Malaysian Art and Birds....

First order of business… On day two we saw this street-sign:

What is it? Answer revealed below!

Day two was spent lolling in the hotel room for a bit… we had noodles and super-strong black coffee from the in-room coffee-maker and headed off to downtown. A bit pricey at 70 Ringgit each way for the two of us, but the fastest way to get into town. We landed at KL Sentral and one short hop on the Komuter Expres and we were at Kuala Lumpur Station, which has a really cool decayed Victorian vibe. I guess it used to be the main train station, but it has been surpassed by KL Sentral and KL City Center.

We walked over to the National Mosque, taking a bizarre route through a rundown car park with no cars in it and a tired-looking man slumped in chair watching for the onslaught of cars that was obviously never to come. We took this route as Yvonne completely refused to believe the signs that directed us to go to the front door of the Mosque. Instead, we approached to the side and Yvonne noticed that you had to take your shoes off well before you entered. For some reason this gave Y the heebie-jeebies and she started keening (Hi Katie!) in that high-pitched voice she has when she gets nervous about how we "shouldn’t go near the place." As she continued keening, butterflies dropped, stunned from the air, tropical plants wilted, and paint began flaking from the minarets. Fortunately, a security guard waved us towards the front, which was where tourists enter.

Unfortunately, we arrived at a time that the mosque was closed to tourists, so we wandered about the outside, snapped photos, and sweated like crazy.

Mosque Exterior (All we really got to see^^)

A few questions revealed that the National Islamic Art Museum was right around the corner.. so we headed off there and it was rather awesome.  For about 20 Ringgit for the two of us, it was one of the best deals we’ve had in Malaysia.  The Museum has three floors and it collects Islamic art from all over the world. This was super cool, because you got a chance to see how different countries had internalized Islam and turned it into art.  Persia (we think?) had all kinds of cool calligraphy, including some calligraphy written into leaves.

Calleafgraphy

Also cool, but not pictured, what China did, which was to used it’s traditional brush-calligraphy and draw what, from far away, looks like traditional Chinese art, but upon closer inspection is made up of calligraphed passages from the Quran and Islamic scholars. Looked totally cool.

And two random snaps I took from behind protective glass:

A Pistol Grip, Actually

Jug

Afterwards, we headed to the Butterfly Museum, but missed it totally, and  ended up super-sweaty in front of the Bird Museum, the so-called “largest free-flight aviary” in the world. From the outside you couldn’t see any birds, and when we got to the front we saw the most dispirited looking topiary in, perhaps, the history of topiary.

That's Supposed to be a Bird!

Confidence not much built, we sat down for a bottle of water, and Yvonne wanted to go in so badly that she offered to pay (butterflies flew again, tropical plant sprang back to full height, and flaked paint returned to minarets!).  So, since she wanted in so badly, I got a couple of tickets, and in we went.

At first it was motley profusion of peacocks, doves, pheasants, storks, and a few other birds.  Section 1 was pretty much just that, wherever you walked, though they were remarkably unafraid of humans, so you could walk directly up to them.

Of course there was the splendor of the ostrich who posed:

Looks Edible!

Around section 2 things began to perk up, and as we walked through we saw a cool variety of birds in a cool variety of settings, including some in cages.  By the end of our walk, I was pretty sure it had been worth it, and if we had my godson and god-daughter with us, it would have been completely awesome.

There's Always One Idiot Trying to Break Back IN!

Final thrill, and a great example of vendors adapting to the modern world, for 10 Ringgit you could get two birds perched on you, and then a friend could take a picture of your bird covered self with your own camera. They were rolling people in every 45 seconds or so,  which would mean a rather nice hourly wage.^^

Yvonne, Uncertain or Happy?

Then it was back towards downtown, where we took a very short break for a drink behind the Petronas Towers, an awesome plaza with dancing fountains and a variety of cafes facing out to it.

Finally, dinner with Chocoballnoona and her best friend. As it is Ramadan, we set this up for 7pm, and waited a bit for it to be “safe” to eat. I passed along some books I had brought, and they were saints and paid for dinner. Yvonne and the two women chuckled regularly at jokes I didn’t get^^ and a great time was had by all.

Then, back about an hour to the hotel, and sweet, sweet bed.

Today, we are in transit to Penang.

Oh, yeah, this is what the sign meant:

Shelter From the Storm

To Malaysia!

