Spot the irony in the title! I've never actually celebrated Deepavali, or Diwali, before but being in a country with a large Hindu Indian population it was hard not to get into the spirit. The only downside is that pretty much every Indian owned business was closed, more on this later...
The evening before I went round to a friend's who I hadn't seen in a while and was watching some crazy Bollywood film. Seriously, unintentionally funny and trying to get him to explain what was going on was a challenge! His English is perfect so it wasn't a language barrier that meant I didn't have a notion what was going on. The flat is in the middle of town and at midnight I felt like I was in a warzone.... Deepavali is the festival of lights and Asians are obsessed with fireworks so things went crazy! It was nice to watch, after I cracked my head against the wall jumping out of my skin.
Next morning I went to work as normal, Liam came to meet me for brunchner and we realised this was the day that our favourite restaurant was going to be closed. We went to the Malay food court and it was awful. We also tried a couple of more restaurants, all awful in comparison to Kumar's.
In the evening I went to a drum circle with Jess (new friend) and some other guys from the Lodge and it was well cool. A few weeks ago there was some other drumming going on in town but it was on the car park on the main road so people weren't really dancing but this one was off the main road so a bit more lively. Had a good boogy, the beats were amazing and a local drumming group went and got their stuff and a megaphone. Lots of locals about as well as tourists and it felt really authentic and how I should be spending Deepavali.
Later that night we decided it would be fun to get drunk, Stanley (the evil bastard) came back into my life and I was wasted! I became an obnoxious little shit and started lecturing Liam and another American about butchering my language and chatted pure bull to Jess about go knows what, Stanley stole my memory again!
Deepavali 2011 - good times!
Friday, 28 October 2011
Thursday, 20 October 2011
The United Nations of Teethbrushing
There are lots of people you meet when travelling. Some flit in and out quickly and you don't even know their name, others hang about for a few more days and they're pretty cool, others hang about for a couple of weeks and you add them on Facebook, then there are the ones you spend a lot of time with and become good friends with them hopefully beyond your travels, and then you have the ones who you just can't seem to get rid of and keep coming back like a bad smell (or hangover), Stanley Morgan falls into this catagory!!
A couple of days ago me and Liam decided to get drunk and therefore, logically, purchased some alcohol. Something, I cannot justify or define what, made me pick up a bottle of Stanley. It didn't get drunk that night due to lack of anyone vaguely interesting so we saved it and it got cracked open last night. I was happy I found a scouser in town so I decided to show Liam what a drunken Scouse bird looks like.
Due to the ridiculous corkage charge the hostel I live in imposes we had to be chavvy kids and mix the rum in bottles of Pepsi when the boss wasn't looking! Liam started whilst working and I was in my usual corner on the sofas, it was decided being drunk in a hammock wasn't the best idea so Liam joined me, Jonny the Scouser, Radka and two Germans (wish I could remember their names!) on the sofas. I tried to introduce everyone to Over the Hill, a one man drinking game that is best played in the company, mainly to stop one feeling like a sad alkie, but no one was up for me making them drink copious amounts.
Things got moved into the bar when we started making a bit too much noise and I assume there was some sort of interesting conversation, but alas Stanley has stolen this memory from me... We went to bed about midnight ish and when I went to the toilet the four people we were drinking with were all brushing their teeth, Liam joined in whilst I wet myself giggling at this and then five more people came in to do theirs! We counted at least five, maybe six nationalities all doing their teeth at the same time, until the boss decided we were making too much noise and came and shouted at us to shut up.
There wasn't any crazy madness but it was a fun night, this morning was rather horrific rolling into work 8am...
A couple of days ago me and Liam decided to get drunk and therefore, logically, purchased some alcohol. Something, I cannot justify or define what, made me pick up a bottle of Stanley. It didn't get drunk that night due to lack of anyone vaguely interesting so we saved it and it got cracked open last night. I was happy I found a scouser in town so I decided to show Liam what a drunken Scouse bird looks like.
Due to the ridiculous corkage charge the hostel I live in imposes we had to be chavvy kids and mix the rum in bottles of Pepsi when the boss wasn't looking! Liam started whilst working and I was in my usual corner on the sofas, it was decided being drunk in a hammock wasn't the best idea so Liam joined me, Jonny the Scouser, Radka and two Germans (wish I could remember their names!) on the sofas. I tried to introduce everyone to Over the Hill, a one man drinking game that is best played in the company, mainly to stop one feeling like a sad alkie, but no one was up for me making them drink copious amounts.
Things got moved into the bar when we started making a bit too much noise and I assume there was some sort of interesting conversation, but alas Stanley has stolen this memory from me... We went to bed about midnight ish and when I went to the toilet the four people we were drinking with were all brushing their teeth, Liam joined in whilst I wet myself giggling at this and then five more people came in to do theirs! We counted at least five, maybe six nationalities all doing their teeth at the same time, until the boss decided we were making too much noise and came and shouted at us to shut up.
There wasn't any crazy madness but it was a fun night, this morning was rather horrific rolling into work 8am...
