It's a jungle out there

'Marissa, Marissa wake up! It's time to go see the elephants!' No joke, that was Ian at 7:00 am sharp this morning.

So off to the elephants we went.  An hour and half drive deep into the jungle, with the last 12km or so down a two-lane road dotted with shacks and traditional Malay homes, we arrived.  Ian couldn't keep the grin off his little face.

Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary

The sanctuary was a fair bit more sophisticated than I expected.  Lots of information about the elephants, a cafe, plenty of toilets and shower and lovely grounds.  Lousy gift shop though, it consisted of tacky tee-shirts and a few souvenir coffee mugs that said 'save the elephants' - done in permanent marker.  No one knows how to make a buck like the Americans.

I digress.  We followed the sounds of elephants trumpeting away and soon armed with peanuts, were able to feed the babies.

We got well and truly covered in elephant snot, but it was fun anyway.  We then had some time to kill before the fun really got started, which is when we got to ride the elephants and then join them in the river at bath time. (I'm pleased to say that on a subsequent visit they had eliminated the rides, which are bad for the elephants and have improved the bathing process significantly so that it is far less stressful for them.)

So we had a great day and learned a lot.  The Asian Elephant is an endangered species due to deforestation and urbanization - although in Malaysia that is called 'forest conversion'.  Most of this 'conversion' is the result of palm oil plantations - which destroy the elephant habitats. The elephants then take to raiding plantations, costing farmers lots of money.  Herds also get split up or trapped in small parcels of land often surrounded by plantation or other obstructions.

Malaysia gets really defensive about palm oil and (perhaps fairly) think it's a bit rich for the US and European countries to be lecturing about environmental policy.

The entire west coast of Malaysia from Penang to Johor is pretty much one giant oil palm plantation. It's heart-breaking. The problem with palm oil is not just simple the deforestation, it's the destruction of primary rainforest, that will never grow back. Oil palms grow very quickly, but they also have a relatively short life cycle, so once they are no longer productive, plantations are abandoned and the land is good for little else other than building on.

While Malaysia is pretty naughty, it pales in comparison to Indonesia - and Malaysia likes to remind you of that any chance they get. 

Back to the elephants. Kuala Gandah looks after 'displaced' elephants not only from Malaysia, but Thailand, Burma and around Southeast Asia.  Some are re-released others remain at the sanctuary.  The sanctuary is remarkably uncritical of the plantations and farmers.  Whether it is because they count on their cooperation to be notified of raiding elephants or they simply just view it as an essential part of Malaysia's development plan, it's hard to tell. 

Either way, they are certainly getting part of the equation right (and it's a great day out). We left what we thought was a fairly generous donation and will certainly be taking visitors there.

TGIF

It's 18:35 Friday, I'm home, sitting outside with gin and tonic in hand. Ian is in the pool. First time all week we've been home before 7:00 and it feels good. Big weekend ahead.  Off to elephant sanctuary tomorrow morning to spend day feeding and splashing about in the river with baby elephants.  I'm excited, Ian is really excited.  Birthday celebrations to commence on Sunday, think we'll spoil ourselves with steaks and red wine.

Have officially survived week two of the new job.  Phew.  Not only have I learned a lot about Malaysian work culture, but the commute is teaching me many lessons as well.  I thought I had the rules (or lack thereof) of the road pretty figured out, but highway driving is it's whole own thing.  Apparently, and infuriatingly the middle lane is the slow lane - so there is no elegant way to change lanes, you just gun it or slam on the breaks about 3 times in 15 seconds, awesome.

Now I generally do not support the bashing of women drivers, we all know men get in more wrecks and far more devastating ones.  But the women here, particularly the Malay women, are shockingly bad and I've figured out why - it's because they can't bloody see.  Very few women here wear full burkahs, but a great deal of them do wear headscarves.

And as you can see, they don't have any peripheral vision! It's like driving with the hood of a parka pulled over your head. It's entirely hopeless, not to mention that nine times out of ten they've got a baby on their lap or a 3 year old bouncing all over car - or both!

Needless to say, every trip to and from work is indeed an adventure.

Patience is a virtue

I report to you this evening from bed.  That's right, bed.  Not a mattress on the floor, but a real bed that is at least an entire foot off the ground. Hooray.

In other news the new job is improving, starting to get the hang of things and can just about sleep through the night without a 2am panic attack.  I'm also learning a lot about work ethic and work culture in Malaysia.

Firstly, people here work hard, and they certainly work a lot.  About the same half dozen security guards at our condo seem to be here all the time - at a minimum these guys work 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week - maybe more.  There is a local restaurant, open 24 hours - nearly the entire staff of about 20 guys live in once house. Shift change is at 7:00 and 7:00.  Everyday, 10 in and 10 out every twelve hours.

We also have a friend whose (admittedly crap) car has broken down several times.  Last week the mechanic fixed the transmission, this week it broke again - what did the mechanic do?  He felt bad and offered our friend the use of his own car.  So before I start my massive whinge, let the record show, I get how hard people work here and for how little.

Now that being said, I think a generous estimate would be that every time you seek out and pay for a professional service - at best they get it about half right.  If it involved having to actually go into a store to arrange or purchase something (for example broadband), you'll have to go back at least once. If you've scheduled a time for a delivery or repair you may as well block out your whole day. If it involved spelling (say invitations) or having something altered (curtains) something will go wrong.  The curtains, speaking from first-hand experience here, will either all be different lengths or they will at least be the same length - but not the length you specified.  My level of expectation has been dramatically reduced.

