Brickfields, the Tamil area of Kuala Lumpur

Check out at the buffet restaurant Brickfields

Brickfields, the Tamil area of Kuala Lumpur (KL),
smells of incense, strings of flowers hanging from stalls,

Indian music blaring from speakers, atmosphere is lively, noisy but unexpectedly I like it.
Intense looking guys who give me polite gentle answers about "where are the batu caves ? " how to do I go there ?"

All night flight from MELB,

    Air asia be blessed,
    thou makest the distant possible,
    thou bridgest the cosy clubs of travel agents,
    mixer of humanity be blessed,
    en el padre i el spriritu santo...
    Aaaaaaaaaaamen....

Nothing touristy here at Brickfields,
its all real. Old Tamil guys eating under trees in side streets,
An Evangelical Zionist church around the corner,
right behind it the Buddhist Maha Vihara (whatever that is, it's big though)
An Ashram teaching third eye and kundalini awakening at the corner of the side street. Statue of the 'master' in bronze in the middle.

Brickfields

 

Green energy efficient high rise office block going up on the opposite side of the main road.
KL's Sentral (Central) Megacomplex train-bus-monorail station is next to it all.

I write this in a dark cool internet cafe.
Young guys, playing games all day, Indian music beating from the ceiling.
Just off the plane, I'm headed for a swish place to stay, but this is my first port of call in KL.
I need to touch base, feel real, ground myself before I face the rest of the city.

So here I am in a dimly lit, cool, music filled filled internet cafe writing this stuff.

I'll see if the guy who sold me the pocket watch last year remembers me.
Watch doesn't keep good time, went on strike after 7 weeks, but not his fault.
Luck of the draw.
Ce'st la vie...

Will head for my hotel soon.
Luxury makes me nervous, it feels fake underneath it all. I've paid for all those smiles and politeness.
But I've decided to give it a bash.
Why?
No reason, just because I CAN, because life is short and I blow heaps of $$$$'s on other stuff without thinking twice (two days ago $800 for a new electrical switchboard in my flat, 300 for insurance, 700 for rego, 250 for electricity bill, 200 body corp fees, 800 for conference... and so it goes on and on and on and on ....
HEY!@@!!!!
when's my turn ?!@*(## !
right NOW! 

so here I am ! he he he )

I'm 50 now, anything can happen anytime,
Noticed my body isn't 30 anymore...
who knows what happens in 5, 10 years....
can't save this kind of thing for the future.
The "libido" of the "joie de vivre" might evaporate by then ...
..so who knows what happens in 5 years.

But I DO know what happens right NOW :-)
LUNCH !
:-)
Time for lunch, real Indian.

There are no other tourists, no 'whiteys' or gringos here.
Stuff isn't glitzy and polished and ritzy here,
Its not for show or dazzlement, just sit down and eat ....
Mostly everyone speaks English, if not, I just point at stuff, mime the rest.
.................
more later...

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Ahhh...back from lunch.
That was good.
Went to a local restaurant next to the Crescent hotel.

First time I went there I expected to be pointed to a table to order stuff from a menu and to eat with cutlery.
No way.

Now I know the drill:
Grab orange plate - put banana leaf on plate.
Help yourself from one of the buffets by the wall.
HUGE range of stuff.

Rain in Brickfields

There is a Chinese Vegetarian buffet, a pure Indian buffet and others I've not worked out yet.

Sit down.
Eat.
Use hands - sorry: use hand_. Right hand.
A guy will come round and look at your plate and write down what you owe on a piece of paper he gives you to take to the cashier on the way out.

A lady comes round and asks me about drinks.
"Drink ?" 
"Masala tea please."
Masala tea appears a minute later.
Drinks are a separate business within the business. All the Indian restaurants work that way. Don't know why.

It's all low fuss, all self help, all designed to run smoothly.
Food is GOOD.
Cheap. Approximately 10 Ringgit ( AUD$3.50 ) + 5 Ringgit for two Masala teas.

Ok - time to drop stuff at the swish place, then the Batu caves.

-----------------------

I already have a SIM card for my phone, thanks to Air Asia: they sell SIMs on board the plane, so you can hit the ground running.
So you never get away from it all totally ...but that's ok, I need to call a few people in KL. Melbourne people don't know the local number :-) I didn't know it till I got off the plane.

First time I was in Malaysia, 1978, the only way to find out information was to ask other travellers at the backpackers in the evening.

Letters took 2-3 weeks and were sent to Poste Restante http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poste_restante

Phone calls in those days cost the equivalent of one days travel budget for ~3 minutes. About $35/minute by today's standards.
"Hi Mum, Dad, I'm fine, in Kuala Lumpur."
"Good, all fine here too."
That's it.
Was it less than 60 seconds ?
55 seconds, great!

If you are up for more reading: At the end of this email is a post from a traveller who spent the last 3 years just travelling and working in IT while on the road.
---------------

Links for places mentioned above
Brickfields: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brickfields

Hotel Grand Crescent hotelgrandcrescent.com

Travel - Kuala Lumpur:
http://sites.google.com/site/heikorudolph/travel-kualalumpur

Poste Restante http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poste_restante
cheers

Heiko

Saigon shoe shine man... - middle class guilt... - life the universe and everything

The rich guy. At Fanny's Café, Saigon CBD.

