Usual stuff happening today. In the evening I went out with Jon to a Chinese food place. I got full mostly on rice but I enjoyed having a little bit of everything. I’m still not completely used to some of the flavours but I’m only here for awhile so I’m trying to get in as much as I can. The strangest thing we had to eat—at least from my point of view—was frog toad. I only had the smallest bit; it wasn’t nearly as scary as you might expect. I’m not sure if I had a very good piece or not, I was offered a “better piece” but I declined. It seemed like a lot of skin and bones and as they say, “tasted like chicken”. Actually to me it tasted more like fish.
Malaysia – Day 23
Today I spent the morning trying to arrange a trip to Iran but it looks like it’s not going to happen. I went to the Iranian Embassy and after waiting in line for about 20 minutes I was told that unfortunately I needed to get my visa from my home country or country of residence. Since I don’t have a visa to be in Malaysia (I don’t need one to visit) I can’t get one for Iran unless I go back to Canada first. So that’s that I guess.
This afternoon I’ve been working on a couple of models in Maya. I’m not really proficient at it yet, but it’s good practise.
I think tonight I’ll try and watch Star Wars: Episode III. Hopefully it’s not too crowded.
Malaysia – Days 18 through 22
I went to Tioman Island over the weekend. We hopped on a chartered bus through the night and then took a boat the next morning. It seemed a little disorganized in the heat and with the lack of sleep (it’s hard to sleep on a bumpy road through the mountains when the bus driver thinks he’s in a race). The ferry was late picking us up because the tide was too low to come in. I’ve always thought the tide comes in at about the same time (based on the lunar cycle of course) and I couldn’t help but feel like they should have known whether or not they’d be able to pick us up when they said they would. Finally they decided to deliver us to the ferry via speed boat. And then everything got a LOT better.
Getting to the island was a nice trip. But seeing the Island? – wow! It was the most fantastic place! The beaches were truly magnificent and the jungle was gorgeous. I had a great time doing everything from snorkeling to trekking through the jungle in the rain.
On the first day we snorkeled out to a small island. The water was great, nice and warm, and full of beautiful fish. We had a great supper, especially because I had been really craving some western meals.
On Saturday Danny and I rented a scooter from some guy for the hour. It was just his private bike but we had a great time going down to the village and back. I got going about 60 km/h on the way back when I tried to see how fast I could get up to going down hill. Probably too fast for no helmets, but all’s well that ends well. Later that afternoon we went on the Jungle Trek. It rained pretty hard and my shoes were soaked. The jungle trek started half way up the mountain after walking through the golf course. I found it ironic that we just waltzed right through the same golf course that requires golfers to wear golfing shoes. I guess because we weren’t on the greens it isn’t such a big deal? Either that or it’s a case of what they don’t know won’t hurt them. On the way back the rain was really coming down and a few of the others in the group used the golf course as a gigantic slip and slide.
The next day Andrew and I headed off to the other side of the island. It was fantastic. We hired a taxi driver to take us in his 4×4 through the muddy roads over the jungle covered mountain. The beach was huge and even more beautiful than the side with the resort. I enjoyed having it all to ourselves and meeting some of the islanders. I did get a little sunburned from snorkeling for an hour in the hot sun. I didn’t notice it until it was too late.
We headed off the next morning and to our delight the guys running the show told us we’d be heading back via speedboat the whole way. The “speed boat” is a lot faster than the big ferry that brought us there, but it’s quite a bit smaller too. They stopped at another dock (to pick up more people?) but because the dock was designed for bigger boats, this one was being swished back and forth and when it hit the dock it smashed in one of the windows. I heard a loud snapping sound and then what sounded like water rushing in. I thought for sure we’d have to abandon ship. The water sound was actually broken glass spreading out over about three seats and four or five people. The dean of management was one of the ones to get hit and had a couple of tiny cuts on her arm and thumb.
After that we just headed out to sea without further incident. It was a totally perfect weekend — with exception to the fact that I got sunburned, but even that wasn’t so bad and totally worth it. I’d love to go to Tioman again. I’ve been told it’s not even the nicest island around here — which is hard to believe because this place is amazing, but that’s what they say.
