Fugitive in Malaysia

OR "Visa Run"

As a non-Singaporean, there were several steps to getting Hamish's immigration status set in Singapore after her birth:

1. Be born -- done June 13.
2. Get a birth certificate -- done June 15
3. Register the birth in Singapore and get a temporary authorization -- done June 20
4. Get a US Consular Report of Birth Abroad -- done July 9
5. Get a US Passport -- done July 18
6. Get a Singaporean Visitor's Pass -- DUE JULY 25

Oops.

Do you know what the penalties are for overstaying a pass in Singapore or being in the country illegally? Fines! Imprisonment!! Caning!!!

(Though honestly I would have taken any combination of those three to sending her back.)

Last night we realized we'd missed the six week mark. It's technically 42 days after birth. Somewhere along the way I had convinced myself we had 45 days. We were in the process of taking care of it; we were just a few days late.

So we spent today making a Visa run to Malaysia. Technically Hamish was illegal when she left, but legal when she returned about three hours later. Whew.


Getting to Malaysia is very straightforward. Even with a six week and 3 day old. We just took a bus. If you remember the time we biked to Malaysia, the Johor Strait separating the two countries is spanned by a couple of bridges. Several buses go back and forth, and we opted for a Causeway Express bus. We caught the bus at the Jurong East Bus Interchange. We were not the only ones with this plan.

But the buses come frequently, so it wasn't bad. For $4, we rode the bus about 30 minutes to the edge of Singapore, got out and walked through immigration, got back on and drove over the causeway into Malaysia, got out again and walked through Malaysian immigration, and finally boarded one more time to be dropped off about 30 minutes later at a mall in Johor Bahru or JB.

Hamish took this transit time as an opportunity to catch up on her beauty sleep. 

As expected, at immigration on the Singapore side we had to go into the Immigration and Customs Authority office and show Hamish's birth certificate and authorization. This was the point when we could have been fined or arrested for not taking care of her pass on time. Of course we knew we weren't going to be arrested (or caned), but we wouldn't have been surprised by a fine. Thankfully, the officials were very kind and didn't even mention our tardiness.

Once in Malaysia all was well. We tried to get Hamish to look around and enjoy her first international trip, but she wasn't impressed with the view.

We didn't want to set the bar too high, so we just hung out in the air conditioning at the mall where the bus drops off, stopping for tea at Starbucks. Hamish tried out our borrowed stroller and she and Kyle played grinning games.

Then it was back on the bus to retrace our steps. Upon reentering Singapore, Hamish got a visitor's visa and a departure card just like any other tourist, thus legalizing her presence in the country of her birth.

Aww, baby's first passport stamp! Mommy is so proud.

Wet but Determined

Reuben's resolution: motorbikes! We woke up on Sunday and headed to dim sum for breakfast and then to pick up our motorbikes--a first for Amanda and Reuben. We headed back to our hotel to get our things for the day and slather on our sunscreen.

By the time we were ready, it was pouring outside.

But we had the bikes by that point and we were determined. We waited for a break in the rain and then the first leg of our journey took us about four or five blocks when the bottom fell out again and we waited out the second downpour in someone's carport.

After that rain broke, we could see blue peeking through the clouds so we made our way out of town. We stopped for ponchos just in case, but it only drizzled on us the rest of the day. The weather wasn't pretty enough for us to take that picture I'm after, but it was still a nice day exploring the island.

We stopped in Balik Pulau, at a village about halfway around the island, for extremely delicious laksa--some of the best I've had (at the stall to the right of the market).  We're no laksa experts, but in Singapore it's usually quite spicy and will result in much nose-blowing, and the occasional fit of coughing/choking when you inadvertently inhale a bit.  This Malay version is a bit different- there were 2 kinds, Asam and Siam.  Both were much less spicy than our local options here and much tastier, but the Siam especially had more sourness and well rounded flavor- containing coconut milk and pineapple and other unknown goodness.  Probably the best thing we ate in Malaysia.  We would eat this one with regularity if we knew where to find it.

We rode up into the hills in the center of the island and found a waterfall to explore (and for me to fall down in, of course... ed. note: don't worry! she was still wearing her motorcycle helmet, see below). The views from up there would be stunning, I'm sure, on a clear day.

We saw some lovely beaches, but it wasn't beach weather, so we didn't stop. We ended the day on the north side of the island where there are resorts for an early hawker center dinner and then drove back into Georgetown to return the bikes and enjoy the post-rain cool with a drink and a snack at an outdoor bar.

