"Bus Stop Cat"
"Jetty Cats and Kittens"
"Assembly Cat" (this is one of our school's campus cats, and he happily spent an entire assembly asleep in my lap)
"Neighborhood Puppies" (aka, our new pets, whether they like it or not)
Friday, 22 February 2013
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Cruisin' for a Bruisin'
When I was a kid and did something my parents didn't appreciate, they used to warn me that I was "crusin' for a bruisin'" ... those words offer a new warning now.
One of the things you have to deal with when you live in non-KL Malaysia is transportation, namely that of the non-public variety. ETAs in the past have generally chosen motorbikes or scooters to get to and from school and whatever KFC or McDonald's that has the better wifi. This year the Ministry of Education has been pushing the ETAs to get cars because they are safer. They are, however, also more expensive.
Chukai, the town I live in, is one of those areas where you need to have some kind of transportation. Motorbikes and scooters are very popular. You see tons of people riding them, including families and babies, who seem to instinctively know how to hold on over speed bumps. One roommate and I chose scooters. Our other roommate was forced to buy a motorbike (luckily, she is the roomie who took the motorcycle/bike class in the States).
My mentor and her husband spent a good time looking for an appropriate scooter for me and found a great Yamaha EgoS, which is a pretty common model over here. It's got some miles on her, but has only had one owner. It even came with a free rain poncho and a free helmet. All in all, a good buy.
I've been scooting around the 'hood for the past few days, trying to get a feel for the thing as well as driving on the left side of the road (ugh), but have still been catching rides from the VERY patient teachers at my school. Aside from nearly hitting a car and running out of petrol (never gas) in the middle of a street, I've been getting the hang of it.
Or so I thought ...
Yesterday afternoon, my roommate, Kendall, and I decided to take our scooters out for a real spin. Which meant the highway (it's the only way to get to the town center and to my school). We drove to good ol' SMK Bukit Mentok and then found our way to a popular coffee spot before making for home. Which meant getting back on the highway. The highway has no dedicated lane for scooters and motorbikes so you kind of hang out on the far left side of the left lane until you need to make a turn. Although Kendall and I were doing this pretty successively, we did not anticipate the massive potholes the highway had. As I followed Kendall up to a bridge, she spotted one of these potholes and stopped to swerve. I did not. In an attempt to avoid hitting Kendall, I swerved too late, fell over, skidded across some pavement and slid under my scooter. On that goddamn highway.
I'M OKAY. Just scratched and bruised, and seriously lucky there wasn't a car behind me. I'm more pissed that I ruined a shoe and tore up my favorite pair of pants, but still, crashing your scooter is no bueno. Also, it makes your legs look like this:
I haven't scootered into work yet, but will hopefully start next week after I get a full face helmet. My first instinct when falling was to protect my face and teeth (who says vanity doesn't serve a purpose?), and I'd like to protect those things even more from here on out. Defensive driving doesn't even begin to describe the technique I will be using when I do start riding my scooter into work, but scoot, I will.
One of the things you have to deal with when you live in non-KL Malaysia is transportation, namely that of the non-public variety. ETAs in the past have generally chosen motorbikes or scooters to get to and from school and whatever KFC or McDonald's that has the better wifi. This year the Ministry of Education has been pushing the ETAs to get cars because they are safer. They are, however, also more expensive.
Chukai, the town I live in, is one of those areas where you need to have some kind of transportation. Motorbikes and scooters are very popular. You see tons of people riding them, including families and babies, who seem to instinctively know how to hold on over speed bumps. One roommate and I chose scooters. Our other roommate was forced to buy a motorbike (luckily, she is the roomie who took the motorcycle/bike class in the States).
My mentor and her husband spent a good time looking for an appropriate scooter for me and found a great Yamaha EgoS, which is a pretty common model over here. It's got some miles on her, but has only had one owner. It even came with a free rain poncho and a free helmet. All in all, a good buy.
I've been scooting around the 'hood for the past few days, trying to get a feel for the thing as well as driving on the left side of the road (ugh), but have still been catching rides from the VERY patient teachers at my school. Aside from nearly hitting a car and running out of petrol (never gas) in the middle of a street, I've been getting the hang of it.
Or so I thought ...
Yesterday afternoon, my roommate, Kendall, and I decided to take our scooters out for a real spin. Which meant the highway (it's the only way to get to the town center and to my school). We drove to good ol' SMK Bukit Mentok and then found our way to a popular coffee spot before making for home. Which meant getting back on the highway. The highway has no dedicated lane for scooters and motorbikes so you kind of hang out on the far left side of the left lane until you need to make a turn. Although Kendall and I were doing this pretty successively, we did not anticipate the massive potholes the highway had. As I followed Kendall up to a bridge, she spotted one of these potholes and stopped to swerve. I did not. In an attempt to avoid hitting Kendall, I swerved too late, fell over, skidded across some pavement and slid under my scooter. On that goddamn highway.
