Today, spent the day in the diveshop doing the classroom portion of the scuba diving course. Tomorrow morning, we head out to do our first dives. After another day of diving after that, I'll be certified to dive in open water. The course I'm enrolled in is apparently the cheapest diving certification course in the world - 540 RM ($1 US = 3.8 RM). Apparently, a lot of folks from Japan come out here to get certified because it's cheaper to pay to fly out here and take the course than to simply enroll in a course in Japan. I've also been surprised, among other things, by how enthusiastic so many people seem to be when they found I had been working in Japan for over 6 years (many people are really interested in learning Japanese).
I'm really quite excited about getting out there in the water. To be honest, until I got out here on this trip, I hadn't even seriously considered doing diving -- it seemed too "out there" for some reason. And now, I'm about to get certified and do diving in Sipadan, one of the top diving spots in the world.
Aside from the diving course, I'm really enjoying the whole feel out here in Sabah. There is a very different feel here than what I found in peninsular Malaysia. People seem very laid back, happy and friendly. Also, I was surprised to learn that Christianity is quite strong - perhaps even dominant - here in Sabah (whereas Islam is predominant in most of the rest of Malaysia). Last night at a nearby cafe, I happened to get into a lengthy conversation with a family that owns a recently opened cafe not too far from where I'm staying. We talked about religion, identity and all manner of topics.
Aggh. Falling asleep. Gotta sign off here. I'll write more later.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Friday, June 17, 2005
Malaysia: Why I Hate KL Taxis
I got out of the house a bit late this afternoon and was a bit worried that I wouldn't make it in time to catch my flight. Outside of Hiro's apartment, there were three taxi drivers gathered and chatting with each other. As I approached, one of them looked over at me and asked where I was going.
"KL Postal Center and then KL Sentral," I replied.
The driver looked at me in disgust and waved his hand in front of his face to indicate that he wasn't interested in taking me.
"I have an appointment. Maybe he can take you," he said, referring to the driver standing next to him.
"20RM," said the other driver.
"20RM?!," I said, knowing that on meter the drive was only about 8 or 9RM, "It's only 8."
"Then no, I have an appointment."
Sigh. At least this time around, I wasn't surprised by any of this. Driver's in Malaysia are legally required to charge according to the meter, but most driver's in KL will do their best to try to avoid using the meter in favor of trying to extract as much as possible from people (capitalizing on the ignorance or desperation of the customer). When the bus I rode from Taman Negara to KL disgorged us backpackers onto the street in Chinatown, a taxi pulled up behind us which I ended up hopping into. The driver spoke nice English and was quite friendly...at first.
"Where to?"
"Mont Kiara."
"Okay. 50 RM." (the actual fare, on meter, is about 8RM)
"50RM?!! No way! It's only 6 RM from here."
"Then I'm not going. Get out."
I tried to be stubborn at first, but eventually just gave up and got out.
Another time (a couple of days ago), I tried to catch a cab to drive me over to meet up with a friend a little ways away. A taxi picked me up and I hopped in the backseat and said where I was going. The driver said okay and we started on our way. After a while, I noticed that the meter wasn't going and pointed out that fact to the driver. The driver suddenly became quite upset and started shouting in broken English something to the effect of,"No meter! I take you. After, I say, you pay!Okay!"
No, not okay. Not the right answer. The taxi driver pulled over and said, "Okay. Then you leave here. Sorry." Fine. I got out...onto the expressway. I had to walk down the next exit and make my way to a normal street to try hailing a taxi anew. But before hailing a taxi, I noticed something important. Customers in other passing taxis sitting in the front seat. Ah ha. When I finally managed to hop in a taxi, I hopped into the front seat and this time, there was no monkey business.
Talking with my friend Julie later that evening, I learned that taxi drivers in KL are like that not only to backpackers and people who are obviously tourists. They pull the same thing with pretty much everybody.
Yeah. I am not fond of KL taxi drivers. Anyway, these drivers today all agreed that they did not want to take me to where I was going (not a big enough fare), but they were kind enough to flag down another taxi passing by. I hopped into the front seat and the driver, for some reason I don't quite understand, was willing to take me, no questions asked. He even put on the meter without me having to ask him to do so. Must've been the hopping in the front seat move.
Ahhhh, you are learning young paduwan. You are learning.
"KL Postal Center and then KL Sentral," I replied.
