for the sake of having one

I've recently spent a few days with my friends at a nicer resort at the Genting Highlands. We've been chilling out and taking it easy. But once in a "nicer" place it's become so obvious. I've been noticing quite a lot and now that I think about it it's really so prevalent in many aspects of South East Asian life. Maintenance, details, and thinking things through. These are qualities that they lack in a large degree here. What struck me was the big, little things or the many little things. One thing is the lack of wifi at a resort suite. Seriously what resorts/hotel only has that in the lobby. I also found the following.

• Ants
• Gecko poo
• Leaking toilet
• Broken mosquito net at the balcony doors (I have to admit ther are no mossies here)

Otherwise the room is nice and even has a Jacuzzi. But going around the resort one sees degradation, piles of rubble and toilets that have obviously been raped by an dirty elephant. I'ts like whoever is planning the maintenance routine wants to make damn sure there is always repair work to be done. Since it's obviously better to repair broken things than maintenance things for an extended lifespan, visual look and feel.

It's not only here though. It's just that at the other places I've stayed one might expect these things. Well that's not quite true either. I did stay at the Berjaya times square for a while. A luxury place in most standards but with broken lights, small cracks in the wall plaster, a water heating system one has to turn on 10 minutes before hot water, unusable wall plugs and interior that might fall apart upon touch.

This symptom is also true for many a bungalow I've stayed at at island resorts and hostels. Somehow it feels more acceptable for a island bungalow to be falling a part a bit. I guess it's the island maintenance problem. An logical defect in thinking although not as much as this.

This issue is also prevalent in Indonesia and other countries in the area. Not only in buildings but also in all aspects of life. Many a time I've seen some nice handicraft or thing I've thought was interesting on first glance only to have my impression spoiled by some small defect they but there afterwords for some reason. One example is some wooden sculptures in which they drill a crude hole and puts a plastic string through.

There are so many cases where actions seem to be determined by decisions of for the sake of having it. Why would someone have a pool you can't use, or plenty of faulty things and none of good quality? Or having people doing paperwork five times over instead of making a digital copy saving energy and money. Or using a wind power plant that's already there to get power instead of shipping gasoline out to an island to power generators.

I guess they might be doing it to create jobs. Maybe one should tell them that creating jobs that have no better solutions than manual labor could be better. Fuck hire a bunch of carpenters and maintenance people to fix all the half broken things with a fifth of the lifespan of a taken care for one.

I guess it's really a culture that likes to do things for the sake of it. I think I'd fail here.

I Almost Forgot

Sometimes I forget. A lot of things in fact. I also remember, sometimes. Though it's usually the quirkier things like what a plate is called in french due to a obscure side note in a move 15 years ago or the likes of that. My junior high school teacher and supervisor ones told me that I would forget my pants one day for sure. He also said my provocative mouth and fists where too fast for my own good. So far my pants are still on.. I think. Although my dad sometimes walks around in his undies a little too much for my liking. If you've seen the series fringe, that's how I feel sometimes with my dad. Brilliance and folly all in one little package. Well not as much of course but still. The fists are tucked away along with the early teens, after all boys being boys..
Only troublesome thing being my tendency to real life troll, sometimes. (For those who did not get it, it has to do with sharp and manipulative comments). Almost forgot what I was supposed to write.
Sometimes I forget the progress this country (Malaysia) has made over the last 30 years. I tend to comment on the little things that I feel are strange and illogical but when you put it into perspective Malaysia has really come a long way in not such a long time. in the 80s they where sending over as much of their population as possible to Indonesia to get educated and now they have a far stronger economy and more importantly a far better infrastructure. What I should be feeling is the amazement of how we can sit and dine in clean safe places and enjoy the grandeur of which is Kuala Lumpur. After all it is a damn fun city with fairly working public transportation and what nots. We where even able to get around town fairly easily hunting some daylight shots today. I have to say that these shots are the ones I like the least. they are just not as fun as when the light gives that special feeling to it all. Also, the hot and humid weather makes walking around all day fairly sticky.

The Blue Hour, A swift beast

A mist the hordes of tourist, why not try something different.

