It's a wild, wild, wild, wild world

Pictures from my my outings the last couple of weeks.

Texas longhorn

Buffleheads (ducks)

American bison or buffalo.
These were once so abundant they would stop trains for days as the herds moved across the tracks. Then they were hunted to the brink of extinction but have made a comeback. They are found mainly in national parks and other protected areas such as this one on the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.

Northern Cardinal (female)

Harris's sparrow

Barred owl

Prairie dog


A trio of prairie dogs on alert. Predators include hawks, falcons and coyotes. (But it was me who alerted them!)

Hackberry Flat

This afternoon (18/12) I braved the chilly weather (I really miss the tropics!) to do a little bird watching. Hackberry Flat is a short drive from my parent’s house and is a flat that acts as a type of shallow pond or wetlands area. Migratory waterfowl use it as a stopover, lots of raptors hunt in the wetlands and other wildlife stop in as well. I saw six white-tail deer in the tall grasses around the edge of the wetlands as I was leaving. Here is my list for the day:

Red-tailed hawk
Common snipe
Red-winged blackbird
Sandpiper sp?
Green-winged teal
Western meadowlark
American robin
American kestrel
Northern harrier (not a positive ID)
Great blue heron
Blue-winged teal
Northern shoveler
Greater white-fronted goose
American coot

Common snipe

A weed at twilight.

Tilting at windmills

My home has been become a paradise for Don Quixote! The part of Oklahoma that I am from is flat and, well, windy. Growing up it was something that I hated. Try playing badminton in the backyard with a stiff wind blowing in your face and you will give up quite quickly. Maybe that is the reason I still am ranked as one of the worst badminton players in the world.

However, recently wind has become something of a boon for the local economy. They have started installing giant windmills to harness the wind and turn it into electricity. Now the horizon is covered with massive pinwheels spinning the gusts into volts. It seems counter-intuitive to me to clear large sites for the windmills with service roads and then market the electricity as environmentally-friendly but I do applaud the move to a renewable energy source.

The house and barn help to give you an idea of just how big the windmills are.

Sancho, bring me my steed for there is a giant to slay!

As the sun set in the land of the pinwheels, and Alice longed for her duvet.

Going home

Well, it is the night before I leave for the US for Christmas with my family, the first one at home in five years. I haven't packed but I do have the most important detail nailed down: my reading list. Here they are, in no particular order:
Freakonomics
1984 by George Orwell
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The last trip I read just a shade under 2000 pages, which gives you an idea of how long a trip to the US and back really is. It didn't help I was delayed in Chicago for a day though. I'll spend 14 hours in the Singapore airport on layovers going both ways, 7 going and 7 coming back. But, if you have to get stuck in an airport for 7 hours I would definitely put Changi at the top of my list.

I should have some time over the holidays to sit down and write and get some of these random thoughts out of my head and onto paper/screen. Until then, I'll be the guy reading like mad next to you on the plane!

Cameron Highlands-The Words

As you have seen from the pictures, I spent last Friday in Cameron Highlands. We stayed at Strawberry Park, which was really great. I would never stay in a place like that by myself because I am a penny pincher but when you split it 7 ways it works out to a reasonable rate per night (just under RM100).

On Saturday we drove up and checked in, had a late lunch in Brinchang and then headed out to the Sungai Palas Tea Plantation. I had been there but that was over three years ago and they have really changed the place since then. There is now one long building that houses a tea house that over-looks the plantation, then next to it a gift shop and then a theatre with a movie playing on a loop that gives the history of the Boh Tea Plantation and an overview of the process of making tea. Then you can also walk over and see them doing many of the things the video talks about in the tea factory, just next door. All the improvements are top-notch and I highly recommend going. Just remember to horn on the corners. :)

We were having tea when a shower came through and provided us with a fantastic, albeit faint, rainbow.

From there we drove to the top of Gunung Brinchang, which I have been told is the highest drivable road in peninsular Malaysia. It was getting late and the clouds were low and drifting in more like fog than clouds. We had a short walk around and then drove back down. I hiked up to the top of Gunung Brinchang (rather than driving) a couple of years ago and the 2.77 km hike took just over an hour but it is pretty steep. Just take breaks though and anyone can manage it.

