Howdy people!

A quick post to let you all know I'm in Penang, Malaysia now, applying for my non-immigrant B visa, which will last me a good three months. 

Yet another noisy internet cafe, in a huge mall....so I'm gonna scoot and find a quiet spot somewhere.  Penang is AWESOME!

Still having some problems getting a phone line hooked up at my home in Thunglung, so may be a while yet before I get wired back into the internet. 

Ciao for now!

-Jeeem-

A Better World. . .

Some of these posts may seem a bit out of order, mainly because I’ve somehow lost my pal Chris Allen from Belfast, Northern Ireland who's been posting for me. I’ve most probably lost him to the Euro 2004 games, which (try as I might) although I try to avoid, Anne Charmaine keeps dragging me into….so now I’m an addicted fan.

So, bear with me because there are still more Malaysian posts to come. (Annie, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me Krishna).

I’m finally semi-settled and happy…very, very happy. I’m living in a small southern Thai community called Thung Lung, which is about twenty or thirty minutes outside (south) of Hatyai. My boss Craig Hanks, originally from Australia, took part of a day to drive me about, looking for accommodations and we lucked upon a beautiful two storey house, which is semi-furnished. Things are much easier with Craig around because he speaks fluent Thai.

My landlord(s) are an interesting couple. The husband is a police officer in town and his wife is a furniture store proprietress. So, I get discounted furniture! What a deal! This house I'm renting is really too huge for me, but the price is right and we even made a deal, reducing the rent by 1000 Thai Baht, if hubby is allowed to park his vehicles here at the house. Hell, for a thousand Baht rent reduction, he can park his damn airplane here if he wants!

I’ve got two bedrooms (upstairs), two bathrooms (one upstairs, one down), a spacious living room, enclosed porch, spacious kitchen, and the most gorgeous patio upstairs that you’ve ever seen. It’ll be barbecue time as soon as I can afford to purchase one (first on my list is a washing machine). I promise to post some pics as soon as I can.

The neighborhood here is something else. By “something else” I mean just this side of fantastic. The people are very warm and friendly and the kids here are just as wonderful as my kids back in China. I’m quite the prodigy here, as I was in China, but it’s different here. People don’t seem to have noxious or rude intentions (at least the Thai people). They stare, but when my eyes meet theirs, they smile a huge, genuine smile. Many of the kids I teach, live in this community of Thung Lung.

The area here is lush, and lush is an understatement. The jungle here is thick and right out my front door is thick foliage of coconut trees, papaya, mango (got one right next to my house), various varieties of mango, jackfruit trees, pomegranate, bamboo, and hordes of wild exotic flowers like bird-of-paradise and others. Basically, it is a tropical paradise here and I love it.

Language is a problem….naturally. This is a small village, far removed even from the larger city of Hatyai to the north. Not much English is spoken, however, upon arriving (to much alarm and surprise) at one of the local eateries around the corner, the villagers quickly dispatched a local woman, who is a beautician from a nearby shop, who speaks a smattering of English. We had a wonderful conversation filled with sign language, broken English, some Thai dialect (which I’m told is an ancient dialect in this community) and a lot of Ah’s and oh’s. A wonderful time really.

I teach at a nearby school, which is (ironically) a Chinese based school. They just took on two new Chinese teachers who I’ve yet to meet, but will be fun to practice my Chinese on them. The school is rather large by Thai standards and expanding constantly. We teach grades one through six (Prathom) and will soon be teaching grades seven through nine (Matayom).

I found a baby snake in my living room today, have located the neighborhood internet caf?e, and have had my esophagus burned to a crisp at the local food stands in town. I’ve identified a flowering plant that I haven’t seen since I was a kid in El Paso, that we kids used to call “The Popper Plant” because if you coat the brown, banana shaped seed pods with your saliva, they “POP” open and spew out the seeds. Actually I discovered the plant while visiting Annie, while on our jaunt through Malacca, Malaysia and (I think) she was quite impressed. Ha! Today, I found yet another flower color variety and hope to have them growing in my mini-garden here on my terrace soon.

