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Published: July 31st 2009
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Hey gang! The title to my second entry is inspired by the fact that I have been trying to eat, experience, and enjoy everything around me to the fullest degree possible. The 'try anything' attitude is certainly keeping me busy.
By the way, the website mixed up the order of the photos so just use the titles as a guide.
Since I last wrote, a couple of good friends came visit and I've gone a few short trips. My photos will chronicle much of this so I am simply going to share a couple of short stories with you about things that the photos didn't capture.
Sneeze Game
When I heard someone sneeze for the first time it was my coworker Danial Gan, we just call him Gan. Gan quickly said 'excuse me' before I could say anything back and he went about his business. It happened again and I snuck in a 'bless you' before he could say excuse me. He gave me a quizzical look and proceeded to say 'excuse me'. The whole 'bless you' phenomenon is simply not used here. Gan said he has heard it before, but he still likes to say excuse
me. It makes sense if you think about it. His sneeze could have interrupted my train of thought and caused me great anguish while trying to remember what I was about to do or say. I still sneak in a bless you here and there and it has become a game I play with a handful of my coworkers.
Solar Haze
The longest solar eclipse of this century occurred a couple of weeks ago and the people of Asia had front row seats. Unfortunately, there was a haze covering the city and we missed out. A combination of agricultural burning in Indonesia and pollution cause the haze to rest in the Klang Valley, which includes KL. I later found out that even if the haze had cleared, the equatorial countries were only able to see approximately 20% of what much of China and India were able to see. Since it's summer time, and rotation of the Earth has shifted things Northward, it makes sense.
My 1st Border Crossing
I took a bus down to Singapore 2 weeks ago to visit Lincoln, Maggie, & Ramsay. Lincoln is a friend of Carolyn & Jake's, who are in all
the roller skating and Redang photos. Maggie & Ramsay are a small world story; my brother's friend dates Maggie's sister in DC, Ramsay is her close friend. Andrew, of course, made the introduction like the social king he is. I digress.
The point is, I was going to Singapore and when I arrived at the Malaysian customs desk they were not too happy to find out that I had no departure card from when I first entered the country back in May. I have a long, and documented, past of screwing things up when traveling internationally. Over the course of studying abroad in Spain, I misplaced my paper ticket and thus assumed that I had an e-ticket since there was no paper ticket to be found and had to beg and plead my way onto the plane. I also packed my friend's passport into my checked luggage and had to go back out of security to fetch it and then back through again to continue pleading my case. There was also a late night in London (curfew is a tough pill to swallow when you're 17 and in London) during a high school sponsored trip with my English teacher
Miss Allen (God love her, she was the absolute best teacher & guide through Europe a spoiled brat could ever ask for) which led to me leaving my passport in the hotel room. It consequently had to be sent via courier to the airport when I showed up empty handed. Again, I digress, but I am accustomed to dealing with these situations. Even at the ripe age of 25.
I explained that I live here, showed him my work visa, and asked what I could do to make this work. Mistake number 1, asking such an obvious question. The customs officer called over his superior so now I had 2 of them to deal with. They said that without a departure card I could not leave Malaysia and therefore not enter Singapore. This went back and forth for a minute or two until he brought up my question of 'what I can I do to make this work'. The superior officer slouched over the side of the desk and said, 'If you help out my friend (referring to the original officer who was sitting down), I think he could help you out.' At this point it becomes clear that
redang
I went with 2 college friends, Carolyn & Jake, to a small island that is a 1-hour ferry ride off the East Coast of Malaysia. It was pure paradise.I am being solicited for a bribe. I have been warned that this would happen with city cops, parking ticket pushers, etc., but a customs officer at the Singapore border was more than I could comprehend. I see them as such an integral, and professional, part of the global travel scheme. They are your first impression as you enter a country, and your last impression as you leave a country. This impression sucked. Since I had been warned of such situations I decided to play the game.
Me: How much?
Officer: How much do you want to give?
Me: 10. (RM 10 = US$2.84)
Officer: No, no, no. You give 50. (RM50 = US$14.90)
Before you write me off as a cheap bastard who was bargaining over the cost of 2 chipotle burritos, keep in mind that at this point it wasn't about the money. It was the principle. These 2 officers thought they could bully me around and take my money because I didn't have a departure card. Then I realized that my work visa trumps all and the departure card is a meaningless issue, or so I hoped. I raised my voice slightly...
Me: This
bribery. Does your manager know you solicit bribes? I'd like to speak to your manager.
Officer: No problems sir, just remember your departure card next time.
And it was over just like that. They were testing me and on most days, I would have probably failed and opened up my pockets before they could ask twice. I just didn't feel like playing their game that day. Besides, I would have gone on to Singapore in a sour mood about the whole thing, it had to be done.
Ok, story time is over for now but I have been planning a couple of trips!
The dream list goes like this; I want to climb Mount Kinabalu in East Malaysia which is on the island of Borneo, go jungle trekking in the rain forest, attend a full moon party in Thailand, go to China, New Zealand, Australia, & India, while also visiting every major country in Southeast Asia.
Without getting too far ahead of myself, the real trips so far include the following; spending a week in late September traveling through Southern Vietnam and Cambodia. Still working out details on this one, but the flights are booked. At
the end of August, I will be going to the city of Kota Kinabalu in the state of Sabah (East Malaysia) to complete a 3-day dive certification course at one of the best dive sites in the world; Sipadan. I will probably not be allowed to dive at the Sipadan Marine Reserve on my first trip since it isn't for first time divers, but I do hope to return. The reserve is located on a continental shelf which drops away to 200 meters and features more than 175 species of fish.
Tomorrow I have a company event in the Awana Highlands, a mountainous area Northeast of the city. We are breaking up into teams in a big competition of childhood games. My team is the Thundercats and we hate the X-Men. I am just as confused as you are and hope to get some answers (and photos) tomorrow to help explain.
Until next time, I wish you all the best.
Cheers Mates,
Adam
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Jennifer
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Oh, you're BOLD! ha ha ha!