Mike in Malaysia: 5 Weekends Down - 3 To Go

Port Dickson - Seaside Resort Town - South of KL

Try KFC for your next birthday party

Morning Hindu service on the beach

Well - it's gone by fast, and I've been here forever - both are very true. With 4 weeks down and 4 to go, I'll share these thoughts.

I'm more careful with my wallet than before I got 'picked'.
With the arrival, during this past week, of my new credit cards and new Passport, I feel much more normal again (being out of the USA, without your passport, is a very bad feeling). I still have to go re-register with Malaysian Immigration, so I'll be able to leave the country on my new passport.
The new has worn off, so I'm a bit stymied about where to go for dinner most nights. I've tried just about all the different main choices.
I've started taking taxi's more and trains less, not sure why. Could be I'm a bit more wary of the crowds on the trains and the potential for mischief (pickpockets). Once was really bad, not sure how bad I'd crumble if it happened again.
Work is better now, than the 1st couple of weeks, when I was just meeting people and trying to figure out what was going on. Now I know pretty much whats needing to be done, and putting in plenty of hours to try to get it done. It hasn't helped any that my main local co-worker was out 3 days last week with food poisoning. I think he's fine now, but we're a bit behind on our deliverables schedule.
1 week till Tracy and Paul get here. I'm very anxious to see them. We plan to go to Bangkok for the weekend they are here, still working on the plans. Plane tickets cost more than we were hoping for. Gonna have to share my room for 2 weeks, plus the room will be smaller, with an extra twin bed for Paul being added.
I suspect with the 2nd half of my trip will fly by, since it is kinda broken up into the week before Tracy and Paul, the 2 weeks with Tracy and Paul, and the last week here, after they leave. I'm going to have to remember to keep my focus on my work, what with all the welcome distraction.
This has been a major education in a mixed culture society. We think the USA is a melting pot. I think Malaysia could argue that. In the USA, while we're all mixed together, there is a trend to stay in separate residential pockets, with our own kind (and I think all the various ethnic backgrounds seem to do this and prefer this). In Malaysia, there is certainly some of that, but you really notice how comfortably everyone seems with each other. Muslims, Hindus, others, native Malaysians, Indians, Chinese, others just don't seem to notice the differences much. Their national holiday schedule (10 or more national holidays) come from all the mixed ethnicities and religions. I think we could learn from them.
I learned this week that Malaysians (and Muslims everywhere) don't much keep dogs as pets. Cats yes, dogs no. Apparently this is one of the culture things about Islam, that dogs are unclean, like pigs. If you think about it, they're not wrong. I'm glad we don't see dogs that way. They have so much love to give, I'm glad we have ours and I know a lot of other people agree.

Now for the normal blog-stuff.

One night this week I went to eat at 'Out of Africa', a South African restaurant. They had Ostrich and beef, and boerewors sausage (which I had) (http://www.3men.com/south.htm#Boerewors - only in Malaysia they serve a non-pork verison) all served with veggies and maize (white corn, done up a like mashed potatoes). Pretty good, not magical.

Nearby was a very large A&W restaurant (Picture above). I've seen several of them here. I also grabbed a picture of an ad for birthday parties at KFC, just like we're used to seeing at McDonalds. Apparently both are popular here.

I grabbed a photo of the front page of the local English-language newspaper, with a big article about text-messaging on your handphone (mobile phone) while driving. It is very illegal here to dial, talk or text message while driving (handsfree for incoming calls is allowed). The penalty can be up to RM1,000 and 3 months in jail.

I finally went to the local Hard Rock Cafe for supper Friday night, then stopped by a bar called the Beach Club (that I just happened to walk by, but had heard was a popular place for Americans). The highlight of the place was a shark tank above the main bar. Really cool. Too crowded, too loud (maybe I'm too old). Anyway, I didn't stay long. I'm boring.

I caught a bus to Port Dickson on Saturday, grabbed a cab, stopped at several hotels, checking prices and amenities, finally deciding to stay the night at 'Bayou Beach' (http://www.bayu.com.my/). This nice place was a combination apartment house and hotel. They had pretty basic rooms, a very nice pool, and my room had a balcony facing the beach. I spent a couple of hours on the beach, some time at the pool, read a lot in my book, had a nice long nap in my room, with the sea breeze flowing thru. Very nice.

I found a Thai restaurant for supper, right next to a huge 'night market'. The night market is like a bunch of other markets I've seen here, all the flea market type stalls, plus a bunch of people cooking whatever, cold drinks, and this one had a lot of produce and raw seafood/fish. Tons of people, really fun, but hot (humid, tons of people, stuff being cooked out in the open).

The restaurant was really good. I couldn't tell what anything on the menu was, so I just told the waitress to bring me several things to try and mix it up. I couldn't have been happier with how she ordered for me. I'd been really hot, from walking around so much and the 1st thing she brought me was a mango ice drink, that was kinda like a mango/other-fruit snow cone in a dish, with a big straw and a spoon. Wow, it really did the trick. The main course was a Thai-spicy catfish that was heavenly, with several side dishes that I still don't know what I ate, but it was all good.

Just as my food started arriving, a local guy walked up sat down at my table and started visiting. I was a bit wary, but he was just a nice guy and visited the whole time I ate, and after for a bit. He was pretty interesting, his business was diving, for salvage companies, raising sunken ships, looking for old relics, taking tourists out diving. Apparently he'd worked, over the years, all over the Pacific Basin, good stories.

I finished off the evening in the karaoke bar at the hotel. I just listened and cheered, along with everyone else. Very entertaining, mostly the singing was in Malay, not English. Those songs were not ones that we've ever heard in the States.

Back home on the train today, after more time on the beach. I'll go find some dinner somewhere, probably sit around the pool later and get ready for a busy week at work. This is the week we need to deliver most of the project planning stuff, and we're way behind being ready. Likely long hours this week, then things get better, workwise, and with Tracy and Paul getting here.

Well - that's my life this week. Have a nice week, talk to you all soon.

A fleet of McDonalds delivery vehicles

The hospital that is the project I'm working on. It is still under construction, getting close, but likely won't open until next spring sometime.

A few motorcycles outside the bus station. Train tracks are overhead.

My hotel room at Port Dickson - pretty basic - RM220 per night, just less than the 4 Star hotel I'm at in KL. This one had a balcony that looks out to the ocean, though, nice cool (relatively) breeze.

View of the pool at Bayu Beach in Port Dickson, from my room

View of the beach from my room

Muslim ladies, in their full garb, out swimming. Interestingly, even the non-Muslim women mostly wore fairly full covering suits, more like a speed swimmer or competition biker/skier outfit. Quite a few men wore shirts in the water. In the ocean and in the pool, it was probably 10 men to every woman in the water. Most of the women just did not go in at all.