Here we are shooting the reflection of the twin towers.

Today we where hunting the "Blue Hour". An event that takes place unusually late in Kuala Lumpur. in fact it took place between 20:30 and 20:50 or so. Not so much of an hour but still, it's the name for it. It got it's name from when the sky get that unnatural blue color on pictures that seem too good to be true. In fact this is kind of the case. I'll try to explain. Right after sunset there is still enough light in the sky but not too much. This is due to the blue wavelengths penetrating further in the atmosphere than other light (also in water but I'll leave under water photography to another time). During this hour, or minutes one might get a very colorful blue sky with longer exposure shots. This is in fact what you where observing in the previous post. My daa and I trying to time the perfect light at the petronas towers, Malaysia. Here is one example of the blue sky.

The reason this phenomenon takes place so late in Kuala Lumpur can be blamed on Singapore. Yes just like most things this too can be blamed on Singapore. After all they are most certainly yo blame for the much lesser success of Malay economy, Islamic degradation and hay why not world hunger to boot. Well actually they do pack a little guild in their golden vault for this one. Due to or at least party because of Singaporean business hours Malaysia has adopted their and Jakarta's time zone despite clearly being way ahead. This means that not only does the sun set really late here but ones could get a head ache trying to figure out daylight savings our when traveling around in the region if not aware. Either way, aim for sunset and right after if you wanna give it a go.

Being a Repair Guy is Obviously Cooler.

I've recently spent a few days with my friends at a nicer resort at the Genting highlands. We've been chilling out and taking it easy. But once in a "nicer" place it's become so obvious. I've been noticing quite a lot and now that I think about it it's really so prevalent in many aspects of south east Asian life. Maintenance, details, and thinking things through. These are qualities that the general populous lack in a large degree here. What struck me was the big, little things or the many little things. One thing is the lack of wifi at a resort suite. Seriously what resorts/hotel only has that in the lobby. I also found the following.

• Ants
• Gecko poo
• Leaking toilet
• Broken mosquito net at the balcony doors (I have to admit there are no mossies here)

Otherwise the room is nice and even has a Jacuzzi. But going around the resort one sees degradation, piles of rubble and toilets that have obviously been raped by an dirty elephant. It's like whoever is planning the maintenance routine wants to make damn sure there is always repair work to be done. Since it's obviously better to repair broken things than maintenance things for an extended lifespan, visual look and feel.

It's not only here though. It's just that at the other places I've stayed one might expect these things. Well that's not quite true either. I did stay at the berjaya times square for a while. A luxury place in most standards but with broken lights, small cracks in the wall plaster, a water heating system one has to turn on 10 minutes before hot water, unusable wall plugs and interior that might fall apart upon touch.

This symptom is also true for many a bungalow I've stayed at at island resorts and hostels. Somehow it feels more acceptable for a island bungalow to be falling a part a bit. I guess it's the island maintenance problem. An logical defect in thinking although not as much as this.

This issue is also prevalent in Indonesia and other countries in the area. Not only in buildings but also in all aspects of life. Many a time I've seen some nice handy craft or thing I've thought was interesting on first glance only to have my impression spoiled by some small defect they but there afterwords for some reason. One example is some wooden sculptures in which they drill a crude hole and puts a plastic string through.

There are so many cases where actions seem to be determined by decisions of "for the sake of having it". Why would someone have a pool you can't use, or plenty of faulty things and none of good quality? Or having people doing paperwork five times over instead of making a digital copy saving energy and money. Or using a wind power plant that's already there to get power instead of shipping gasoline out to an island to power generators.

I guess they might be doing it to create jobs. Maybe one should tell them that creating jobs that have no better solutions than manual labour could be better. Fuck! Hire a bunch of carpenters and maintenance people to fix all the half broken things with a fifth of the lifespan of a taken care for one. Maybe even do some road maintenance. But hay it's way cooler to be  repair guy than a maintenance dude. Maybe that's what it's all  about?

I guess it's really a culture that likes to do things for the sake of it. I think I'd fail here. I wonder what all my local friends here do about it.