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Blue Moov Private Tour
Last night I went for dinner with Liam and some random man who me, Bel and Fabio had a really random conversation with in which Bel stole his identity and car and we showed some pictures of some rather graphic suspensions, invited us out for the morning. Well, you know what they say about getting into cars with strangers, DO IT!
He picked us up at 9am on the dot, a rather early start for me but I was not missing out on this! First we had to go to Brinchang so he could go to the bank, he told us about all the hotels in the area including the one he works for as a driver and we were then off on our very own magical mystery tour... Next stop Ringlet and to a Chinese restaurant for breakfast. We got some rather strange looks, being Western and all. Ringlet is a local town, not a tourist town and they obviously weren't used to tourists popping in for noodles and chai. We sat in a little room with one table under the stairs, it looked like the ideal place to plan a revolution, shame it was far too early for talk of world domination... I offered to buy Kumaran's breakfast, realised I had no money on me so food was on Liam!
Next we went to a flower factory, it's not a tourist attraction at all and the locals working there were rather bemused as we walked through being told about how the flowers would be sent to KL to be flown out to Japan! Next we went over the road to a vegetable farm, again some strange looks from the locals followed us. We saw cauliflowers, beetroot, onions, tomatoes, chillies, lots of stuff really. One worker asked where we were from, to Liverpool I got 'Oh very nice place', to America Liam got 'Oh, right'. Back to the car and to a place where they were packing up cucumbers and eggplants to be sent to Singapore, we walked away with two free cucumbers which neither of us each but it was rather sweet all the same...
Now I would just like to reiterate the point, we were driving round with some local in his clapped out 20 year old Proton that Liam had to pull the window up on the assist the electric element of the situation and all these places are owned or staffed by Kumaran's friends and aren't tourist attractions... So next it was over to a plant nursery where Liam took some pretty pictures for me and we got yet more confused looks, we had to make sure we said thanks to the owner at this place and then we went to a chrysanthemum farm owned by another friend, it was pretty but the owner's house was well interesting, really rather sauve and some nice cars in the drive, shame he's not single!
After this we went to a shop where our 'guide' bought a ma-hoo-sive bag of rice and then back to his to see his small runner bean farm. We walked up the hill and sat in his living room having a smoke and watching some amazingly shit Hindi TV, Kumaran speaks Tamil so even he didn't have a notion what we were watching but it involved some angry dude taking off his top and throwing knives a lot and some terrible acting straight from the Joey Tribianni School of Facial Expressions! We went over the road to see his friends and he introduced us as his old friends, which is cute but scary in a small way and one of the Chinese blokes chased me bck to the car to ask about my lotus fower tattoo, not sure if he was happy or offended but I jumped in the car sharpish.
Last stop was Cameron Bharat Tea Estate which was just beautiful, I've only been to Boh Sungai Palas before so it was good to spend some time at another one. All in all a great morning, the cucumbers were given to a work mate BiBi and I'm still smiling at how amazing it was! Great fun and so bloody random that he actually came to get us! Tip to all travellers, don't underestimate the fun you can have with a local, some farms and a clapped out car!
He picked us up at 9am on the dot, a rather early start for me but I was not missing out on this! First we had to go to Brinchang so he could go to the bank, he told us about all the hotels in the area including the one he works for as a driver and we were then off on our very own magical mystery tour... Next stop Ringlet and to a Chinese restaurant for breakfast. We got some rather strange looks, being Western and all. Ringlet is a local town, not a tourist town and they obviously weren't used to tourists popping in for noodles and chai. We sat in a little room with one table under the stairs, it looked like the ideal place to plan a revolution, shame it was far too early for talk of world domination... I offered to buy Kumaran's breakfast, realised I had no money on me so food was on Liam!
Next we went to a flower factory, it's not a tourist attraction at all and the locals working there were rather bemused as we walked through being told about how the flowers would be sent to KL to be flown out to Japan! Next we went over the road to a vegetable farm, again some strange looks from the locals followed us. We saw cauliflowers, beetroot, onions, tomatoes, chillies, lots of stuff really. One worker asked where we were from, to Liverpool I got 'Oh very nice place', to America Liam got 'Oh, right'. Back to the car and to a place where they were packing up cucumbers and eggplants to be sent to Singapore, we walked away with two free cucumbers which neither of us each but it was rather sweet all the same...
Now I would just like to reiterate the point, we were driving round with some local in his clapped out 20 year old Proton that Liam had to pull the window up on the assist the electric element of the situation and all these places are owned or staffed by Kumaran's friends and aren't tourist attractions... So next it was over to a plant nursery where Liam took some pretty pictures for me and we got yet more confused looks, we had to make sure we said thanks to the owner at this place and then we went to a chrysanthemum farm owned by another friend, it was pretty but the owner's house was well interesting, really rather sauve and some nice cars in the drive, shame he's not single!
