Malaysia, Truly Asia

I’ve spent the last week in Kuala Lumpur (again). I keep returning to this little city for some reason. It’s my third time here in about 6 months. I wonder what the draw is? Great food? Cheap lodging? Cute boys? (Or is that cute food, great lodging and cheap boys?) Regardless of the reasons, I found myself back here enjoying it again.

I have been here enough so that it’s not really a mystery to me anymore. I kinda know what KL has to offer, and seen most of it. Some of my friends wonder why I would bother coming here, since there is little to do. And they are right, a bit. There really isn’t a lot to do. I think the most famous thing about KL are the Pertonas Towers, which are (now) the tallest twin towers in the world. They are quite beautiful buildings, to be sure. And they look spectacular at night – partly because the smog isn’t as obvious at nighttime. I’ve never been to the observation deck of these towers (there is a sky bridge connecting them), because to me, the towers ARE the view. The surrounding area is not quite as nice to look at.

I also visited the Batu Caves when I was here this time. It was on my ‘to-do list’ for KL ever since my first visit. This time I managed to get there. The caves are a Hindu Shrine nestled in the belly of a huge cave in one of the surrounding mountains of KL. It requires a climb of 1000 steps to reach the shrine. As caves go, it was pretty impressive. As shrines go, it was pretty unimpressive. The interior of the cave was extremely large, but it’s been paved inside decades ago, and the cave walls are covered in graffiti. There were plenty of macaque monkeys and Hindu monks. Some of the monks I saw there were almost as hairy as the monkeys. The caves were pretty smelly, but ultimately, it was worth the climb.

This trip really had two purposes. The first reason was to photograph a guy I’ve known for a while – Eric. He is a 20yo student that also excels at acrobatic cheerleading (you know - throw the girls up in the air, catch them, make human pyramids, etc). He’s been photographed a number of times by local photographers, and I was glad to have him in front of my camera. Eric was a trooper during the shoot, considering he wasn’t feeling well, and had a fever the following day. I am happy with the resulting images. Look for more on my website.



The other reason I came here was to meet a successful local photographer (via Eric), named Azrul Abdullah. Azrul is a successful artist here, and regularly shoots for local and international magazines. Speaking with Azrul was entertaining and informative. He explained how the business works in KL, and how to get around the corruption of the local governments. I saw a lot of his beautiful architectural images of old buildings that no longer exist. Like many Asian cities, Kuala Lumpur is going through a building boom of sorts, and they pay little attention to heritage. Azrul has done a great job documenting many of these old structures, often just before they are demolished.

Today, I am heading to another city in Malaysia called Penang. Many of my Malaysian friends encouraged me to visit this small resort town for a few days. I am told that Penang is the “center of arts and culture” in Malaysia, and is well known to have the best food in the country. I will only be there for a few days, but I look forward to exploring it.

Beautiful Beijing

Hey all....
I know it's been a while for me to write. I tried and tried to log in to Blogger while I was in Beijing, but it was just blocked. That's one of the joys of China. Many, many websites are simply not available. Even basic ones like my site. I guess it's something you get used to. There is nothing about my Blog that says anything bad about China...so I don't know why.

Anyways, I really liked Beijing. It was my first time there, of course. And I know enough now, that the first time I am anywhere, I like it a lot. I thought that about Shanghai when I was there last year...and now that I've returned to it, I was less enamored with it. That said, I think there was a lot of polish and charm about Beijing, that I would like to return and see it again in detail.

There were a number of things that impressed me about Beijing. I think the strongest impression was just how big it is. The place is freakin HUGE! Seriously, it must be one of the largest cities I've been to, in square miles. And there is no real center of town. So everything is quite spread out, and it can take a long time to get anywhere. Another thing that impressed me was the sheer volume of monuments and amazing buildings. And since this is the capital city, there was every country's Embassy too.

Since I was only in Beijing for a short visit, I spent all of my time touring the 'must see' areas of the city. Those included the Forbidden City, Tian'an Men Square, the Hutongs, and the Great Wall. All of them were impressive - without exception. When I arrived in the Forbidden City, I had a rough idea of the scale of it, but even with advance reading, I was still surprised at how big it was. I spent a few hours there, but could have easily spent the whole day. There is a LOT to see. Though eventually, all the palaces/temples/shrines begin to look alike. It was seriously crowded too, mostly with Chinese nationals. I saw very few white people. As I was taking photos, I quickly learned that I will rarely get a shot of a part of the monument without people in it, so the people became the photo.

Tian'an Men Square was also impressive. It's very, very large. So large in fact, that you could drive tanks down it. (OK, Now I KNOW my blog will be banned in China.) I enjoyed wandering the square, and seeing all the Chinese people showing their patriotism. I had Peking Duck for lunch - I figured that it was a 'must eat' food. It was super greasy and fatty. No wonder it is so popular. After this, I went to see the Olympic venues, like the Bird's Nest Stadium and the Water Cube. The Stadium is seldom used now. Last week, they staged the first event in it since the Olympics. And that was a concert hosted by Jackie Chan. The Water Cube was closed to tourists, but that was fine, since the beauty of that building is on the outside.

