Andrew Gets a New Toy

So after much pondering and deliberating, I went out and bought a Nikon D40 yesterday. I finally decided to take the plunge into DSLR life when Miss Phang, from CIJ said she could take me shopping with her husband, who is into the KL camera scene. The camera wasn't exactly dirt cheap, but Mr Phang was able to get me an excellent deal that included a bag, a tripod, and a 4gig memory card along with the body and kit lens. So! I have much learning to do, and a lot less spending to ... do. Here are some pictures chronicalling the adventure!

(Update: I immediately regret uploading this. It kinda scares me?)

The Impending Adventure Edition #1

NOW, I know what you're probably thinking. Something along the lines of "But Andrew -- you just got your haircut, what more adventure do you need? What's wrong with you? Are you crazy? I think you might have a problem." I know, believe me I know, but try as I might, I cannot avoid the constant impending adventure. So that having been said, here are some of the things that lie in my immediate future.

1) Tomorrow: Night train to Singapore for the weekend. Possible side adventures include: a postmodern hotel, Cable Car to Sentosa Island, drinks, and a train adventure mystery that looks like this: 2) October 22: CIJ goes Sarawak. More on this to come, but CIJ is holding a two day media training session in Sarawak for the indigenous people there. Topics include: writing press releases, using online tools like YouTube and Skype, and burning cds. Chances are, me and José will stick around to further explore Sarawak, and possible Sabah. You know what that means: Proboscis Monkeys for all!

Now I hate to regress, but in recap of adventures that I've had today ...
This morning I got up early to get legitamate DimSum with Miss Phang (lots of buns, and lots of pork), and then went to the Malaysian Bird Park to see some very very ( I can't stress this enough) silly birds. After that, I had some Coke (Iced) and sat down at the table at the Black & White Exhibit at the Annexe. It's empty, because its a national holiday. Alas!
Until next time!

Life Update. By Andrew (... age:20)

Well, it's Sunday afternoon, and I find myself sitting cross legged on the floor in a little nook just at the end of the hallway leading to the pool in my apartment (haha...my apartment. It sounds silly). Actually: scratch that, I just upgraded myself to chair. Okay, so it is Sunday afternoon, and I find myself sitting in a chair, outside, almost near the pool. The weather today has been pretty southeast asia: humid, with on and off showers... the sort of warm and light rain that you can wander around and ignore until it gets really heavy and you realize that you're quite far away and without an umbrella.

Today has been a rather successful day! I've been a little sick for the past three/four days -- I shant go into details, but I'm pretty sure it was strep throat-- but I seem to be mostly over it now, and it is a monumental occasion. In celebration of my returning health, I decided that it was time to shed my wings. Hair wings that is; I would never shed actual wings... that would be very sad. Anyways, in explanation, I had like these annoying wing-style tuffs of hair sticking just above my ears that needed liberating, so I took a trip to Pavilion to see what could be done. After wandering around a fair bit (I get really dazed in malls... very zombieish) I found that there was a place in Parksons department store that could do it for a reasonable price of 70 ringett (around 23ish CDN). It turns out that 70Ringett can buy a whole lot of haircut. I have never had such a long, and careful haircut ever. It was just over an hour -- and my wings weren't very long! Anyways, I'm not complaining at all, it was quite the experience. haha one fellow massaged my head for quite a long time, and a young chinese hairdresser made up like Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction told me she's always wanted to see the Niagra Falls.
I'm pretty glad just to be unsick, but guess I'm a stylish young lad now?


Other musings: Actually, that story reminds me, I've actually seen a lot of girls here sporting the Uma Thurman Pulp Fiction look. For instance, yesterday I was at SungeiWang Mall, and there was some sort of American Idol style talent show going on (it was awesome, btw. Some pretty ridiculous stuff), and one contestant I snapped a picture of had the same style going on... voila

A Lil Black and White Coverage

SO in the midst of sweating outside of Starbucks, using their wifi and drinking Coffee Bean (the cool kids do it all the time!) I came across a little coverage from New Strait Times of the Black and White exhibit that's been going on at Central Market Annexe since Friday. Here's a screenshot from the NST, and some pictures from the launch!