I was having a conversation at work the other day about working with 'local' staff.  The term 'local' staff gives me the creeps, talk about colonial.  Anyway, whilst acknowledging that we have many extremely capable and devoted staff, there was a discussion about how to get them to do things.  E-mail, no. Phone, no. In person, no. Just asking nicely, no. Threatening, no.  In order to accomplish anything, you have to make a big song and dance about what a great big favour they are doing you etc. etc.  Now this is obviously annoying on two levels:  1. It's a complete waste of time. 2. You shouldn't have to cajole someone into doing what's in their job description.  And even  after you've basically tricked them into doing their job, you're probably going to have to chase them up about it a couple of times.

Lots to learn, all character building I'm sure. Whether this is all going to make me a more or less patient person remains to be seen.

Baptism of Fire

I've been quite neglectful of this blog recently, but have mercy, it's been a bit of a baptism of fire at work this week.  Still finding my feet in the new job - but no major disasters (yet) and things are happening; albeit far slower than I would like.  Most things in Malaysia happen slower than I would like.

Anyway, let's not talk about work, it's a public holiday today (god only knows what for, we have about one a week, but I think this is a Hindu one). 

Work aside we've still been keeping busy and at the risk of sounding like home store advert, this place is actually starting to look and feel like a home.  My employment has greatly loosened the purse-strings around here and not only are we awaiting the arrival of bed, sofa and coffee table - but we've acquired some fun stuff too!

 

Ian decided he couldn't live another moment without a proper television - so for a mere £300/$490/RM1500 we acquired a brand new Samsung 32 inch flat screen and Philips Blue-Ray player.  I'm not going to lie, I love it too, but Ian clearly loves his new toys more than me.

Ian also couldn't resist the temptation to buy garden lights made out of actual coconuts.  'Totally tropical' in his words.

I nearly had my first 'I hate Asia' meltdown this afternoon after we spent 30 minutes circling a parking garage in which there were CLEARLY no spaces no left but they kept letting people in anyway.  There were literally at least 100 cars tearing around the place battling for the very, very few spaces that were actually being vacated.  Ultimately, we abandoned the car against a wall where it seemed fairly unlikely it would get hit.  We returned 2+ hours later (after a delicious Indonesian lunch and battling the crowds at Ikea), no ticket, no clamping, no damage.  Phew.

Happy New Year, round 2

It's been a busy first week back.  Getting past the jet lag, undoing Ian's little messes and getting my act together to face my first full week of work in the office.  As for work, I'm nervous, scared but mostly really excited to get back into a proper routine and engage my brain on a regular basis.  Housewifery is just not for me.  Paychecks will be pretty cool too.


Yesterday we spent shopping and successfully acquired a sprinkling of new things that will go a long way towards filling this empty shell of a condo.  We found and ordered a fancy new coffee table (teak of course), downside being that we have to wait a month for it.  We've also reached a compromise on a bed (alleluia!), found a sofa, picked up a few more kitchen utensils and finally got some smoke detectors!  Hoping for a less hectic (and less expensive) day today.  Hopefully the somewhat elusive sun will pop out for a few hours allowing me a few hours poolside to retrieve my tan that abandoned me in the States. 

The weather has felt distinctly cooler since I've returned - which here means the low 80s.  It has also been England-grey and a bit on the rainy side.  The mosquitoes have been persistent as ever.  I counted 24 bites yesterday, I'm sure the number is higher today.  Citronella and all other supposed natural deterrents are an absolute myth - I'm coming round to the idea that I may just have to walk around in a cloud of DEET 24/7.

Malaysia is rapidly gearing up for Chinese New Year (Feb. 3), the year of the rabbit.  Red lanterns abound and little Chinese markets selling all sorts of plants and trinkets, presumably our equivalents of poinsettias and Christmas ornaments, have sprung up all over the place.  Best of all, Chinese New Year seems to mean that beer goes on sale - $30 for a 26 can 'prosperity pack' of Tiger. 

Home Sweet Home

Having spent the last week traversing 3 continents and traveling over 10,500 miles it feels very good to be home (however you want to define it).  Most of all, it feels good to not have a suitcase constantly trailing behind me. It was a mixed trip back, sad as always to leave Chicago but I did manage not one but 2 jaunts into London, getting the chance to potter around the city a bit and catch up with friends.

London to KL was pure misery.  Two hours late departing Heathrow pretty much wiped out my connection time in Abu Dhabi.  I got off the plane at 2:36 am and my next flight departed at 2:50 am.  Miraculously, I somehow made it from the rear of the plane, through security, to the complete other end of the airport (the next to last gate) and onto the plane as they were announcing final, final call.  Credit to Etihad Airways, my luggage even made the connection - I am still grateful and totally impressed.  (I was however at one point certain that I had actually sprinted to my death.  Abu Dhabi to KL was without the question the bumpiest ride I have ever experienced in my long history of flying - not those gentle bumps you can sleep through, the kind where your stomach feels like it's dropped down to your feet.  We bumped along like this for the last 2 hours of the flight, there were sighs of relief and a round of applause when we landed).

I arrived home to a not-quite-tidy flat that Ian has semi-reverted into a bachelor-pad - no toilet paper but copies of Wired magazine littering the bathroom floor and literally no food.  His reign is over.  He did however redeem himself slightly in that in my absence he managed to acquire some decent wine glasses, two floor lamps and his newfound pride and joy

a lovely little lime tree that set us back a mere $9.00!

I too (after stateside trips to Target, Crate & Barrel and Williams Sonoma) returned with a sprinkling of items that make this place look slightly more inhabited including new bathmats, table cloths, placemats and other kitchen implements.  More importantly I returned with a big bottle of gin (thanks mom and Thomas).  We also have our first visitors, a quick shout-out to Nick and Michelle here from Bristol who kindly treated us to banana-leaf curry and a round of beers last night.

I've been back just over 24 hours and asleep for a good deal of it, but have already acquired a fresh sprinkling of mosquito bites.  It's good to be home.