Getting in a strangers car

There are no great adventures to be had in Malaka in terms of an active lifestyle, as far as I know. So no need to venture into the wilderness and build new fortifications or anything. You know, just in case you got the urge. There is however a range of culinary treats to experience. Oh wait, something did happen. Last night when I was walking home from Geographers Cafe. As they finally suceeded in closing and throwing me out after I finally finished my bottle of South African wine I was honked at for walking in the middle of the road. But instead of being angry the driver goes:
You should not be walking  here you should be drinking more with me. Come lets have dim sum and beer! Examining the car with a quick gaze and sizing up the man I figure that even in my drunk state I'd be fine. This however was probably not true since I had half a bottle of whine + 1 glass + 3 beers. Either way we ended up having dim sum and beer early in the morning at this 24hour Chinese street dim sum place. Throwing around a mix of malay, chinese, english and sign laguage, the company was most enjoyable as was the dim sum. Time eventually cought up to my brain and a strined tiereness crept up on me as the effects of dinner coffee slowly faded away. Crazy funny Chinese guy vanished moments after he mentioned that it was time to move his body to some RnB. Me walking home dreaming about a warm shower and a bed (however mosquito ridden it may be) was the

I'd like to recommend ocean cafe which is located in the colonial parts of china town. A couple of minutes away from the old church and hosting a way more interesting repertory of sensations. I'd mainly recommend the Laksa but remain items on the menu are equally good. Some claim they make the best Laksa in Malaka.

I'm currently resting by bottom at the Geographers Cafe. A way too touristy place for my nature, or so I'd it to appear. In fact it's quite nice here. The music is nice, the interior design is nice and if it wasn't for the throngs or tourists dropping by (specially when there are large Asian tour groups) or the sometimes slow service (in western measurements (excluding places like Spain and other places where waitering is a form of sleepwalking)). The food is good though and their selection of imported beers are usually above the normal standards of Malaya watering holes.

What I really don't appreciate here is the ancient Chinese medicine stores. This because they are a large contributor to the hunting and future extinction of many rare animals. Displaying shark and other fins in their windows just makes me wanna cry.

Spending two or three days in Melaka is enough to get a feeling for the place. I've met a bunch of people the really really like the place and stay in near forever terms. Which is more than a few weeks in my book. I would consider staying here in one of the historical and cultural centers of Malaysia for several weeks only if I had some engaging projects or things to do. That, or maybe if you found a girl here. Since I've walked all over this town by now and the girl I want if definitively on a surf board fending off the kuta cowboys right now it's time to move on.
Until next time, at a destination not yet decided but very plausibly containing good food.

White Beaches for Old Buildings

Getting to Malaka during the morning hours one is quickly offered a myriad of taxi services. Red cab with white parts, white cab with red parts, red cab, broken cab. Dodging the most generous offers of transportation I fled into the supermarket a few feet away. Fleeing might be a strong word as they services offered weren't that much pushed in your face as one might except having traversed places like KL, Jakarta or Bali.
A short stop to hydrate and sodium replenishment after the morning buss from KL and the night buss from Mersing clearly boosted my ability to focus and I could now not only think about how to get to China Town but also divide my mind to also think of where to get my next ice cream. Breathtaking, no?
From Melaka Sentral which is just on the other side of the road from where the buss will drop you off one can get bus 17 which usually leaves from stop 6 or 7 which will take you to china town. The fare should be 1RM.

The majority of hostels, and budget hotels are located in the china town area close to most the old colonial architecture as well as historic places. Seeking out a hostel called Jalan Jalan (which means, walk walk, road road or travel in Malay) I soaked in the energies of Melaka and instantly liked it, a lot. This is a place where I can rest and relax for a while. Forget the world and blend in to the landscape of Chinese shrines, dim sum shops and old colonial style buildings. Although my sack of gold is a rather small one the innkeeper's demands for a budget traveler are.

