Malaysia Bound
-March 2006
Dear friends,
Tomorrow I depart for a three-week break from work, traveling around my parents' original haunts of Malaysia and Singapore with my father. I was there last in 2000, on transit while emigrating from Australia to the United States, where I've since acquired a college degree and less patience on the road. Upon explaining my planned absence to a colleague, she admitted that when I mentioned Malaysia, all she could think of was the evil President character from “Zoolander.”
I told her that’s fine, because when she dyed her hair blonde, all I could think was: STUPID-ASS BIMBO.
Actually, I didn’t. She’s a lovely girl, and besides, I’m far too polite.
Following a 17 hour jaunt across the Pacific, we’ll land in Narita and Singapore in transit, before reaching the state of Sabah in Borneo Island just in time for Qingming. I’ll spend about 10 days catching up with family and no doubt impressing them with the six or so phrases of Mandarin I can remember. Then I’ll plop over to Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru in Peninsular Malaysia before catching up with an old Aussie mate in Singapore. Along the way, I have some of the following highlights planned:
-Qingming Festival: At which I will offer food and libations at the tombstones of my ancestors and worship them. A feast shall ensue (with any luck).
- Sandakan Death March, Revisited: During that miserably long spectacle long since turned into hoary History Channel fodder, otherwise known as the Second World War, the Japanese forcefully marched 6000 Javanese, Australian and British POWs through the jungle from Sandakan to Ranau. Six survived. My grandfather happened to have been recruited (read: forced) to carry ammunition, but found the trek rather uninspiring and managed to escape on the third night. I find this of particular interest, because it led to A) My father’s birth, some years later; and subsequently: B) My existence.
- Mount Kinabalu, Ascended: As some Hiew loyalists may recall, I wrote about climbing Mount Matebian in Timor-Leste this past summer. As you may also recall: I sucked. Big time. To refresh your memory, a combination of diarrhea-disaster and general weariness was overcome only through the fortitude of my wizened Timorese guide and the intoxicating scent of his cloves. Thankfully, my recent lifestyle—dominated by office monkey and egg restaurant habitation, has converted me into a lean mean mountain climbing machine*. Which is a good thing, because this one contains pitcher plants (remember those cartoons in which giant plants trap and eat animals…yeah, they actually exist!).
I hope (free wireless willing) to share some of my experiences with you. I hope even more that you find them interesting, entertaining, or at the very least, a worthwhile distraction from academic and work commitments.
-March 2006
Dear friends,
Tomorrow I depart for a three-week break from work, traveling around my parents' original haunts of Malaysia and Singapore with my father. I was there last in 2000, on transit while emigrating from Australia to the United States, where I've since acquired a college degree and less patience on the road. Upon explaining my planned absence to a colleague, she admitted that when I mentioned Malaysia, all she could think of was the evil President character from “Zoolander.”
I told her that’s fine, because when she dyed her hair blonde, all I could think was: STUPID-ASS BIMBO.
Actually, I didn’t. She’s a lovely girl, and besides, I’m far too polite.
Following a 17 hour jaunt across the Pacific, we’ll land in Narita and Singapore in transit, before reaching the state of Sabah in Borneo Island just in time for Qingming. I’ll spend about 10 days catching up with family and no doubt impressing them with the six or so phrases of Mandarin I can remember. Then I’ll plop over to Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru in Peninsular Malaysia before catching up with an old Aussie mate in Singapore. Along the way, I have some of the following highlights planned:
-Qingming Festival: At which I will offer food and libations at the tombstones of my ancestors and worship them. A feast shall ensue (with any luck).
- Sandakan Death March, Revisited: During that miserably long spectacle long since turned into hoary History Channel fodder, otherwise known as the Second World War, the Japanese forcefully marched 6000 Javanese, Australian and British POWs through the jungle from Sandakan to Ranau. Six survived. My grandfather happened to have been recruited (read: forced) to carry ammunition, but found the trek rather uninspiring and managed to escape on the third night. I find this of particular interest, because it led to A) My father’s birth, some years later; and subsequently: B) My existence.
- Mount Kinabalu, Ascended: As some Hiew loyalists may recall, I wrote about climbing Mount Matebian in Timor-Leste this past summer. As you may also recall: I sucked. Big time. To refresh your memory, a combination of diarrhea-disaster and general weariness was overcome only through the fortitude of my wizened Timorese guide and the intoxicating scent of his cloves. Thankfully, my recent lifestyle—dominated by office monkey and egg restaurant habitation, has converted me into a lean mean mountain climbing machine*. Which is a good thing, because this one contains pitcher plants (remember those cartoons in which giant plants trap and eat animals…yeah, they actually exist!).
I hope (free wireless willing) to share some of my experiences with you. I hope even more that you find them interesting, entertaining, or at the very least, a worthwhile distraction from academic and work commitments.
posted by Mark Hiew at
6:33 PM
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