We then went down to Brinchang and hit the night market. It is a really nice night market with loads of different things for sell. It is especially nice because Malaysian night market have sort of exotic flair to them the first time you go to one and then you realise they never change and all the same stuff is sold at every one. This one had lots of things you don’t find at other night markets. Lots of strawberries, (I got the dried ones) fruit, veggies, honey and of course souvenirs from Cameron Highlands. Needless to say, we went home with our hands full of bags.

The next morning we went out on an early walk around the hotel. I brought along both sets of binoculars and we saw a few birds. Here is the list:

1. Grey-chinned minivet
2. Silver-eared mesia
3. White-throated fantail
4. Crested serpent eagle
5. Oriental white-eye
6. Black-throated sunbird
7. Mountain bulbul
8. Mountain tailorbird
9. Mountain imperial pigeon
10. Chestnut-crowned laughingthrush
11. Oriental magpie-robin

We didn’t really work hard at birdwatching but it wasn’t a bad morning for amateurs.

We then drove out to the Boh Tea Plantation between Ringlet and Tanah Rata. It was a gorgeous morning and a great drive. I had never been to this one and the really nice part was that it has a short hike up a hill from where you can look out over the valley. Breathtaking vistas! We then hiked from there around the plantation and then back down to the tea house. I think the plantation is called Farlie but could be wrong. What a great way to end a hike, with tea and scones while gazing at undulating hills covered with tea bushes!

I love both Fraser’s Hill and the Camerons but for completely different reasons. The Camerons are a must visit for the majestic tea plantations and all the hill vegetable farms. Good honey, great tea and fresh strawberries don’t hurt either. I’m hoping to go again in a couple of weeks. I guess you could say that I like it there.

A flower growing near the entrance to Strawberry Park.

Cameron Highlands-The Pictures

Well, I spent the weekend in Cameron Highlands. I will write more about the weekend later but wanted to put the pictures up first. In case you don't know this, they grow lots of tea in Cameron Highlands.

Row after row of tea bushes can be seen at the Boh Sungai Palas Tea Plantations.

An orange flower I found growing on the side of the road.

The last time I went to the Sungai Palas tea plantation was three years ago. Now they have built a huge new visitors centre and the tea house has a balcony that overlooks the plantation. Also, the new video is really informative.

The view from the tea house balcony. Spectacular, no?

Beads of water

Yesterday I finished my morning class and then went home and was taking a break before my evening classes. I got a bottle of soda out of the fridge and poured myself a glass and left the bottle on the coffee table. My parents, during their visit, noted that drinks don't stay cold here very long because of the heat and humidity. After ten minutes or so I noticed that lots of condensation had developed on the outside of the bottle so I decided to take picture of it. I thought it turned out to be quite an interesting photograph.

Pandora's box

When I was young, I remember my mom used to keep really cool things in her purse, probably mainly to keep my brothers and entertained. One day, when I was about 8 we were sitting in church as a family and I decided to empty out her purse and find out what things she had in there. However, once I got the contents out, I had a horrible time trying to get them all back in again. Try as I might, they would not, could not fit! So, I had to, red-faced, ask my mother to help me put all the objects back into the purse.

Many days, I feel this is a good analogy to describe how it feels to live overseas. It is like taking something out of the box and finding it just doesn’t fit when you try to put it in again. The problem is, it is not just that you are taken out of the box you are in but then forced into another one, not the one you came out of, and you don’t quite fit in that one either!

Let me use an example. The other day I was with two good friends and after we walked out of the restaurant I “called shotgun” which means you just say “shotgun” out loud. For more information on calling shotgun, click here. Basically, I then had to explain the entire idea of calling shotgun to then, something the average American would immediately understand.

But this works that other way. Now when I go home, I want to use words like kiasu or chin-chai with my friends but the average American has no clue what these words mean. Click here for kiasu and here for chin-chai definitions.