"Excuse me Sir, Shoe shine ?"     

"Ten thousand."
 

My usual reaction has always been, NO!, mixed with a healthy dose of annoyance that I was being targeted, pested and seen as a rich tourist. Add to that a touch of guilt.

After all if you give in to 'them' they'll pester you all the more. 

But then there was that touch of guilt. 

Today I realized, I was rich.

I wasn't travelling as a backpacker.

I had enough money. I was sitting at Fanny's ice cream palour and Café spending 30,000 Dong for a ball of ice cream.

Yea sure compared to the pundits of superannuation in-security back home I was poor. 

I didn't have the AUD $800,000 I needed for comfortable retirement. 

I wasn't even trying for it. 
My contemporaries had houses and investment portfolios, I made $122 daytrading in shares in 4 weeks. 

But compared to the guy asking to polish my shoes, I was unbelievably wealthy. I have money, knowledge, degrees, abilities, experience, and friends and family who would support me in tough times. 

I have nothing to worry about.

Top left corner: my sandals being polished.

But what got me today were two things: 

1) I realized how much I had. He was humble. I felt no resentment from him. I'd be damn resentful if I had to work as a shoe shine boy.

2) I'm 50. I'm not going to be here forever. I'm mortal. 

Life is NOW!.

I didn't care about keeping up some great system of "don't give in to 'them' ". 

I didn't care about "it won't solve the problem at its deepest root"

No it won't. 

So I gave him my sandals. Old worn leather Teva sandals. 

He spent a long time on them, polishing them better then they ever been polished.

"Sir...."

"Thanks they look great"

I paid him, 10,000 Dong and some extra. 

I'm not used to be being called Sir. 

"Who is he calling Sir ? Why ? I'm not a 'sir' I'm just an average scared little kid backpacking round the world."

There's a little boy, inside me, an eighteen year old backpacker who hasn't grown up yet.

The world is too big for me to fix it all, this is all I could do.
Let Gandhi and the heros do their stuff, I don't worry about big system, big picture anymore. 
The Universe is smart enough to work it out. 
I just gotta do what I can NOW. However small that is. 

Saigon, 4Apr10 Easter Sunday.

The view from the office desk: 
Working at Fanny's Café, Saigon, CBD.

KL taxi driver - a la natural - a contented man

It's pissing down with rain, a real tropical rain storm, buckets of water coming down. It's warm, this is KL (=Kuala Lumpur - Malaysians LOVE TLA's). We are undercover at a petrol station.

People on motorbikes flock to the petrol station to stay dry and wait it out.

A friend and I were on the way to KL Menara, the tall Lookout and TV communications tower overlooking the whole city.

Above: sign in a KL taxi,

kissing not allowed

The traffic is crawling along, its 5pm and rush hour.

I spot an empty cab, and we make a run for it.

The driver is smiles and beckons us in.

The car inside looks old , loved and well used like a favourite pair of shoes.

The driver smiles and nods as we give him the address of the hotel up the road.

We're happy to be out of the rain.

Traffic crawls slowly along, the windows are open and he has a cigarette, one of those nice smelling clover cigarettes.

Sitting back, making conversation, "Driving Taxis is a tough job".

"No, not hard," the driver turns his head and smiles at us.

Uh... what do I say to that ?

I had tried to sympathize and I had  I assumed every taxi driver would feel their job was hard.

"I get to travel round," he adds.

"What time did you start this morning ?"

"Six. I'm going home now, after I drop you two".

"Wow, 12 hours a day"

" I meet my friends for two hours every day for lunch, we chat and talk".

I can really see that he has a close circle of mates who all meet up together. He looks relaxed and happy - a sign of good friendships.

I remember lots of Astoria Taxi drivers in Carlton meeting at Genevie's restaurant at 11am every day. That was in the 1970's.

"Not so much money though," I persisted in pursing that track.

He didn't hear or didn't bother.

We talk about the traffic, how it's got heavy especially in the rain.

There is not frustration in his manner. 

"Your car ?" I ask him. The car looks old, but well cared for.

It does not have the slickness of a depot car. There are little nick-nacks of his everywhere, reminds me of the nick-nack's in my own office.

"Yes, my car." He smiles and nods.

"I've been driving taxis since I was a Bachelor", he tells us.

"Before you were married ?"

He nods.

"How many kids ?"

"Three."

We pull up  outside the hotel.

The fare is 6.20 Malaysian Ringgit, that's  $2.30 Aussie dollars, it wasn't far.

"I give you a discount make it six Ringgits"

He smiles and and leans back.

No hurry.

I'm stunned.

This is a happy man, a contented man.

I'm used to taxi drivers trying to get every little bit extra.

I'm used to rush rush rush....

This guy is not bothered.

"Make is seven", I hand him a ten Ringgit note.

He just smiles and says something I've forgotten by now.

"Here's my card, if you need to go anywhere you can call."

I've still got his card, his name is: Badrul Hisham 019 245 8678,

yes, if I needed a driver I would call him for sure.

It wasn't a clever marketing act that he did there.

He was just being himself.

A la natural!

I wonder why I assumed that everybody was unhappy in their job or felt underpaid.

Meeting a contended man.. was such a shock.

what happened to social expectations, ambition?

How dare he just be happy where he was ?