• Dorm with fan 14RM
• Dorm with AC 18RM

For me the big bonuses here are that there are

• No bed bugs =) yay!
• Cheap
• At a central Location
• Free Wifi
• Hot Water Shower
• Clean toilets
• Nice staff
• Friendly travelers

And the big downers are

• mosquitoes
• the wifi can be a bit bouncy at times

Although beer is more expensive here than my last destination certain objects of decadence are available. In fact yesterday I went out and satisfied my human urges. And a damn good Magnum ice cream it was. It fit perfectly after the Indian food I had at Pak Putra. Locally famous for it's naan and chicken tandoori they also demonstrate a ability to produce grade a dishes in all varieties. I'd recommend some family style street dining here to make sure you get a little bit of everything. However if you time it perfectly for dinner you will be waiting for a while as it's a popular places and orders can be delayed for up to 1-2 hours at rush time.

A local amusement of mine is the rickshaws, fancy decorations and a even fancier audio system is sure to entertain. Pumping out loud music, usually sticking to a theme they differentiate themselves from the rest. So far I've definitively caught Michel Jackson, Dangdut, Heavy Metal and naturally the mainstream Malay pop/love songs. Me I'd go with any rickshaw playing jack Johnson even if I don't need to go anywhere. I'll definitively trade white beaches for old buildings in Malaka most days. 

The Man Who Was a Bird; Backpacking Pulau Tioman

If your version of a paradise island is long white beaches, turquoise waters and rain forest covered mountains with a sprinkle of heavy sunlight, Tioman is the place for you. Offering fair diving and some jungle trekking one could spend several days here. Unless one is me that is. For me it's gets old quite fast and after a few strolls in the jungle and a dives in the ocean it turns mundane. A hard life, I know.

For a short getaway this destination fits like a glove.

Walking along Juara Beach

For budget travelers the ABC or air batang beach and harbour area is the way to go. Salang used to be the place but not caters mainly to Asian families and travelers from Singapore. There are still a bit of young blood here though. Even though the island was fully booked and people had a trouble finding accommodation the beaches felt almost empty so there is definitely room for some solitary time if one wishes. In ABC there aren't too man y places to go after late a clock. Things close early and that includes the bars, all two of the. Well there are a few more but the only ones I'd recommend are sunset bar at the southern end of ABC and the B&J dive bar a couple of minutes north of the pier. Getting to Tioman will cost you 45 or 35 RM depending on if you take the first ferry or not. The early one is 10RM more expensive. But it will give you an advantage over the other backpackers when securing housing.

Guarding the guesthouse

In terms of diving I encountered four dive shops but only looked into two of them. Eco divers and B&J dive center. Eco divers being the cheaper one I'd have normally gone with them since I'm quite self sufficient in the blue. However it turned out that two of my dive buddies from Koh Lanta, Thailand now worked at B&J. Did my diving with these guys and they seemed to run a good shop. At lest first. One day a dive master didn't turn up so we dove with one Dive Master(DM) short. No biggie, but I did have to haul a OW diver back down and hand him almost 4kg of weights for him to stay down. Still there was some nice diving to be done. I'd say it was on par with the perhentians, gili trawangan and koh lanta/phi phi.

My two French musketeers

Accommodation is quite easy to find. Getting of the Pier the cheaper places are to the south and the tad more costly are to the north. There are exceptions though. I'd stay away from Johan's since there are bedbugs there at the moment. I ended up staying at merwas or some place with a similar name for a staggering 30RM per night for my own bungalow with a big bed and a fan. The veranda with my own little ocean sunset view was definitely an added bonus. There was only cold water but in this heat I'm not one to complain, much.

Considering that this is one of the cheapest places to buy alcohol in Malaysia the nightlife is near pathetic. During happy hours (5pm-7pm)at sunset bar you will get 3 tiger beers for 10 RM which is damn good for Malaysia. If one feels frisky enough (I did) to traverse the little hill separating ABC from the neighbouring town to the south one can find a couple of duty free stores selling alcohol much cheaper. I scored 3 Hogarden for 10RM or 5 Jazz beer for 10 RM. There are also crates for sale at discount prices. Vodka, whine and other spirits are also cheap, for Malaysia. 45RM for a big bottle of Absolute Vodka or 120RM for some champagne.

