Asia - Volume Three: Malaysia

I've officially been home for three weeks now, and sometimes it feels like I never left. Now that's a scary thought.

I'm finally ready to show you Malaysia! This was undoubtedly my favourite trip/place out of the many, my favourite week out of the five. Case in point: MALAYSIA! Fucking A! was the first thing I wrote in my journal about Malaysia. Undoubtedly, it was due largely to our English-speaking tour guide because I was SO HAPPY to finally be LEARNING something about the country that we were currently in. I didn't learn a thing about Hong Kong, Macau or South China because I couldn't understand anything the guides were saying and when my brain isn't stimulated, you can bet your bottom dollar that I'm not having fun. < / nerd talk>

Our first stop in Malaysia was Putrajaya, one of their capital cities (Kuala Lumpur is the 'real' capital, but Putrajaya is seen as the 'up-'n-coming capital' - whatever that means). Putrajaya, along with neighbouring Cyberjaya, is a veritable mini-California complete with one-level, white-washed-stucco-walled houses with red shingle roofs and a Silicon-Valley-to-be. Technological advancements are huge in this area - Malaysia is the first country to utilize Smart Card technology in their citizneship cards...something about only needing one card for everything. It's their proof of citizenship, their credit/debit card, their library card, their only necessary source of identification. I thought that was pretty neat.

 
Left: You can see the generous slathering of California-like housing across the lake. This lake, actually, deserves a mention because 1. It is man-made and 2. The water is so clean that you can drink out of it because the Malaysian government imported twenty kinds of grass from the Amazon River in Brazil and planted them in the lake to filter all the gunk and toxins out of it.
Right: This was our first stop: a mosque in Putrajaya where all females had to don pink robes with hoods and where males, if they are showing a significant amount of skin (ie: when wearing shorts), also have to wear the pink robes. It was a glorious moment for my brother.

 

The city of Kuala Lumpur, along with many other parts of Malaysia, is very modern. Everything is very clean and new, there's lots of big, shiny buildings and tons of shopping.

  
Left: The Petronas Twin Towers.
Middle: The KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center), the huge six-level shopping mall beside the Towers. Capitalizing on tourism much?
Right: Lamp posts that I really liked.

Malaysia, on the whole, is pretty bent on being the biggest or best in a number of interesting ways. See attempts at: The World's Tallest Building (the Petronas Twin Towers that were beat out by Taipei 101), The World's Tallest Flag Pole (beat out by however many tall flagpoles that are out there - there's a lot), and the largest golden statue of Muruga, also known as Lord Subramaniam (I think they were successful with this one). Coincidentally, my favourite destinations were: the largest Buddhist temple in KL (or was it the whole country?) and the Batu Caves where the statue of Muruga/Lord Subramaniam is located.

BATU CAVES!

  

Left: This is the largest golden statue of Muruga/Lord S. Behind him are the 272 steps that lead to the cave which is dedicated to him. Belief has it that if you go up and down all the steps, you are cleansed of your sins. I went up...and down. I'm not sure how cleansed I felt afterwards.
Middle & Right: Inside the cave, looking up. While inside, I got four mosquito bites in the span of twenty minutes. Bastards!

Mmm...colourful Buddhist architecture.

 
 

My least favourite destination was the King's Palace (Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy). We weren't allowed in so all we could do was stand at the gate and take photos of said gate (it was really nice) and the poor guards on their horses trying to maintain their composure while the MILLIONS OF TOURISTS annoyed the hell out of them. Poor guards and horsies were so pestered by those silly tourists. I think it would have been great if one of the horses bit them or nudged them with its head. I was feeling vengeful on their behalf that day. Honestly, you should have seen it; they were teeming, teeeeeming.



After a few days in KL we drove through the Malaysian countryside, up a mountain, through some rainforest...

  

...and arrived at the Genting Highlands! This City of Entertainment is located 2000m above sea level, which provides for a chillier climate and no mosquitoes. We didn't do anything too exciting here, but it was a nice place to relax, have some fun, eat lots of desserts and spend some quality time with the fam. Our hotel was shaped like a castle, there were three amusement parks to go to (one was part of the hotel!), there were games and rides and food and free bowling! and a casino that my brother wasn't allowed into and a craptacular soccer festival AND:

There was Snow World.

 

Do you kiddies want to come live here in Canada with me? Then you can play in the snow FOR FREE for more than FOUR MONTHS of the year AND you can shovel my driveway. You can do that for free too.

The coolest thing about our stay in the Genting Highlands was this:



The view of the rainforest from my window. I watched the fog slowly creep up the mountainside blanketing green in white. I can't believe I got to see that.

