Notes from Kuala Salangor

Well it is evening.. and I did finally make it.  Somewhere. 

I am in Kualu Salangor.. which is a good size really.  But I say somewhere because I am not yet sure where my schools will be and so I can’t call this home quite yet.  I may still head north another 20 k or so..

But the trip was fun!  I left the hotel and got lost at the first turn.  Google instructions don’t work all that well when you are looking for the strange names of places and roadways.. it just takes so much longer to process if it is a weird foreign sounding name you were looking for.. especially when highway names are four or five weird names long. 

I went through a toll and then stopped at a petrol station (Shell), filled up and asked for directions.  Of course it was back the way I came… and I had to find a ‘returno’ as they call them in Mexico.  They are few and far between, but I found an underpass and passed under.. went back.. took another wrong turn.. waved at the petrol station as I went by on the third and fourth go.. and finally..

I was on a road that was narrow and lined with little shops and places to eat: dogs and rubbish… banana plantations and palm oil orchards.  Smoke. 

I think I mentioned how modern I thought this place was: ok.. I take it back.  I guess it’s like anywhere.. the cities are a bit different than off the beaten track. 

There are run down huts.. water ravines chocker-block full of garbage.  There are goats on the road.. people in bright colors riding bicycles.  Dark bodies on motor bikes – trucks spewing dark smoke. 

When I arrived it took me a while to find a decent hotel.  As I searched I managed to find the highest point on the coast by taking a wrong turn.  I saw a canon, a museum, a bird sanctuary and a lighthouse.  Standing in front of the lighthouse though, I’ll be damned if I saw any water.  I think a beach is out of the question.. it is mangroves.. Too bad.  I had visions of me in a kayak. 

But I did find the Palms and one of the teachers came for coffee and we ended up heading back almost to KL to pick up our supervisor who had taken trains from the airport.  He had gone to Bankock to renew his drivers license.  


He is taking me out tomorrow so we can try and find my schools. 

Once I have the schools located, I can go house hunting.  So while I wait to find out where I will work and where my new home will be, I will take pictures of the monkeys that roam the village.. have coffee at the local coffee shop and maybe even pay a visit to the Carfour on the weekend.. not that far down the road. 

Other than the beach… so far so good.