Jeffrey!!!! He has become one of my closest friends on CS and we are still in contact until today. I was posting to the Singapore group and saw his subgroup: The Singapore EAT EAT EAT group. He answered positively to my post on his group and offered to meet up and share food together. Singaporean food is famous and I thought this would be the chance to experience food in the company of a local friend. We have been mailing a few times and I got to know his need for clean surfers very well. I'm a clean person but I don't shower 3 times per day and don't wash my hair every day. My hair and skin is rather dry and it would become brittle if I wash it everyday. It is a matter of fact that even in a tropical country, fresh sweat doesn't smell and is by no means dirty. What we normally smell is old sweat starting to decay after a few days exactly like rotten food. Indeed a few backpackers smell horribly because some of them find it cool not to shower and change their clothing for a whole year. Would Jeffrey find me clean enough to surf his couch?
I arrived in Singapore with a sore stomach and diarrhoea. Jeffrey and his family already waited for me at the airport. He looked exactly like on the photo, so does his lovely family. We went to some place in Singapore that I didn't remember and ate congee(rice porridge with condiments). It was so delicious and my diarrhoea stopped immediately. The next days were unforgettable as I joined the family shopping in Johor Bahru Malaysia, buying gold paper money for the rituals in Singapore and helped them preparing for the feast. The family was so hospitable and never let their guest contribute to anything.
Jeffrey prepared for the Feast of the Hungry Ghosts, something I had heard of as I lived in Malaysia and Indonesia for some time. However, I never experienced it from a close-corner viewpoint. I enjoyed the private preparation much more than the real function with CS because I felt like being a good friend or member of the family. Everyday we went out eating while preparing for the big feast. After the food offering ceremony we could eat all the delicious food Jeffrey cooked himself.
Apart from being a generous and kind person, Jeffrey was a skilled driver and perfect organiser. We travelled together to Penang and Hat Yai and I met his friends Anthony and Joe who joined us in the car. They remained great friends on CS and I hoped I could meet them again soon. The weather in Penang was horrible and we had to wade through shit water to get to the gourmet restaurant. But nevertheless, the experience was so special, the food excellent and Georgetown a beautiful old city with a background of durian plantation and the sea.
We drove the whole night where I discovered that Jeffrey was a good driver too. At the border between Thailand and Malaysia we stopped at a small restaurant next to fruit plantations. The fruit was very cheap but the cempilak was finished and so was the durian. I saw real Malays eating grilled chicken and melinjo vegetables with their hands. Not a single tourist and backpacker, exactly the kind of rural life I would expect in SE Asia. After this we crossed the Thai border and Jeffrey started to teach me a bit of Thai. It was just later that I found out that it was crucial.
"Couchsurfing" in a Thai nunnery, a special experience
We stopped at a nunnery and I always wanted to experience the spirituality in a Thai temple. I decided to "couchsurf" in the temple. The nunnery was located in the middle of the forest and has impressive traditional architecture. Their meditation was very simple but deep, similar to Taijiquan without the martial arts component. Instead, they related the meditation to daily tasks such as household, sewing, cleaning etc. I had the best durian I could imagine with thick flesh and small stone, dry and sweat taste with a colour as yellow as butter. We could have this for breakfast and lunch because lunch at noon would be the last meal before the next morning. The nuns realised that I was not accustomed to this kind of lifestyle and gave me a chance to adjust slowly and allowed me to have a light dinner. Jeffrey, I spent most time surfing and travelling with you and I still would like your family to stay with me whereever I am, in Sydney or in Germany.
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