On Monday we flew back to Singapore early in the afternoon, but not before a massive brunch at the historic Eastern & Oriental (E&O) Hotel. Established by the Sarkies brothers in 1884 (who also developed the Raffles in Singapore), the hotel was gorgeous in that British colonial way.

It was still raining, so breakfast on the veranda didn't have quite the same view as it would have otherwise, but we weren't complaining.

Georgetown

Once again the travel has gotten the best of us. Since October 10 I've been in Singapore for 7 days. First Germany, then the US, then Malaysia. Germany was work and the US was a wedding (Congratulations Kristen and Tim!!), both without Kyle. But Malaysia was together for fun.

We spent a long holiday weekend (Hari Raya) in Penang, an island off the Western coast of Malaysia near the Thai border. The island was formally handed over to the British East India Company in 1791 although the British had a trade presence there since 1771. The island was briefly the capital of the Straits Settlements (Penang, Singapore, Melaka) but lost that honor to Singapore soon after. Like Singapore, the island was a major trade hub (especially Chinese opium) and at one time had a dramatic reputation for brothels, gambling, and Chinese secret societies.

The Straits Settlements were dissolved in 1946 and Penang joined the Federation of Malaya in 1948 and became one of Malaysia's 13 states in 1963. Today the island is still heavily Chinese, and its major town, Georgetown, is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

It's about an hour flight from Singapore, so it seemed perfect for a weekend getaway and a chance to expand our Malaysia experience, since so far all of it has been underwater. Our friends Amanda and  Reuben (who have often generously loaned us their underwater camera) joined us.

We arrived late Friday night but were up on Saturday morning to explore Georgetown. We wandered around the city all day taking in various bits of culture and history. We goofed off at Fort Cornwallis, the fort established by Captain Light when he claimed the island as a trade post for the East India Company.

Cannons line the walls of the fort pointing toward the strait and the Malaysian mainland, but the most important cannon faces the north coast. It's named Seri Rambai and it was cast in 1603 by the Dutch and given to the Malay Sultan of Johor. At one point it was stolen by pirates and was sunk, but then floated (?!?) up out of the water and ended up at the fort.

The Pinang Peranakan Mansion (not sure why it's spelled Pinang...) is a gorgeous restored home with an open courtyard in the middle. The house belonged to a 19th-century merchant, secret society leader and community pillar and his wealth is definitely on display. "Peranakan" or "Straits Chinese" or "Baba-Nyonya" are all roughly terms for the Chinese communities of the Straits Settlements. They were the descendants of Chinese traders that came to Malaya in the 15th and 16th centuries and then created their own unique rich cultural blend of Malay, Chinese, and Colonial British traditions.

The house had some really gorgeous carvings, porcelain, tapestries, and artifacts. This huge old music box was one of Kyle's favorites. It's the size of a piece of furniture.

From there, we headed to visit a few kongsis, or Chinese clanhouse, an overseas hub for members of the same clan or extended family. A kongsi is a compound, not one building, and served as assembly hall, civic and religious center. The Khoo Kongsi played a role in violent rioting in Penang in 1867 when a street war broke out between two Chinese secret societies. Cannons were fired from Khoo Kongsi down the street (Cannon Street now).

The Khoo Kongsi represents a wealthy clan and the wealth is evident in the temple, Chinese opera stage, carvings, and decor.

Apparently it was meant to be even more ostentatious. The roof caught fire the night it was completed in 1901--an event that was chalked up to divine jealousy.

From the kongsi, we wandered down to the jetties to see how the rest of the clans lived. As a world class port, a huge community grew up around the jetties on Penang's Eastern coast with communities of Chinese living in floating and stilt houses along the water, constantly unloading goods and people--both legal and illegal--from the junks crowding the water. Some of the clan jetties were destroyed by Japanese bombing during WWII, but a few survived and are low income, but still active, watery neighborhoods.

Of course there was also plenty of wandering though the streets taking in different aspects of Malaysia's cultural mix--Indian, Malay Muslim, Chinese--ducking into shops, soaking up the sun, and eating.

After a gorgeous day and over a huge Chinese dinner on Saturday night, Reuben decided to "face his fears" (his words, not mine). Which meant Sunday we were getting out of town...

Tanjong Pagar

On Sunday, Germaine organized (i.e. provided the kick to our collective behinds) a trip to the Tanjong Pagar (soft J, hard G) rail station before it's closed at the end of June. It was an eating/photography trip, which is really what most of our trips are.