I feel ultimately that I have a better understanding about the world and about my own culture’s impact upon my life but the problem is that it always feels like I am hiding a bit of myself. I guess that is why it is a bit like Pandora’s Box, which when opened unleashed all manner of mayhem but hope remained. Hope, I feel, is what all these boxes have given me.

How did I get HERE?

Isn’t it amazing how life is always unraveling in ways you never expected? I don’t mean unraveling in that you have your life all nicely knitted together and then the wonderful tapestry starts to unravel and gets into tangles and your whole life becomes a mess. No, I mean that at some point you sit down and think, “In five years I will be doing this or that” and then in five years you find yourself doing something that you could never have predicted at that moment five years earlier. I mean, I live in Asia! Not exactly something I planned out when I was 12.

I have a friend who told me once that she remembers the exact moment she became a person. She believes that you are just a baby or infant and that you aren’t a person until you have your first complex thought, a thought beyond the realm of, “Hmmm, maybe I will cry now because I’m hungry or sleepy or sick.” She still remembers what her first thought was. I can’t remember what my first thought was, but her theory made me think about how we map our lives out and try to predict or plan what we will be doing in ten years or twenty years. Everyone wants to be a firefighter or a policeman (not that I can remember wanting that) but there is a time it becomes more than just imagination and you start to dream how it can become reality.

You see, I should be living in the Canadian wilderness. No, I’m serious. When I was about ten I started to think about my future and start making plans for my life. We went, as a family, down to the Alamo in San Antonio. It must have been 1985 or so. Davey Crockett fought in the Alamo and he wore a raccoon hat or ‘coonskin hat. I bought a coonskin hat at the Alamo in some cheap souvenir shop and wore that hat like it was the latest fashion craze. I wore it everywhere. School, the store, at home, literally everywhere. The tail got ripped off several times at school but my mom would just staple or sew it back on the hat and off I would go.

Later, I lost the hat, but a couple of years later we went back to the Alamo and I bought a second coonskin cap. This trip we went on down into Mexico. While we were there we went to this market where they sold things to tourists. All the time we were in the market, I wore the hat. Merchants in the market would tug on the hat and say “Daniel Boone” (another famous American hero). One store was selling coats made out of deerskin, and the store owner and I convinced my dad to buy me a buckskin jacket with lots of tassels on the arms.

All this started me thinking that what I should become was a trapper in the Canadian wilderness. That was what Davey Crockett and Daniel Boone did, so why couldn’t I be the next famous trapper? Since I was a voracious reader, I started reading books on animals, trapping and trappers. I knew all kinds of facts about what animals lived in the Canadian wilderness, like pine martens or ermine and lynx. I especially loved Jim Kjelgaard. He wrote the best books about dogs and their masters and everyone knows that all good trappers have a dog and a horse.

One day, we were rolling up electric fence on one of our farms. Electric fence is temporary fencing that is just one strand of wire, hung from fence posts that you drive into the ground and then suspend the wire about a meter off the ground. You then hang insulators on the fence and attach a battery to the wire. Cattle will get shocked by the wire when they sniff it and therefore it is a cheap and easy temporary fence solution. When we rolled up the fence, my dad would roll the wire around an old tire rim and us boys, my two brothers and I, would pull the fence posts out of the ground and put them in the pick-up bed. This day I swore that I would live in the Canadian wilderness and be a trapper. The question was, how many years would I live there? I decided to count how many fence posts I collected and then that would be the number of years I would live in the Canadian taiga forests. (I knew they were called taiga forests because of all the books I was reading.) I still remember I collected 37 fence posts that day and vowed to live 37 years in the wilds of northern Canada.

So, here I am, in Malaysia, which may be the exact opposite of the Canadian wilderness. Never saw this coming that day while I was carrying the fence posts back to the pick-up. But, you know, I would be lying if I said there weren’t times I still wonder what life in the Canadian wilderness would be like. But, somewhere in the midst of wondering what trees have the best bark for making snowshoes, I start to dream about the future and what strange twists it will unravel in. No, life, I have found, is anything but predictable but the ride is full of thrills and laughs and tears that make it unforgettable, even if you never make it to the Canadian wilderness. It is a wonderful experience no matter what part of the world you live it and whether or not all your childhood fantasies come true. You know, I once read that the bark of birch trees makes wonderful snow shoes.

