^th January 2008

The festive season has come and gone.
The christmas party for the kids at school was good, it was fairly chaotic but that's what I expected, thank god it was only half a day, then they were gone and once mid term exams were entered on the computer I headed home to pack.
The flight was fine though arriving in K.L. at 1:30 or something in the morning was a pain. K.L. was hot, hot and humid. Kuala Lumpur is much cleaner than Bangkok and seems less squalid, it's hard to put your finger on why exactly, the fumes still rise sweatily from the sewer, the exhaust still clogs the space between cars, and the beggars still frequent the sidewalks, but it just appears cleaner, less trash on the road side perhaps, though more public spitting and nose blowing (yes without a hanky onto the street) is indulged in.

Malaysia has more ethnic diversity than Thailand, the obvious races (Malay, Chinese and Indian with a smattering of Arabs) seem to co-exist quite harmoniously though reading the paper it is clear that this calm is relatively superficial, it makes for a more interesting visual landscape though most of these communities indulge in voluntary segregations and the maps of the city declare "China town" here, "little India" there etc.

K.L. is full of temples, mosques and of course shopping malls, there is lots to do and see there, I went to the beautiful Orchid and Hibiscus gardens where a large lizard and I scared the hell out of each other, I wandered through town and saw some fantastic old colonial buildings. I went to visit the national mosque which was great, I had to wear a purple(?) burka to go inside the grounds where the guide very kindly gave me a copy of the Quran to read. I haven't found the time to start reading it yet, but I'm sure it will prove an interesting read.

Christmas was a fairly quiet affair, I went to the Petronus towers and looked at the shops, it was just another day in K.L. for retailers. I had a nice view from my balcony and enjoyed contreau and orange there while watching the sunset.

Headed down to Melaka after that, an old port town which fell into redundancy after the British decided that Singapore and Penang were to be the big port cities for the East India company. With their history of being founded by an (Indian) Hindu prince who married a Chinese princess and was then for a while a major port to the arabic traders along the spice route, it was subsequently conquered and run by in succession the Portuguese, the Dutch, the English, the Japanese(during WWII) and then finally granted Independence some years later.

Melaka has a great old canal which worms it's way through the city, it has cool little pockets of old architecture and temple it has a night market on weekends which is a complete battle to get in and out of (not to mention through). Melaka is full of trickshaws, the gaudier the better they are (guild mandated, it would appear) obliged to pump out loud music as the rider cycles you round the city. To my immense annoyance I managed to wipe most of the pictures off my camera while in the Portuguese settlement one day, so most of my pictures are borrowed off a friends camera.

Back in K.L. for New Year, the kids were cutting edge fashionable, they take it incredibly seriously, unfortunately I didn't get any cool pictures of them, but the gear is a blend of gothic, neopunk, and 1980's kitch worn with ATTITUDE. It was fun to watch them wandering about the shopping malls with the swagger of teenagers everywhere. Out on the street the crowds were armed with cans (and that's a capital S) of snow and sticky coloured string there were wars going on as everyone sprayed everyone else while shouting "happy new year" as loud as they could. Then there were fire works all over the city and contreau on the balcony, it was fun.

The colours and craziness of festive season in Malaysia ended as I flew back to Phuket on the 1st and had to rock up to work the next day (so not ready for that).

Back here in Thailand the Kings sister has died (not unexpectedly) and the country is officially in 15 days short mourning during which we are required to wear black, extending from there will be a longer (till a total of) 100 days of remberance, the t.v. stations are all in permanent loops of footage about her may she rest in peace.

This week I am supposed to be mentoring the new girl who has just started at work to take on the terrors of P2 green so that should be interesting. Better go, in case my christmas cards never arrived I hope you had a fabulous festive season and a happy, healthy and prosperous year of the rat.

N.J.