The good, the bad and the ugly.

2 posts in under a week! I'm really hoping to get this blog back on track for awhile. I've been pretty lousy at it lately, but we had a huge summer (literally, we both came back from a three-week trip to America significantly heavier than when we left) and then the start of the academic year was upon us and so it goes.

Anyway, as our time in Malaysia grows shorter (61 days!) I'm starting to see everything in two categories: what I will miss, and what I will not. Let's take a look:

Things I will miss:

The lovely, lovely weather. 90 degrees every day, guaranteed.

The food. In no particular order: yam basket, banana leaf curry, laksas of all sorts, hokkien mee, steamboat, Chinese pork ribs, salted chilies, the list goes on . . . .

Cheap stuff. Especially: food, haircuts, the vet, gasoline, (really nice) hotels, taxis, the cinema, massages.

Regional travel. So much to see and do, in three years we have covered: Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, India, Myanmar, Singapore, Indonesia x 2, Thailand x 4 and several good romps around Malaysia including a few trips to Borneo and some totally gorgeous islands.

Cheap regional airfare. Or how else would we have managed the above? AirAsia, I love you.

Under the sea. This part of the world has possibly made snorkeling my new favourite activity. Rays, octopus, starfish, clownfish, amazing corals. Can't get that just anywhere.

Wildlife. Orangutans, elephants, proboscis monkeys, hornbills, giant lizards, sea turtles. Even the little geckos.

Having a swimming pool. There is a very nice pool about 20 feet from my front door.

Thunderstorms. Totally epic, torrential, noisy, tropical thunderstorms.

Never ever being cold. You know what it's like to get out of bed at 7am in January in Illinois? I don't.

About a billion public holidays. When you observe Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and national/state holidays that adds up to a lot.

The diversity. There's a lot of different people here. I like that.

*And this really goes without saying, but of course all of our amazing Malaysian and fellow expat friends who we've met along the way.

Things I will not miss:

Driving. Everything about it.

Trying to get stuff done. It's so hard to get the simplest things done here sometimes. Want to pay your internet bill? Must call them up and do it over the phone (Oh! The irony). Need a plumber? Take three consecutive days off work and pray he shows up by the third day. Want to deposit a cheque? Good luck finding the 'special' deposit machine for foreigners.

Calling strangers on their mobile. See above. Lots of businesses and tradesmen are not online, so you can't look them up online or book an appointment. Instead, you ask around, you get some guy's mobile number and hope for the best.

Bureaucracy. There is a form and a supplementary price for everything.

Negotiating. I hate haggling and negotiating, I don't want to be ripped off and I don't want to rip you off. Just tell me the real (fair) price.

Sugar. It's in everything.

Spitting, hawking, chewing, slurping. I know it's a cultural thing, but I don't like it.

Littering. Is there really no space in your car for that empty packet of crisps? Really?

Cockroaches. Really big ones.

Lack of personal space. The pushing, shoving, me-first battle of boarding a plane, train or just standing in what passes for queue here.

No means no. If I said I don't want to buy it, I really mean it. Also, don't follow me around the store.

Palm oil plantations. Please, please stop destroying your beautiful country.

Sopping wet toilets. With or without footprints on the seat, this really irritates me. If part of your bathroom ritual basically involves taking a shower, that's fine. Just please wipe up the mess.

And did I mention DRIVING?

Java Journey

10 days, up and down mountains and volcanoes, multiple train rides, becaks, bikes and enough walking to last a lifetime we've made it back from our first venture into Indonesia.

Feeling slightly adventurous we opted for Java rather than the more traditional tourist trail to Bali (maybe next year). Java is overwhelmingly the cultural, economic and political centre of Indonesia and seemed like the ideal place to get to know one of our nearest neighbours.

The island of Java itself (only one of the17,000-20,000 islands that make up Indonesia) is just smaller than England at around 50,000 square miles - but home to 140 million of Indonesia's nearly 250 million people - that's a population density of 2,700+ people per square mile. 

Largely escaping mass urbanisation and sprawl - something wealthier, more developed countries have struggled with -  Java has somehow maintained a truly beautiful countryside.  With such limited space they've clearly opted to take care of what they have - they also need to farm every spare scrap of land to feed themselves and there are worse things to look at than glistening green rice paddies and terraced hillsides of coffee, onions and cabbages.