How dare he just see the good in his situation and accept it with a smile ?

Wow... A great taxi ride.

Always look on the bright side of life http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1loyjm4SOa0

Taxi drivers the world over are an odd bunch.

Talk about taxi drivers and everyone has a story of how they got ripped off by a taxi driver,  and luckily  there are also a few  stories about how NICE a taxi driver was to them.

this was an actual  story on a recent trip.

...at age 23, I drove taxis for Astoria Taxis in Swanston Street - after my lectures at Melb Uni where I did  a Dip Ed I would walk over and see Mr Gange (the Gange family had 110 taxi licenses)

"you got a car for me Mr Gange ?"

he looked at me over his glasses.

"How long you want it for ?"

"Just tonight, bring it back in the morning."

"Check with Paul."

"Thanks".

Mr Gange alwasy wore satin shirts, dark red, smoked like a chimney.

He had style of sorts.

I'd wander over to see crusty old Paul. Paul looked like a war veteran, with bits shot off and missing, scars and a limp.

His outward manner was rough but he was a good bloke.

He "did the cars" for the depot.

"Paul,, you got a car for me ?"

No answer just a quick wave of the hand to the corner where two ancient dilapidated, creaky old Kingswoods stood.

Bench seats, suspension like a see-saw.

This was the rock bottom of the pile.

Fair enough, I was a greenhorn, a young kid doing this part time.

I didn't want fancy cars either.

Small scratches wouldn't matter on these cars.

Its much more relaxing driving a heap. Even if I did break down a sometimes and I needed to radio the depot for a tow home.

Another car would come and get me using a tow rope.

I was a student, it was all part of the adventure.

If you have any good Taxi driver stories... send me an email.

cheers

Heiko
Glossary:TLA's = Three letter acromyms

'dance me to the children who are asking to be born....'  - Leonard Cohen 

"Well done", he said, "it is good to stand against the darkness, yet sometimes we must even stand against the light in order to find our true selves."

              from "Shadows & Illusions  -  conversations with Master Serapian" Bk3 p37,

Haiko's - blogs -(o)- metaphysics  -(o)- travel -(o)- stories -(o)- travel-tips. 
 One often meets one's destiny while trying to avoid it. - Anon.


comments from readers

My most interesting taxi story is about a taxi I caught from La Guardia Airport in NY when I was attending Cornell U.. We had a good conversation and I think he had some connection to Colombia. I was returning from Colombia. A year or two later I came into La Guardia (now JFK?) and caught a taxi. Conversation developed and it turned out to be the same taxi I had caught before. He remembered me and I him, after we started talking about Colombia. I don´t know the odds of that happening, but JFK is one of the biggest, if not THE, airports in the world.  by JA

Taiwan TW3 - things that hit a foreigner in Taiwan

• - all pedestrian traffic lights have a countdown panel of how many seconds before it goes red. As you approach you know how much you have to hurry or dawdle. The green light is an animated green man running.As the countdown hits 10 seconds he starts running faster and faster.
  
  
  
• - Everyone stands on the right on escalators, and the walking or running lane is on the left. This is done on all escalators, of which there are many many many... in the subway system.Little megaphones on autorplay admonish people to this. It's actually a good idea, if you want to hurry and there is an interminably long escalator that crawls up at snail's pace.
  
• -The very core of the old city, all the inner city of Taipei has bike lanes and pedestrian lanes, EVERYWHERE. It is simply part of the way it was all built from the beginning.
  
• Earthquakes are not unusual, tremors happen regularly. It took me a while to make the connection, but I think that is why a lot of the buildings are so SOLID and heavy constructed.
  
• Hot springs easily accessible by local city trains. Go soak in hot strang smelling water, and take the subway home.
  
• Taipei is a big city but has a sense of space and dignity, it is not frantic or crazy. 
  
  
  
    
  
• after you make a mobile phone call, you get an SMS that tells you how long your last call was and how much it cost you and your balance, - the sms is free of course.
  
• electronic money is used in may places in parallel with cash: wave your card at sensor BLEEEP and the details are on the cash register and your card is deducted the amount of your purchase.
  
• Subway: same idea: wave your "Easy CARD" at the sensor and you are IN , wave it again on the way out and the cost is deducted from the card.   A little screen lights up and tells you your remining credit. If you buy your card on English language settings, then all messages from your card are in English. nifty, geeks will appreciate this.
  
• Individual flats in a block of flats can be used and  rented out as offices.
  
• Crossing at the pedestrianCrossing, I hear a big bus on my left, but I'm confident it will stop for me, and it does. Such are the road rules here.
  
• At those pissy little intersections, I have to force myself and be "nice" and wait at the red lights like everyone else, so foreigners don't get a bad name.I'm not nice all the time.
  
• Around the world: One tends to avoid parks at night. Walking home a 23:30 hours, past the Da-an park in the center of the city. I took a small peek inside, and there was a lady with her pet dog, people playing guitar, (this is winter here, cool, Melboure winter type of cool). Ok so I crossed the park and use it as a shortcut walking home.
  

New year's at Taipei's 101, as the world's tallest building is called. Very impressive. Wall to wall people, all major 4 lane streets are open for pedestrians only. Volunteers traffic guards keep order alongside police. No alcohol, no crazy drunks wandering the streets. Hardly any litter. Subways are total crush time of course. I walked for an hour back home. Very nice atmosphere. 