After this we went to a shop where our 'guide' bought a ma-hoo-sive bag of rice and then back to his to see his small runner bean farm. We walked up the hill and sat in his living room having a smoke and watching some amazingly shit Hindi TV, Kumaran speaks Tamil so even he didn't have a notion what we were watching but it involved some angry dude taking off his top and throwing knives a lot and some terrible acting straight from the Joey Tribianni School of Facial Expressions! We went over the road to see his friends and he introduced us as his old friends, which is cute but scary in a small way and one of the Chinese blokes chased me bck to the car to ask about my lotus fower tattoo, not sure if he was happy or offended but I jumped in the car sharpish.
Last stop was Cameron Bharat Tea Estate which was just beautiful, I've only been to Boh Sungai Palas before so it was good to spend some time at another one. All in all a great morning, the cucumbers were given to a work mate BiBi and I'm still smiling at how amazing it was! Great fun and so bloody random that he actually came to get us! Tip to all travellers, don't underestimate the fun you can have with a local, some farms and a clapped out car!
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Times They Are A-Changing
Bel is gone. Beaver is here. He has a new name. I work new hours. I have a new phone number. There is a new local working here. All shall be blogged about, exclusively. Here.
First, no Bel! It was so lonely the couple of day when I was the only Westerner here. Don't get me wrong, Bella and Deera are amazing (I know I keep saying it but it's true) but sometimes I just need a Western perspective on stuff and that easy conversation with a native English speaker where the words can tumble out without thinking. I spent a whole night on the sofas at Daniel's Lodge being antisocial on the internet and another hanging out with a really great local lad I've met who is so sound. It was weird going to get food without her, not smelling the dodgy under the counter cigarettes she smokes... Might even go and buy some so I can remember her! Sounds like she's dead but I'll be seeing her soon when I get my arse to Australia.
So Bel's replacement arrived three days ago I think. He was here a few weeks ago, got threatened with Malaysian prison and walked through the bonfire whilst steaming drunk. Bel and Winter bumped into him in KL, he's been travellng around Vietnam with Winter for a few weeks and has come back to work. He isn't too keen on any of his names, Beaver has vaginal connotations, William is too formal and Drake is a rapper. So my brainwave was Liam, it's sticking and it works so I'm happy and hopefully so is he! We've spent the last few days intensely talking and getting to know each other and I think it's going to work, definitely a different dynamic to me and Bel but who likes the same type of people all the time!?
I got asked the other day to start working in the mornings, 8-4, which is kind of scary considering I've trained my body clock to go to bed between 1-3am depending on whether there is trip to the Highlander involved! There was another consideration that I'd rather not blog but my tracks may be harder to cover in certain circumstances. It's a whole other story which is best reserved for emails and Facebook inboxes. Another strand to that story has encouraged me to change my Malaysian phone number which has removed some bad stuff from my life. Good move.
Finally, one of the guys I met on my birthday and was at the party in the jungle with, Marvin, has started working at the same place as me. Two new members of staff in a week, I'm beginning to feel like and old timer and I've only been here a little less than two months!!
So news all updated, other changes that need some work on before they go public but I definitely feel like I have a purpose here now...
First, no Bel! It was so lonely the couple of day when I was the only Westerner here. Don't get me wrong, Bella and Deera are amazing (I know I keep saying it but it's true) but sometimes I just need a Western perspective on stuff and that easy conversation with a native English speaker where the words can tumble out without thinking. I spent a whole night on the sofas at Daniel's Lodge being antisocial on the internet and another hanging out with a really great local lad I've met who is so sound. It was weird going to get food without her, not smelling the dodgy under the counter cigarettes she smokes... Might even go and buy some so I can remember her! Sounds like she's dead but I'll be seeing her soon when I get my arse to Australia.
So Bel's replacement arrived three days ago I think. He was here a few weeks ago, got threatened with Malaysian prison and walked through the bonfire whilst steaming drunk. Bel and Winter bumped into him in KL, he's been travellng around Vietnam with Winter for a few weeks and has come back to work. He isn't too keen on any of his names, Beaver has vaginal connotations, William is too formal and Drake is a rapper. So my brainwave was Liam, it's sticking and it works so I'm happy and hopefully so is he! We've spent the last few days intensely talking and getting to know each other and I think it's going to work, definitely a different dynamic to me and Bel but who likes the same type of people all the time!?
I got asked the other day to start working in the mornings, 8-4, which is kind of scary considering I've trained my body clock to go to bed between 1-3am depending on whether there is trip to the Highlander involved! There was another consideration that I'd rather not blog but my tracks may be harder to cover in certain circumstances. It's a whole other story which is best reserved for emails and Facebook inboxes. Another strand to that story has encouraged me to change my Malaysian phone number which has removed some bad stuff from my life. Good move.
Finally, one of the guys I met on my birthday and was at the party in the jungle with, Marvin, has started working at the same place as me. Two new members of staff in a week, I'm beginning to feel like and old timer and I've only been here a little less than two months!!
So news all updated, other changes that need some work on before they go public but I definitely feel like I have a purpose here now...
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