Malaysia - Part 2

Okay I am writing about Malaysia again. Now that I have written about nature tourism, I don't have any urge to write on it today. Not that there is nothing more to say on it, just the mood is not there. So I'll write about the people in Malaysia.
So how does one describe Malaysians. Generally what ever you learn about human being still applies to Malaysians. There are good people, and there are bad people. The same thing goes to Malaysians. But in general like in so many cases there are many many more good people than bad people. In other words Malaysians that you will meet on the street, in the hotel are nice people. Malaysian are friendly and always willing to extend help if asked, especially to tourists. Anyway I have come across few Americans that have their families freaked out (believe it or not) once they were asked to make a business trip to Kuala Lumpur. Well you see the post 9/11 world has developed a certain phobia towards many moslem nations. But I am proud to say that at the moment of this writing there has never been any occurence of suicide bomber or westerners being kidnapped in Malaysia. We are one peace loving nation.
Many Malaysians are also multi-lingual. Most speak english, a large percentage of the population also speak chinese, tamil. Even if you go to rural area you will be amazed that many people speak english (fluent or not included). So asking direction , ordering food, and bargaining will not be so much a problem for any English or Spanglish or Chinglish or Franglish or else-ish speaking tourists. For other non-english speaking tourist the service of a tanslator is also easy to secure. Name the language there is a 99% probability that there is a Malaysian who can speak the language. Even if you don't want to engage a translator you will be amazed that many Malaysian will patiently try to understand what you need.
One of the aspect of Malaysians that may be misunderstood by a westerner is their warmth and friendliness. A Malaysian in a street may tell more than what is needed to a tourist who just want to know a direction. Maybe the tourist will be asked where he/she comes from, which hotel he/she stays so on, how long the stay will be, his/her age, and many more. So don't feel awkward, it is normal. But I guess there is nothing wrong to be caution as long as you don't offend anyone.
With many Malaysians you can talk on any subject be it politics, religion, Islam, sex, finance. The depth of the conversation will of course depend on whom you are talking to. However do not expect that their opinions are just like what you learn from the western media. That's understandable I guess since our eastern philosophy and values are very much influenced by Islam, confucian thinking, buddhism, and hinduism. I believe this different weltanschaung is good since it complements your way of thinking. But don't be surprised if you find that many Malaysians are also familiar with western thinkers and have spend a number of years in the west.
While many Malaysians are good natured people they are also paradoxes in themselves. Don't be surprised that many Malaysians do not like to queue while embarking on a public transport. Don't be surprised to see a Malaysian throw a garbage on the street. Don't be surprised to see young Malaysians race motorcycles in city streets during evenings. Don't be surprised to find a dirty public toilet. Don't be perplexed to see the driving manners of a nice Malaysian that you just befriend. Despite all these shortcomings many will offer you a genuine friendship and assistance.

Malaysia - Part 1

Hmm what should I write about Malaysia. There is no specific plan in my mind at this moment. I just let my stream of thought flow. I guess I am quite a traveler having traveled to many asian, european, soviet, and north american regions. So I guess in my articles I will try my best to compare Malaysia to some of the countries that I have visited. If anybody wants to know some statistics about Malaysia I guess the CIA world fact book is enough ( it is available from CIA site).

