Our hero's Tom and Jane were on the road again... We were headed to a Ma-Sing-Thai tour. The tour booked from the states began like all trips; full of enthusiasm and lots of energy. We met up with our travel guide "Lok" at HKIA. A short flight of 3.5 hours or so put us right into the heart of Malaysia.
A big surprise awaited as we experienced what a "new" tour bus felt like - there's a first time for everything. We were introduced to some tips about the Malay culture. The fact is that Malaysia is a islamic governed country. First stop was a Malaysian cultural center not too far from a mosque. One of the things mentioned was that most Muslims do not like non-Muslims at their places of worship. While cautiously taking pictures near the mosque Jane and I were asked to take some pictures from a "tourist".
In and of itself not a big deal but the second sentence out of these folks mouths were about wanting to know the exchange rates between the US dollar and Malaysia. They also had a rough look about them (tatoo to the hand and definitely felt my street hairs amp up when getting too close to them). I have read up from lots of sources that this topic is pretty much taboo while travelling -- as most countries prohibit unofficial trading of money. The US state department warns of money changing scams.
Since we were with a tour I simply stated; " we are with a Hong Kong tour so we don't know anything about the US exchange rates " -- all of which was true. I noticed that this couple then proceeded to perch on the lookout for their next victims - as we headed back to the tour bus given that Lok had just appeared and said "Dap choh a busie" (get on the bus).
With our first mishap avoided, I jumped on the bus to our next destination.
