blog and forgot all about it.
What does the tourist bikini girl have to do with you? I'm asking just out of curiosity because I don't know the culture there.
Holy B*ll*cking Mary Maholy, I thought I *had* all the blogs.
FFS.
:)
Because the bikini girl can wear her bikinis without shocking the locals while V is getting all the attention because she, on the other hand, didn't have a handy man to chaperone her around.
The local culture is ... well ... Borneo's fairly remote, and Sabah is the remotest bit, and Semporna's one of the remotest villages in Sabah in North Borneo.
Malaysia's national religion is Islam, and althoughMalaysia is a multicultural country, in Borneo things are a little more static; they get to see fewer visitors who don't share their beliefs.
For a tourist, the immediate ramification is the same as in any country where customs dictate your normal attire as offensive - even in 'less westernised' mainland regions, you'd be likely to garner unwanted attention if your head is uncovered, or your arms and legs are on display.
[Makes it difficult to be moving around in a bikini and wetsuit, I can tell you, which is why I chose to sleep on a boat. :) ]
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