landslide

The Flower Power gig was a Malaysian company's annual dinner. My colleagues and I managed to have fun & win some prizes but were pretty happy to bolt to a night club afterwards and drink something other than alcohol-free punch.

I've been having some communications issues here and I might start trying to learn Bahasa Malaysia again, esp. now that I know how similar it is to Indonesian. e.g. Trying to order Thai takeaway over the phone:

Claire: "One Pad Thai please"

Operator: "sorry, we don't have that"

Claire: "But I ordered it 3 days ago from the same place! "

Operator: "sorry"

Claire: "what other noodle dishes do you have?"

Operator: "sorry, none"

Claire: "ok, just one green chicken curry. Oh and some steamed rice"
Operator: "Sorry, we don't have that".

Claire (loses her cool): "I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE A THAI RESTAURANT DOESN'T HAVE PAD THAI, NOODLES OR RICE!!!"

Eventually I got everything I wanted...

And it makes me glad that I'm in Malaysia where everyone DOES speak English, even if they struggle with my accent...not sure how I'd fit intensive language lessons in amongst all this shopping and travelling!

At work we've been talking about Barlow and Chambers lately, for some reason. The Pudu Prison where the execution happened is very close to KL city centre. Conditions were apparently awful and it was closed soon afterwards and converted to museum for short time, till they needed it to use a lock-up for drug addicts etc (there has been talk since of demolishing to build residential accomm, but no-one would want to live there- ghosts for sure!). The night before they were executed, they stayed in a pitch room with no windows and were granted about a 7 ringgit allowance for a meal of their choice - usually KFC was what the budget extended to. I had forgotten that the execution caused much bad feeling btn Malaysia and Australia because the guys were executed while an appeal was underway. THey were the first Westerners to be executed under Malaysia's new drug laws.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barlow_and_Chambers_execution

On a cheerier note, I've discovered the funniest thing at work. Everyone has an 'alias' using their first name and initial of their surname. e.g. Mine is ClaireW. Check out my colleague's alias below. This is 100% legit - I thought they were joking until I checked myself in the directory...

ClaireW/"company name inserted here"
UfukER/"company name inserted here"

There have been some instances of hijacking, bag snatching and unprovoked beating up of expats here lately. I am doing less walking around and taking more taxis - at least I have a reason for doing it rather than laziness or being too laden down with Ted Baker bags... One guy (an oil and gas service company employee) got his leg broken by the moped gang. On the whole, i still feel safe here. Am just taking more precautions e.g. bag over shoulder, carrying less valuables, etc.

Went to a fabulous Japanese resto the other night with the American Association - tagged along with a few Americans from work. I pretended to be from Noo York. Met some great people - all so friendly and positive and enthusiastic about life hehre. Enjoyed Sake for the first time of my life after the couple across the table introduced me to a brand you can't buy anywhere else in Malaysia. It didn't even taste too much like Metho. See photo of their AMAZING Chinese NY special meal - all that sashimi, salad and sauce for $15AUD)- i sure wouldn't want to grate all those vegies for that! http://www.daidomon.com.my/