 



The Presidential palace is well guarded. Wide roads lead up to it, as is the custom for palaces, but I've never seen guards as vigilant anywhere in the world. As I get within 300meters there is a police/army type car and men with drawn rifles in their hands. The rifles or submachine guns or whatever they are called by the experts - have big magazines.
I cross the street and walk past the front of the palace on the pedestrian footpath. Not many people walk there. Every 20m a tall skinny guy in plain boring civilian clothes stands. But he does not just stand, he STANDS and his head moves 180 degrees, sweeping the scene, from side to side. As I pass the next guy, same thing, same facial expression, same type of clothes, just standing there WATCHING. These guys have no guns, no weapons they are the pawns on the chessboard.
The same arrangement goes all the way around the palace. Behind the pawns moving their heads are armed guards, halfway between the building and the watchers with their moving heads. These armed are the bishops or knights of the chessboard. They have uniforms, not civilian clothes and they are armed to the teeth, rifles at the ready, held in both hands.
Right by the walls of the palace are more guards, a LOT of them, also armed (of course). The front door of the palace is open, a wide red carpeted staircase goes up into the interior. Guards all the way up. I slow my walking pace down a bit to check it out but don't want to stop and gawk. Somehow something is not conducive or inviting to do that kind of thing. I don't even pull out my camera.
The vibes walking along the footpath are palpable. I cross the street breathe a sigh of relief and keep walking to Shimending. Shimending is the young people's fashion and clothes and food and movies and buskers area. Full of life and glitz and glimmer. The outrageously expensive next to the dirt cheap.
The end of my Taiwan stay is 8Jan10 :-( feel sad to leave.
Hope to come back one day.
Heiko


need to plan everything ? travel enthusiasm http://www.roadjunky.com/article/2143/make-extensive-travel-plans-and-make-god-laugh

 

'dance me to the children who are asking to be born....'  - Leonard Cohen 

You ask yourselves, "what is the matter with me ? Why am I not content ?"
Your heart is whispering "Listen to me. This is not Home.
You did not come for contentment. You came to remember." - Emanuel....

Haiko's - blogs -(o)- metaphysics  -(o)- travel -(o)- stories.
           skype ID:       MmePickwick
 One often meets one's destiny while trying to avoid it. - Anon.

Taiwan... TW1

At the coin laundromat this evening I took my just washed wet clothes out and stuffed them into the dryer next to the washing machine.
Changed a Taiwan dollar NT $100 bill into NT$10 ten dollar coins and paid what it said in red letters on the outside the machine.
Oooops. The machine was another washing machine, not a dryer.
The things one does when tired but happy.
Ok back in 28minutes, to try for the dryer again.

It's the end of the third day in Taiwan, Taipei.
I've had a whale of a time.
A Taiwanese friend offered to pick me up from the airport,
"No need I said, I'll find the office" (where I would be staying.)
The only surprise was just how EaSY it was to find their office.
The airport is clean, signposted in English and CHinese.
Tourist info people very helpful and fluent in English.
There is a bus to downtown Taipei main station for NT $123 (AUD $ 4).
Takes an hour.
Subway is simple to use, fast, cheap (AUD 60cents)
and did I say it was simple to use ? simper and more intuitive than any other system I've ever used.
Buidlings are numbered, Streets have English subtitles.
In 3 days I've never once had trouble with people not understanding me, everyone knows some English, enough to communicate food, bank, transport stuff.
Simple.

But most remarkable thing  of all was the UNremarkable matter of factness of arriving in Taipei from Kuala Lumpur.
 I had never been to Taiwan (in this life) yet it felt like getting on a local train in Melbourne and getting off a few stations later.
This is what surprised me most all.
It felt like coming home and flinging the keys on the table and walking into my living room.
Not coming HOME in a dramatic "oh my gawd I'm HOME!!!!" way, but just coming home from a day at the orifice. "Hi, I'm home, do you want to eat in or go out ?"

Perhaps it was that I had been making a site about travelliing to Taiwan for months (  http://sites.google.com/site/heikorudolph/travel-taiwan   ) and sort of tuned into the place for months ?  No, its more than that. I have no idea what though.

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=>> I'm keeping an eye on the length of these ramblings.
Those people who have opted for the short subscription should now get into the left lane, Exit for short subscriptions in 300 words on your left.  Put on your blinker...
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Earlier travel emails with photos on: http://heikorudolph.blogspot.com/2009/12/kuala-lumpur-2009-december.html

Yesterday and today (17Dec09) I was able to see a few people for Chiron Healiing®  treatments - organized by Angelika here in Taipei. (part of my "other life" outside the Uni, in Melbourne)

