The Boy Without a Chair

My dear readers,

I promised you’d hear from me again soon, and here I am! Though I must make a confession... I wrote this post about Malaysia weeks ago and forgot to publish it. It's actually a bit outdate as I just got back from a few days in Kuala Lumpur. I'm going to save my thoughts about my recent trip, as it ties in with another post I've already started writing in my head.

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If you read my last post, you likely recall a little story at the end about a maraschino cherry. If you didn't read it, stop here and check out my last post Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. I got many creative answers about the cherry, allow me to share a few of the not-so-graphic ones:

· to plug a peephole

· stopping a nosebleed

· a quick blood sugar and/or vitamin C boost

· used as a target in a urinal so men will stop peeing everywhere

· writing a secret message on the mirror to aid in a covert spy operation

The most popular answer by a landslide was inserting it in his rectum, y’all have dirty mind. All were great answers, though sadly all are incorrect. There was a common theme of leaving the cherry in the bathroom for varying purposes, which is problematic for one main reason; the creatures it would attract. One simply can’t leave food out, especially something so sickly sweet, or you’ll quickly be facing an infestation of ants or cockroaches. The truth is that he used the cherry to lure away a rat. Nothing I hate more than cockroaches and rats, both of which are plentiful here. At least this time I didn’t see the rat, unlike the time a lovely dinner was interrupted by a rat scurry across the restaurant floor, but enough about that… lets talk about something less disturbing; Malaysia. Back in May I went to Penang, Malaysia for several days. Malaysia is a country I hold closely in my heart, and one I have a fair to say about. I promise I will get to my May visit , but first I feel compelled to share some history.

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In the summer of 2000, weeks before my 12th birthday, my family moved to Malaysia. We lived in (what was then) a small fishing village in the province of Terengganu, which sharply contrasted the year prior spent living in the heart of Tokyo. The two years spent in Malaysia, perhaps my favourite of my formative years, left a strong impression on me. The untouched beaches, temperate climate, and overall relaxed and friendly nature of the locals made for easy living, and to say that I was disappointed when we moved home would be quite the understatement. I always felt like I carried a piece of Malaysia with me, some strong connection that I still find hard to describe. It felt like home, and always will in a way. Sadly I am severely lacking in pictures from back then, but I do randomly have this picture of the house we lived in.

Our house in Malaysia

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In 2018, to celebrate my 30th birthday, I went back to Malaysia with a close friend April, who had never been to Asia. It was my first time visiting since I left in 2002. April and I spent two weeks there, starting in Kerteh, where I had lived as a kid. On our first day, we visited a favored waterfall an hour or so away, which was a fun way to introduce April to this part of the world.

We made our way back to Kerteh, which has grown considerably in size. When I lived there as a kid, the closest grocery store was over an hour away, now not only do they now have a grocery store, but even a mall! Anyways, April and I were a bit lost, so I pulled over. As fate would have it, I stopped right behind the school I attended, which my dad’s company had set up for 60ish kids whose parents also worked with my dad on the two year project there. I didn’t recognize the school this time, until seeing the large open-air gym still stood.

The school back then vs. 2018

We had planned to further explore the area I lived in the next day, however thanks to my expert driving on the other-side-of-the-road for the first time, I hit a curb and blew a tire (mere seconds after telling April to shut up and stop complaining that I was too far over… oops). That led to a colorful experience spending a day getting a tire changed in Kuantan, where no one spoke a word of English. For reasons unknown, they changed all four tires. April was pretty worried that we would be charged excessively, or be found dead on the side of the road one day. Fortunately neither of those two things happened, however the ordeal did mean we didn’t get to explore the area I lived as much as I wanted.

Another blunder on that trip, we had booked a few nights at the Awana, a beach resort we spent a lot of time at when I lived in Malaysia. However, it turns out we booked at the wrong Awana, this one was in the Genting Highlands, hours away from where I lived. Damn my lack of attention to detail! Given that we paid in advanced and they refused to provide a refund, we took it as a sign to explore somewhere new.

