A post-lunch lotus paste pau from a mee place on Serikeimmm... lotus paste
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
An Interesting Encounter With Some Fish
So, I went to get examined by Dr Fish over the weekend. I thought it would be just a routine cleaning but something happened... Before I knew what was happening, my feet were being sucked on by innumerable tiny mouths.
"DR, FISH!" I shouted, shocked, "Control yourself!"
But Dr Fish didnt stop. I should have known... Dr Fish never stops.
"DR, FISH!" I shouted, shocked, "Control yourself!"
But Dr Fish didnt stop. I should have known... Dr Fish never stops.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
An Interesting Encounter, Part 3
Note to self: Consider not making so much eye contact on the street.
Today’s interesting encounter happened two months and a few meters away from my very first in Malaysia. Like my first, this one two had to do entirely with “luck” and involved a random person insisting that I … well… possessed some.
At around 6:15PM, I was walking out the monorail exit of Sungei Wang Plaza with the intention of making a B-line for the Maybank at the corner of Bukit Bintang and Jalan Sultan Ismail – I’d told José I’d meet him there after going on a Labyrinth-style adventure through the mall (well, Labyrinth-style if Jennifer Connely was actually looking for camera cleaning equipment instead of a baby). Now Bukit Bintang is a huge hangout on weekends, mostly for Malay highschool kids – in any case it was busy. I was walking along the ramp that would lead me past the Monorail station and down a flight of stairs to the street, when I found myself sandwiched between WWF donation-askers on the prowl. Foolish Andrew… I thought I could escape (looking like a tourist as I do) but alas in the blink of an eye, one was on me like a Minock on the Maltese Falcon (ugh… too much?). A younger man with a clip board, probably not much older that me was at my side, engaging in professional talk-and-walk. We exchanged hellos and how are yous etc, when I decided to get to brass tax.
“WWF, right?” I said, in an awkwardly conversational way.
“No no no,” he replied.
“Uh-oh,” I thought, “I’m in way over my head this time”
I would re-create the conversation that followed word for word, but to be honest, I understood very little of it. My replies went along the lines of:
“Nope I live here! …. Three months … uh… just over that way … nope I’m meeting a friend. Gotta go”
Needless to say, my escape attempt failed. He began explaining his mission. Honeslty, this is what I got out of it: he had a clipboard, inside were some photocopied sheets and some pamphlets that said “thank you,” and he would get one or two ringetts commission if something happened but that didn’t involve me buying anything. I was clearly confused – he handed me a little glued together pamphlet and told me to open it. I opened it painfully, revealing a blank circle in the middle. He exploded.
“You did it! Oh oh oh” he stammered in excitement, jumping around.
I stood emotionless, very impressed by the amount that the fellow’s heart was in this. I can’t stress enough how ecstatic he was for me for having revealed the blank grey square. He excitedly started pointing at the photocopy – at a list of consumer goods, including a car, a plasma tv, I think maybe a boat? I’d won them. Just like all those internet ads keep telling me – I’m a winner. I just have to be and I can get any number of goods for free just because. He kept pointing at a car down below.
“Ohhh, so you’re saying I can get a car?”
“Yes! Yes! Do you know where Mid-Valley is?? We’ll get into your car and go! But we have to go now!! We only have 15 minutes!”
Ahh… there it is. We only have an arbitrary 15 minutes from when I revealed the grey square to hop in my car and drive 25 minutes out to mid-valley mall, so I can get my free anything and he can get his 1 or 2 Ringett commission that he told me about. Hm.
“Ahh, sorry many! I have to go – I have tickets to James Bond!” I told him.
“Nooo! 15 minutes, we’ll get a cab! Don’t you understand?? Do you understand what I’m saying?? You’ve won! You did it!” He was practically crying.
“I’m sorry! Maybe next time?” I felt bad and gave the fellow a pat on the shoulder before heading down to Maybank. Honestly, I felt a pang of guilt at the thought of how much effort had been put into that performance.
Sigh. Why is that I’ve been de-sensitized to everyone and everything that tells me I’ve “won” something other than a Dr. Pepper?
Anyways, I knew this couldn’t be real… October was my lucky month.
Today’s interesting encounter happened two months and a few meters away from my very first in Malaysia. Like my first, this one two had to do entirely with “luck” and involved a random person insisting that I … well… possessed some.