I had never thought seriously about visiting Taiwan till I looked closely at the place.
Until then, I had relied on hearsay and other people's judgements "It's crowded and hot ! It's expensive, sooooo expensive ! It's all technological and industrial !"
Well it is those things in some few places but it has an incredible variety. Another example that I should not rely on secondhand info, but rather check things out myself. Of course anyone reading this should not take my word for it either... :-)  
                Just HOW expensive is it ? Today I had to buy shoes, 2 pants, socks, and a  Parka  because it is colder and wetter than I thought - total of AUD $66.
Lunch or home made dinner at a nice  family run place AUD $2-5.
It is a liveable place, there are no beggars, no one sleeps on cardboard boxes in the subways, and people are incredibly friendly, earthy, patient and robust.
For me it feels like there is an innocence and beauty in Taiwan's daily life that I only remember from my childhood in Germany. (early onset senility ?  or honeymoon phase ? )
There is less hurry, less push and shove as I walk around the city.
I feel safe.
Yet this is Taipei, the capital, the home of a world power in semiconductor chip industry and computer and IT industry and of TEA .
The houses where I am, in the center of Taipei, are solidly built. THings are maintained, and work.
Compared to that my own block of flats feels like it was thrown together at a distance by a one eyed kangaroo.  They have solid blocks of flats like that in Melbourne in places like St Kilda too and the older subburbs.

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=>> ENTER Left Lane for  Exit of short subscriptions  -  200 words on your left.  
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19Dec09 - Hot spring yesterday, in Wulai, easily reachable by train and bus.
While waiting for the bus a taxi driver come up to me, offered me a lift for NT$100, seemed to good to be true. My travellers cautionary instincts came to the fore.  He showed me a $100 note, (AUD$3.30) Ok fine, why not.
He was going home anyway and so he might as well get something for his trip rather than nothing.

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=>> ENTER Left Lane for  Exit of short subscriptions  -  100 words on your left.  
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A local Chinese Lady came with us, she also had her red $100 note in her hand so I was reassured.
The Lady jabbered  away at me in Chinese, totally undeterred that I didn't understand a word, and so I also Jabbered away at her in English. Then she sort of understood what it was like to NOT understand another language. We smiled, sat in the backiseat, looked out the window and kept talking to each other as though the other one understood.
It's kind of amazing how much you can communicate just by tone, voice, and general sound. You dont have to understand anything with your mind. to have a convesation.
Of course you need to be relaxed and not tense. Usually I'm tense because the otheer person wants something from me (like money) that I probably dont want to give them. This lady didnt want anything, just to chat, so the jabbering away approach worked very well. . .
Was fun. It felt like we DID communicate in a way, though I have no verbal idea what was exchanged. Something was.
I  was hoping it wasn't anything important she was  telling me, like "the busses stop running at 4pm and you have to spend the night in the river".
It wasn't.
But I did check for the last bus just in case.
9pm.
OK.


Just how easy it is in Taiwan is borne out by the fact that I've not even had to learn the numbers yet.
Usually that is the key language survival skill, that  and the phrase  "where is the toilet ?".
Something I can say in many many languages.
But I WILL learn the numbers, so0000000on. Promise.... (but don't email and ask me if I have)
The most unlikely people will come out with English, quite relevant phrases too. The old guy making dumplings by hand in the restaurant where I have breakfast, will pop out with it, "Today no shrimp, today only pork. Ok ?"
"Sure, ok" any dumpling is ok with me. They are all handmade and delicious.
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=>> EXIT  Left Lane for  short subscriptions  -   NOW !
slow your reading speed to 50 words / minute please.
Speed reading cameras operate in this area.... skim reading above 50 w.p.m. will incurr fines of up to AUD $200 !
Please read slowly and safely.
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WELCOME TO THE EXPANDED FULL UNCUT DIRECTOR'S CUT VERSION.
THANK YOU for stayig the course
-  please be aware of the local safe reading speed limit of 50words/minute.
Speed cameras operate. School zones 40 words/min.

The changing face of budget "Plan-as-you-go" travel: I've remarked on this before, how it has moved from face to face to online.
Travelling with a small netbook computer and local phone number is a really good way to go. I used to pooh pooh it, but have bent with he winds of change.
If not a small computer then some kind of regular email contact. The social connections are almost all done on-line, where people can check out another persons background, past events  they've been to, what others have independently said about  them etc.. example here: Heiko's profile on Couchsurfing: http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/cinnamon/
There is a nice trust between people. (yes, yes I know.... usuall objections and concerns insert <...here...> see website here)
Example: Tonight (19Dec09) I got an invite to a meeting with local Couchsurfers about Chi Gong in Taiwan. I had posted a question about and talked about my interest on the Taipei group. We met at a local Subway station and headed for the meeting (couchsurfing Org is one of many good online ways to meet traveler friendly people in local  places, in this case: people interested in Chi Gong)
The mention of Chi Gong does not bring forth lots of questions and skeptical looks here, rather inquiries of 'oh what form' do you practice ?'
It feels like finding a long lost friend to find a country where Chi Gong is part and parcel of the culture. What  took me so long to find this place ?
"Ah..... grasshopper, it was not YOU how found it, it was not time to be found. When the traveller is ready the destination appears".


The changing face of travel 2:  Less poverty in SE Asia. It used to be much more prevalent to be followed by people asking for money. Now it generally only happens more at the high volume tourist spots where the specialists operate. Even in Hanoi, there was real LACK of the constant barrage of book sellers and so forth. They have moved on, got more important things to do. 
Also: less "out space" visitor feeling. Travellers and foreigners/falangs are not the rare exotic, visitors from outer space they used to be in the 1970's and before. Nor are they regarded  as just wallets on legs, unless you go to the heavy tourist spots. 