There is only one accessible ATM than I know of and it's located about 20 meters north of the airport. No fees are declared on the machine which refers to fees online, somewhere. Dive centers will charge you 3% for card payment so if you can withdraw money without fees in your previous destination it might be a good choice.

When it comes to the beaches the Juara beach is in my opinion the best one I've tried here. It's long white shores are purely sand but can have hints of organic(seaweed and such) degree at times. The second beach I'll recommend is Salang which have some nice sandy beaches with proper snorkeling not far away. The ABC beach is by far the lesser one is this trio of comparison with plenty of little rocks. It is however very nice for snorkeling and and other water activities like sailing and windsurfing. There is no really strong wind though so don't expect anything mind blowing. After all we are on a rest and relaxation trip.

The Juara Path's stream

Walking around the island is an option for the hardy but is quite rewarding for nature loves and people with ants in their pants (like me). The Juara trek is a 7km mountain forest trek which means a lot of steps and ups and downs. There is a small stream close to the drinking water station which one might play around in. Not sure if this is entirely advised by the local administration though. From ABC it's definitely another 1-1-5k to the beginning of the trail. So walking one way or taking a return trip will be a while. I'd book 2-3hours, one way minimum. There is also a route for 4WD vehicles on which one might stroll. This route is a fair bit longer. I'd guess 4km longer from ABC.
Another green hike is the one to monkey bay. Somewhat shorter than the Juara one but I never got around to walking it. It is however rumored the monkey bay is quite the looker when it comes to beaches. Walking around one should keep those eyes open. There are plenty of snakes and large reptiles around. I only spotted one two meter long black snake but king cobras and boas are known to show up in the area. Did spot a 1.5 meter long lizard swimming around though. In fact it's said that the reason there are so few cats on the island is  because they become reptile food if they stray too far. The native monkeys in the island don't seem to share this problem and there are plenty of them to steal a bit of fruit if left unattended. Another addition to the wildlife is the range of raptors (birds) that roam the islands. The legend goes that once when a British traveler visited the island he pointed at it and asked what it was named. A local responded with "Tio" I am, referring to the black bird. This being pronounced "Tioman" the explorer understood it as the name of the island and so it got it's name.  

Barefoot in the rain

Playing around with my pink balls, well not my balls. They where in fact Sandra's balls. Not usually pink but on fire the more professional name would be "Poi". Anyway, time has to be spent somehow and playing with ones balls is not a bad way to do it. This post is however not about balls. Not only anyway. As I was lounging around with my balls, waiting for my dive. As usual, I got chatting with some random people.This post is however not about these random people, not only anyway. What I learnt from these random people was that it was July 13.

I know what you're thinking now. Snap, damn, shit and a little crackle and pop on the side. Right?

I'll explain. I left KL city on a Friday looking to get away from the city, despite my appreciation for after works. Two days of diving at the Perhentians seemed like an excellent option. I decided to stay. Then I woke up and it was in fact today, which turned out to be a whole bunch of days later. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with friends in Singapore.

Well having a couple of hours (3) before the last ferry (read small speedboat normally fit for 6 people or so) it was the obvious conclusion to do a last dive at pinnacle. I mean all I had to do was.

• Pack
• Check out
• Exchange money, since I had ran out of MR and there is no ATM on the island
• 
  Get a taxi boat out to the ferry
• Pay for my dives
• Say bye to all my homies on the island

I did manage to do the most of these things. Get to the dive site. Well we got a little delayed picking up a diver from the big island. Actual Diving Time; Pinnacle: 65 minutes. Getting there and back. Normally 30 minutes. With a delay getting there and spotting dolphins on the way back. 100 minutes. Exchanging money: Fail. The money dude was gone. Emergency cash advance from the dive shop. 10% fee. 5 minutes. Getting to my accommodation, packing and checking out 10 minutes. Saying the good byes: big fail. Swift bye to a few peeps 30 sec. Running to the taxi boat 15 sec. Just barely seeing the "ferry ride off in the sunset" 30 sec.