The driver looked at me in disgust and waved his hand in front of his face to indicate that he wasn't interested in taking me.
"I have an appointment. Maybe he can take you," he said, referring to the driver standing next to him.
"20RM," said the other driver.
"20RM?!," I said, knowing that on meter the drive was only about 8 or 9RM, "It's only 8."
"Then no, I have an appointment."
Sigh. At least this time around, I wasn't surprised by any of this. Driver's in Malaysia are legally required to charge according to the meter, but most driver's in KL will do their best to try to avoid using the meter in favor of trying to extract as much as possible from people (capitalizing on the ignorance or desperation of the customer). When the bus I rode from Taman Negara to KL disgorged us backpackers onto the street in Chinatown, a taxi pulled up behind us which I ended up hopping into. The driver spoke nice English and was quite friendly...at first.
"Where to?"
"Mont Kiara."
"Okay. 50 RM." (the actual fare, on meter, is about 8RM)
"50RM?!! No way! It's only 6 RM from here."
"Then I'm not going. Get out."
I tried to be stubborn at first, but eventually just gave up and got out.
Another time (a couple of days ago), I tried to catch a cab to drive me over to meet up with a friend a little ways away. A taxi picked me up and I hopped in the backseat and said where I was going. The driver said okay and we started on our way. After a while, I noticed that the meter wasn't going and pointed out that fact to the driver. The driver suddenly became quite upset and started shouting in broken English something to the effect of,"No meter! I take you. After, I say, you pay!Okay!"
No, not okay. Not the right answer. The taxi driver pulled over and said, "Okay. Then you leave here. Sorry." Fine. I got out...onto the expressway. I had to walk down the next exit and make my way to a normal street to try hailing a taxi anew. But before hailing a taxi, I noticed something important. Customers in other passing taxis sitting in the front seat. Ah ha. When I finally managed to hop in a taxi, I hopped into the front seat and this time, there was no monkey business.
Talking with my friend Julie later that evening, I learned that taxi drivers in KL are like that not only to backpackers and people who are obviously tourists. They pull the same thing with pretty much everybody.
Yeah. I am not fond of KL taxi drivers. Anyway, these drivers today all agreed that they did not want to take me to where I was going (not a big enough fare), but they were kind enough to flag down another taxi passing by. I hopped into the front seat and the driver, for some reason I don't quite understand, was willing to take me, no questions asked. He even put on the meter without me having to ask him to do so. Must've been the hopping in the front seat move.
Ahhhh, you are learning young paduwan. You are learning.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Malaysia: Off to Borneo
I've really gotta learn to stop being so ambitious with these posts because I spend all of my time thinking about how I'm going to make the perfect post and then I end up not writing anything at all.
Well, last few days have been nice. Back from the rainforest in KL recuperating and truly appreciating what a luxury air conditioning is... My old friend from college, Julie, and her beau took me out to Putra Jaya (the government's administrative center future city north of KL).
After that, we went to go see Episode III (my second time at the theater). Man, I admit that the little boy in me was thoroughly satisfied by the movie and the underlying story was decent...but gawd...the dialogue had me squirming in my seat and groaning aloud...Am I the only one who was looking forward to Padme dying so I wouldn't have to be subjected to anymore of the terrible "romantic" dialogue between her and Vader? Basically, that movie would have been so much better if Anakin and Padme were not allowed to speak for uh...the entire movie.
Anyway, this afternoon, I catch a flight out to Sabah, a state on the Malaysian portion of Borneo. There, I'll take a basic open water scuba diving course, rest and get readjusted pressure wise for a couple of days, head out to climb Mt. Kinabalu (the tallest mountain in SE Asia), head out to the rainforest again to see Orang Utan and then...uh...haven't planned ahead that far.
If you're intersted in seeing pictures from the past few days, click on any of the photos from the blog entry below and it'll give you access to the photos I've uploaded to my flicker account. The most recent photos are in the Putra Jaya folder.
On a different note, I'm pretty sure that at least a few folks out there are reading this blog from time to time, but I'll say it again: Any and all comments are deeply appreciated. Doesn't have to be long. Even a single word or phrase like "Cool" or "Be careful" or "So what?" is fine. It helps me to know at least who's reading...or that people are reading at all (sniffle sniffle).
Okay. I'm off. Gotta take a shower and argue with taxi drivers to get me over to the train station. Someday, I'll write about how much I hate most taxi drivers here in KL.