Mentality change required. Coming to Taiwan is nothing like visiting the developing countries of SE Asia. Taiwan is the same level and sophistication as Europe, Australia etc....

There is an orderlyness and honesty about daily life: Tiny stuff: We get into the taxi at a red light. The driver does not press the button to start the meter till the light is green and the car moves.
Is it just me, or does it seem people have a little more patience here ? must be just me on holidays or is it ?
This IS the capital and the center of the capital, but in any crowd, at a restaurant or going out, I find people who can converse in English, who express opinions about European VS Hollywood films, discuss public talks and who quietly hold their own opinions on a range of subjects I can usually only discuss with fellow Ivory Tower Inmates.
I just  got an invite to a European film festival, from a friendly local Taiwanese Couchsurfer.
Alan Carpenter! are you reading this ? this one is  for you here http://www.infine-art.com/bluesbash/  



Found out about weekend crowds on the subways:
Looooooooooooooooooong  queues for most trains, hugely packed. Every weekend, when  everyone goes out.
Weekdays were a pleasant breeze, so I was totally surprised to hit RUSH hour on Saturday late afternoon.
The subway/Train/skytrain ticketing system here is the most convenient I have seen and used.

1. Buy NT$500 card and put in wallet.
2. When you go through the ticket gate just wave your wallet at the sensor, "BLEEP"you are logged in.
3. When you get off, wave at  sensor again and  you are logged out and the amount deducted from your card.

no tickets, no chips, no coins, no queueing at machines. Just wander through.
I am showing great restraint by NOT commenting on Melbourne's ticketing system - other than this sentence.

Longshan Temple Taipei, above.

On the 5th floor of a building, (Chi gong restaurant in fact) suddenly the whole room  shakes and rattles. The room feels like a carboard box and like a big kid outside is shaking it.
In these cases, as in Japan, people in the room look at each, with various degree of trust  or panic, and while the rattling continues the unspoken question is:
"Is this the BIG one ?"
.....wait....wait....watch.....tick.......tick.......tick.....
"Phew. no, its not"
and everyone keep going as before.
This kind of thing is normal. The building is built for it. In places where Earth tremors are super super rare (like Oz) this would have caused real damage I would imagine.

The world's tallest  Builiding, "Teipei 101" is here, in this city.
At the very top is a 60 ton ball of lead, that is positioned with an array of hydraulic  pistons  that can move and compensate this huge weight to keep the building safe. A control Engineer's wet dream come true.
Standing up there, one can feel the constant swaying, if one looks for it. Took me 20 mins to notice, but eventually you start to feel  like you are in a ship, an ever so tiny small unsteadiness. I like it, others feel queasy.


Its 5am 20Dec09,  just woke up early, writing since 3:30am.
When I'm in my own daily life I think I know the world, I think I know what  is what and spout my opinions with naive arrogance. Then I see the lives of people in different places, and how they quietly go about their things, and I realize I know very little. And I think I have realized and learned much in my travels, and so in a different kind of arrogance I again spout away in email and blogs like this one - :-)
this change of perspective, getting a grip on my smallness (though not insingficance) is what I like about experiencing diff cultures.
Of couse this is just my way of doing it, there are many other ways to realize the same thing.
Live and let live as they say.

More info on: Taiwan here  http://sites.google.com/site/heikorudolph/travel-taiwan

for those who asked for the full refernce to mad dogs and Englishmen.
MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN

In Tropical climes there are certain times of day
When all the citizens retire to take their clothes off and perspire
It's one of those rules the greatest fools obey
Because the Sun is far too sultry and one must avoid its ultry-violet
rays

The natives grieve when the White Men leave their huts
Because they're obviously....definitely....Nuts!

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun
The Japanese don't care to, the Chinese wouldn't dare to
Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve till one
But Englishmen detest-a siesta

In the Philipines they have lovely screens to protect you from the
glare
In the Malay States there are hats like plates which the Britishers
won't wear
At twelve noon the natives swoon and no further work is done
But mad dogs and Englismen go out in the midday sun

It's such a surprise for the Eastern eyes to see
That though the English are effete, they're quite impervious to heat
When the White Man rides, every native hides in glee
Because the simple creatures hope he will impale his solar topi on a
tree

It seems such a shame when the English claim the Earth
That they give rise to such hilarity and mirth
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
Ho=ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho
He-he-he-he-he-he-he
Hm-hm-hm-hm-hm

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun
The toughest Burmese bandit can never understand it
In Rangoon the heat of noon is just what the natives shun
They put their Scotch or Rye down and lie down

In a jungle town where the Sun beats down to the rage of man and beast
The English garb of the English Sahib merely gets a bit more creased
In Bangkok at twelve o'clock they foam at the mouth and run
But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun

Mad dogs and Englshmen go out in the midday sun
The smallest Malay rabbit deplores this foolish habit
In Hong Kong they strike a gong and fire off a noonday gun
To reprimand each inmate, who's in late

In the mangorve swamps where the python romps there is peace from
twelve till two
Even caribous lie around and snooze for there's nothing else to do
In Bengal to move at all is seldom if ever done
But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday
Out in the midday
Out in the midday
Out in the midday
Out in the midday
Out in the midday
Out in the midday sun

(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - October 2002)

 From the musical revue "The Third Little Show" (1924)
(Noel Coward)
Noel Cowardhttp://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/m/maddogsandenglishmen.shtml

Kuala Lumpur - 2009 December

In warm relaxed KL, 13Dec09. The people here are of a very different temperament, life moves in a different, smooth rythem. It brings out a different aspect in me as well, (is this why I travel ? to meet diff aspects of self ? "Keep traveling Grasshopper, keep travelling").