That's how it went down.
Despite this, life usually works out in the end. There are always some small mountains to climb and rivers to cross on life's path but how boring would life bee without em. Somehow ended up walking around barefoot in "Tanaha Merah". In search of new flip flops I was in a strange pleasant mood. Getting hustled by a couple of island for a small part of my life was all in all a pleasant experience and who knows, maybe they haven't seen the last of me yet.

Tomorrow I'll be waking up in Singapore and the city life. This time around I'll have a different arsenal of resources to explore it. Yes, you guys are absolutely right. I'm bringing a damn good tan and new flip flops. Singapore, Watch out.

Lost flip flops

My first day at the Perhentians was kicked off with a early morning wait after arriving with the night bus from Kuala Lumpur. Price 40 MR

Having to chill out at the pier area at way too early a clock in the morning, there is only one things to do. Find some roti. Roti is a flat bread that resembles naan and pankakes in shape. It also resembles croasants in the way the dough is prepaired. What I am refeering to is when you fold the dough and laminate it with layers of fat each time. Obvilosly it's not ready untill it's properly fried. It's not bad for breakfaskt and not too unhealthy if you compare to a lot of other western breakfasts. Roti Kosong (empty bread, with no special add ons, observe that it comes with a small side of curry), Kopi Kosing/hitam/tida pake gula (just black plain coffe) and 100Plus, a sports drink. Price 7MR

Roti Kosong is also available in a range of variations like banana, condensed milk, egg and other various things.

Worth noticing here is the way too long name for plain coffe. This is because it is necessary to spesify that it's without milk, sugar and other add ons. So what you say is empty coffe, black coffe and coffe with no added sugar. If this is overlooked you will recieve a coffee containing the following.

• Sugar 20%
• Coffee 10%
• Water 20%
• Condensed Milk 20%
• Palm Oil 20%
• More Sugar 10%

This type of coffe is in all purpouses undrinkable unless you are used to it. Specially on those rare ocasions when the nearly indestructable consensed milk/palm oil mix has spoiled. Yes it happens.

Finally on our way to the islands under a cover of gray clouds I start to wonder if this really is the island life I wanted to return to. Was it all a gloryfied dream that my mind creted to avoid the through of rain and wind every day. After all my time in Thailand did contain more than it's fair share of storms and cold rain. The landing site for our little invasion was a small beach on the big island. Boatride return ticket included, Price 70 MR. Where our little dive shack, (Turtle Bay Divers) leaned against the far end of the beach.

I consider diving here to be ok. Not bad but not great either. The Thai diving can easily compare to diving here. Well not dive factories like koh tao but Lanta and it's surrounding area is definitly in the same class if not better. And from my personal experience saba with places like sipadan is defintly way better. So if you intend to dive Malaysia. Dive Borneo. But for taking your licence the perhentians is a excelent location. Diving the Perhentians, Price 60-70 RM

Day two ninja striked my face with a beutiful sunrise and a sunny day. Having lunch at the little island, the islands dropped it's burka and revield it's true nature of beach bumming, diving and nothingness. As the hour of the retun aproaches I decide to stay here for a while. After all I did lose my flip flops and if I go back I'll never find em. Losing flip flops, Priceless.

Help Wanted; strong hands needed

Are you a inspired and diligent worker that wants to interact with people and service the community? We offer a career where you get to work on your interpersonal skills as well as keep fit on a every day basis. You will also have the added benefit of travel as you will be working in close relation to Kuala Lumpur transportation.

We are looking for people with a good work ethic who are eager to engage people and clients. You should be of average or bigger size, work out regularly. Having a smile in your arsenal is considered a merit.
Possible previous employments are:

• sumo wrestler
• line guard
• wrestler
• sales person

if you are chosen for this position you will have the title of transportation optimizer. You work will mainly concern the maximisation of cargo and clients for logistical purposes.

