Best laugh of the trip. This monkey snuck up behind a chubby western tourist and grabbed the flower necklace she was wearing, started yanking on it. Woman screaming. Necklace comes off, monkey runs away with it and starts eating it.
Thursday, March 01, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Kuala Lumpur
I arrived at the capitol of Malaysia around lunchtime yesterday. Made my way to Chinatown where I had one hostel reserved, but I was having trouble finding it and another one I came across had an empty room so I took it. Kuala Lumpur is a bustling city with a ton of diversity. It is in some ways advanced yet still has a wild-west feel a little bit. Honestly, my first impression is that it was a blend of Nairobi and Hong Kong.
Yesterday I spent most of my time wandering around. I went to the Petronas twin towers but couldn't get a ticket to the top so I went up the "KL Tower" instead, which is a really tall spire w/ a rotating restaurant at the top. Got a good view of the city that way but it was foggy so pictures probably aren't fantastic. After that, I went down on a hike on the side of a hill in a sort of nature-preservie-type-area (as much as there could be one in the middle of a city).
That night I asked the taxi driver to take me to "a good authentic Malaysian restaurant". He took me to this place, the name of which I tweeted earlier, that I quickly discovered was a total tourist trap. The food was dumbed down for a Western palate, and there were some "ethnic" performances that seem somewhat contrived. I was disappointed - will hopefully do better tonight.
During the day today I did some walking and then went to some caves, pictures of which I will post soon. The caves were originally the location of a Hindu shrine, although I think its been tourist-ized to some extent now.
I was originally going to take a sleeper train into Thailand but unfortunately I delayed and the tickets are sold out. I secured a last minute flight for not too much that will go direct from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket island, which is in southern Thailand, a good resort area with some beaches and maybe snorkeling.
Yesterday I spent most of my time wandering around. I went to the Petronas twin towers but couldn't get a ticket to the top so I went up the "KL Tower" instead, which is a really tall spire w/ a rotating restaurant at the top. Got a good view of the city that way but it was foggy so pictures probably aren't fantastic. After that, I went down on a hike on the side of a hill in a sort of nature-preservie-type-area (as much as there could be one in the middle of a city).
That night I asked the taxi driver to take me to "a good authentic Malaysian restaurant". He took me to this place, the name of which I tweeted earlier, that I quickly discovered was a total tourist trap. The food was dumbed down for a Western palate, and there were some "ethnic" performances that seem somewhat contrived. I was disappointed - will hopefully do better tonight.
During the day today I did some walking and then went to some caves, pictures of which I will post soon. The caves were originally the location of a Hindu shrine, although I think its been tourist-ized to some extent now.
I was originally going to take a sleeper train into Thailand but unfortunately I delayed and the tickets are sold out. I secured a last minute flight for not too much that will go direct from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket island, which is in southern Thailand, a good resort area with some beaches and maybe snorkeling.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
I figured out what was wrong with my craps game:
wrong continent.
I had two errands to do last night. First of all, my debit card got eaten by an ATM machine immediately upon arrival in Singapore. I am not quite sure why, but I was confused by the screen format and it was sending me mixed signals. In the time it took me to figure out what was going on it ate my card.
I have two other credit cards and another debit card but the backup debit card account is the one with only a token emergency reserve of money. I was thinking about alternative plans. Meanwhile, I wanted to go to the top of the boat-shaped hotel (the same one from the daytime) for night-time pictures and a drink.
Incidentally, the casino I went to on the first night is attached to the boat-hotel. I also knew that a casino can charge a credit card and return cash; the fee here was 2.3%, not an atrocious deal. So after enjoying the view at night and having a drink I headed down to the casino and took out a hunk of money for my travels. And what the hell, I didn't have anything better to do, and didn't lose (in the casino) on my first night, so I figured I'd play some craps.
There were a couple Americans at one point playing "the dark side" which in craps-speak means they were essentially betting against me. After losing few grand each they switched and started betting on me instead of against me. Earlier they insisted they were purely "dark side" players, so then they started calling me Luke Skywalker after I converted them. On an early roll, I hit the point four times; a later roll was over an hour long. (That roll was good but the statistic is a bit misleading. The casino had just opened craps 11 days ago and the dealers were VERY new. The wait between rolls was sometimes painfully long.)
I had to wake up at 6 am today to catch a bus so I *wanted* to leave the casino earlier than 3 am, but I kept winning. I suppose thats a good problem to have. Anyway, after increasing my total to 800% of my buy-in, I went home for a few hours of sleep and then woke and made my way to the bus rendevous to go to Kuala Lumpur. I made it to the meeting point 30 minutes early and I was absolutely starving. Went to this shop and they had a stack of eggs - I asked how they were cooked, and they said boiled - I was absolutely thrilled. So I sit down and they bring me a couple pieces of toast and two eggs in a mug of really hot water. I think thats odd, but in my mind the purpose of the water is to *warm* the eggs to make them taste better or something - not to cook them.