The first step of our plan for world domination is successful. We have reached Malaysia. 

The trip was relatively uneventful, if you are me. If you are Yvonne it was the most dangerous ride at the carnie on bad acid. When we hit turbulence that wouldn’t even rock the gin in my gin and tonic, she drew her coat up over her lip because she was, “trying not to scream.”  I’ve seen tougher 2 year olds.

The night before, of course, she played her traditional game when we have to take a plane-trip – the let us not sleep or prepare game, for it is always better to wake up exhausted, with things left to do (or undone, to be fair), and haul ass to the airport.

Yvonne Hides in Jackets

Selfie and Yvonne hides in Jacket

Which was remarkably crowded. We spent about 40 minutes in line at Asia Air and then longer than usual through security and customs. But we got there about 20 minutes before boarding, which is good enough, and we were in a row of three seats with one seat empty, which is always good.  Air Asia has attempted to monetize pretty much everything imaginable and I was amused to see, later as I thumbed through their “air catalog” that if there are two empty seats next to you, for only 20 Ringgit (a local currency based on mussel-shells, and the overseas funds that Malaysians accrue by selling their less attractive children into slavery), on is allowed to ‘buy’ those seats. LOL… I wonder how they enforce that one.

I slept on and off for the first three hours of the flight as I was tir… did I mention that at some point in the night I woke up and Yvonne was applying hot compresses to me? Because in summer in Korea that’s what a fellow needs? I thought it might have been a fever dream, yet there, in the morning, was a large yellow bowl full of water and a compress. It would take three psychiatrists, a forensic scientist and three sticks of dynamite to figure out what switch flips in Yvonne’s brain on the night before we travel, but that switch, it is a dire one.

I got through Korean customs without getting my all-important “blank” passport page stamped. It turns out that if we are to go to Jakarta I have to have one blank page in my passport (and it can’t, for some obscure reason, be any of the last four pages in the passport). As it happens, my career as a world famous expert on Korean literature, in concert with my unspoken job of international playboy, means that I only do have that one page. So at each stop here I will have to stop the nice person at the immigration desk and ask them to NOT stamp page 24 of my passport.

One down, two to go.

Except of course we got to Kuala Lumpur and discovered we had misplaced a decimal when converting IDR to dollars, so won't be going to Jakarta at all. Instead, we are booked for Penang, which looks old school and lovely, and is MUCH cheaper.

Tomorrow we meet an old friend in Kuala Lumpur. 

Homoerotic, or just plain weird

Really, Korea?
At first I had the semi-reassuring thought that it was, at least, each person's finger.

TEXT:

Men's Formal Wear/Casual
Price destruction hot deal
Friday to Thursday
Event Park

Ed's Post of all Posts!

Okay. Hi, everyone! We have been in Korea for 1 full week now.  The picture is Kale and Charlie (Kale's godfather).  We haven't sold the child or anything...if you want to know.  We were at a open cafe near Seoul Tower. I have not been able to arrange the pictures so that the more recent goes to the bottom. So, please go down to the bottom and come along on our journey through pictures.

Off to see Charlie, the god father!

Yulie waiting at a small cafe for a subway train. Being under the age, Kale and Yulie ride for free.

This is a series of pics of Kale, watching Disney Jr channel broadcasting in Korean, instead of English. He said, rather appropriately, "I don't understand a thing they say." His Korean, however, has shown much improvement in the last week. Most importantly, he wants to learn Korean now.

Can't live without her milk bottle. On our trip to Jae's parents' place, we forgot to pack this bottle.  Yulie was often cranky to say the least. She is now happily rejoined with her comfort zone.

We are returning from Jae's parents' place to my parents' place. This is in a subway train. The series of pictures portrays all of her moods about life and travel in general :)

Yep. They are sleeping again at another restaurant.

The traditional Korean house in the pictures so far is the residence of Jae's paternal uncle. On one side of the house, I found this green bicycle with cut bamboo behind it. I thought they went well together.

Yulie and Kale wanting to get off the porch to play with house dogs.

More of traditional Korean architecture.

Traditional Korean houses. This is the view from the raised wooden porch / corridor, seen on the picture above.

Some authentic Korean food.

When Kale woke up, Yulie went out like a candle. Kale was  nice enough to lend his leg for her sister for almost an hour. We insisted on taking turns, but Kale was proud to be of service. We were proud of him, too.