At around 6:15PM, I was walking out the monorail exit of Sungei Wang Plaza with the intention of making a B-line for the Maybank at the corner of Bukit Bintang and Jalan Sultan Ismail – I’d told José I’d meet him there after going on a Labyrinth-style adventure through the mall (well, Labyrinth-style if Jennifer Connely was actually looking for camera cleaning equipment instead of a baby). Now Bukit Bintang is a huge hangout on weekends, mostly for Malay highschool kids – in any case it was busy. I was walking along the ramp that would lead me past the Monorail station and down a flight of stairs to the street, when I found myself sandwiched between WWF donation-askers on the prowl. Foolish Andrew… I thought I could escape (looking like a tourist as I do) but alas in the blink of an eye, one was on me like a Minock on the Maltese Falcon (ugh… too much?). A younger man with a clip board, probably not much older that me was at my side, engaging in professional talk-and-walk. We exchanged hellos and how are yous etc, when I decided to get to brass tax.
“WWF, right?” I said, in an awkwardly conversational way.
“No no no,” he replied.
“Uh-oh,” I thought, “I’m in way over my head this time”
I would re-create the conversation that followed word for word, but to be honest, I understood very little of it. My replies went along the lines of:
“Nope I live here! …. Three months … uh… just over that way … nope I’m meeting a friend. Gotta go”
Needless to say, my escape attempt failed. He began explaining his mission. Honeslty, this is what I got out of it: he had a clipboard, inside were some photocopied sheets and some pamphlets that said “thank you,” and he would get one or two ringetts commission if something happened but that didn’t involve me buying anything. I was clearly confused – he handed me a little glued together pamphlet and told me to open it. I opened it painfully, revealing a blank circle in the middle. He exploded.
“You did it! Oh oh oh” he stammered in excitement, jumping around.
I stood emotionless, very impressed by the amount that the fellow’s heart was in this. I can’t stress enough how ecstatic he was for me for having revealed the blank grey square. He excitedly started pointing at the photocopy – at a list of consumer goods, including a car, a plasma tv, I think maybe a boat? I’d won them. Just like all those internet ads keep telling me – I’m a winner. I just have to be and I can get any number of goods for free just because. He kept pointing at a car down below.
“Ohhh, so you’re saying I can get a car?”
“Yes! Yes! Do you know where Mid-Valley is?? We’ll get into your car and go! But we have to go now!! We only have 15 minutes!”
Ahh… there it is. We only have an arbitrary 15 minutes from when I revealed the grey square to hop in my car and drive 25 minutes out to mid-valley mall, so I can get my free anything and he can get his 1 or 2 Ringett commission that he told me about. Hm.
“Ahh, sorry many! I have to go – I have tickets to James Bond!” I told him.
“Nooo! 15 minutes, we’ll get a cab! Don’t you understand?? Do you understand what I’m saying?? You’ve won! You did it!” He was practically crying.
“I’m sorry! Maybe next time?” I felt bad and gave the fellow a pat on the shoulder before heading down to Maybank. Honestly, I felt a pang of guilt at the thought of how much effort had been put into that performance.
Sigh. Why is that I’ve been de-sensitized to everyone and everything that tells me I’ve “won” something other than a Dr. Pepper?
Anyways, I knew this couldn’t be real… October was my lucky month.
Monday, November 3, 2008
A Funny Sign? No More.
I saw this sign in KL a couple weeks ago and thought it was pretty funny. I laughed a hearty laugh and joked with my friends about how silly the warning was.I didn't respect the "Awas" and soon thereafter paid the price.
This happened to me two days ago
An automatic parking lot barrier fell on my head.
This parking lot barrier fell on my head:
I'm ok - but it kind of stung.A Funny sign? No more.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Mt. Kinabalu
Well, I'm back in KL and I'm finding it difficult to walk up stairs. On top of that, walking up stairs is nothing compared to how difficult I'm finding it to walk down stairs. Yesterday, Jose and I summitted Mt Kinabalu; I found it a very challenging climb, but definitely worth it.