Well, last few days have been nice. Back from the rainforest in KL recuperating and truly appreciating what a luxury air conditioning is... My old friend from college, Julie, and her beau took me out to Putra Jaya (the government's administrative center future city north of KL).
After that, we went to go see Episode III (my second time at the theater). Man, I admit that the little boy in me was thoroughly satisfied by the movie and the underlying story was decent...but gawd...the dialogue had me squirming in my seat and groaning aloud...Am I the only one who was looking forward to Padme dying so I wouldn't have to be subjected to anymore of the terrible "romantic" dialogue between her and Vader? Basically, that movie would have been so much better if Anakin and Padme were not allowed to speak for uh...the entire movie.
Anyway, this afternoon, I catch a flight out to Sabah, a state on the Malaysian portion of Borneo. There, I'll take a basic open water scuba diving course, rest and get readjusted pressure wise for a couple of days, head out to climb Mt. Kinabalu (the tallest mountain in SE Asia), head out to the rainforest again to see Orang Utan and then...uh...haven't planned ahead that far.
If you're intersted in seeing pictures from the past few days, click on any of the photos from the blog entry below and it'll give you access to the photos I've uploaded to my flicker account. The most recent photos are in the Putra Jaya folder.
On a different note, I'm pretty sure that at least a few folks out there are reading this blog from time to time, but I'll say it again: Any and all comments are deeply appreciated. Doesn't have to be long. Even a single word or phrase like "Cool" or "Be careful" or "So what?" is fine. It helps me to know at least who's reading...or that people are reading at all (sniffle sniffle).
Okay. I'm off. Gotta take a shower and argue with taxi drivers to get me over to the train station. Someday, I'll write about how much I hate most taxi drivers here in KL.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Malaysia: Jungle Lite
Once arriving here, I hauled all of my luggage down the beach and up the stairs and down the road to the very furthest place to stay, the Durian Chalet. My two travel companions (a French couple I had made friends with on the bus from KL to Jerantut) and I were a bit regretting out decision to book at this place as the chalets were quite rustic and the location remote...but these feelings of regret evaporated when we dropped off our bags and took lunch at the small dining area (located in the same space as was used for guest reception).
Some traditional Malaysian home-cooking - eggs, a spinach-like vegetable and some-type of fish in durian sauce (I forget what it is called)
The family that owns the operation is extremely friendly and it turns out that we had decided to eat lunch at the same time the family was eating. The family was having a home cooked meal not on the menu...which a cousin, visiting the family from the US on school holiday, invited us to try. The conversation that followed thereafter was quite pleasant and it seemed as if more than simply staying at some cheap hostel, we had been welcomed as guests into someone's home.
In the afternoon, I split off from Nicolas and Cindy to go on a tour of the Ear Cave while they went to shoot the rapids. The members of my tour consisted of three young men from Windsor who had just graduated from college (high school) and were traveling around the world on a "gap year" and a very nice Indian American family from Ohio that has traveled extensively throughout the world (the two children, aged 10 and 7 respectively, have probably seen more of the world than I have). Our guide, unfortunately, left much to be desired. He didn't really talk to us at all...In fact, I don't recall him saying a single thing to us through the entire "tour." He simply drove the boat to the start of the trail, led us on the well marked trail through the forest to the cave and then led the way through the cave. Every question we asked was answered with a simple shrug of the shoulders. I'm guessing he didn't speak that much English.
The cave was cool...filled with bats and as one would guess, guano (bat poo). Between the eight of us, I think we did a pretty good job of cleaning the guano off the rocks of the cave with our hands and clothing. Still, there was a group of students screaming and shouting in Cantonese behind us that went even deeper into the cave and therefore, deeper into the poo. Most of the kids were dressed in nothing more than short-shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops (or simply barefoot!) and all seemed to have a grand old time slipping and sliding through the soupy rivers of bat poo flowing through the passageway below. Watching them, I couldn't help but feel ashamed at my own squeemish hesitation to follow them...but at the same time, I was thinking to myself, 'Uh-uh. No. Hell no.'
Descending into the Ear Cave and posing with its sleepy inhabitants
A centipede, one of the few things we spotted on the night walk.
After finishing up the hike, and returning to the chalet for dinner, I met up with Nicolas and Cindy (the couple from France) again and we hopped on a boat across the river for a guided night tour of the jungle. The tour was nice...didn't see much in the way of fauna aside from a few stick bugs, a gigantic yellow black poisonous centipede and another gigantic woodsman (?) spider, but the guide was fantastic.
