Rilek at Pulau Perhentian

Last weekend I was able to kill two birds with one stone and get in a little scuba diving and have a business meeting. I went diving on Pulau Perhentian or the Stopover Islands in English. It actually means the Stop Islands in English but literal translations never work.

I took my family and friends to Pulau Perhentian last year and I think that they thoroughly enjoyed it. I know I did! Well, I can say they hated the all night bus ride to get to the island, which I don't enjoy much meself. 8 hours of twisty roads while trying to sleep leave one with a fearful neck ache.

Needless to say, it was a great weekend! You can read about the dives on my other blog by clicking here.

Mom: TopCat, move back to Oklahoma.
Me: Ahhhh, sure, I'll think about it.

The beach at Teluk Dalam. Much like the ones at Ft. Cobb State Park.

Can't post without some kind of cool bug. This spider was the size of my hand (leg span). He was having the catch of the day, moth, grilled with lemon and capsicum.

Does this even need a caption?

Sittin' on a dock of the bay, wastin' time.

Malaysian Cars

A couple of days ago I was taking my morning run around the park (sweating like you wouldn't believe at 8 a.m.) when I saw a Proton Arena. Quck background note, back in high school at Oney, there were basically two cliques. If we split into more than two someone would have been alone. So, there was the druggie clique and the rest of us. Anyway, one guy named Jim had this El Camino, which was basically a car/pick-up hybrid. Because of this, El Camino's will forever be associated in my mind with druggies and white trash. Anyway, the Proton Arena is basically an El Camino with a rollbar. Smart move Proton!

The Proton Arena, fastest selling car in the Ozarks.

Because I find the Proton El Camino so strange, I also want to share with you the ugliest van ever made. It is the Proton Juara. In my mind the way it was made goes something like this:

Proton engineer: Oh no! I have to present a design for a new van today and I totally forgot.

Wife: Honey! You are so absent-minded. So, remember your son has that shoebox car competition in his science class this afternoon and you promised you would be there.

Proton engineer: Shoebox car?!?! Hamzah, your dad is sorry but he needs to borrow your science experiment for a few hours this morning.

The Proton Juara. You'll know she isn't dating you for your car!

Just to be fair, I hate lots of cars on American roads but most of you have already seen them, so I just wanted you to know other countries are producing ugly cars too. Please excuse me while I go wash my Fiero. (Note: I had to write Fiero because I have forgotten what most cars look like in the USA or I'm afraid they have new body styles and are now really cool. Have I been here too long?)

Tall buildings

I don't know why but I love trivia and things that other people could care less about. For the last couple of years I have been watching construction of the world's tallest building in Dubai and just the other day I caught a Discovery Channel programme about it. Now I found out that it has competition. They are building another tower near Dubai that may reach 700 meters, over twice the Empire State Building.

Here are links to the one being built, the Burj Dubai:
Official Site
Wikipedia

And to the other tower, which is just getting started, the Al Burj (Burj means tower in Arabic):
Official Site
Wikipedia

The developers for the Burj Dubai also have the world's best hotel: The Burj al Arab
Official site with virtual tour and reservations

That's were I'd like to have my honeymoon. Well, there or French Polynesia. :)

Malaysian Differences

I realize that anytime you move halfway around the world, you find things that are, well, different. Not wrong, mind you, just not what you are expecting.

Americans are a different lot as well. We like to talk a lot, ask personal questions within a few minutes of meeting a person (personal to them, maybe not to us, such as about family) and are generally much more outgoing and talkative than Malaysians. I am well aware of Americans good and bad points.

However, I wanted to write down a few things that cause me to pause from time to time as my daily life passes here.

Cars

• Malaysians can turn any two-lane road into a four lane road with ease.
• If you are passing a car in the fast lane and a car going faster than you comes up behind you, s/he can flash their lights and even honk for you to pull over into the slow lane (never mind you are passing a car). This action would result in gunfire in some parts of the US.
• After having a breakdown, park your car on the side of the road and put a broken tree branch behind it. This signifies it is a broken-down vehicle.
• When you park your car in the sun, lift you windshield wipers up off the windshield and lock them there where they aren’t touching the glass. (Many theories exist on why this is important. One says the heat warps your rubber wipers and renders them useless. My friends and I want “Mythbusters” from Discover Channel to tackle this conundrum.)
• Even if there is a parking spot, double-park as close as you can to the store if you visit is under 15 minutes.
• Turn off the radio and air conditioner before starting the car.
• Don’t roll down the window. It wastes battery power. Open your door to pay tolls. (I’m not sure on this one though. I personally think most people open their doors to pay tolls because Proton cars have a chronic problem with the power window failing. Oh, and the front headlight falls out of the Wira. Proton is the Malaysian national car.)