We arrived in Kinabalu National park at around 10:00 AM on Saturday (despite a few setbacks including, but not limited to: missing the direct shuttle and having to cab to the public bus station; getting dropped off by the public bus at a town just over 2 km away from the park; trying to find a cab; and getting hit on the head with one of those parking lot barriers that raise and lower...ugh). We had until around 11:00 AM to get ready and so we checked in, stored our bags and paid our various fees. We had to pay each: RM 10 for entrance to the park, RM 100 for climbing permit, RM 7 for insurance, RM 21 for a guide (it costs RM 42 for 1-3 people), and RM 30 for transportation from the park HQ to Timpohon gate, 5km away. Included in all this was a boxed lunch before the climb, buffet dinner at 3600 meters, breakfast after that summit and lunch back at the headquarters.
So, the climb. It was tough. Well, as someone who is healthy all around but does pretty much zero physical activity besides a lot of walking, I found it pretty tough. We made it to Laban Rata at 3600ish meters around 4pm - I'm pretty sure we were quite lucky on Saturday, everyone who made it to Laban Rata ate dinner to an all around excellent sunset above the clouds. My only disappointment was not being able to dine with Lando Calrissian. Damn.
The only rooms left when me and Jose booked were in the non-heated building a hundred meters up from Laban Rata. Ours was a four person room with two bunkbeds. It got surprisingly cold as the sun went down (6-10 celcius), but the room came with ample blankets. Plus I scored a top bunk. Sweet.
Now, most people leave for the summit at 2.30AM, but our guide, Francis felt we'd probably be good to leave at around 3AM and still make it for sunrise (Correction: I would probably be good to leave at 3AM - it turns out Jose is a machine and passed every other person on his way up, making it there some time before 5. Ridiculous).
Anyways, here are some better ones of the many many many pictures I took:
We arrived in Kinabalu National park at around 10:00 AM on Saturday (despite a few setbacks including, but not limited to: missing the direct shuttle and having to cab to the public bus station; getting dropped off by the public bus at a town just over 2 km away from the park; trying to find a cab; and getting hit on the head with one of those parking lot barriers that raise and lower...ugh). We had until around 11:00 AM to get ready and so we checked in, stored our bags and paid our various fees. We had to pay each: RM 10 for entrance to the park, RM 100 for climbing permit, RM 7 for insurance, RM 21 for a guide (it costs RM 42 for 1-3 people), and RM 30 for transportation from the park HQ to Timpohon gate, 5km away. Included in all this was a boxed lunch before the climb, buffet dinner at 3600 meters, breakfast after that summit and lunch back at the headquarters.
So, the climb. It was tough. Well, as someone who is healthy all around but does pretty much zero physical activity besides a lot of walking, I found it pretty tough. We made it to Laban Rata at 3600ish meters around 4pm - I'm pretty sure we were quite lucky on Saturday, everyone who made it to Laban Rata ate dinner to an all around excellent sunset above the clouds. My only disappointment was not being able to dine with Lando Calrissian. Damn.
The only rooms left when me and Jose booked were in the non-heated building a hundred meters up from Laban Rata. Ours was a four person room with two bunkbeds. It got surprisingly cold as the sun went down (6-10 celcius), but the room came with ample blankets. Plus I scored a top bunk. Sweet.
Now, most people leave for the summit at 2.30AM, but our guide, Francis felt we'd probably be good to leave at around 3AM and still make it for sunrise (Correction: I would probably be good to leave at 3AM - it turns out Jose is a machine and passed every other person on his way up, making it there some time before 5. Ridiculous).
Anyways, here are some better ones of the many many many pictures I took:
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Hunting For Durian Photos
This past week has been crazy busy. Me and José have been adventuring around like it was nobody's business. Here are some of the pics from Saturday - we spent the day at an Iban longhouse community about 2-3 hours outside of Kuching. We were invited by the owner of our hotel, the Transit Point, to witness Durian season in full effect. It was turned out to be ana amazing experience, even if I did eat too much Durian for my own good. The community was in Baong, and required a hefty adventure off the main road. Upon arrival, we quickly made out way into the jungle. It was about this time that I began to realize that sandals are probably not advisable jungle wear... after about 10 minutes of sliding around the mud in them, I came to terms with the fact that I needed to get a little more muddy if I wanted to avoid getting much much mor muddy. So the following pictures chronical our adventures into the jungle as we met some of the farmers, ate some ... interesting smelling fruit, swam in a river and watched an old old man climb a 200+ ft tree.
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