Hustle and Bustle
After the relatively relaxing few days spent in Singapore I slipped quietly on down to the KLM train station on Monday- I would put up a picture but without AC they all came out rather misty.
The train from Singapore was an old one and even though I had decided to travel first class found out that seats designed for the smaller butt pall after the first 1000 or so Km. I felt asleep during the Sandra Bullock film but did enjoy Myth busters during those moments when my eyes were not taking in the wondrous country side- all in all a terrific and hopefully environmentally sound trip.
At the other end as I waved goodbye to the terse, and ever so slightly lacking in humour, German chap who had enjoyed NZ i found myself facing the Malaysian horde- very different from the Singporean chaos in order- rather more the head down/ tail up chaos that forces a kind of fatalistic turn of mind just get where you're going-that could explain the driving.
Lay Keng was there to meet me as her sister Lay Hong, my host, had twisted her ankle and had been advised to take it easy. I got my tickets for the next part of my journey and then with the able help of Kalai our driver experienced the true nature of driving in Asia (however now I have been told that Bangkok will be even more of a challenge) Funny thing was that with Kalai or anyone else driving I have not felt unsafe - you just have to drive to the collisions- sorry conditions....
I have been put up at the KL Plaza suites her in KL which is incredibly central- in fact at a certain time of the day we are in the Petronas towers shadow. Eating has been its usual challenge but I am making every effort to be open to new tastes. Kalai introduced me to Indiian food yesterday which was lovely but somewhat uncomfotable later and then Lay Keng and Engai (? who took over from Kalai as it is Deepavali) treated me to Chinese food today- really the most lovely meal I think I have had in years-lemon chicken and pork to die for.
Kalai also joined me as we walked up the almost three hundred steps to the Batu Caves and told me some of the stories tied to the temple motifs about there- fascinating. In the afternoon Lay Keng took me to the Royal Selangor Pewter factory and then to KLCC to an art exhibition- Ten
women artists local (two of them graduates of MIA and one a graduate of Canterbury- may have been there the same time as Ian.
Today I was free till Lunch before meeting with the Head of the Malayasian Institute of Arts (MIA) and continuing into my workshop/ lecture. They were fifty young musicians who are going to be developing a show and my brief was to give them some ideas and encouragement. I chose to talk about the concept of the one lie, provide examples and then get them involved in some exercises.
I think it went well.
Tonight I am doing pretty much like the lst couple of nights- out and about, cinema, shopping centres, crafty men offering me massages or girls (in a variety of sizes apparently) and then a mystical experience came upon me...
I was searching for the cinema in a shopping centre called Times Square (BTW 1408 is a great film for all the right jumps) and something went wwwwwooooooosssssshhhhhhh! across in front of me.
Well, of course I had one of those Arthur Dent moments. "Yellow" I thought (actually I didn't because it was red)
"Roller Coaster" I thought.
"Inside" I thought.
And sure enough there was a themepark sitting in the middle of a shopping centre
"well" I thought,"makes a change from a 'health club'".
More to come.....
The train from Singapore was an old one and even though I had decided to travel first class found out that seats designed for the smaller butt pall after the first 1000 or so Km. I felt asleep during the Sandra Bullock film but did enjoy Myth busters during those moments when my eyes were not taking in the wondrous country side- all in all a terrific and hopefully environmentally sound trip.
At the other end as I waved goodbye to the terse, and ever so slightly lacking in humour, German chap who had enjoyed NZ i found myself facing the Malaysian horde- very different from the Singporean chaos in order- rather more the head down/ tail up chaos that forces a kind of fatalistic turn of mind just get where you're going-that could explain the driving.
Lay Keng was there to meet me as her sister Lay Hong, my host, had twisted her ankle and had been advised to take it easy. I got my tickets for the next part of my journey and then with the able help of Kalai our driver experienced the true nature of driving in Asia (however now I have been told that Bangkok will be even more of a challenge) Funny thing was that with Kalai or anyone else driving I have not felt unsafe - you just have to drive to the collisions- sorry conditions....
I have been put up at the KL Plaza suites her in KL which is incredibly central- in fact at a certain time of the day we are in the Petronas towers shadow. Eating has been its usual challenge but I am making every effort to be open to new tastes. Kalai introduced me to Indiian food yesterday which was lovely but somewhat uncomfotable later and then Lay Keng and Engai (? who took over from Kalai as it is Deepavali) treated me to Chinese food today- really the most lovely meal I think I have had in years-lemon chicken and pork to die for.
Kalai also joined me as we walked up the almost three hundred steps to the Batu Caves and told me some of the stories tied to the temple motifs about there- fascinating. In the afternoon Lay Keng took me to the Royal Selangor Pewter factory and then to KLCC to an art exhibition- Ten
women artists local (two of them graduates of MIA and one a graduate of Canterbury- may have been there the same time as Ian.Today I was free till Lunch before meeting with the Head of the Malayasian Institute of Arts (MIA) and continuing into my workshop/ lecture. They were fifty young musicians who are going to be developing a show and my brief was to give them some ideas and encouragement. I chose to talk about the concept of the one lie, provide examples and then get them involved in some exercises.
I think it went well.
Tonight I am doing pretty much like the lst couple of nights- out and about, cinema, shopping centres, crafty men offering me massages or girls (in a variety of sizes apparently) and then a mystical experience came upon me...
I was searching for the cinema in a shopping centre called Times Square (BTW 1408 is a great film for all the right jumps) and something went wwwwwooooooosssssshhhhhhh! across in front of me.
Well, of course I had one of those Arthur Dent moments. "Yellow" I thought (actually I didn't because it was red)
"Roller Coaster" I thought.
"Inside" I thought.
And sure enough there was a themepark sitting in the middle of a shopping centre
"well" I thought,"makes a change from a 'health club'".
More to come.....
Comments
I like the sound of a fairground ride in a shopping mall, although you would never catch me going up in one of them. I prefer to stick to nice safe things like rock climbing or kayaking....
Michael