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Show 1 PAPERMAKIN IN SIA to Bangkok. It was somewhat ofa relief to leave the uncomfortable berth, although it was not pleasant to b rudely awakened from even a fitful sleep and to have t stumble with bag and baggage out into the dark tropica night. With the help ofa match I contrived to read th station signboard and discovered that I was in the smal Chinese settlement of Bukit Mertajam wher I shoul have to wait a number of hours for the train that woul carry me to Siam. In the cool misty morning the statio was dark and depressing, but the kindness and hospi tality of the Malay station-master and his assistant mor than compensated for the dismal early morning aspec of Bukit Mertajam. After the first break of day I walke through the streets of the town; most of the inhabitant were asleep, only two or three old Chinese merchant who had slept upon the counters of their shops were t be seen through the filmy windows preparing for th day's trade. There were no restaurants or hotels in th village except three or four dingy hovels presided ove by swarthy celestials and these did not appeal to me,a least not in the dim hours of a tropical morning, Whe I returned to the depot after my preliminary reconnoitre, the station-master suggested that he brew a po of tea, and, after he had picked a score of bananas fro the trees along the railway, we had breakfast together I have partaken of food in many out-of-the-way places Al rights reserved |