Malaysia – Day 12
Today I was majorly stressed out thinking about “relationships”, and so I headed to work an hour earlier than usual. It was nice to just sit on the bus and think. It was also nice to beat the morning rush and get to work in less than half an hour. Luckily Jon was there to let me in early.
In the evening I went out for some fun on the town.
First we went to a nice open market style restaurant. The idea is you get to pick one or a few dishes from any vendor you want. They bring those dishes to your table and you get a variety of styles of food all at the same place. I had the shark fin soup.
I understand that the way it works is, there is one owner that sells drinks and all of the vendors rent their space from him.
Since the evening plans were somewhat impromptu I didn’t have a shirt with a collar and had to borrow from one of Jon’s friends because of the dress code. It worked out nicely and we had a good time at “The Loft”.
Malaysia – Day 11
This morning I took some random photos down in Chinatown on my way to the bus. There are a lot of people riding motorbikes or what in Canada would be called scooters. They are everywhere. Most people seem to agree that they are extremely dangerous, nevertheless you see so many weaving in and out of traffic. A friend of mine warned me when crossing the street that the cars may stop but the bikes probably won’t.
In the evening I mostly hung out with the other students from Canada. I went down to the market for awhile but they were pretty much closing everything by the time I got down there. That’s another thing that seems weird. Even though they call it the night market, everything closes at 11:00pm. We met this Kiwi there who told us that earlier he had seen some police walking down the streets and all the CD and DVD vendors throwing everything into a box and getting out of there. We couldn’t really understand why they would be worried about the police since the pirating is everywhere but apparently it has more to do with where they are selling than what they are selling. I guess if you’re in a booth on sidewalk or in a permanent store you’re ok but selling pirated movies on a card table in the middle of the street is not allowed.
Malaysia – Day 10
I never had supper last night. I had agreed to wait for a couple of the other students to get home from work and then we’d go out to eat. Well I should have just gone on my own because they thought they’d be home by 8 but I think it was around 9:30 when they finally came knocking on my door. I had already fallen asleep and was too tired to go. So this morning I was extremely hungry and ordered 3 of my favourite, the banana roti.
Here the cook has already stretched and folded the bread and is now adding the banana inside it. Next he cooks it on a small griddle to the side. It’s served with a “gravy” of curry or dahl sauce.
It’s really good stuff, but if I had my choice I’d probably drown it in maple syrup, honey butter, or icing sugar. They are very much like scones and so that’s my natural desire.
The rest of the work day I spent improving my storyboard for Kick-Ray. It’s coming along nicely.
This evening we had some guest speakers come to our residence. Their names are Kesh Singh and Jamison Masse. They talked to our group about life in Malaysia and about their work at a company called Profitera.
The best part of the evening was when we went out with Jamie for a great cold treat. The conversation was light and fun and the treat was absolutely wonderful. I can’t remember what it’s called, but the one we all ordered has fresh mango, shaved ice, some kind of sugar based syrup, topped with tapioca pudding. It’s so good my mouth is watering just thinking about it. WOW.
Jamie is also a Canadian — about my age — and has been living in Asia for the last 4 or 5 years. He’s a programmer / manager at his company and it sounds like he really loves his job.
I asked him about tax laws with regard to importing and exporting software from Malaysia to Canada. He figures that the laws are having a hard time keeping up with technology and that a lot of laws don’t treat software development the same way they would a tangible object. I supposed Canadian customs would have the answers and he agreed. I was curious about this because it seems very closely related to importing and exporting New Media content.
Malaysia – Day 9
I checked out the cost to go to Iran from here, but when I checked the dates I realized that I made a gross miscalculation with regard to how long it is until I leave Malaysia. It looks like I won’t have time to do any extra travelling after all unless I finish up the work-study early or have my flight plans changed. I’ll have to look into these respective possibilities.
I shaved off my beard today. I was holding onto the hope that Anna-Maria might come and visit me here and well… though she’s a big fan of my facial hair, she’s not going to see me here.
On my commute to work I’ve been listening to the audio version of the book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. It’s by Malcolm Gladwell, and it’s about how we make decisions — both good and bad — and why some people so much better at making decisions than others. My friend Jason recommended it to me along with another of his books, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, which is about change and more specifically it shares a new way of understanding why change so often happens as quickly and as unexpectedly as it does.
