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.

Infested: Firebat where are thou

There where always rumors. Rumors about strange creatures of the dark, spreading like wildfire and sucking ones life force. I had long dismissed these as something that exist but nothing that really happens to me. I did see a dead one long ago. Or at least I though it was one. Let me tell you. The real thing, the creature of much dismay is real, alive, kicking and fucking annoying.


Having spent three days in Malaka, a destination I partly made my way to because of rumors of a tattoo artist.  Yes in addition to Melaka the cultural and historically important tourist destination for many a KL inhabitants and Singaporeans it was also the alleged quarters for whom I was looking for. Two days earlier I had seen her work on a friendly travelers back and decided that she was good enough to ink my skin. To make a short story shorter, I found her. but too late. Ending up with not enough time to procure the right ingredients for my creation and allow for healing in time for my next dive I did what every other tourist did. Explored the food and got a bit drunk with the locals. Malaka being a small town, I left after 48hours for the bustle of KL. That and a dinner date with Charles my french musketeer. I'll get back to that meal, If I remember. The main point being it was big and ended late. Leaving me to the whims of my hastily picked accommodation, the reggae hostel at the reggae bar, in Chinatown. This was where I met "the swarm". Or Bedbugs as I call them.

I do believe my person did avoid being feasted on somehow. Or rather since they had already feasted on the early napper next to me. However my luggage was not so lucky. My old and trusted backpack, brother in arms and very well worn in back warmer was officially infested. outer pockets and exterior lining for the frame was full of empty and blood filled vermin in the range of sized they come in. Fleeing the light the brown little things burrowed deeper as I squished the ones I could reach. I knew however that this was the death jerks of old trusty..

Mostly I consider my time spent in the military to be superfluous to many challenges I face in ordinary life but one thing that it thought me was to pack things individually and close all hatches, doors, zippers and such properly. In this case it did save the entire contents of my pack since the swarm needed more time to penetrate my 4+ seals of vengeance. (dry-bag, plastic bag, knots and zippers). Besides they seem to prefer less plastic surfaces for the comfort of woven textured ones.
Being to emotionally gutted by the loss of old trusty I could not bring myself (that or me being lazy) to get a new good backpack. Instead I went with the wheeled alternative. I now resemble one of those many flash packers I so despise at every "normandy" style beach landing one does when traversing paradise islands. Either way done is done. Now to figure out a proper ritual for protecting my precious artifacts from future swarms.  After all there must be an efficient protocol for keeping things bug free while traveling.

The Bodyguard

One night in KL I got some info of where there where some latin dancing to be done. I figured that it might be a good opportunity to learn something. So I make a shutout on some online forums to see what happens. Suddenly I get a text with some info on a souk club. Ok, latin dancing here we go was my thoughts.

This was wrong.

During my after-work with my buddy in KL the unknown souk specialist shows up. On his walk I can tell that he is no dancer. Well that or he's a real good a shape shifting. But who knows maybe I'm wrong? (I wasn't). After a little awkward conversation it turns out that the souk club or "club zouk" is not at all a latin dance club. But they do have free drink during a few early hours tonight. So he suggests that we hit up that place before 20:00. We decide that that is way too early and that we should go check out twenty one despite his puppy eyes and black tee with a naked lady on. In fact this graphic t-shirt was the only thing that would give away and otherwise uncanny similarity to a bodyguards appearence in KL. Having shaved his head with a bulls neck, stiff walk and a tendency to not speak while walking a step after us or a step ahead of us it really did look like we had our own bodyguard. So much in fact that we where at first asked if this was the case. Later that night it was just assumed and not even asked any more. It was quite amusing to my inner self when asked who my friends where I responded that's my buddy A and that's the body guard. The amusing part was that no one questioned this. This was something natural. Obviously a 25 year old dude has his own bodyguard. No I'm not 25 but people tend to thing I'm about that age. All in all it was a strange experience. Highly amusing but strange, oh and also quite baller.

What kind of society requires one to have a body guard when going to a bar like the Hilton anyway. Well maybe like Jakarta and of course Kuala Lumpur obviously.

That guy should seriously think about changing professions though. I'm sure you get better pay as bodyguard than a bookstore clerk...

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...