After our brief stint in the Highlands, we drove all the way to Melaka/Malacca City, Malaysia's historic city once occupied by the Dutch. Now, I don't know what the Dutch are like, but I'm wondering what kind of influence they had because Holland Square is alarmingly...pink.

 
 

We did drive bys of Bukit Cina ("Chinese Hill" in Malay; it's the largest Chinese graveyard outside of China), the Well of Hang Li Po, a couple of temples and took a nice walking tour of the old city during which I stopped to smile at a man who was selling paintings, only to strike up a conversation that left me with the hugest smile on my face.

 

Left: Again with the temples.
Right: The church where St. Francis Xavier's first grave was located. His body was later moved to Goa, India.

And that was Malacca. Very historic, old and pretty. Random highlights of Malaysia include: seeing the first snatch-free purse at a leather tannery where my mum almost spent $100 CAD on handbags, the magenta dragonfruits, nutmeg candy, yummy tongkat ali tonic, other delicious Malaysian foodies and desserts, and meeting people with strikingly similar pasts as my parents. More on that later.

Selamat datang = Welcome
Selamat pagi = Good morning
Terima kasi = Thank you



Off to Singapore. More on that later too.
3:54 pm

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Fruity

I have the attention span of a teaspoon. Over two hours ago, I set out to post some pictures of funky fruits from South East Asia that I love and now, after finally finishing sending emails, receiving and organizing music, chatting on MSN and browsing a portraiture site, it's time to get a move on with those fruits. (Complete sentences and complex thoughts not included.)

 

Left: Dragonfruit. This is a special bunch we came across while driving through the Malaysian countryside. Normally, the 'meat' of the fruit is white and not magenta coloured. Though, with the smattering of tiny black seeds, fuschia skin and bright green fins, they look space-age-ish either way.
Right: Sugar Apples. My family and I like referring to them as "grenade fruit".

 

Left: Rambutan. Kind of like really hairy, freaky lychees. They're not as juicy or sweet as lychees, so I think that the only reason why I like them at all is because they look weird.
Right: Mangosteen! My favourite of the exotic fruits.

M is for Mangosteen*. Yay for fuzzy pictures of my favourite!

 
 

Favourites not included here:
- soursop
- jackfruit

Another popular South East Asian fruit is the durian. It is similar in appearance to the jackfruit, but it is far from being as delicious. Most people will recognize durian from far, far away because of it's distinctive smell. And by distinctive, I mean awful. This is the extent to which durian smells pungently terrible:


It's prohibited in hotels! I guess they don't want to freak out the foreign guests.

And for kicks, here is a mini-banana. These do not smell bad. Yum.



* Printed on a t-shirt I saw someone wearing in Hong Kong.

4:54 pm

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Directionless



Whooo to the hoooooo! My iPod is here! Our inaugural run is this evening! Now, if my body can stop being allergic to the world, then maybe I can go outdoors without the fear of losing my brain through my nostrils when I sneeze.

***

I have, for the first time, just maxed out my credit card. Wow.

It's that new MacBook that's apparently causing all this trouble; well, that and my spending habits that seem to have racked up over $800 in purchases this past month (wtf did I buy??) so the order for my brand new beautiful shiny lappy couldn't go through. Argh! I had to call Apple three times, my credit card company twice, and speak to six people before I could get my credit limit increased to nearly double what it was before. I went $500 over the usual student limit, but the lady on the phone gave it to me anyway because I "pay it well". Damn right I do. Whoooo, I'm a responsible big girl now.

Person number seven at Apple is named Michael. Michael is a saint. He was finally able to authorize my purchase and payment (phew!) and, after listening to what an awful time I had trying to work everything out this afternoon, he changed my order to priority shipping - a value of $170 - free of charge! YAY! My MacBook is going to come on time after all! Yay for Michael The Saint.

***

I never thought I would say this, but as of last night, I think I have a new favourite movie genre: sports movies. I went to a special sneak-preview of Invincible (thanks to my uber cool uncle with all the hook-ups) and I must say, I really, really liked it despite the fact that I wasn't too interested in seeing a movie about football. Perhaps I enjoyed the experience more because it was all 'special', what, with the tight security, special radio station guests, draws, prizes (I snagged an Invincible t-shirt!) and free mini-footballs and whatnot. Gary and I split an Ant Bully Kids' Combo so now I have a new cup (with lid!) and two new pencil crayons (one erasable and one coconut scented!) while he went home with a nice popcorn bucket (with handle!) and a Kinder Surprise toy (a dino-fossil that changes colour!). We're 22, I swear.

Lesson Learned Number One: Sports movies usually go beyond the particular sport. It's all about heart.
Number Two: Disney knows what they're doing.
Number Three: Mark Wahlberg = COOL.

