Georgetown

We travelled to Georgetown today. During the bus ride we were asked to move by a Malaysian lady who had just boarded as we were sat in her allocated seat on the bus that was otherwise two-thirds empty. When I tried to persuade her that she might like to sit opposite, behind or in front, she insisted on seeing my ticket and explaining where that we needed to sit all the way at the back behind 6 rows of empty seats. She seemed quite perplexed at our reluctance to settle somewhere else and even more surprised as Szilvia, awoken from a deep slumber hurled her stuff to the seat opposite in annoyance. Malaysia is quite a rule-bound country, but the actual regulations haven't really impinged on us, apart from the populace's eagerness to follow the book.

We checked into an old colonial hotel called The Cathay, setting for numerous film sets, including Hotel Rwanda. It is quite affordable as seemingly only DIY repairs have been made to it since Independence in 1954 and no new supplies of normal hotel essentials ordered. We literally had a tea towel and a table runner for towels. However the big rooms and grand staircases give the place a wonderful old-worldly feel. It also seems the staff there are also relics from the colonial era, an one imagines they're kept on partly for the low budget, because no-one has the heart to say its time to retire after such long service and because they still love it. I enjoyed, albeit with a slight bit of discomfort, being treated like a colonial master of old, as I was bowed to and treated with phrases like 'excellent choice sir' and 'consider it done sir'.