Chitering

Chitering is a small surf town about four hours from Kuala Lumpur on the South China Sea side of Peninsular Malaysia. The weather was not great. In fact it was raining so hard when i arrived that the cab had to take a huge detour because the roads were flooded over. They were having a late monsoon season in the area.

I decided to take a surf lesson as there is nothing else to do in Chitering. The problem with surfers running a business is that they are surfers and therefore more interested in surfing than running a business. I made arrangements with an Australian guy named Along, to get a lesson at 10:30 in the morning the next day but when i showed up he was no where to be found and the shop was only occupied by a young Malay boy. I told him I had arranged a surf lesson and after staring blankly for a few moments he told me to come back at two o'clock. I said it had already been arranged for ten thirty with Along and the boy said, "Oh Along! oh, he surfing. Come back twelve o'clock." I shrugged and came back at twelve. Along was there and all surfed out so he sent me off with a long board and two 14 year old Malay boys as my instructors.

We walked to the beach and one of the boys set the board on the sand and said, "You do like me." Then he lied down on the board and pretended to paddle before standing up on the board. "Ok?" he said, "You paddle, you stand." I nodded and we walked into the surf. They held the board for me and when a wave came they yelled, "GO, GO, GO, GO!" That was essentially the extent of my surf lesson, but it was fun and I got up rode a few waves. It was pretty fun, but somewhat frustrating at the same time.

The next morning I rented a board and went out for a few hours as I had time to burn before I caught the bus. It was fun and I caught a few more waves. When I rented the board I tried to pay for it right away but the Malay boy at the desk told me to pay later. When came back the boy was playing guitar and told me to come back and pay later. I went to my room and packed up my stuff as it was about time to take off. I stopped by the surf shop and told the boy I had to pay for the board rental. He looked taken aback. I said, "I was just here. I rented a board." he looked around the room as if the walls would help clarify the nonsense I was saying. Then I touched a surf board and said, "I rented, I pay." He said, "You want rent?" I explained again that I had already rented a board that morning. He squinted before the memory came back to him and he grudgingly took my money.