Credit goes to Adam (hi!) for introducing me to the glorious world of football in the first place. I can now surprise boys by holding a ball properly, throwing it and making it spiral in the air. We watched Any Given Sunday together last summer and I got so many goosebumps during the coach's pep talks that I needed to pull the grey fleecey blanket tighter around me while letting out a great big Aww!. Coach Carter (this one's about basketball) made me cry...while I was on a bus with all my kids on tour. I don't know if they thought I was sweet or just a wuss. And now with Invincible, my love for sports movies is definitely getting stronger. Whodda thunk it?

It comes out tomorrow! Go see it.

***

And in other news, My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us...Nothing. Dear Scientists, I roll my eyes at thee! Yeesh.

***

Dear Internet, Be faster! Gaaaaahhhhhhhhhh be FASTER! My geeky Internet-y multi-tasking can't be efficient under these circumstances!

3:27 pm

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

All Gooed Up

How can something break your heart, but fill you with love and hope at the same time? Beauty, you are such a conundrum.

Hung no.2 Drawn Onward: Shannon Gerard - It's worth so, so much more than $4. After I read it, I had to just sit there and wait for that chord within my heart to stop resonating.

Be Be Your Love: Rachael Yamagata - "Everybody's talking how I can't, can't be your love/ But I want, want, want to be your love/ Want to be your love for real/ I want to be your love, love, love...."

Heart: Stars - The lyric that gets me most is, "I think I saw your airplane in the sky tonight/ Through my window, lying on the kitchen floor..." It's the bass line. It's everything. I almost cried when they performed this song live.

Lover's Spit: BBS f. Feist - Wait for the drum kit (cymbal and snare) to play in. *immobile*

Damn, now that's talent. It's almost 2am on a Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and I'm just a big puddle of goo in my room. Goo. Now I have to go and mop my heart off the floor before going to bed.

1:59 am

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Guess What?

I'm not going skydiving today. High winds. Bad weather. Maybe next week.

I have a place to live! I averted homelessness once again and have found myself a nice little sublet in the Loo for the coming Fall term. It's a gorgeous house (though I'll be living in the not as gorgeous, but still clean and nice basement suite) in a quiet, non-student neighbourhood. The price is right, I'll be living with a good friend of mine (hi roomster!) and I'll be getting lots of exercise because it's far from campus and there's no in-house laundry, thus necessitating bi-weekly treks to the laundromat. Fun. I can't wait to be 'that' girl, y'know, the one you can see from the street as you're walking by and there she is plugged into her music, dancing and singing along as she puts clothes into the dryer. Or maybe I can meet someone who's reading a magazine and when I look over their shoulder I notice that they've circled certain words and I instantly know that those are the words they're going to look up definitions for later. (Does anyone know what movie or TV show that scene is from? I swear I saw it on a screen once.)

I bought a lappy! I figure that if my life is going to change so dramatically in just a few months, I might as well throw everything that I know about computers out the window and force myself to change. Yay for change! It's supposed to be here by the end of the week and I'm so excited that I could pee myself.

1:29 pm

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Asia - Volume Two: Southern China & Hong Kong

HCMC was like home base for us; once we arrived in the city, we never stayed for more than two or three days at a time because we'd always be coming and going from and to a plethora of other places. Our first trip was to a handful of cities throughout Southern China and Hong Kong. We made it to Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Macau, Kowloon and went through one place that I can only loosely translate as either Pig/Pearl Bay/Harbour.

We had a stopover in HK two years ago en route to HCMC and I remember it well because I was entranced by the mountains that I saw peppering the sea. I couldn't remember the last time I saw a real mountain before that. Maybe I never had. Hong Kong is indeed a beautiful, mountainous landscape, but it is unfortunately covered in high-rise apartments. This was my first glimpse of the city as we were crossing the harbour:

  

And this is what I saw when we were on the bus:

 

Apartments. Office buildings. Condos. Apartments. Buildings. Buildings. No wonder they can fit almost 7 million people onto that little island. It is one of the most densely populated areas in the world and now I can see why, and how they do it. They just keep stacking people on top of each other. It boggled my mind to think of all the resources and electricity that each building must go through in one day, and how much waste is generated.

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy our time in HK or Southern China too much. We were with a tour group and the guide spoke only in Vietnamese, so my brother, uncle and I didn't understand a word that was spoken for a whole week. My parents tried to translate, but it became too much of a hassle, so we stopped asking. Language is a wonderful, interesting and awfully isolating thing. The only thing that I thoroughly enjoyed about HK was DisneyLand (wahoo!) and the public transit system. It's so user and visitor friendly! Everything was easy to figure out, but I think I only say that because everything (street signs, instructions, etc.) are all in English first. After all, HK did belong to Britain until 1997.