Good Idea... Bad Idea

Good Idea: Wearing light clothes, staying hydrated

Bad Idea: Deciding it would be fun to walk home a few monorail stops without water, while wearing heavy jeans and two shirts. 

Bravo, Andrew... Bravo. I had said bad idea yesterday. Result? Heat Exhaustion.

After passing out early, today I woke up feeling like Robert Downey Jr.

 

Though, I must say, I'm impressed at the fact that I instinctively bought an isotonic drink called IsoMax and had a cold shower while singing out of tune.

I Almost Forgot... Part Four

I was sitting in the Crystal Jade restaurant at Pavilion mall the other day, finishing up a report for my directed readings course while snacking on some fried bean curd and chili. While I was typing away on my laptop, wearing headphones, the rest of the restaurant was looking to my right. The Manchester United/Chelsea game was showing on a screen at the other end of room, and people were going nuts. Not being too much of a soccer fan, I was only slightly paying attention, concentration hard on finishing up the report (this proved to be a bit difficult, as a british fellow behind me continued to shout "Roooooney! Come on Rooney!" every few minutes). Anyways, during one of the commercial breaks, there was quite a long ad for McDonalds that I found really really interesting. I was hoping to post it up here, but couldn't find it online. The ad went like this: A little boy is sitting at home looking bored in front of a stack of books; it cuts to a few more scenes of him looking somewhat distraught, including one of him sitting with his head in the fridge. Finally, he calls his dad, who is stuck in traffic. "I'm suffering!" he tells the dad, "I have work to do, and its hot."
"Well, why don't you eat something?" the dad responds.
The kid makes a face. Finally it cuts to the dad arriving home. At the door, he leans in towards his son "Did you fast all day??"
The little kid nods. The dad smiles, congratulates him, and slowly brings up a bag of McDonalds in front of his face. And that's it! That's the whole thing! Such a huge difference from their North American advertisements. I found it really quite interesting, because I've often wondered lately how well fast food chains like McDonalds and KFC do during Ramadan in countries that have large Muslim populations. Hm!
Anyways, since I couldn't find it, here is the first ad for McDonald's ever. It's creepy. Enjoy... I know I did. And if you're bored, I suggest looking up "Kinder Surprise 80's advert". It is really quiet terrifying.

Batu Caves

Yesterday, Jose and I adventured out to Batu Caves.

So says Wikipedia:

Batu Caves is a limestone hill, which has a series of caves and cave temples, located in Gombak district, 13 km north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu or Batu River, which flows past the hill. Batu Caves is also the name of the nearby village.

The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, dedicated to god Murugan. It is the focal point of the annual Thaipusam festival in Malaysia and attracts over more than 1.5 million pilgrims, making it one of the largest gatherings in history.

Getting there was pretty much an epic adventure.
Well, it wasn't the actual journey itself that was epic, but rather the process of figuring out how to get there. Our problem was that we had two guide books giving two contradictory pieces of advice, and four people chosen at random told us different things (though the trend ended up being "Just take a cab there, la." ). After about a week of trying to figure out, we finally settled on taking bus 11 from Chow Kit. The bus was a classic experience -- It as only 2 Ringett, crowded, and it tended to open its doors as it slowed down, once or twice not even coming to a full stop. I think it was an effort in being dramatic, but since all the seats were taken, I headed to the back of the bus, sat on this dirty ledge, next to a broom and traffic cone, and listened to some music. To be honest, I pulled out my laptop and tried playing a bit of Pokemon but gave up due to general bumpy/swerve-ness. As seats freed up, and the bus got less crowded, the novelty of sitting alone in the dirty area in the back used for storage wore off, and I re-joined Jose and the general populace. Batu Caves are about 15 km out of KL, so the ride was about 45 minutes, but interesting and painless (albeit a bit dirty... but that was my fault). The caves were awesome – I find it interesting that while a lot of foreigners see it as a typical “touristy” thing to do, it is very much a place of pilgrimage for some Malaysians. So that having been said, there wasn’t much information there about what was there. In any case, on the way out, the steps were covered in monkeys looking for bananas and coconuts. Needless to say, I snapped a whole bunch of photos. These are my favorite:

272 steps

Raiders of the lost ark?

140 foot Murugan