From there we drove to Georgetown, perhaps more commonly known by the name of the island and state in which it resides, Penang. The school I attended in Kerteh only went to grade 9, so one of my older brothers spent a year at a boarding school in Penang. We visited often, and Penang was always a place that I think all of us loved (though my brother may have had a few other things to say about his experience at boarding school).

After Penang, we went to Kuala Lumpur for a bit before heading home. We explored the botanical gardens, tried durian for the first time, explored the Batu caves, and celebrated my 30th birthday.

That trip back to Malaysia was amazing. Even when considering the full day consumed by the flat tire, and a full on screaming match April and I had on the side of the road… we did agree to one meltdown each on that trip; April and I share a certain fiery and passionate disposition.

Going back there reinforced the strong connection I felt to this part of the world, and strengthened my desire to move back. However my career did not lend itself to moving back to SEA, so it took almost 5 years before I made my way back. Without that trip, I don't know if I'd have had the conviction to do what I'm doing now. So thank you April, for not only venturing across the world with me, but for the far reaching impact that had in this journey that is my life.

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And so this brings us to 2022. Perhaps a premature mid-life crisis, though I’d rather view it as an awakening; I found myself in the need for a lot of space from my career. Almost immediately, it seemed clear that the time had come to finally make my way back to SEA. I first looked at relocating to Malaysia, but found myself drawn to other countries based on two main factors:

1. It is allegedly much harder to find work for foreigners in Malaysia

2. They aren’t the biggest fans of gay people, and it's getting worse

It took me several months to make my way back to SEA. With a strong sense that this move may be permanent, I didn't want to rush leaving home. I took my time to prepare, and more

Importantly, spend time with the people I was leaving behind. Now almost a year after making the decision to come here, I've found myself in Thailand, and although it has been an intense ride, I see myself building a great new life here.

Are you still with me? We have finally reached the (recent) present. In May I went to Malaysia to renew my Thai Visa. I originally entered Thailand on a 45 day tourist visa-on-arrival (a post-COVID promotion that has now ended, though a 30 day visa-on-arrival is available). It is possible to get a 90 day tourist visa, though the process is a bit more involved. In reality, it’s a 60 day visa, but you can apply for a 30 day extension without leaving the country, which I did in July at an immigration office in Bangkok. It took me three trips to the Thai Consulate in Penang to get the visa. I also had to book a flight out of Thailand that I never used, 60 days after the issue date of the visa (thankfully flights are cheap). After getting the visa, I booked a flight back to Bangkok for the next day. If I am honest, I was eager to leave Penang! Something I would have never expected.

Penang was the first place I had been to on this journey, that I had also been to in recent years pre-COVID. And sadly, at the time I visited a few months ago, Penang had not bounced back well. This is true for many places, but it’s one thing to know it, and a whole other thing to see it. These two pictures sum up the differences I experienced between 2018 and 2023… everything is gone. Boy on chair no longer has a chair.

2018

2023

Though I did see one group of clever tourists were posing on their hands and needs underneath him so that the boy at least was standing on something, unfortunately I didn’t get a good pic of it. Street art in Penang has become a big tourist attraction in the years since I lived in Malaysia, sadly a fair bit of it has faded quite a bit since my visit in 2018, I assume a result of considerable rainfall in monsoon season.

2018

2023

Streetafter street of permanently closed businesses

The sad reality of a post-COVID Penang is that it seemed about 80% of the businesses were gone. There wasn’t much open; The once-vibrant city was reduced a ghost town. The streets were relatively empty, yet still full of unmoving traffic. The businesses that were open, were mostly empty. It was difficult to find anything to do if I am honest.

Penang is world-famous for its amazing food. However even that felt underwhelming compared to five years ago, though it was still fantastic. I enjoyed some amazing samosas, roti canai, laksa, nasi kandar, to name a few.

There isn’t much else to say about my trip to Penang. It was a sobering reminder of the devastating impact COVID has had on tourism-reliant economies. However, if you find yourself in this part of the world, its still worth a visit based on the food alone. If you do find your way there, let me know if the boy ever finds his chair again.