~ birds of a feather ~
April 04. Back in Malaysia. Back to roti mid-morning breakfasts of curried chicken with coffee. RM.7. Off to explore Tawau town. I walk the esplanade away from town as far as a village with it's Sunday market. I meet there a Sabahan princess. She's a rather oddly dressed lady. We speak mostly in the broken bahasa that's returned to me lately. “Looking for a girl” she says, in English though. “No” I say...“like traveling alone”. “Me too” she says. And then “Want a juice drink”. “Yes, OK. Thanks”, I say. I end up paying as she fossicks for coins. The drink's a cheap iced concoction. It's sweet and kind of refreshing in the heat of the day. That finished I say “Bye” and head back whence I came.
She follows twenty or thirty metres behind me. About 1km later we're sitting together at a table near the big mosque at the far end of the esplanade. Noni. Says she's 27...but 35 is closer. She's half Saban, half Philippino and grew up in a kampong near Sandakan. It was once the capital and is a coastal Sabahan~Philippino-influenced town near the famed tourist Sepilok Orang Utan sanctuary. Noni proceeds to ask if I want a massage! She doesn't look that well and I doubt she has energy for a real one. I don't look keen. She says “Give me RM10 and I'll go away”. I give her 5 and off she goes...to sleep she says, because she has been sick.
Lingering on the esplanade I eventually return to my 'penginapan' or lodging. I've changed to a room with a window for the same RM20 price. After resting I walk around the main part of the town in the evening. I'm thinking that Tawau needn't detain me. The people seem OK. They're kind of friendly. But unlike Indonesians they just sort of ignore me...which is a big change from Tarakan. I don't mind being ignored. I'm just not used to it right now. There are some other differences too. The electricity wires are missing in this town. They're all underground these days. Central Tawau's been rebuilt in that some would say soulless, Malaysian fashion so common in post-colonial developing counties today. It strikes me that there are virtually no motorbikes and fewer fat women. The degree of 'moslemness' is far less obvious here. There are next to no audible calls to prayer for example. Other foreigners, travelers? My guess is that they used to get a lot more travelers passing through to Indonesia. But that's dried up to a trickle now. I must've walked about 15 km today easy. Just another first day in a new town.
April 05. A Monday. A fine, sunny one too. The seven rooms here share the 1 bathroom. By the time it's free in the morning rush hour the call-of-nature's waned. I might mosey on to Kota Kinabalu (KK) Sabah's main city today. It's an eight to nine hour bus-ride away across the top of Borneo island. It costs RM50. There are buses to KK not only early at 7:30am but also at about 2pm. I could catch the latter today. On the other hand, I'm feeling good so why think about moving. I'm listening to Frank Z. and Bob D. There's no particular rush. This accommodation isn't breaking the bank.
Tawau reminds me a little of Fiji. That's hardly surprising. Both share the same colonial heritage. It shows in the style of the older and modern buildings. A proportion of both populations is of Indian heritage. But I head out again as always...on foot...because I want to see if I can get to the shoreline villages I saw from the ferry. However I have a 'coincidental' meeting on the way, with Ms. Noni up on Jalan Chester near the local market and bus 'station'. I had to run into her again somewhere along the line. Small town. She'd be keeping an eye out for me. I'm walking taking some snaps. She sees me from inside a cafe I'm walking past and rushes out. She runs up from behind and invites me to come and buy her a coffee! That's done it. I won't be leaving today. With nothing to do in the heat of the day...about noon...we decide to try and find a way to the sea together in the general direction of where I was heading. Her local knowledge should get me there. It's a very hot walk. She points to aquatic life in the roadside drains...which have incredibly clear water. “Good protein” she remarks. This was my first inkling to her subsistence means of survival. She lives off the 'land'. And what other's discard or lose.
We end up on a small 100m strip of 'beach'. Well hardly. It's got no official public access, next to the container terminal, behind the hospital and is reach by following a polluted creek off from the road. This beach is on the town side of the yacht club. British colonial heritage. We sit in the shade of the only tree, feet dangling over the sea wall. The tide's out. She goes off slowly scouring the beach up to the high-tide mark for 'finds'. She plays with the small sea-creatures she encounters. Not content to stay still in one place for long, her eagle eye spies a bird's nest up in the thin branches of the shade tree. Climbs. Shakes free a solitary chick. It lasts four sad days then croaks. After about 4 hours of listening to music and light conversation in broken English and bastardized Bahasa we sheltering from some tropical mid-afternoon showers. We then...me, her and the chick...walk back to my room. No hanky-panky. She sought my clumsy embrace under the 'chick-tree'. She knows where I live now! Run rabbit, run. She leaves...with a “See you tomorrow”....after asking “You go KK tomorrow?” I give her RM10 so she can hopefully buy a meal. I find out later she bought herself a few beers! All up today I spend about RM 40 or about US$12. This is a pretty uninspiring place. I didn't get round to making another 'street-corner' video like I'd half planned. As I drift off to sleep, thinking Hong Kong's a passport possibility I tell myself that I can't afford a passenger.
April 06. I arise early after a good sleep. I know that I should catch the early bus. Catch the early bus, you fool. I can't afford a passenger along for 'the-Dave-ride' at the moment. I know that when Ms Noni said 'see you tomorrow', she meant it. The morning bus out of here arrives in KK at a good time. I procrastinate buying the afternoon ticket. I'll leave fate to decide and give Ms Noni her chance. Maybe it's time for some company! About 11am. I had breakfast and bought the bus ticket. I'm back at the room getting ready to checkout of room by the ubiquitous 12 noon. I'm not going out. I'll wait at the lodging outside on the terrace until close to the bus departure time and then cross the road to terminal.
And of course fate comes tapping on the door late morning. Ms Noni all ready for a bus journey! The chick's still alive and all wrapped up. She' s got her green bird-kite too. And some other basic possessions. All are wrapped in a sarong and slung over her shoulder. She knows we're all off to KK. I accept my fate and without too much worry. I purchase her a ticket. Que sera, sera.