I'M OKAY. Just scratched and bruised, and seriously lucky there wasn't a car behind me. I'm more pissed that I ruined a shoe and tore up my favorite pair of pants, but still, crashing your scooter is no bueno. Also, it makes your legs look like this:
I haven't scootered into work yet, but will hopefully start next week after I get a full face helmet. My first instinct when falling was to protect my face and teeth (who says vanity doesn't serve a purpose?), and I'd like to protect those things even more from here on out. Defensive driving doesn't even begin to describe the technique I will be using when I do start riding my scooter into work, but scoot, I will.
Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Singapore - I love it so much I want to take it behind a middle school ...
... well, you get the idea.
Okay, maybe I don't love it THAT much; there was that whole detention by Singapore customs thing (more on that in a moment).
But with its clean streets, orderly traffic signs, and abundance of readily available Western treats (hello, cheese), I cannot emphasize enough how much I enjoyed this city. What irks me is that it may be Singapore's familiarity, its Western-ness, that I find so appealing. I mean, the grocery stores there carry Bob's Red Mill and Amy's frozen enchiladas ... how much more familiar can you get?
There is nothing wrong with this, of course, but I kind of feel like I should be experiencing the more unfamiliar while I am here. Then again, isn't globalization making unfamiliarity less of a thing? Blerg.
In any case, I liked Singapore and plan to go back soon.
Because of Chinese New Year, most of the ETAs in Terengganu had at least a four day weekend to celebrate. Several of us hopped buses from our various towns and made our way south. While the bus was a relatively cheap means of transportation, I'm willing to pony up the extra cash next time to take a half hour flight instead of an eight to eighteen hour bus ride. If you get a nice bus, it's fine. If you get one that leaks when it rains, it's the worst.
So, back to my brief detention - after a failed "residue" air puff test, I was detained for a short while by Singapore's customs security. After asking my traveling companions to wait for me outside, they took me to a side room where I had to answer questions about where I lived, what prescriptions I had, when I took them, and what I ate for my most recent meal. That last question proved the most revealing. Once I told the nice security guards that the last thing I ate was a bag of Chacho's extra cheesy tortilla chips, they chuckled and let me go. Lesson learned. Off-brand tortilla chips are post-border crossing treats.
Once we all made it through, my friends and I enjoyed pizza, Zero Dark Thirty (pretty good), the Botanical Gardens, the Colonial District, the quays, Chinese New Year celebrations in Chinatown and at the marina, Little India, and last, but definitely not least, a trip to a Western style grocery store. Here, I stocked up on what would fit in my backpack, which included coffee and cheese.
The things I missed, but would like to see on a return trip are the ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Gardens, Dempsey Hill, and more fromageries.
Here's what I saw:
The Botanical Gardens:
Chinese New Year Celebrations:
Little India:
Elsewhere:
It's a boat! On some buildings!
Okay, maybe I don't love it THAT much; there was that whole detention by Singapore customs thing (more on that in a moment).
But with its clean streets, orderly traffic signs, and abundance of readily available Western treats (hello, cheese), I cannot emphasize enough how much I enjoyed this city. What irks me is that it may be Singapore's familiarity, its Western-ness, that I find so appealing. I mean, the grocery stores there carry Bob's Red Mill and Amy's frozen enchiladas ... how much more familiar can you get?
There is nothing wrong with this, of course, but I kind of feel like I should be experiencing the more unfamiliar while I am here. Then again, isn't globalization making unfamiliarity less of a thing? Blerg.
In any case, I liked Singapore and plan to go back soon.
Because of Chinese New Year, most of the ETAs in Terengganu had at least a four day weekend to celebrate. Several of us hopped buses from our various towns and made our way south. While the bus was a relatively cheap means of transportation, I'm willing to pony up the extra cash next time to take a half hour flight instead of an eight to eighteen hour bus ride. If you get a nice bus, it's fine. If you get one that leaks when it rains, it's the worst.
So, back to my brief detention - after a failed "residue" air puff test, I was detained for a short while by Singapore's customs security. After asking my traveling companions to wait for me outside, they took me to a side room where I had to answer questions about where I lived, what prescriptions I had, when I took them, and what I ate for my most recent meal. That last question proved the most revealing. Once I told the nice security guards that the last thing I ate was a bag of Chacho's extra cheesy tortilla chips, they chuckled and let me go. Lesson learned. Off-brand tortilla chips are post-border crossing treats.
Once we all made it through, my friends and I enjoyed pizza, Zero Dark Thirty (pretty good), the Botanical Gardens, the Colonial District, the quays, Chinese New Year celebrations in Chinatown and at the marina, Little India, and last, but definitely not least, a trip to a Western style grocery store. Here, I stocked up on what would fit in my backpack, which included coffee and cheese.
The things I missed, but would like to see on a return trip are the ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Gardens, Dempsey Hill, and more fromageries.
Here's what I saw:
The Botanical Gardens:
Chinese New Year Celebrations:
Little India:
Elsewhere:
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