I have been home since Wednesday. Right now I am at my second job at the Graduate School of Business Library.
My trip home was delayed at KLIA and Johannesburg International. Most of the people on the plane were going to Buenos Aires. This included a noisy team of boxers from Argentina. At Jo'burg International a team of South African student rugby players joined the plane. Also a very noisy and boisterous bunch. On the return trip I watched a film called "The Librarian: the Quest for the Spear of Destiny". It was a spoof of the Indiana Jones films, with a geeky klutz as hero, the librarian, of course. Quite amusing.
My sister and brother-in-law met me at the airport in Cape Town. I was glad to be home as I had missed my family, friends and my cat, but I was sad to leave my Malaysian friends. BTW. My cat slept on top of me most of Wednesday night.
The weather has been hot and sunny, though this morning was overcast and a little chilly. It had rained a little. I have spent the morning paying bills.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Monday, November 21, 2005
Monday, KL
My second last day in Malaysia. I am going to see my friends, Basmin and Leslie today. I haven't coped well with the public phones and long phone numbers. I think quite a few people around KL are wondering who this ferrenghi, Celia, is, who has left a message on their voicemail. Is it a CIA plot? :-)
Yesterday while I was at the internet cafe the two young men on the next machine were watching porn sites. I was curious, but also didn't want an eyeful of synthetic sex. I am glad I didn't understand what they were saying. I found the experience very unsettling and distasteful. A contradiction in a country where women are veiled.
Today I am wearing a white blouse, not a good choice when further encounters with chopsticks are in-store. It doesn't seem right to eat Chinese food with a fork and spoon. When I was staying at the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Penang they served Western style breakfasts. I felt it was kind of letting the side down. As a token of homage to the man who built the house, I could have had tea at breakfast, but I didn't.
I have tried eating a little chilli when eating Chinese dishes. A small dish of chopped chilli is served with most things. Chilli does make an important difference to the taste, but when it hits my throat, my eyes and nose run, and my mouth and throat burn almost taking my breath away.
I was walking around some food stalls last night. The man who was selling rambutan, a largish, red spiky type of litchi, was sitting back enjoying a tin of Guiness. I find it very odd that Guiness (Ribena and Milo) are so popular in a very hot country.
There is also a Chinese version of a braai (barbeque). Flat, square pieces of dried meat are cooked on a grill over a wood fire.
I travelled on the monorail again yesterday. It is fun because you can look down on the city streets. It is very cheap. The airconditioning in the carriages is fierce. Everytime I disembark my glasses steam up. There is also an LRT train system, which is like the London underground. Compared with Cape Town, public transport around the city and to some suburbs is a dream. The "Mother City" (i.e. Cape Town) Transport Dept must pay KL a visit.
Department stores and the malls were open on Sunday, "business as usual". KL is a vibrant city, partly because life encompasses the streets. This can be a nuisance in that one has to walk in the road because a food stall or business uses the pavement. People park on the pavement, just as they do in Cape Town, and the 4X4 is "the in" vehicle.
Yesterday while I was at the internet cafe the two young men on the next machine were watching porn sites. I was curious, but also didn't want an eyeful of synthetic sex. I am glad I didn't understand what they were saying. I found the experience very unsettling and distasteful. A contradiction in a country where women are veiled.
Today I am wearing a white blouse, not a good choice when further encounters with chopsticks are in-store. It doesn't seem right to eat Chinese food with a fork and spoon. When I was staying at the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Penang they served Western style breakfasts. I felt it was kind of letting the side down. As a token of homage to the man who built the house, I could have had tea at breakfast, but I didn't.
I have tried eating a little chilli when eating Chinese dishes. A small dish of chopped chilli is served with most things. Chilli does make an important difference to the taste, but when it hits my throat, my eyes and nose run, and my mouth and throat burn almost taking my breath away.
I was walking around some food stalls last night. The man who was selling rambutan, a largish, red spiky type of litchi, was sitting back enjoying a tin of Guiness. I find it very odd that Guiness (Ribena and Milo) are so popular in a very hot country.
There is also a Chinese version of a braai (barbeque). Flat, square pieces of dried meat are cooked on a grill over a wood fire.
I travelled on the monorail again yesterday. It is fun because you can look down on the city streets. It is very cheap. The airconditioning in the carriages is fierce. Everytime I disembark my glasses steam up. There is also an LRT train system, which is like the London underground. Compared with Cape Town, public transport around the city and to some suburbs is a dream. The "Mother City" (i.e. Cape Town) Transport Dept must pay KL a visit.
Department stores and the malls were open on Sunday, "business as usual". KL is a vibrant city, partly because life encompasses the streets. This can be a nuisance in that one has to walk in the road because a food stall or business uses the pavement. People park on the pavement, just as they do in Cape Town, and the 4X4 is "the in" vehicle.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
KL Sunday 20th November
I have at least met some of my KL friends, Chin Hock Soon and some of his family and Sue Kok.
Yesterday, despite pouring rain, I went to a Hakka restaurant with Chin and family. My chopstick technique has not really improved. I was wearing a dark green T-shirt, so accidents would'nt show. After breakfast on prawn soup with noodles, Chin took me to the Subang Jaya Buddhist Temple. He and others who had recently spent time in Myanmar (Burma) were showing their photos. It was fascinating. I really want to go to Bagan (or Pagan) and Manadalay. (Nobody is allowed to sing "On the road to Manadalay, where the flying fishes play..." I think you are all much too young to have heard Peter Dawson sing this.) I had another noodle soup with fishballs for lunch and some other things(but even for me, it was too much to eat).
I must sign off as my time is up.
Yesterday, despite pouring rain, I went to a Hakka restaurant with Chin and family. My chopstick technique has not really improved. I was wearing a dark green T-shirt, so accidents would'nt show. After breakfast on prawn soup with noodles, Chin took me to the Subang Jaya Buddhist Temple. He and others who had recently spent time in Myanmar (Burma) were showing their photos. It was fascinating. I really want to go to Bagan (or Pagan) and Manadalay. (Nobody is allowed to sing "On the road to Manadalay, where the flying fishes play..." I think you are all much too young to have heard Peter Dawson sing this.) I had another noodle soup with fishballs for lunch and some other things(but even for me, it was too much to eat).
I must sign off as my time is up.
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