What kind of tourism you will get in Malaysia. For sure not like the want you will experience from a typical european excursion. While many cities in the west is much older and richer in history and urban myths, many Malaysian cities are developed after 1957. Kuala Lumpur even though is more than a century old is only experiencing rapid development in the 1980's and 1990's. If you you ever walked in Paris there is almost a story for amost every corner of the city. In New York there are thousands of art galleries and more than two hundreds museums. For every old city there will always be stories. In Kuala Lumpur there will be stories of course but not that many and not that old. Many buildings are new and modern. Build on sites where the old buildings made way to the new ones in the name of progress. Though many new buildings tell no tale I believe many of them has nice architecture. I won't bore you with the Twin Tower since there are so many sites that talk about it. For those who loves architecture apart from the modern building I suggest visits to various religous buildings. I propose that a tourist should visit the mosques. We have many of them through out the country. The style varies. There are mosques build in the style of moorish, mogul, chinese, persian. Apart from mosques there are many interesting hindu and buddhist temples. For example, the hindu temple in Batu Caves and snake temple in Penang are popular among the tourists. Hmm... my mind always stucked when I try to recommend building site seeing.
I guess what I want to say here is that in Malaysia a tourist should do more than city site seeing. He or she should go and enjoy the nature. While the parks in Kuala Lumpur are not as grand as the New York Central Park, Kuala Lumpur offers bird park ( I heard it is the largest in the world) and butterfly park ( I heard this is the only one in the world). Outside the city we have National Park in Pahang which is also open for tourists. At 4300+ km square and 130+ millions year old, our tropical jungle is certified to be the oldest in the world. One can experience living close to nature. Don't worry about accomodation as there are many good chalets in the national park. Before I forget there is also a canopy walk. Experience walking on top trees 25 meter above the grounds. You never guess what flora what fauna you may see. Perhaps if you are lucky (depends on how you define lucky) you may also see tiger below.

Before I forget here is one link for more info http://www.tahan.com.my/tamannegara/tamannegara.asp

If Pahang experience is not enough fly to Sarawak. Don't worry it won't cost you that much since nowadays we have low cost airline AirAsia to fly you there. Once in Sarawak you will be able to visit Mulu national park. Aside from flora and fauna that this park offers, you will also be able to explore the Mulu caves. At this point of this writing there is a 300 km of passage uncovered in this cave. And this 300 km is estimated to be only 25%-30% of the total passage.
Ever wonder how people manage to get the bird nests and why the bird nests soup is expensive, then your visit to Sarawak Niah national park will help you find the answer. You will be thrilled seeing the guts of the nest collectors. I won't tell you more as it will take the fun out of you. Oh by the way while in Sarawak please visit the long house there and learn about head hunting in Borneo. No not the one done by Price Waterhouse, this is real head hunting. There is so much more I want to tell yet my eyes are tired. Besides Moscow night is getting colder , so time to snuggle under my blanket.

Blog

Now that I can call myself a blogger, I begin to think why others blog. Do they start blogging due to boredom. Or is it because they love to blog. Is there any such thing as blog addiction; love to read blogs or love to blog. Addicted in a sense if you don't blog or read blog you feel some part of your life is missing. Well maybe there is such an addiction. By the way how did the word blog get invented, why not jot or scrawl or jib. However it was I bet if check the latest dictionary there surely be an entry on it.
Blog can be a powerful tool too. Imagine a blogger went to a restaurant and complaint about the food or service. I guess if the blog got read the business may not be that good anymore for the place. Or imagine if you see a crime but to scared to admit seeing it, but then cannot stand the pressure of keeping the secret, well blogging maybe an alternative. But again if you can talk about crime in your blog you can also spread lies through your blog. A small lies spiced up with few facts here and there can be credible too. Or perhaps a plain lies got repeated many times over will also most probably gain credibility.
I guess if this is the case one should only blog ethically. That could be hard to do since in this cyberspace anyone can assume any name and any face.

Money making from internet

Few of my friends are having steady monthly income from their internet bussiness. I am not a marketing guru but I still like to share my observation about this method of money making. Generally I observe the products that sell well in the internet usually satisfy the following criteria

• they are day to day item such as clothes, cosmetics. Things that are needed on daily basis
• they are small or easily packed by the sellers
• cheap or relatively cheap in such a way that the buyer will most likely does not mind if the thing is not quite what they expect, and the seller does not mind to refund if asked to
  

having fulfilled the above criteria the good usually is unique or may be difficult to obtain from the buyers location.
If the seller are from the third world they usually certain bonus such that good are usually sold in dollar or euro. Thus they enjoy the profits due to the currency exchange. Furthermore they also may charge handling service which will result in few extra dollars. An amount that will not dent any American or European buyers' pockets but worth significantly in the third world nation. I guess this is what the bussiness comunity would like to call it as win-win situation. Now I guess it is the time for me to open an ebay account.