Unfortunately the idyllic Java countryside is the exception rather than the rule, Sumatra and Kalimatan (Indonesian Borneo) are experiencing rampant deforestation, pollution and illegal land use. Sumatra reportedly bears great resemblance to Malaysia - one giant oil palm plantation.

In any event, we couldn't help but be thoroughly charmed.  The people are overwhelmingly warm and friendly (yes, a few desperately want you to visit their batik shop) but on the whole they are sincere, inquisitive and welcoming.

The population is 85% Muslim, yet Indonesia is an adamantly secular society (in the 2009 elections the leading Islamist party secured a paltry 8% of the vote).  I would estimate that well under half of women wear headscarves in this part of Indonesia and art (including depictions of human form!), music and dance flourish.

In general the Javanese seem to wear their religion on their sleeve less than other Muslim countries that I've visited - but this is only telling of this particular corner of Java, in Banda Aceh (Sumatra) women are mandated to wear headscarves and alcohol is illegal.

The Javanese are completely comfortable blending their Animist, Buddhist, and Hindu pasts into one - the famed shadow puppets of Java clearly own much to their Hindu roots and belief in black magic and ritual superstitions still run deep (you can pick up a raven to sacrifice at the bird market in any city).

Despite its many charms it's a place with a dark side as well.  Poverty is evident - although there are very few homeless people and beggars and virtually no starving or abandoned children and the per capita GDP is steadily climbing, currently at just under $5,000 a year.

The level of corruption is unforgivable. There was a sign at the customs station at the airport which prohibited 'tipping' of officials.  Indonesia is ranked 100 out of 182 countries on the worldwide corruption index (a significant improvement of about 20 places within the last few years).

On the whole I'd put Indonesia about ten years ahead of India and ten years behind Malaysia - which, as a tourist is just about where I like a country to be - free enough from disease and poverty lurking around every corner but well before the country is transformed into one vast air-conditioned mega-mall.

More on scaling volcanoes, ancient temples and adventures with street food in the next installment.

News and events

So you may recall that some months back I did a post about a corrupt customs official who fell to his death from the third story of the anti-corruption building - it was (is) largely assumed (known) that it was either murder or suicide.

However:

DSP Sharul Othman Mansor, who was recalled to the witness stand Friday, told the inquest into the death of the Selangor Customs assistant director that, in his professional opinion, Ahmad Sarbaini fell while trying to climb out the window on the third floor of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) building here on April 6.

He said this when questioned by MACC lawyer Datuk Seri Muhamad Shafee Abdullah.

Muhamad Shafee: So this means that it was not a suicide.

DSP Sharul: Yes.

Muhamad Shafee: And this would also mean that it was not a homicide?

DSP Sharul: Based on my analysis of the evidence, yes, I agree with you.

DSP Sharul had testified earlier this month that Ahmad Sarbaini had fallen some 10m to his death while trying to jump from the said window on to nearby roof "which looks near when you're standing at the window".

The roof, however, is actually about three metres from the window.

Right.

This is a stretch even for Malaysia - I can barely believe they actually printed this.

But Malaysia has been making other headlines here as well. Last Saturday saw some major protests that did attract some international attention:

For those of you who missed this, Malaysia is in the most technical sense a democracy, yet the same political party has run Malaysia since independence - so pushing 60 years. Opposition parties have done increasingly well in recent elections - and there have also been accusations (lots of them) that the current government isn't playing fair in elections, corruption etc. - which is of course largely true.

So a lot of opposition groups got together, formed an organization called Bersih 2.0 (Bersih means 'clean' in Bahasa Malay) and decided to hold a protest.

The government freaked, said the protest would be illegal; Bersih said fine, give us a place to have the protest (a stadium); government says OK; Bersih applies and is rejected because the group is then deemed to be illegal.

So protests go as planned, about 20,000 well-behaved protesters turn up, police fire tear gas and set off water cannons.

Not your average day in Malaysia certainly. All in all the protests were certainly a success; the protesters behaved; the police didn't and there has been much discussion about how the protests successfully brought together a wide cross-section of Malaysian society and did wonders for race relations etc.

And one final piece of rather disconcerting news. The state of Kedah here in Malaysia has ordered the closure of all evening entertainment outlets throughout Ramadan to curb immoral behaviour. Not only is this ridiculous (and has at least caused a lot of controversy and uproar) but potentially catastrophic for businesses - this has been decided with about two weeks notice! It's also redundant because it's illegal for Muslims to drink anyway.