So far Blink has been an eye opening experience; when I’m done I will certainly pick up The Tipping Point. In almost every chapter—if not every chapter—I find myself at the edge of my seat hanging on every word. I particularly liked the insight on improvisational acting (he believes in Keith Johnstone’s techniques), the story behind a massive war games held by the United States in 2002 (which in reality was a failure), and the decision for the Coco-cola Bottling Company to switch to New Coke in the 80’s (read about New Coke at Snopes). I’m only on Chapter 6 of Blink but I love everything about this book.
Malaysia – Day 8
Today pretty much consisted of me going to work, writing a few emails and then working on my storyboard. I went out for lunch with my boss to this sushi place which, believe it or not, I really liked. We had some California Rolls with green tea and something else which I never did find out what it was – which is maybe why I enjoyed it so much. Up until now I’ve never been a big sushi fan.
For supper, I went out with a three of the girls from the U of L to a Chinese food place. There was a hungry kitten that looked pregnant. We felt sorry for her and fed her a bit of our meal. We were really enjoying the quiet atmosphere, but then the band showed up and though I wouldn’t say they were bad—they were a little loud.
Malaysia – Day 7
Happy Mother’s Day. Today we went to the Batu Caves. We had to find a different place for breakfast since the usual place I get my Roti (think Scone) doesn’t open on Sunday. We cabbed it out to the caves and I had a great time photographing the monkeys and other scenery.
The weather was beautiful and everyone had a great time. I met some people from Iran and asked them about the possibility of going to visit there. They got me pretty excited saying that the plane tickets are not that expensive and it’s easy for a Canadian to get a visa to go there. I’m seriously going to look into going there for the last week or two of my trip.
Afterwards we caught a cab back to KLCC (near the Petronas Towers) and from there I took the Monorail with Andrew to check out a bookstore at BB Centre – another shopping centre. Most of the books were on architecture but there were a bunch of new media books that I found interesting.
After that we headed for our residence walking past a Chinese Temple. It was nice to go inside and enjoy the quiet sanctuary for a few minutes. I burned some incense and tried to clear my mind.
That evening I read a little from my Canadian History for Dummies book (which I absolutely love by the way) and learned about the War of 1812. I almost forgot that we had a dinner appointment with the Dean – luckily Jason reminded me. We headed out to his hotel and after some trouble finding a half honest taxi cab driver (one that wouldn’t try and charge us double) we arrived and had a pretty good buffet. By the end of the evening the topic of religion came up and I talked at length about my feeling about the Mormon Church and about its history. I told them that despite my negative feelings, I am still very defensive when I hear about others speaking poorly of it. One of the others there agreed that even though she is no longer a practicing Catholic she also hates it when people speak badly about the church. Sort of like, it’s okay to put down your own friends or family (occasionally) but don’t anybody else do it!
It was a good evening that ended at a hostel down the street from where we are staying and I shared my story from getting engaged to ending up here in Malaysia alone and distressed. It’s a pretty long story and in the end the advice they gave me was to not really do anything but heal for about 6 months and then decide what I want to do. It’s good advice.
P.S. I almost forgot. Today is my brother’s birthday. Happy birthday Gary.
Malaysia – Day 6
The photo here is of the entrance to the Sunway Pyramid. I didn’t get a photo of the actual pyramid because I was worried I would miss my bus.
After work I went to dinner at this Chinese food place. We had a good time just chatting and it felt good to get some food. I skipped lunch because I felt bad about missing the morning to go to the doctor — I realize that this is counter-productive but it’s too late now to go back and change it so please commenting about this is not necessary. Afterwards on the drive home, because I was coming from a different route, I had a chance to check out KL’s Times Square from the road. Just like the Times Square in New York, there is a lot of advertising here.
Today I had breakfast with a couple of the interns before we came inside to present our work. We have been coming up with a story line for a 3D animated cartoon. Now I need to rework my storyboard using the ideas from today to present again next Saturday.
For lunch Jon took us over to the Sunway Tower Hotel for a buffet. Although much of the food was greasy I have to say I’m still impressed with how tasty everything is. Wow, what great food; it was also great to get so full.