As a bit of comic relief for the night, as some of you may know, I've been tripping out about the possibility of leeches getting me on the trail in the jungle. So for most of the walk, I was constantly scanning the ground to make sure no leeches were hopping on my shoes to crawl up and bite me on my leg. But we got the end of the walk and not a single leech was to be found.
Then I felt something on my neck.
Touching my neck lightly, I felt something long and thin and not me.
"Um, I think I've got a leech...could somebody check my ne--" I said, trying to remain calm and suppress the panic tinging my voice. And in that instant, Cindy looked over, screamed and raised her hand to swat it off as I shouted, "No wait, don't--," not wanting leech teeth left stuck in my neck (if you pluck a leech off, rather than burning, salting or waiting for it to drop off on its own, the wound may scar). But it was too late.
Fortunately, it seems that Cindy's quick reflexes caught the leech (if it had been a leech) before it could bite. According to Cindy, it had been crawling up my neck when she got it.
I didn't manage to get a picture of the little bugger on my neck, but earlier in the day on the way to bat cave, I took a mini-movie of this little guy we spotted doing his darndest to chase after us (I had shown this same clip to Cindy earlier in the evening and she said whatever it was that had been on my neck was moving in the same way).
Anyway, it's pouring buckets (I guess they don't call it the rain forest for nothing) outside of the internet center and i'm waiting for it to lift so I can get back to the chalet and get some sleep...
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Malaysia: The lazy blogger departs for...adventure?
Hm, I'm not doing so good with this blog thing. For now, I've dumped a bunch of photos from the past week or so (unfortunately, lost a bunch of photos from my first week) onto the site and if I ever find the time, will try to go back and supplement the photos with the journal entries I've made on old fashioned paper...but folks, don't hold your breath. Seriously.
Anyway, as you can see from the pictures, I'm having a lovely time out here, but alas, the time has come to move on. I'm headed off for Jerantut today and aim to be romping through the jungles of Taman Negara making friends with all the cuddly and caring little tiger leeches by tomorrow. Ciao ciao.
TOTALLY RANDOM LINKS OF THE DAY:
...and for those of you looking for a bit of entertainment, check out Dubyah Cent droppin' rhymes like a P.I.M.P. on the T.E.R.R.O.R.I.S.T.S.
Pee-your-pants-rating: 2 (with bonus star for cleverness)
...and another set of clips about freedom and the America way, dedicated to my brother and his love of that cinematic classic, "Team America."
"AMERICAAAA, **** YEAH!" (do not click if you are under 18)
Pee-your-pants-rating: 4 (minus 2 if you have yet to see the movie)
Anyway, as you can see from the pictures, I'm having a lovely time out here, but alas, the time has come to move on. I'm headed off for Jerantut today and aim to be romping through the jungles of Taman Negara making friends with all the cuddly and caring little tiger leeches by tomorrow. Ciao ciao.
TOTALLY RANDOM LINKS OF THE DAY:
...and for those of you looking for a bit of entertainment, check out Dubyah Cent droppin' rhymes like a P.I.M.P. on the T.E.R.R.O.R.I.S.T.S.
Pee-your-pants-rating: 2 (with bonus star for cleverness)
...and another set of clips about freedom and the America way, dedicated to my brother and his love of that cinematic classic, "Team America."
"AMERICAAAA, **** YEAH!" (do not click if you are under 18)
Pee-your-pants-rating: 4 (minus 2 if you have yet to see the movie)
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Malaysia: Daytrip to Malacca
One of the many colorful trishas you will find around the Town Square (aka Dutch Square). Hop in and Indian pop music will magically start to blare out of onboard speakers.
View from inside the ruins of St. Paul's Church situated atop Bukit St. Paul in Malacca's old town.
An older gentleman taking a smoke-break on Jonker Street.
A nice little cafe on Jonker Street to stop off for cool refreshing glass of fresh fruit juice.
chillin' out at the Geographer Cafe on Jonker Street
the entranceway to a temple off of Jonker Street in Malacca
Walking down Jonker Street at night, I felt sure that Hayao Miyazaki had walked through here at some time or another. The streets from "Spirited Away" must have been inspired by the here - Straits Chinese culture meets colonial English architecture.
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