Lost Post

My last post went missing, so if you find it, please notify me. It wears a blue collar and answers to the name "Fluffy".

Anyway, I decided to retouch one of the photos from the sunrise shots last Sunday morning and put it up. Enjoy!

Morning breaks over a dock and fishing shack.

Sungai Sedim canopy walk and random thoughts

I have been going out to Sungai Sedim in Kedah for the last couple of years and it is still a little slice of heaven.

Let me have a little sidebar here. Malaysians, in general, hate it that some people who have never visited Malaysia think that it is very undeveloped and that people still live in trees. I have never seen a country so fixated on development. It is in lots of patriotic songs and at least two states, Selangor and Kedah, have set dates to be developed, 2007 and 2010, I think. By the way, don’t ask me what they mean by developed, because Malaysia is very developed and I don’t know what the word really means. I am often asked, “Oh, but the US is more developed than Malaysia, right?” How do you respond to that? Mobile phone use here is much higher than in the US. Malaysia boasts the world’s tallest twin towers (Petronas Twin Towers) and one of the world’s tallest towers (KL Tower). Malaysia is a very developed country.

But I don’t love Malaysia because of its massive buildings. I love it for its jungles and rivers and its wildness. I want to see a wild tapir or at least a wild elephant. Concrete and steel are impressive but they are the same anywhere in the world, whether Shanghai, New York, London or Kuala Lumpur. Nowhere in the States can I find the kind of things I see at Sungai Sedim.

I do meet Malaysians who are proud of this heritage and who take every opportunity to enjoy it. I hope this is an attitude that spreads throughout the country so that one day a naïve person can speak to a Malaysian and say “Malaysia, you have a lot of jungles and rivers there right?” and the Malaysian will smile and reply, “You bet, some of the most beautiful in the world!” and be just as proud of the jungle as they are of the Petronas twin towers.

Well, anyway, I did enjoy Sungai Sedim this time but less so. The main reason I didn’t enjoy it was because I was sick. Very sick. In fact, on Sunday I didn’t do much at all but just try to get well for work on Monday.

The second reason is the price of the canopy walk. I used to go out there before the walk was open. The first time the workers invited me to go out on it, so I couldn’t be rude and turn down the invitation. The next few times it wasn’t open so I just jumped the fence and walked around on it. However, now it is “open” and they are charging RM10 (RM5 for kids) to use it. That is more than the price of a movie! I paid it but I think it is a price that will put it out of reach of some people. RM5 with kids free would be a good price in my opinion. Also, they are charging full price and you can’t even use the entire walk due to repair work.

Anyway, I did see my first red-bearded bee-eater! I have wanted to see this species for a long time, not surprising considering my love of bee-eaters. It was just a brief viewing and too far away to photograph.

The best thing about Sungai Sedim is that after you get hot and sweaty on the canopy walk you can cool off in the Sedim river. My current count: Sungai Sedim: 6 visits. Petronas Twin Towers: 1visit.

Part of the canopy walk, which is billed as the longest in the world at almost 1km.

Macro photography

I bought a cheap macro lens (RM450) and I have been playing around with it. I have found it nice because you can always find something to take a picture of and it is easier to control the lighting. However, I realized that I need to change my thinking when shooting macro. For example, when shooting birds I often use ISO400 or even ISO800 because I need to take pictures in poor light or just OK light but the bird is jumping around. Also, I am taking pictures at 450mm and so shake is magnified. The third factor is my 300mm zoom is not very sharp at f/4.5 so I usually use f/9 or f/10 so the pictures are sharper but it means the light has to be better.

Yesterday I was looking at pictures of flowers on Flickr and saw that some of them were using ISO100. I almost slapped myself because I should be taking macro shots in the lower ISO ratings but I had completely forgotten because I am used to taking bird/people pictures. So, I am hoping that alone will improve my quality next time out.

