Blogs from Malaysia, Asia - page 757

From Siem Reap I flew into Kuala Lumpur, or KL as everyone seems to say. My friend Laura recommended a great hostel called the Equator which, as promised was cheap, clean and had very friendly staff. I hadn't planned to stay very long in KL as time was running out and I wanted to get up to Penang (an Island further north) to both meet Laura and also to met some of my work colleagues from the previous year. I spent my time in KL seeing all that had attracted me to the city but most notably the world famous Petronas Towers. They really impose on the skyline and also serve as a great way to navigate around the city: orientating my map was nearly always done in relation to where they were compared to my ... read more

Three times now I’ve taken a couple girls shopping, to the night market, to Batu, or to the mall. In this picture of us I am drinking fuel for shopping: fresh star fruit juice. They really like to shop so we didn’t have too much trouble passing our time. I bought a most outrageous little trinket, I’m not sure what to call it but it is some huge plastic crystals like they sell everywhere. I have hung it on my backpack. I’ll probably get robbed for it its so gorgeous, hahaha, no really I like it a lot. Mom, you know how I always wanted pink & sparkly things when I was young? Well, now is the time for sparkly stuff. I bought a pink purse at Batu Ferringhi, it is pink & covered in ... read more

I arrived on Labuan, a tax free island that caters to the oil industry, to meet "Alex" who had promised diving work for $500 a day. (See ) My first call got through to his answering service, so I left a message saying where I was and giving my contact details. My next calls over the next two days didn't even get the answering service. I sent an email to Alex and Teresa and found that they were in the same situation and had just left the island in disgust. I waited around for another day, enjoying the cheap beer and meeting the local Filipinos but not much else - it is, after all, a port and oil town. Back in Kota Kinabalu I caught up with Alex and Teresa and we had a chat ... read more

Our arrival in Georgetown was met with a search for a room in sweltering heat that eventually ended after stumbling across a not too scummy guest house. The standard of accommodation in Malaysia seems to be the worst value for money compared to everywhere we have stayed so far, and it took a while to find a place that didn’t resemble a prison cell or smell of dead things. After securing a couple of nights at a friendly guest house, we took a stroll around the colonial streets of Penang’s capital. Georgetown possesses a diverse mix of race and religion and both China Town and Little India represent the huge mix of different cultures present throughout the whole country. The main religion here is Muslim, although both Hinduism and Christianity have a following but as a ... read more

I'm writing today so that I can brag about how brave I am. We took our kids to the batik factory to create some 1' square batik art. I would like to say that I have improved since the last time I tried this art but by inspecting my results I think that if I am going to pursue this art any further I am going to have to put in a lot of time practicing. The main concept is to use a small metal instrument that looks like a pen with a bucket with a diameter of a penny attached to it. Yes, that's very clear & concise I know, that's because I am an English teacher now & I know how to explain these types of things. Ok, so I get that thing ... read more