Questions (And the number of times I have been asked them)

• Where you come from? (1,693,200)
• What your work? (1,455,871)
• Like Malaysia or not? (1,299,250)
• Already married? (1,475,911)
• Want to marry with Malaysia people? (1,475,911)
• Can eat spicy food or not? (944, 926)
• How many times a day do you eat rice in the US? (687,499)
• What is your salary? (511, 274)
• What is your good name? (By Indians from India) (4)
• Can you get me a visa and a job in the USA? (7,396)
• Sudah makan? (9,528,381,048)

Here are some examples of how people lift their windshield wipers up when parking their cars in the sun. Do other hot countries do this? How about in Florida? Arizona?

Here is a double parked car. Note that across the street are two empty spots, in the lower left corner, another empty spot and if you look closely the white car is actually blocking an empty parking spot. I didn't try for days to get these shots either. I just went to the bank on an errand.

Wedding bells (Not mine, so don't freak out mom!)

Back a couple of weeks ago one of my co-workers got married and I finally got around to editing the pictures for your perusal.

The glowing bride.

The site of the wedding reception. This is a typical Malay 'kampung' or village house. They are built on stilts and allow for the cooling air to move through the glassless windows. Ones like this that are kept up are very beautiful. The awning on the right is rented and not permanent, just for shade so you didn't roast while eating. Weddings are always held on the hottest days of the year...or so it seems.

This trio of sweeties posed for me after I asked their mom and she forced them to( malulah!). The one on the right has talcum or baby powder on her face, usually applied after a bath to help dry up the last of the moisture. So cute one!

These kids were watching the festivities from the top of the steps leading into the house.
Since I hate stereotypes, I like to call them Poindexter, Goofy and Little Miss Goody Two Shoes.

Wise guy, eh?

I won't pretend I am up to date on the trends in the USA but apparently there is a new show called "Are you smarter than a fifth grader?" where adults are pitted against 5th graders to see who can answer the most trivia questions. If you are wondering if you could cream a 5th grader, here is your chance to give it a go. Click here to take a quiz of ten questions and see how you do. Selamat berjaya!

The Surreal World

I have given up trying to count the number of times a week that weird and bizarre moments happen in my life. For instance, I decide I want some nasi kandar and I go out to get some chicken curry or fish-head curry and there on the big screen is WWE wrestling. Rick Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (the balding) Heartbreak Kid. Where am I? Oh yeah, eating chicken curry with my hand.

Or, you’re in some shopping mall and they start playing the latest rap hit only they are playing the uncensored version and as strings of expletives ring out over the aisles, ladies with headscarves buy food for their family.

Rap music has always been hard to stomach for me. It isn’t the beat or the music but the simple fact that most rap songs are about one of several topics 1) sex or sex acts 2) money and materialism 3) cheating 4) breaking up (usually because of cheating! Go figure!) Also, I find it difficult to take a form of music seriously when the rapper’s name is often included in the chorus. Yo…I am Jay-Z…that is J to the A to the Y to the Z…please take my music seriously!

Also, rap names are so hilarious. I often see small girls who get their first crush on a boy. Let’s say Sarah Jones gets a crush on Mike Roberts. You know that she is going to write a book full of Mrs. Sarah Roberts in her free time just to see if it fits together, her new last name and her first name, like long term happiness is guaranteed if the names sound good together.

Now I imagine a small boy doing the exact same thing. Little Fred Smith fills pages in his notebook writing “Fabulous Freddy” and “Fred S. in the house!” or “F Stop coming at you keeping it real!” just to find that right combination for his name.

On Saturday I taught class about an hour from the city I live in and had to borrow a car and drive down. This gave me a chance to hear some of the currently popular songs. Anyway, since it was a Malaysian station, they intersperse some of the aforementioned rap with some Malaysian songs. There is a recently new song called “Ipoh Mali”. It is by a rapper named “Point Blank” and also Jaclyn Victor sings on the track. (BTW, she is the first Malaysian idol winner and one of about three Malaysian singers I think has real talent. Ning Baizura and Siti Nurhaliza also make the cut. Sorry Mawi!) Apparently, it’s called Ipoh Mali because when asked where they are from people say “Ipoh Mari” or “Ipoh Come” if literally translated. But Chinese have trouble saying the letter “r” so the phrase used by everyone now is “Ipoh Mali”. Really, the information I give out for free…I should be charging for this. 

All this to say, it is a really cool song. It is about Ipoh, a city in Malaysia and how proud Point Blank is to be from there. However, it is surreal because you hear lyrics like:

Growin’ up as a Ipoh chink kid representin’ it
Ipoh Garden Eastside yo was the hood I was kickin’ it
I grew up poor but I had the riches memories
Wooley Food Centre rockin’ arcades religiously

You know that Ipoh is nothing like the milieu that spawned most of the hard core rap that appalls me but the way he talks about it sounds exactly the same. So much for my surreal moment on Saturday morning.


If you want to see all the lyrics to “Ipoh Mali”, click here to check out their website.