Moscow for Foreigners

Hi,
Here I am again. Blogging in Moscow chilling autumn. Temperature outside is -3 degrees. The cold weather is even a good excuse for me to stay in my hotel room.
I arrived here in June this year, the weather was very warm. My first time in Moscow was in October 2004. It was cold but not that cold like today. Many people told me that the temperature will drop further come December. And 30 degrees below freezing point is normal in Moscow. Well no wonder in Russian history many great generals failed to capture Moscow during winter. But Muscovites love winter I assume. I on the other hand struggling to cope with it. Not only with her winter but with Moscow herself.
In Moscow everything is hard. Not only for foreigners but also for the locals. Cost of living is very high compared to other European cities. Hotels are not cheap. Eating in a restaurant will cost US30 per person wine not included. I bet that there are cheaper eating places but still could not find one with the waiters able to speak English. But it you can take MacD everyday then it will be okay. It is a funny thing here that you can find MacD almost everywhere, and packed everytime you enter. Especially Russia was US enemy no 1 during the cold war.
Knowledge in Russian language is a must. One doesn't have to be fluent though. How about if you knows nothing about Russian language. No excuse no shortcuts you must learn it. At least know how to say "excuse me", "do you speak english", "i don't speak russian", and "thank you". Even if you don't speak Russian you must know a little bit how to read cyrillic. It is important so that you can know on what street you are, which shop is a restaurant, where the metro is, which metro to takes. It is even more important to learn Russian if you are not white.
While many Muscovites are nice and friendly there are also some who reserves certain degree of prejudice toward colored people. You will notice this once you touch down at Sheremetyevo or Domodedevo airports. The immigration will flag through the white causcassian after a few seconds. But many asians and africans will need to wait an average 10 minutes before their passports being stamped.
If you are colored, chances of you getting stopped by the police are high. They will stop you and ask for your passport. So always bring your passport around and don't lose it. If they arrest you take note the name of the police station so that you can inform your embassy. In other words always bring your mobile and store important contact numbers in Moscow.
If you are colored expect to pay different prices for things and services you purchased. The Muscovites "reserve" the rights to charge you differently from what they charge their fellow countrymen. So just pay them, don't try to argue even if your Russian is flawless. Just don't visit the shop the next time if you have found fairer places. Why lose energy on something you cannot win and cannot fully comprehend.
What else should I tell here. Many more actually. But I decide best not to tell them all. You should find out yourselves, and form your opinion.

Gray matter matters

Hello there,

Just call me rodin if you are pleased. Not that my name is rodin. I just like the sound of it and the sculptor of a man deep in thought by rodin. After all what makes man so different than the rest of the animal kingdom if not because our ability to think.
Think about ourselves for a moment if you care. Our senses are not the best. Our vision is so limited if compared to that of the eagle. We can't run as fast as the cheetah. Our nose can't smell a drop of blood from five miles away (a feat easily attainable by the shark). And the current boxing heavyweight champion is no match to any gorilla. Yet we prevail. We can tame the whole animal kingdom if we want to. We can train and teach almost any animal if we are patient enough to do so; even if we can't speak their languages.
For mother nature; even though we cannot beat her and almost always lose once she lashes her anger , we manage to find means and ways to face her. To predict her next course of action even though we are not that successful at that yet. All of this because we can think. By being able to think man has become a dominant force on earth. Yet no one can really understand how only man can think the way man does. We can dissect the brain and describe the function of each part of the brain, yet we cannot fully describe how man achieve the level of consciousness, how ideas are formed.
Even more amazing a collective of brains decades ago managed to create computer. The arts of computing get refined each year, computers are becoming faster every years. Billions of numerical computation can be done in a second nowadays. If we take the speed of electrical impulse in computer and compares it to that in our brains, ours are thousands times slower. Yet amazingly we always managed to beat the computers in areas such as image and voice recognition. No one can quite explain this yet, at least no now. I am not going answer any of this, it is beyond me. My blog is just a place for me to jot down my smattering of ideas and thought because life here in Moscow is so boring. Yet my brain cannot stop thinking.