After the first egg got splattered all over my hand, I left the second one in long-enough to be what I considered sterile and then just downed it. Felt a bit like Rocky Balboa.
I had two errands to do last night. First of all, my debit card got eaten by an ATM machine immediately upon arrival in Singapore. I am not quite sure why, but I was confused by the screen format and it was sending me mixed signals. In the time it took me to figure out what was going on it ate my card.
I have two other credit cards and another debit card but the backup debit card account is the one with only a token emergency reserve of money. I was thinking about alternative plans. Meanwhile, I wanted to go to the top of the boat-shaped hotel (the same one from the daytime) for night-time pictures and a drink.
Incidentally, the casino I went to on the first night is attached to the boat-hotel. I also knew that a casino can charge a credit card and return cash; the fee here was 2.3%, not an atrocious deal. So after enjoying the view at night and having a drink I headed down to the casino and took out a hunk of money for my travels. And what the hell, I didn't have anything better to do, and didn't lose (in the casino) on my first night, so I figured I'd play some craps.
There were a couple Americans at one point playing "the dark side" which in craps-speak means they were essentially betting against me. After losing few grand each they switched and started betting on me instead of against me. Earlier they insisted they were purely "dark side" players, so then they started calling me Luke Skywalker after I converted them. On an early roll, I hit the point four times; a later roll was over an hour long. (That roll was good but the statistic is a bit misleading. The casino had just opened craps 11 days ago and the dealers were VERY new. The wait between rolls was sometimes painfully long.)
I had to wake up at 6 am today to catch a bus so I *wanted* to leave the casino earlier than 3 am, but I kept winning. I suppose thats a good problem to have. Anyway, after increasing my total to 800% of my buy-in, I went home for a few hours of sleep and then woke and made my way to the bus rendevous to go to Kuala Lumpur. I made it to the meeting point 30 minutes early and I was absolutely starving. Went to this shop and they had a stack of eggs - I asked how they were cooked, and they said boiled - I was absolutely thrilled. So I sit down and they bring me a couple pieces of toast and two eggs in a mug of really hot water. I think thats odd, but in my mind the purpose of the water is to *warm* the eggs to make them taste better or something - not to cook them.
After the first egg got splattered all over my hand, I left the second one in long-enough to be what I considered sterile and then just downed it. Felt a bit like Rocky Balboa.
Singapore day 2
Singapore is an incredibly clean place, extremely efficient, great standard of living. The buildings are often built around the good weather: open malls (with coverings for rain and sun), out-door escalators, things like that. The subways are paved with marble, look brand new, and the trains are fast and smooth. Singapore reminds me a lot of Hong Kong actually. I went to the national museum today, and got a good sense of the history here. It is no surprise that it has been successful given its perfect location for Asian trade.
There is another way in which Singapore is like Hong Kong: consumerism. If there was an Olympics for places that epitomize a culture of consumption, Hong Kong and Singapore would win gold medals every year. There is SO much shopping here it is ridiculous (really). Coming from someone who has spent a lot of time in NYC, it's saying a lot that New York doesn't hold a candle to Hong Kong or Singapore as far as obsession with 'things' go.
On the flight over, I saw a documentary called "the Light-Bulb Conspiracy" which was very interesting and touches on these subjects. I guess my parting thought would be that if China's 1.3 billion people want to someday behave like the rest of us have (not to mention India's billions), and especially like the people in Hong Kong and Singapore do, we (humanity) may be in a lot of trouble unless we make some serious breakthroughs in physics.
I think our species could use a good deal of soul-searching, but its easy to preach as a Westerner who has had a lot of opportunities. Fighting against consumerism is sort of like abstinence-only education. Both are bound to fail because you are trying to combat fundamental human urges and instincts by encouraging reason and restraint. Anyway. Tomorrow am I will wake up and take the bus to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Will be a 6 hour ride or so.
There is another way in which Singapore is like Hong Kong: consumerism. If there was an Olympics for places that epitomize a culture of consumption, Hong Kong and Singapore would win gold medals every year. There is SO much shopping here it is ridiculous (really). Coming from someone who has spent a lot of time in NYC, it's saying a lot that New York doesn't hold a candle to Hong Kong or Singapore as far as obsession with 'things' go.
On the flight over, I saw a documentary called "the Light-Bulb Conspiracy" which was very interesting and touches on these subjects. I guess my parting thought would be that if China's 1.3 billion people want to someday behave like the rest of us have (not to mention India's billions), and especially like the people in Hong Kong and Singapore do, we (humanity) may be in a lot of trouble unless we make some serious breakthroughs in physics.
I think our species could use a good deal of soul-searching, but its easy to preach as a Westerner who has had a lot of opportunities. Fighting against consumerism is sort of like abstinence-only education. Both are bound to fail because you are trying to combat fundamental human urges and instincts by encouraging reason and restraint. Anyway. Tomorrow am I will wake up and take the bus to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Will be a 6 hour ride or so.
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