It’s all very modern and could be any part of the world, except India (the excellence of the road gives the game away). Driving along the turnoff from the North-South Highway you barely notice that you just passed history while crossing the bridge across the Merbok River. It’s a small river in Kedah, Malaysia, as these things go, perhaps a kilometre across even near the mouth, but running high because of all the rain in the last few days. All you see gazing seawards is the tall mangrove thick