Yep. Sleeping. The Jet-lag is a difficult thing to shake off.

Jae posing for the picture. Kale is off to the dream land.

Kale in the same train. He remembered, though faintly, his last train rides 2 years ago.

We are moving by train, off to Jae's parents' place in Gwangju.  This was Yulie's first train ride. The whole ride took about 4 hours.

Jae and I ate well and soon fell into food coma, while the kids are in sleep coma. As we ate, they slept through the whole meal. As in traditional Korean restaurant, the place had semi-private rooms where everyone sits on the floor. This suit us fine because our kids could sleep safely on the flat floor instead of slumping on chairs.

The tofu, pork and kimchi combination go well with rice-based alcoholic beverage.

Some of the local foods we had. The square ones are tofu in different colors. To the right is steamed pork. Behind is slightly stir-fried Kimchi. 

Here's my father, Yulie and Kale. They should not be standing on the offering stone, not especially with their shoes on. Still, my dad wasn't bothered by it. He was just too excited to have them over in Korea, at his house and reporting at the ancestral graves.

Hi, Yulie. The black stone next to her is a tombstone. We came here because we need to "report" to deceased ancesters that we are visiting Korea.

Kale at my family ancestor graves. Kale has the pose of Kim Jung Eun of North Korea. :)

Flying past Japan now. One hour and 40 minutes to go.

The meal in front of Jae is actually for Kale.

Sleeping, Kale missed his meal before arrival. The last two hours of flight a series of turbulences.  Kale had no idea.

Here, she is catching up on what in-flight movies she missed in her slumber.

We are flying over Japan. Two more hours to go. Running a bit short on patience and sleep.  Kale is fast asleep at this point, while Yulie is slowly waking up--rested, but hungry.

Here's Yulie, watching an in-flight movie. She soon fell asleep and remained sleeping for 9 hours straight. Jae and I were more than thankful.

Kale is bored senseless. We told him not to use Mom's Kindle or his Samsung Tablet because we didn't want the battery to drain before the airplane ride. Being a good boy as he is, he followed his instruction well, but the boredom was just too much. You can see Jae in the center.

Yulie is seated in her seat in the airplane. This was the first time she rode one. I wasn't sure how she would react when the plane takes off. Despite my uncertainty, however, she was great. She even said things like, "Are you ready to blast off?" I guess watching Netflix movies could be educational :)

Here we are, ready to leave. This is SF International Airport. I would like to thank Jae's colleague who let us use her stroller. This light collapsible stroller has served us quite well throughout the journey so far. 

UnSprung Forward

A lovely walk to work... Had to won the wild  right side of the road, because I'm allergic to some yellow flower that blankets the wall on the right side. Still, gave me a chance to walk past some rather pretty flowers and stop to take a picture of them with the trusty Iphone.

At the top of the hill is this impenetrable collection of signs - perhaps it says "Danger, The Catholic Snowman..." well, that's where it kind of breaks apart for me, so suggest whatever you might

Then it's a quick path up to the Sanchaek-ro, the walking/biking path that circles Namsan. LOL, this isn't even the part that has the stream.

Starting to get hit by students who need help with next year's applications, or letters of recommendation. I'm happy to report that they aren't waiting for 'the day before the due date' as much as they used to.

Other than that, had a dinner with an agent who is interested in me writing a book along the lines of the "Looking for Hong-Gildong" project that I'm working on the KTLIT site.

Should be fun, and got Yvonne and I to head over the river and get library cards at the National Library and National Digital Library. I produce this high-velocity tripe-spatter at a coffee shop before the walk begins... I figure, maybe an hour to get there und moderate sun and immoderate headphones, then... well, I'll snap some shots their, because the digital library has something quite cool about it..

Other than that, living on the financial downlow to be able to finance my upcoming trip with the Eds and then the summer trip to Australia, Malaysia, and either Vietnam or Thailand.

Semi-lazy days interspersed with brief bursts of crazy productivity (often when I wake up in the early morning and everything is quiet). Yvonne is off learning German, which she is certain will prove invaluable in communicating with the savage nationals of this unusual country. I am not one to chivvy her beliefs, as it means she has Saturday mornings at the Summer "Concentrate on German Camp."

I might have chosen a different name.^^