I am hoping to head out to Sungai Sedim in Kedah on Saturday morning to do some more photography and take swim in the river. I'll post the best from my outing next week. Ciao.

One of my first macro shots

A palm leaf in the Botanical Gardens makes interesting patterns

Hari Raya

After returning from Bukit Fraser, I had a brief rest before the festivities of Hari Raya started. Hari Raya is a Malay word meaning “Day of Celebration” to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Across the Muslim world the name will be Aidilfitri or some other corruption of the original Arabic word. It is also called Hari Raya Aidilfitri here but commonly known as simply “Raya”.

My first stop was Kak Jamaliah’s house. I have been friends with her and her family for the last three years. They were quick to point out this is the third Raya that I have come to their house. I love talking to her mom, who is 87 (something she mentions frequently) but she speaks Malay with a thick accent and doesn’t adjust her language at all for me, the non-native speaker. We all sat around on the living room floor and had the traditional “kuih Raya” or “Raya cakes” of which there are about 1 million varieties. Ever so often, kids from surrounding houses would stop by and ask for “duit Raya” or “Raya money”. It is a lot like trick-or-treat at Halloween only you get a coin, usually a 50 cent piece. Needless to say the kids go to every house they can. Also, duit Raya is given in the form of small green envelopes with one or two ringgit inside. If you stop at a house usually you give an envelope to the kids from that family. I don’t have to because I am single and only married people should give them out. I tried to hand them out a couple of years ago and was reprimanded for it.

My second stop was Abang Mi’s house. His wife is near her due date and I am looking forward to celebrating the arrival of his first son any day now. I had some laksa (sour and spicy fish soup) and some ketupat (glutinous rice cooked inside a leaf) with a beef dish. The best food is served during Raya!

The village was having a fun fair for the kids in the nearby park. Fatihah, Abang Mi’s daughter, and her cousin Ali came back having just won a huge pear. They wanted to go again so I took my camera and followed.

The first game we played was coconut bowling. You stood about the distance of a bowling lane from a small goal that was shaped like a football or soccer goal. Then you rolled the coconut and if it went through the goal, you won a pear. I had to show off my mad skills, winning on my first throw. The younger kids got to step much closer and roll the coconut. In the end both Fatihah and Ali won pears. It was a blast to watch them play.

Fatihah helps Ali perfect his bowling form

Concentration is key in any sport

Ali gets a running start and Fatihah lends her support

Fatihah sends one towards the goal

Ali eyes the goal

Next we went to a part of the field where they had marked out 8 lanes. About two-thirds down each lane a chair was placed. Teenage girls from the village put a paper plate on each chair and then hid a piece of wrapped candy in a mound of flour. At the signal, the 8 kids would race down their lane, blow into the flour until they saw the piece of candy, then dive in and grasp it with their teeth. They then ran to the end of the lane and the first one to make it to the end with a piece of candy received an additional prize. The others just got to keep their piece of candy from the mound of flour. The kids were really enjoying it but Fatihah really got a face-full of flour and decided to go back to the house to clean up.

Blow, blow, blow your flour

Sprint for the finish

Candy is even sweeter when you work hard to get it!

This was my fifth Hari Raya in Malaysia and I think I enjoy it more every year. Definitely a fun time to meet with friends and experience the sights, sounds and culture that make Malaysia so wonderful!

Back from Bukit Fraser

Looks like a poinsettia but they are not native to Malaysia so I could be wrong.

Wow, I love going to Fraser’s Hill. Here in Malaysia there are basically three highland areas, Fraser’s Hill, Cameron and Genting Highlands. Genting is renowned for its gambling and amusement park. Cameron Highlands is the home of Boh tea and one cannot go there without taking in the gorgeous tea plantations there. Also, it has great trekking. Fraser’s Hill isn’t as popular as the other two so it isn’t crowded, even on public holidays. It is less developed, so there are not many things to do such as amusement parks or visiting tea plantations. However, the flora and fauna there are spectacular. Fraser’s is world-famous for its birdwatching. For my tastes, I prefer Fraser’s above Cameron and Genting Highlands.

