Donald the Rhino

I was hanging out with a 5 year old this weekend who was pretending he was a rhinoceros named Donald. I composed a short limerick about Donald:

There is a fellow named Donald the Rhino
He's the cleverest rhino that I know
He knows loads about bugs
And a bit about slugs
Plus he can fold a mean origami dino

I was then challenged to rhyme it using rhinoceros, so here goes.

There an adventurer named Donald the Rhinoceros
Who had as a goalto swim the Bosporus
As he swam along
He composed a song
And as a result became quite prosperous.

I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my bike

I'm visiting friends before I leave Malaysia and I spent the morning and afternoon out on a little bike ride through the kampung (village) down to a beach about 6 km from their house.

First, I was riding and older style bike. Really cool looking but by the time I started back it was killing me in the you know what. The ride was really nice when I started out but I took a long time. The kampung is very rural but there are houses everywhere and they are in no kind of order. It's as if God took his Monopoly set and turned it upside down. Houses fell everywhere and then the roads were traced through the empty places. So, the road meanders this way and that and you have do idea if your on the main road or one that dead ends at a clump of houses. This meant that I would head down a path and just hope it was the main one. Needless to say I made lots of U-turns. It was very fun at first to meet people and ask directions but on the way back, it was hot and about 2 pm and I just wanted a shower.

Definitely a fun ride. Here are some pictures from the adventure.

My faithful steed

Kites for sale on the beach

Nasi kerabu--don't adjust your colour, it is blue rice.
Also, this meal cost me RM1.80 and that included drink.
Malaysians get tired of hearing how strong the US dollar is, but that is $.50 and in Penang the same meal would cost twice that.

Ipoh Mali

A couple of months ago I wrote about a song called "Ipoh Mali" in a post called "The Surreal World".

I recently found the video for Ipoh Mali on YouTube, so here it is in all its glory.

The show must go on

This is the best news EVER!!!!!!

A chicken in every pot

Here in Malaysia the elections are getting close but actually it is just a guess. The Malaysian system works like this: the party in power can call for an election at anytime but they must do so within five years of the last election. The current prime minister, Abdullah Badawi was elected on October 31, 2003.

Why do I think there is an upcoming vote now?

Malaysia does not have freedom of the press. In fact, newspapers are owned by political parties here. This entire week the front page of The Star, the main English daily, has been trumpeting the benefits of the Northern Corridor project and how great a city Penang will be once all the new plans have been implemented. It seems suspicious to me (although not completely out of the ordinary) to have of this publicity of what a great job the government is doing. (Isn't that generally what any government is supposed to do?)

If there is an election, there will be an announcement and then in two weeks the vote. Also, a flag will blossom from every pole, tree and house in the country, flying their party's colors.

My prediction is a vote before Jan 1, 2008.

I wish the USA would adopt some of these political measures. Wouldn't it be great if there were, say, two months of campaigning and then the primaries, then two more months and the general election? I would love to see just two weeks but I'm trying to put forward a feasible plan. The primaries are months off in the States and still candidates are campaigning and have been doing so for months. Don't these people have jobs?

I do appreciate free speech in America when compared with Malaysia. Actually, both can learn from the other. Malaysians should ask a few more hard hitting and piercing questions and Americans should learn to respect a person's position and title just a bit.

Just a last thought here: Yesterday's Star showed the future of Penang, which includes this "global convention centre" with two malls and two five star hotels. Penang's population is about 500,000-600,000 and can't even support the 6 malls that we currently have, why in the world do we need more? Komtar can't even be considered a mall anymore, it is so nasty and vacant since Prangin Mall went in next door. Oh well, I guess that is the definition of 'development', --more malls.