Send your CV now to subwaypusher@jobsinkualalupur.com

This is what I felt the transportation system in Kuala Lumpur needed today. Subway pushers aren't something new and they can be found in places as Tokyo where white gloved men will make sure as many passengers as possible will get on the trains during rush hours.
Kuala Lumpurians are different though. As Japanese commuters instinctively move along in the carts and squeeze in to let other people on board the Lumpurians do almost the opposite. Chaotically bustling in random directions, sometimes completely opposed to logic there are often giant deserts of space while people are standing on top of each other, in 15 layers! OK maybe not but that is the feeling of it. Keep in mind that the public transportation system here is actually operational and working most of the time in difference to a vast number of countries. Many states of the US being in the list of non operational ones. Just try taking a buss there.

Transportation is cheap though. This is especially true when considering the value you get for what you pay.

Monorail will cost you about 1-3
Trains around 4 in the city
Taxi starts at 3 and the usual ride will cost about 10 or so.

All prices in Malaysian Ringit.

KL lacks the vast variety of transportation of other cities in the South East Asian region. I say this is for the better. Still they need to implement a more efficient way of adapting capacity during hing and low demand. In other words; Subway pushers for the win!

The People of the After Work

Nightlife in KL is best kicked off with a after work in my opinion. Starting the night with a few cold ones to keep the humid heat at bay en enjoying some good company. The people of the after work are a expat and business oriented crowd. It consists largely of:

• Europeans and Americans
• Chinese Business People
• serial-cultural empyed locals

Europeans and Americans have a culture of after work and happily donates large chunks cash for the perks of sin taxed alcoholic beverages. Not only do they provide a physical cooling sensation but also loosens the nots in ones shoulders after a hard day at the office. But more than shoulders are loosened. Yes tongues are loosened as well and it's during after works (AWs) that a lot of stories are told. If you want to get the lay-down of a bunch of random things just sit down at a bunch of random tables close to a bunch of random expats and listen in on their stories. Sometimes quite entertaining and sometimes apparently quite inviting. A buddy of mine and his company was randomly approached at an AW by people looking to recruit. It's a place where business and pleasure kind of blends together and you never know when you will meet one of those friends of yours that might not be the best to introduce to your business partners.

Chinese hare are quite similar actually. Although from what I've heard their conversations seem to tend to stick to business related topics a lot more. And when they don't they are often filled with wisdom's related to business. In fact the Chinese here are very business oriented. Sometimes in a quite hilarious way. I recently heard about the Sun Tzu's art of war applied in business approach. And spectacularly the small snippets of "wisdom" and how they are proclaimed in lose statements and how to's are sometimes not too far away from conversations at after works. Exchanging experiences in the Chinese business life can be quite interesting. Non related but worth a read is A story of zen. Naturally these are not the only conversations but they are the more notably conversations. Another interesting thing here is how they have trophy wives and girl friends very openly and which is sometimes seen as a status symbol. Sitting there without joining in in the conversation I'm not sure a European expat would bring that trophy girl to this gathering.

Joining these two groups are locals employed by foreign or international companies that have gotten used to this type of corporate and social culture. Many of which are serial-cultural employees. And to define that term that means people taking job after job in companies from a certain nationality or with a specific corporate culture related to one. One can see many people working for one Swedish company and then another and then another.. I'm not quite sure where to put these guys. Sometimes being more western than not and sometimes still being very local. Mostly being very western. Maybe that says something about the importance of corporate culture and how it can be more dominating in ones life than the cultural area and sphere one inhabits during off hours...

The mark of home, "uteservering"

There are few times I miss my native Stockholm. Summer time is one of those times when I consider it to be a world class destination for awesomeness. A warm, clean city on water rivaling any city in the world in terms of beauty. Ice free and light all 24h of the day. Beautiful women walking around and fantastic beers served in our "uteserveingar" or outdoors chill-out places and cafes.
Just having a cold one, enjoying the warmth, the sun and maybe the company even is truly a treasure of back home.
Finding these places abroad makes me smile and feel like I'm home, almost. At least if you combine it with Ikea and some crispbread it's just as home. In KL the outdoor chill paces serving good beer are few in comparison. It could have something to do with the air conditioning addiction being extensively spread through the ranks of Asian citizens. There are however some. So all you swedes out there that are just like me don't despair. Get a beer and relax in KL