I really only remember a few things about our time in Hong Kong:


A large temple on the shore where I bumped into a man who used to live in the small town that my beloved roomie currently resides in. "You know Welland?!" "Yeah! I've been there before! Twice!" The world gets smaller and smaller every time I talk to another stranger.

 
Left: A jumbo floating seafood restaurant where I dressed as Chinese royalty for a few minutes.
Right: A view of Hong Kong and Kowloon from one of the mountains I fell in love with. Mountains, mountains. Buildings, buildings, buildings.

  
Night shopping. Lots of neon. Hong Kong uses more electricity than any other city I've ever seen. (No, I haven't been to Las Vegas.)

Macau is delightfully Spanish [again with the influence of a previously occupying country] and is also the Chinese Las Vegas. Either the itinerary or the tour guide scheduled an hour and a half at a casino and fifteen minutes at a temple. I gawked at this and all I could think was: People have got to get their priorities straight. Macau is both a major urban center and rainforest, and is hot as all hell. Chris (a good friend from high school who coincidentally had nearly the same vacation as I did) so eloquently described it as "humid as Satan's crotch". He's right, you know. The sun is SO hot, so strong, so violent and harsh that I fear my cameras will melt. Yes, I was more worried about how my cameras would hold up to the heat as opposed to worrying about my own skin melting off or about putting on sunscreen to prevent the rays of cancer from penetrating my layers of clothing.

 
Left: Part Hollywood, complete with plam-tree lined roadways and mini-tour busses.
Right: Part historical rainforest. This is the most famous attraction in Macau, one wall of a church that was built while the Portuguese were still around. It has since burned down and I can't remember the significance of this place at all.

  
Left & Center: Proof that I went on vacation! ...to Rome? This was some touristy place next to one of their many big casinos that had Roman and Middle Eastern inspired structures and even a strange reconstruction of the Roman Coliseum, complete with a Roman soldier who stared me down as I tried to discreetly take a photo of him.
Right: This photo of my brother and uncle always makes me laugh. I told them to be 'natural' and this is what I got.

I pesonally enjoyed the more 'local' parts of Macau:

  
Left: Metal 'cages' protrude from nearly every window in Macau so that people's laundry can hang to dry without fear of it blowing away - no that there's any breeze in Macau to begin with. There's rust stains that run along the walls and a mildewy kind of smell about all of it.
Right: Umbrellas are the only thing that will keep you safe from the sun and cool while outdoors.

 
Macau at night. Again with the neon.

China, unfortunately, did not do a good job of committing itself to my memory. Guanzhou passed by without me even noticing it and all I can pick out from my journal is: We saw some stuff in Canton [that's really the name of the province, and not the city where we actually were] (most of which I had no clue about) [remember the language difficulties?]
- Mausoleum of 72 Martyrs
- Some important building that belongs to Sun Yen Fat...I think?
- tea tasting
- then lunch
- then off to Shenzhen!

Yeah, that was Guangzhou for ya. Overall, China is much cleaner than Vietnam. The cities here are much more urban - the streets are wider, the buildings larger, the standards of living and cleanliness higher. They even have greenery on the highways! Greenery! On the highways! Potted plants along the rails, ivy covers the support pillars, plants adorn the railings. There's shrubs and trees on the islands. Unbelievable. If only Toronto had the climate to sustain such GREEN!

 
Left: This is the fancy Sun Yen Fat (I think) building that we weren't allowed into.
Right: A view of Shenzhen from one of the parks we went to. You can see the miniature Great Wall of China running along the ground.

All I can really remember about Shenzhen is the mini-China amusement park we went to and the Window of the World, which was another miniature village. This time, however, instead of having small reconstructions of important buildings in China, they had small reconstructions of important buildings from around the world. Whoooo. Their advertising motto was pretty good though: "Give us one day and we'll show you the world" - it's not super clever or anything terribly original, but it made me kind of want to see it. Though I don't remember too much, I did write that Shenzhen is an awesome city and I can't wait to go back. It was like a Chinese New York or LA or Toronto; it absolutely bustled with life and lights.

Something that we saw often while we were in Asia: temples.

 
Left: A temple in Macau.
Right: These are joss sticks formed into spirals that burn while hanging from the ceiling. Joss is a type of incense typically used in the Buddhist tradition.

Upon arrival in HCMC, the whole tour group dispersed and I immediately felt a sense of nostalgia. In some strange way, I missed them. I fel uneasy without the security of having them around and knowing that we were all in it together - whatever 'it' was. We were alone to fend for ourselves at the airport, and that made me a little sad. I missed 'the gang' - I didn't get to say goodbye to the couple or the family - sigh. I'll miss you more than anyone will ever know. Thanks for the wonderful memories. Another example of how I get too attached to people too quickly.

Man, I'm such a mush.

5:28 pm