My empty glass of fresh strawberry juice

The early morning spectacle at Jelai Highlands Resort was a little disappointing. Birds still came in to feast on the moths and insects that died around the parking lot lights during the night but nothing like one year ago. I did manage to take a couple good pictures of the common species around the resort. I didn’t focus on birdwatching but here is my list for the weekend:

1. Chestnut-capped laughingthrush
2. Chestnut-crowned laughingthrush
3. Oriental magpie-robin
4. Silver-eared mesia
5. Asian brown flycatcher
6. Little pied flycatcher
7. Long-tailed sibia
8. Lesser racquet-tailed drongo
9. Mountain fulvetta
10. Mountain leaf warbler
11. Large-billed crow
12. Streaked spiderhunter
13. Black-throated sunbird
14. Bar-winged flycatcher-shrike
15. Malaysian cuckoo-shrike
16. Yellownape (not sure Greater or Lesser)
17. Mountain Imperial Pigeon
18. Little Egret
19. Mountain Bulbul
20. Orange-bellied leafbird
21. Yellow wagtail

Portrait of a chestnut-capped laughingthrush

The orange-bellied leafbird and chestnut-crowned laughingthrush were new species for me. I have posted pictures of the blue-tailed bee-eater and it is one of my favorite birds but I really like the little pied flycatcher as well. Alas, I couldn’t get any good pictures of it.

I always enjoy the fact that the monkeys are there. I saw troops of dusky leaf monkeys and heard gibbons calling in the distance. Got to love that!

A dusky leaf monkey eyes the intruder to his realm (me!)

Maybe the highlight of the trip was the chance to see wild jungle pigs. Twice we saw them and the second time I almost had a picture but I had my macro lens on the camera and couldn’t get it focused fast enough. Gives me a reason to go back. Maybe I can get a good picture of them next time.

Fraser's Hill

Well, it is the holiday season here in Malaysia with Deepavali on Saturday followed by Hari Raya on Tuesday. I'm headed up to Bukit Fraser today (Friday). I went there about this time last year and just loved it. Not as developed as Cameron Highlands but if you love nature, especially birdwatching (and I do) you can't beat Fraser's. I'm staying at Jelai Highland Resort which is famous for its early morning birding and the crowd of photographers it draws. So, I will be there, right along side those guys with their bazooka lenses, clicking away with my pea shooter. Hopefully, I'll get some reasonable shots and share them with you when I get back. I also can't wait to hear the gibbons calling in the distance, which is one of my top ten sounds in the world. So Happy Deepavali and Salaam Aidilfitri and I will see you next week!

New Visa

I just found out the Malaysian government has decided I can stay here for two more years. So years 5 and 6, here I come!!!!

Development in Malaysia and How to Make Globalization Work

When I first came to Malaysia I walked around for about a month with my mouth open in surprise. I come from a very rural part of the US and the tallest buildings are silos and grain elevators. I stepped off the plane into a world of 15 story apartment buildings and those aren’t even the really tall ones. Many are 20 plus! Cranes dotted the landscape, lifting necessary materials to the top floors of buildings being constructed. In the past two years, two 20ish floor apartment buildings have gone up and two more business towers are breaking ground nearby. A new mall is set to open by the end of the year, the sixth in the city. Previously, I have only lived in one city large enough to have a mall.

Since I am a student of history I pondered what I saw and compared it to history. Then I drew an analogy. Here it is:

Late in the 1800’s, Britain ruled the world. The sun never set on the British Empire. Then Britain hit a plateau. It lost many of its colonies, including Malaysia. This isn’t to say Britain isn’t a powerful country today because it is. But no longer does it have in its former glory. The sun has set on the British Empire. Another eclipsed it, America.

Now as I gazed at the construction and rate of development that made my head spin, I wondered if history wasn’t repeating itself. America had enjoyed a good run as a “superpower” but had nothing to rival the things I was seeing. I thought America must be hitting its plateau and here was the one who would eclipse it, Asia (not Malaysia specifically). America was the Britain of the 1800’s and Asia was about to take over.