the Ninjas Are Everywhere

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Putting my dirty flip flops on Malaysian soil I was eminently greeted with a small walk to the main terminal. In KL Air Asia has it's own airport a little bit away from everything. This is quite a normal thing. What was less normal was the amount of ninjas I spotted spotting me. It was not without trouble I bobbed and weaved to stay clear of their sneaky sneaky ways. Although they weren't that good at sneaking around at all.
I'm my elusive tactics I utilized the non regular buss to get to KL sentral. This is the place from where the airport buses will take you to the Air Asia airport or the monorail can take you into the city.
Only a few monorail stops away lay safety, my couch in KL with by Swedish buddy. This was my belief until I discovered the hordes of ninjas that surrounded Beryaya Times Square, my temporary headquarters. They where there in all shapes and sizes. Short, shorter, slim, round, slow, fast, surprisingly sometimes with colorful high heals underneath the black garments and usually carrying ninja-packs for their ninja tools. Usually these ninja packs say Gucci, Prada, Armani or something like this on them.

Malaysia is a prime destination for middle eastern Arabs who like many others enjoy the climate, low prices, good verity and religious homieness. Malaysia is a Islamic state despite only having 60% Malay (these are the people who are mainly Muslim.) the other big communities here are Indian and Chinese. Regardless the Arabs see it as quite close to paradise away from home. For the women there is great shopping to be done without having to be regarded as totally alien, even though they do look like ninjas who forgot to use a belt sometimes. I wonder what came first the ninja or the modern day Burka?
For the Malay the Arabs means, monies! It's not strange when they pretty much get's it handed to them from the government back home. If fact there are laws that require you to employ arabs when you run a company in many middle eastern states. When you do, they often don't do anything and end up being sent home since they are more in the way than not. Still they get better payed than the people who actually perform the jobs. Like the Nepalese, Bangladeshi or others. So well payed often without doing much they come to Kuala Lumpur to have fun. Often is during the Arab holidays that the great sales of Kuala Lumpur starts. This means it's also a great time for you to shop.

An interesting thing is that when Arab men travel alone to Malaysia the first thing they usually want to see are the brothels. It's time to pick up some prostitutes. Mind you this is nothing I'm making up but seen or know from reliable first hand sources that work with Arabs coming here (no it's not the prostitutes). What does that tell us about absolute and strict rules of behavior in society as a shaper of minds. Well it seems that it makes the mind more prone to just the things that is so harshly forbids. Depraved of sensual stimulation and untrained to cope with the availability of it, they go wild when presented with options. Like kids in a candy store...

Binge with a capital M

Those of you being families with Indonesia will know that there are some difficulties going to the movies there currently. When I first arrived I was way excited to go to the movies properly. The island in Thailand where I had spent my previous two months was too small to host a movie theater so I was looking forward to the big screen in Jakarta.  I was up for a surprise though. No big time movies where available. Apparently Hollywood had decided to not ship movies any more. But why!?
Turns out that the Indonesian government, always in need or tax money or bribe money decided to put some extra taxes in for the foreign movies. They claimed it was money that was going to support the domestic movie industry. Which by the way is in horrible condition. Movies made 15 years ago are way better than the crappy horror comedy (comedy part non intentional) movies that air today. They are so bad that parts of Indonesia ban then when they showcase their area in them. It seemed to be much confusion about what taxes or fees had in fact been put on these importers of movies. Eventually people seemed to conclude that if was a extra tax put on all distribution, which makes up of a very large part of movie costs in Indonesia.
I guess that's one way to really encourage pirating DVDs and downloading. I mean if it's the only way to watch movies that's what people will do. Good job Indo government.
Anyway getting out of J-town and flying to Kuala Lumpur, with a brief stop over in Bali, I'm again in a nation which likes movies. And not only are they available here, they are cheap too. There are also a range of different classes of movie theaters. The most interesting one being "gold class". Gold class is a theater class with really big and comfy sofas that serves food and drinks during the cinematic experience. of course the air con is way cold and thus you have blankets to boot.
So far I've seen Transformers 3D, the Green Lantern and X-men. Will definitively have a look at what else is available over here. Movie Binge here we go!