It is the kind of place where one can just talk to people on the street without that initial film of suspicion and defensiveness I'm used to within myself and others i.e. ("is this a psycho asking me the time of day, or is he really just asking the time ? or does he want money ? " -- sometimes asking the time is really just asking the time says Dr Freud, although I think he was talking about cigars in the original I think... . )

What struck me too: It's a very child friendly society.

Kids are everywhere and part and parcel of the scene, for some reason parents don't seem to be engaged in constantly 'shushing' them or trying to stop them from embarassing the family or arguing with the about why they can't have this or that nick nack. They just float along with whatever is going on without much fuss.

Watched "the Matrix" again on the plane: great stuff. We live in Matrices within Matrices.... now how to figure out the jumping bits equivalent in real life ?

In Melbourne we were about to take off at 13:30, but something did not pass the final tests. it was 18:00 by the time we got away and 2am before I hit the bed in a hotel near Sentral Station in KL.

The lady of the hotel did reverse bargaining: Original price was 100 Ringgit (AUD $30) and the closer we go to the room the more the price dropped without me saying a word, it ended at 80 RM and when I paid she said 70 because it was 2am already. Definitely not many tourists come to this area, love it.

By the time I stumbled out of bed brunch was in full swing. The mainly Indian area here, Brickfields, has all a traveller needs within 100meters: food, barber, internet cafe, IT gadgets, antique pocketwatches and a lively street scene.

Indian music is playing in the background, kids play computer games in the cool shady aircon upstairs internet shop.

Mum & Dad: thanks for your christmas present: a selfwiding 1990's good quality pocket watch from KL ! this is YOUR present to me - thank you :-)

It seems short and sweet missives more often is better than long and rambling, so I'll close this here.

If you want off this list just drop me a line.

All the best for Christmas.

Heiko

'dance me to the children who are asking to be born....' - Leonard Cohen

One often meets one's destiny while trying to avoid it. - Anon.

Today (Sunday the 13Dec09) I set myself the challenge: treat the city as a jungle:

take train to Petronas twin towers, and then walk back to the other end of the city, in Brickfields, with just a simple Lonely Planet map, and a magnetic compass to guide me.

4 hours later, with a detour to the 425m TV lookout tower, I was back in my hotel, hot & smelly.

Close to the hotel I bought a local SIM card, for my phone and when I opened my old leather bag I had to take out bottles of juice, apples etc.... the guy asked me (in Jest ???) are you sleeping anywhere ?

"Huh !!! Yes I am, I just did my shopping and and have 3 liters of juice and apples and stuff crammed in". Hummpfff said Eyeore !!!.

Impressions from trekking across KL:

- The place is NOT as big as it seems on the map, if you know where you are going the city is actually manageable even on foot.

- There are some really "NOICE" areas, tasteful restaurants, Thai and Vietnamese, stylish areas, bizzare and artistically built, architects dreams.

- Parks, with lawn, ponds, HUGE old trees, even a forest area, of original looking vegetation, old trees and mosquitoes.

- the CAR is KING !!!. Long live the CAR ! Prepare ye the way for Zee CAR, make ye straight the path of the CAR !!! here cometh the CAR !!! tada... Let nothing stand in the way of ZEE CAR!!!
- Result of the above: trekking accross KL sometimes means negotiating clover leaf flyover after clover leaf flyover. If you are in a car or train it's all easy, but no one walks more than a 300m radius circle of their immediate neighbourhood.
Certainly not any major distances.
Sometimes footpaths run along the freeways and just suddenly peter out or have a fence. Not sure why they put a footpath there in the first place, its a nice idea though. No real thought to how a pedestrian would actually move around. Well that's not really true: pedestrians just have to dash across the freeway when it is safe to do so. Takes some strategy to work out how to get across a huge system of ramps and multilanes. Usually there is a shortcut or even an under/overpass. Other times you just have figure out the flow and work out how to position yourself so you cross the minimum number of lanes.
But anyway: the only ones using footpaths are mad dogs and Englishmen...(or these days: Australians,...Germans...etc...i.e. falangs)
- Traffic lights for pedestrians are set on "miserly", you gotta dash around between the flow of those things for which all this was built in the first place: CARS.
- I'll be taking trains from now on.
- as a result of the trekk: I now know how the key things in the city are laid out. Where PetronasTowers are in relation to Chinatown, & to Puduraya bus station, to the old Train station and all of them to Sentral station.
Now the maps make a degree of sense.


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THis is about the right length email at this point for the short version.
All those readers who only "paid" for the short subscription and do NOT want a
rambling LONG missive inflicted on them, please exit now.

Exit now !
DO not read any further, time to stop.

Readers with small children and infants may abort reading anytime.
Business class and first class readers may read at their whim.

what??? ............. are you still reading this ?
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ok - well you asked for it: more "fascinating" stuff below: you were warned, read on at your own risk.
Please tick the box [] to show you absolve me of all responsibility and you have read the terms and conditions.