Now I still believe America has hit a plateau but I have backed off a bit on the meteoric rise of Asia. Why? Because the rate of growth that is happening here comes at a steep price.

I look out my office window onto a black, putrid river. Moments ago a boy came out of his house and flung a black sack of rubbish into the river. You can barely make out the bag’s shape as it floats on top of the black scum. This river flows directly into the ocean, maybe 200 meters from the new mall.

A thick haze hangs in the air and sometimes you can feel and taste the smoke from the fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, islands in Indonesia, where burning is creating much of the haze. Daily the papers are reporting the air pollution index rating (API) and advising if it is safe to let your children play outside. It is hardest on those who suffer from asthma.

I believe the growth rate in Asia will continue at the current rate for several more years, maybe 20+. However, I wonder if the sacrifice for this unparalleled growth rate is worth it. Malaysia has “Wawasan 2020” which means “Vision 2020” or to be a first-world (developed) country by the year 2020. Is it worth reaching developed nation status if the price means by 2050 the country hits a ceiling due to destruction wrought to reach “Wawasan 2020”?

The problem is that you can’t really tell a person who is excited about upgrading from a motorbike to a used car that things are going to change because sustainable growth is now the target. He is thinking about how to make is life better and give his children an advantage. He is doing the right thing.

Unfortunately, it is a global problem. This isn’t a post to bash Malaysian environmental standards. It has to be dealt with on a global level. I feel the problem is that we are too used to deal with things by saying, “Oh, that is in Malaysia, so it is a Malaysian problem.” But today these things affect everyone, worldwide. Unfortunately, one common denominator drives things globally, that is: Money. Profit. The bottom line.

As long as these things tend to drive policy, business decisions and our lives it looks like a bleak future. Asia may surpass the US and become the new superpower but what will be the state of the world by the time Asia assumes the throne? Wish I had an answer to that one.

I am not trying to preach doom and gloom because I don’t feel that. I just realize that for the first time in the history of the world we must make decisions based not only on the logic “Is it good for me?” but also, “Is it good for everyone else?” We are facing consequences if we fail to heed Jesus’ command to “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Hmmm, maybe I don’t have a detailed answer but that would be a good start!

I realize as I have written this some things have become clear for me. First, I am stunned by the rate of growth in Malaysia. Second, I think it comes at a staggering cost. Third, the shrinking, globalizing world only works when we “Love your neighbour as yourself”. Progress and development without love are hollow shells, whether in Malaysia or the USA or wherever you hang your hat.

Native English speaker needed

Warning: This post will decrease your IQ by at least 7 points.

Last night I was in Giant, one of the “hypermarkets” here in Malaysia. In the States we would call them a Wal-Mart supercenter, one of those places you can buy bread, motor oil, picture frames and toilet paper all in the same place.

I was standing in line behind a Chinese couple in the express lane marked “10 items and below”. Actually, if I follow the Chinese couple’s logic, I was standing behind one Chinese person. Apparently, you can buy 15 juice drink boxes and it only counts as one item because they are all the same brand and flavor. So, they had around 30 items but about 8 types of items. Wouldn’t they get irate if the government used this logic for their income taxes? Government: We are sorry but your two children can only be claimed as one dependent since they are the same type and flavor. Please pay us more money!

Anyway, as the unit paid for their “items” I pondered the sign next to the express counter. 10 items or below. “That isn’t correct,” I thought, “but what would the correct sign say?” (This is a side effect of learning a second language and living overseas.) I thought and thought and decided, “It should say ‘10 items or less’” Since I happened to have a pen, I pulled it out and wrote “or less” underneath the “and below”.

I paid for my items (yes, only five!) and then walked to my motorbike. On the way there I kept saying, “10 items or less” to myself. It didn’t sound right. Then I realized, less is used with uncountable nouns and fewer is used with countable nouns. My “correction” of the sign was actually just as incorrect as the original “and below”.

Then I began to fantasize that the cashier told the manager that a white guy corrected the sign therefore it must be correct. So the manager called all the stores and told them to change the signs on all the express counters to “10 items or less”. So, if you see a sign at a Giant express counter that reads, “10 items or less” you know who to blame.