On the next day, I hired a car and driver and took a long 2.5 hour drive to a portion of the Great Wall that is not popular with tourists. Since this is my first visit to the Wall, I thought it would be best to see it where it is not littered with khaki panted chubby tourists. The area I went to was virtually deserted. I saw about 6 other people there - it was perfect. The climb up to the Wall was slow and steep. It's on the top of a mountain, after all. I was quite tired and had to rest several times, as it was quite hot out, too. But getting to the top was worth the long climb up. It was a little hazy for photographs, but it was an amazing place to be. One more thing I can cross off my list of To-Do's in life.

On my final day, I toured the famous 798 Art Gallery area and some small hutongs. Hutongs are the small neighbourhoods made from skinny alleys linking courtyard homes together. Beijing is slowly knocking down whats left of these areas and replacing them with tall towers. The neighbourhood I visited was pretty touristy, though. You could tell it was designed to attract tourists. But I still enjoyed it.


Overall, my impression of Beijing was favourable. It was a huge, and very modern city. They clearly spend a lot of money taking care of it. I would like to see it again.

I am now back in Singapore for a little while. Singapore is one of those places that is hard to like. It's clean and organized (good qualities, I guess), but it just doesn't feel very Asian to me. It could be anywhere in Canada. More about it later, I guess.

Shanghai, Take II

Hello all...
So, I've been in Shanghai for about 10 days now, and I think I kinda get it. I have to admit, though, that I am not sure I like it.

The thing about Shanghai, is that it's just not ready. The city is trying very hard to be an 'international, world class city' (hence Expo 2010, etc), but to be honest, it's full of people that are not anywhere near that. I can't count how many times I've been spit on, or dodged a spit bomb since I've been here. And at the risk of sounding xenophobic, why aren't there more English speaking people here? I find myself speaking in charades or using my little translation computer a lot. I know the responsibility for speaking the local language is mine, but you'd think that in the tourist areas, there would be SOME staff that speak English.

I know that a lot of my posts here in my blog sound like a big complaint about why this city or that city is not like it is back home. I don't want this Blog to be just that. And I understand and recognize that there are significant cultural differences from country to country. But the fact of the matter is that there are some minimal world standards that should be met, regardless of where I am in the world.



So, keep that in mind, when you read about my current rants/observations about Shanghai. =)

- Construction is at a fevered pace for Expo 2010. This is Shanghai's debut as a world city, so that means they are trying to make the city ready for the millions of people they are expecting to visit. So the roads are in total chaos. The Bund, which is one of the most popular tourist areas, is completely gone. It's one big pit now, and you can't walk anywhere.

- I mentioned before, that the Metro system is modern and efficient. But what I didn't say is that the riders of the metro are far from modern or efficient. If you're unlucky enough to be on the train during rush hour, you had best be prepared to be crushed. Ordinarily, its customary to allow people to exit the train car before people enter the car. Not so, here. I've almost missed my exit a few times, because I mistakenly was too polite and didn't push my way off the train. I've since learned to put my elbows up and push my way out. If I don't, I may never get off the car.

- Some of the other oddities I've seen on the metro, and the 'regular' trains that I've been on, is that people will actually sit on the floor. They just park themselves down among the feet of others. Also, I've seen on more than one occasion, people eating food like sunflower seeds, and spitting the waste out onto the floor. Lovely.

- Their is a discernible hierarchy among street traffic. It goes like this: trucks - buses - cars - motorbikes - bicycles - oxen and other animals - people. If you're walking on the street (sidewalks included), you are expected to be vigilant for all vehicles that are coming towards you. Even crossing a street in a crosswalk is no guarantee of safety. Cars and buses will aim right for you, and you are expected to stop to let them pass. I've almost been hit many, many times by taxis here. And I am in the wrong, no matter what. It is my fault regardless. Motorbikes will drive on sidewalks if its clearer than the roads, and you are obligated to allow them to do so. If a taxi/motorbike honks their horn, that is enough legal notice. You MUST move. Pedestrians are the lowest of the low here. I wonder if it's some kind of natural cull of an already burgeoning population?

- There are a lot of vehicles here that you just won't see anywhere else. When I was in Xitang, just outside of Shanghai, I saw plenty of 3 wheeled trucks and taxis. And they were not just large motorbikes - they were large car and truck sized vehicles. They just missed a front wheel, and I am not sure why. Are tires that expensive in China? The vehicles seemed rather unstable, and look like they could be tipped over quite easily.

On Sunday, I will be heading up to Beijing for a week or so. I've been doing my research so that I can maximize the use of my time there. I know that there will be some "must-do's" when I am there, like the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. I hope to see parts of the city that are not as touristy as well. But I think that might be a bit unlikely.