Are there any Bicycles in KL ?
Bicycles ?
What are they ?
"Bi" - meaning two and "cycles" - meaning repetitious, round as in wheels.
Oh you mean those funny things with two wheels you have to precariously balance on, where you might fall off, and where you use your MUSCLES to push YOURSELF along by your own strength...OMG.
Not cool, might actually break out in a sweat.
Saw ONE cyclist, and it was a foreign/falang looking person. Expat type.

I would not want to cycle in KL, car drivers are totally NOT expecting a bike, even motorbikes are an endangered species.
I guess a bike would be ok if it was expensive and you wore all the right colourful lycra gear, but for just getting around ? No!
It seems to me riding a bicycle in KL would about as exotic as saying "Hey watch me fly my hang-glider" in Australia.

It strikes me KL is at the stage regarding cars, that Melbourne was in 10+ years ago.
Quite liveable and very nice but cars were the undisputed first preference, no traffic calming, no bike lanes, etc... .


Oh and one more thing: Malaysians seem to LOVE, really really LEEEERVE, shopping centers.
I walked into KLCC shopping center (just because it was there, next to Petronas Towers). inside it was ritzy and glitzy just like the best of them in Australia or anywhere in the world.
Ok, I have to be honest: 4 mins was not a long time to assess this, but there was really nothing different to KLCC from any international standard glitzy ritzy super brand name shopping center.
It made me think though: There is one thing that always intrigued me: Does shopping not mean spending money ? and does this money not come from the ones who shop ?
Now I could really get into shopping if it meant spending someone else's money on things for myself, but spending my OWN money ? I was brought up to try and hang onto it. I'm not that good at it as it is. But shopping centers make that 10 times harder.
That one has always puzzled me.
Perhaps it's a bit like Ulysses: who wanted to hear the song of those deadly alluring sexy Sirens, so he ordered his men to tie him to the mast of his ship and not to untie him no matter how much he yelled and threatened them.

However I'm quite happy to admit that I'm shopping-ly challenged and miss the necessary DNA.
My first thought is always: "But I can get this much cheaper outside!"
Then again perhaps I'm just a mutation: I DO Love shopping for pocket watches in strange places, like tiny little alley shops run by bespectacled old guys who fix and repair old spring driven clockwork.

Speaking of which: perhaps it is all just a matter of taste, and each to his own. Some people get their jollies from shiny ritzy shopping centers, I get mine from chaotic shopping streets, mixes of restaurants, butchers, tailors, jewellers, fruit sellers, mobile phone shops, watch repairers, crazy parking, shiny lights. The smells of sandalwood, incense, piss, and exhaust funes. In short: a chaotic quirling mass of humanity. A swirling about of young and old.

If anyone would like to donate money to rehabilitate me to see if I can manage to like high class shopping centers, please send donations .... he he he .



STOP PRESS: I figured it out (about the shopping centers): I'm a male, I'm an Engineer !!! OF COURSE that explains it all.
Tomorrow I'll explore one shopping center that DOES sound interesting: a cybercenter, IT, technology place.


14Dec09 MOnday,
The lady managing my Hotel, would be perfect for Charles Dickens to characterize. She is a middle aged Indian with an offbeat sense of humour, and seems like she can deal with whatever is thrown her way, (even a Heiko and worse). I get a very nice sense of Indian culture from her.
The hotel I discovered by "chance", happened to see it from the airport bus as we got close to the final stop in the city at 0100.
It's a totally non-tourist area here. The Indian restaurants serve meals on big banana leaves.

If you have ever looked closely at a trail of ants, you'll see that ants move along very narrow trails. Some ants move in one direction, some in the opposite. Every now and then some of the ants going in different directions stop and wave their antennas at each other. They are talking, exchanging info in 'ant-language'. then they hurry on for about 3 to 10 centimeters and stop and do the antenna waving thing again.
That seems very similar to how us tourists and backpackers follow very narrowly defined trails. Everyone goes to the same general Backpacker area. Or if you are Biz traveller or 5 * traveller, to the same general top class Hotels. Before the internet people did have to actually hang out and talk face to face.
After the internet: the same still happens, only it happens online, on a few key websites.

17:00 hours: back from the Guanyin/KuwanYin Temple, next to the Petronas Tower, (by train this time, both ways).
The rain bucketed down thunder raged and everyone waited indoors for an hour.

Devi the lady who runs the Crescent Hotel in this small little Tamil enclave near Sentral Station keeps a vigilant eye on things. She greets her customers when they come in, smiles and asks what they did in the day and generally chats amiably.
As I was sitting in the lobby, this evening watching the street scene through the glass doors. Suddenly she got up like lightning and dashed to the front door as one of her guests was coming in, saying "NO".
HUH??? I was puzzled for an instant.
"No prostitutes, allowed in my hotel"
The guy just turns around without a word, his girl never made it inside.
She goes back to her spot on the front desk.
"he paid for one person, he can bring his wife, or his girlfriend, but not a prostitute", she explains to me.
I giver her a thumbs up.
"I don't run a brothel here " she is indignant.
She may be the Madame of the hotel but is not "A Madame of an 'Establishment' "
She can be sweet as anything but she ain't no pushover.

enough rambling for this time....
Busy Christmas coming up...
Heiko