Disclaimer: In American English it is becoming accepted to say “less” with countable nouns. However, it is still incorrect and I would like to apologize to the Giant staff for my mistake. Sorry!

Javan Pond Heron

A Javan pond heron in breeding plumage

Sunset view from Bukit Genting

Sunset over Pulau Betong

Paddy field dragon

A dragonfly I found sunning himself on a
barb-wire fence in a paddy field.

Blue-tailed bee-eater

Blue-tailed bee-eater

This is one bird that I have come to love during my birdwatching trips. I tried to get into birdwatching prior to coming to Malaysia but just found it overwhelming, looking at a book and trying to figure out which bird I was looking at. Thanks for a friend here who is a knowledgeable birder, I have found hours of enjoyment watching birds. I sometimes go out to the rice paddies and found this guy taking a break from swooping across the fields and catching flying insects. Beautiful, isn't he?

Respecting each other and leaders

I support a sports team in the US that is off to a horrible start. They have a 3-2 record on the year (gasp!) and on a website they are calling for all the managers to be fired immediately. It embarrasses me.

Why has all respect been lost for leadership in the West? Why is it OK to gripe and complain if all your needs are not immediately met?

Of course this condition exists the world over, even here in Malaysia, but I find it is much less. What a breath of fresh air!

In the West we have gone away from respecting teachers, police, government officials and instead we are usually taught to challenge and even disobey them. The teachers don’t have all the answers. The police break laws themselves. And on and on. Honestly, it leads to a life of emptiness. No one can be fully trusted and there must be someone better to do the job of ______________ (fill in the name of the president, teacher, official, head coach you are mad at). No one is ever satisfied and no one can ever be satisfied with this kind of outlook and attitude in life.

Ok, I will admit the need for whistleblowers and constructive criticism but that isn’t the problem. We have plenty of those.

I enjoy the Malaysian attitude. Most people respect teachers, police officers and government officials. When people discover I am a teacher, they often say, “What a noble profession!”

These positions that I have talked about are the leadership positions within our society. Malaysians tend to accept the fact that no one can do a perfect job and are generally supportive. When the former prime minister (Tun Dr. Mahathir) recently lashed out against his successor (Abdullah Badawi) I felt the public’s reaction was one of mild embarrassment for their former head of state. It was ok to think those things or say criticisms quietly in the corner kedai kopi but don’t splash it across the front page of the newspaper.

In the US, however, President Bush and former President Clinton are engaged in a war of words about who was more negligent and allowed September 11 to happen. Does it embarrass Americans that this is happening? I would like to say YES! but I am afraid most are more concerned that the guy they support is shown to the least negligent.

Can’t we respect people anymore?

People

Malay boys from Kampung Bagan Belat

Malaysia is a mix of several ethnicities, the main three being Malay, Chinese and Indian.

The US is famed as a "melting pot" where races from all over the world are melted into one nationality, American. Malaysia is a melting pot of sorts but large lumps remain in the pot.

For example, I have no idea what my country of origin is, intermarriage and time having lost that information. Here in Malaysia, some Chinese families have been living here for 10-15 generations and yet still have strong ties to their ancestory.

This means that each culture strives to retain it's distinctiveness. This leads to interesting holidays and cultural events. Currently, the Lantern Festival is going on in the Chinese culture while the Malay Muslims keep the fast of Ramadan. Then, just before Ramadan ends the Hindu Indians will celebrate Deepavali, the festival of light.

This rich tapestry of cultures and ethnicities makes Malaysia very colourful and intruiging place to live.

Life in Malaysia

The last rays of light linger over Pantai Indah (Beautiful Beach)

Several years ago, when I started on this grand adventure of "living overseas" I had no idea where it would take me. It has taken me to Malaysia, this little place of earth and trees and water that feels more home to me at times than America, where I am from. I love Malaysia. I love the US. And I am very grateful to have had the chance to live in both places. I would like to share with you what I have learned on this journey and hope you can grow to love the beauty that is Malaysia.