The train station is owned and operated by the Malaysian rail company and is technically Malaysian land. Thanks to a disagreement between Singapore and Malaysia, if you're taking the train to Malaysia from Tanjong Pagar you go through customs and enter Malaysia here, even though you don't technically leave Singapore for several more miles at the actual border.

Travelers lined up for immigration on one side of the tracks. Lots of people having lunch on the other side.

The Malaysian flags make it abundantly clear that you are technically entering another country at this point.

The two countries have finally agreed to have all immigration done at one point at the border, and Singapore traded some other land for this old train station in the heart of the city. It will close in June, and after that there's talk of preserving the old building while moving new businesses in.

Not pictured: me (duh) and Ruth and Kelvin (who weren't there yet)

It was a good time to eat lots of Malaysian-style mee goreng, donuts, and prata and snapped pictures before this all changes.  

Customs inside the station.

Mosaics inside the station.

Amanda sets up her shot. (Pic stolen from G's facebook.)

I set up my shot and Kyle makes sure I don't fall onto the rails.(Again, stolen from G's facebook.)

Mee goreng.

Happy New Year, Malaysia

On Sunday we biked to* Malaysia. No kidding.

 

33.6 miles round trip / 54.07 km

Look it's us and Malaysia!

Hello, panoramic Malaysia. You are a bit farther from my house than I thought.

*TO Malaysia, not IN Malaysia. Singapore is an island, remember? We biked to the Johor Straits and the bridge into Malaysia, but we've heard that they don't allow you to bike across the causeway anymore. Plus we didn't bring our passports. If we want to bike IN Malaysia, we need to go a different direction and take a boat across the Straits. And bring our passports. 

Full route details here, if you're interested.

From the Desk of Nemo

We've got anniversary stories, dive pictures and dive video (actual video during a dive!). But that's going to take a few days. In the meantime, Nemo thanks you for your well wishes and wants you to know that we had an absolutely amazing anniversary

The Other 70% of the Planet

Last weekend we went to Malaysia to finish up our PADI Open Water SCUBA diving certification. We took the one afternoon PADI "Intro to SCUBA" course on our honeymoon, and while we didn't want to devote the entire honeymoon to getting certified, we loved the experience. So it was high on our list of things to do now that we live in the tropics.

We got the whole Open Water course done in a week, which isn't always the case, but that's the schedule we chose. So we studied and completed a 262 page manual with quizzes at the end of each chapter over the weekend. Then we went to class last Monday evening for about 4 hours and our instructor, Jeremy, checked our quizzes, went over the content again, taught us how to assemble and disassemble gear, and gave us our final exam.

We both passed, so on Tuesday and Thursday nights we were in the pool in Singapore practicing all of the skills necessary to keep us safe and happy under water. This meant a 200 meter swim and 10 minutes of treading water/floating to start with. Once we established that we can actually swim, then a lot of buoyancy practice (keeping off the bottom and off the top) and skills and drills: setting up your tank and weights, taking the mask on and off and clearing it of water under water, taking your regulator (air hose) in and out, learning what to do if you run out of air, learning how to ascend safely, learning how to take all of your equipment off under water in case you get tangled in something, learning how to help a diver that is out of air or panicking, learning how to calculate how long you need to be on the surface between dives so that your residual nitrogen levels are correct and no one ends up in a decompression chamber.

By Thursday night we were pretty worn out. The things we were learning are absolutely essential, but I felt like I'd drunk half the pool and Kyle never did get the rented mask to fit properly and not fill up with water suddenly. At this point, I was really glad we'd done the Intro to SCUBA course three years ago, or it would have been hard to convince ourselves that this was actually going to be fun!

Friday after work we met at the dive shop and took a bus to Malaysia with 13 other divers. Three of us were earning our Open Water certification, four were earning their Advanced certification, and the rest were leisure divers.

We spent Friday night on the Malaysian mainland and got up bright and early to take a speedboat to Pulau Tioman (Tioman Island), where they filmed South Pacific and where we would finally get to really dive. We went for our first dive as soon as we arrived, before we'd even set foot on the island. Once again for us it was all drills and skills, though this time in the actual ocean, holding on to a rope along a sandy bottom that's in place for the teaching sessions. I can't decide if it's more fun to purposefully flood your contacts with seawater or chlorinated water.

After Dive #1 we had lunch and checked in, then it was back to the boat for Dives 2 and 3 on Saturday and 4 and 5 on Sunday morning. Finally there were no skills and drills! We just swam with the fishes. And y'all, it was amazing.

Our (above water) weekend pics are here:

Don't Forget Rule #1

Rule #1: Never hold your breath! We're off to see the other 70% of the planet. Wish us luck!