Well, enough for now. It’s about time for me to pay a visit to one of the (many) local restaurants here. I’ve got a small book that I kept while in China, that has not only Chinese translations in it, but now some Thai terms for various types of food. It’s fun actually, because most catch on quickly and want me to try one of their “best” dishes, begging me to experiment a little, but luckily I have the translation written down for “not too hot please!”

-Jeeem-

Hey Sportsfans!

Here I sit in the local Cantonese restaurant that I've affectionately dubbed, "The Housefly Restaurant." The flies in this place are truly unbelievable and I'd swear they hire staff exclusively to swat flies.

I've finally accepted a job in Thailand. Craig Hanks of Stairway English in Hatyai, Thailand called me this afternoon and offered me the teaching position. I had four job offers on the table, three from southern Thailand and one on Cebu island in the Philippines. But, I readily accepted Craig's offer, given the working conditions, the support and the beautiful area that I'll be teaching in.

Things here in China are better after an extended meeting with the infamous Ms. Fang. Some heated deliberations, baring of teeth, raised voices and finally smiles, an agreement and a handshake. I think both of us were sick and tired of fighting. She knows and I know that I'm working illegally here because of this school's lies and deceptions. Although I don't really detect any sign of remorse, Ms. Fang seemed to at least appreciate the law and the position that the school's higher-ups have placed both of us in.

I've got fourteen days remaining here. I'll be flying out on the 26th of June. I'm not going to miss Guangzhou, or China for that matter, but I will miss these wonderful students and some of the friends I've acquired here.

Stay tuned for my new posts as I enter another teaching year in the, "Land of Smiles."

-Jeeem-

KLCC



KLCC?

Better known as Kuala Lumpur City Center. It's a city within a city. The highlight of KLCC are the Petronas Towers, a landmark of Kuala Lumpur and at 452 meters tall (one thousand four hundred eighty three feet), until this year, the tallest buildings in the world.

Now, the newly built Taipei 101, a rather ugly building boasting a daunting 508 meters (one thousand six hundred and sixty six feet), has captured the title.



Maybe they've lost the title of the tallest buildings in the world, but I assure you, the beauty of these 88 story buildings, even at night, cannot be surpassed by the Taipei 101 (sounds like a language course).

These majestic buildings are surrounded by Suria KLCC mall, a six-level, crescent-shaped shopping mall that boasts one million square feet (93,000 square meters) of which over 80 percent is actively leased. 'Suria' means sunshine in Bahasa Malaysia language. This awesome place is filled to the brim with specialty shops, clothing shops, food courts, cafés, landscaped walkways, skylights, 864 seat concert hall and ample parking. I damn near got lost in the place, looking for Annie's workplace: The California Pizza Kitchen, where I ordered a delicious Cheese steak pizza.



Here's a good shot of the sky bridge. This awesome structure hangs a daunting 170 meters (558 feet) above ground and I was lucky enough to secure a free ticket for a tour of the bridge, which offers some great views of the KLCC 50 acre park and surrounding city suburbs. This structure, which connects the two towers, was built in South Korea. It is 58.4 meters in length (192 feet) and weighs 750 tonnes (826 short tons).



This is a good view from the sky bridge, of the fifty acre park surrounding Suria KLCC and the Petronas Towers. Actually, I saw very little of the fifty-acre park, mainly because I chose to stay inside the wonderfully climate-controlled Suria KLCC mall, as it was damn hot and humid in Malaysia that particular Thursday when I visited Annie at her workplace. I did follow her suggestion and walk out to the small bridge in the park to get a good picture of the towers.

I shopped around for awhile, ate at a couple little food stands and then nestled myself into a comfortable corner at Chili's, ate some tortilla chips and salsa and bought a Kuala Lumpur Chili's polo shirt. I wasn't there an hour when the sky literally opened up and the torrential downpours famous in Southeast Asia, took over. Later that evening, Annie and I went out to eat at the Hard Rock Café in Kuala Lumpur, where you can't get real bacon on your hamburger. Actually, in KL, you're hard pressed to find pork anywhere.

Those pesky Muslims?

All-in-all, I loved my experience in Kuala Lumpur and my trip to Malacca. I can't wait to return! Stay tuned for my next posting, which shall reveal the truth about the mysterious Straits of Malacca's mud-sucking, human-eating shorelines. (I know you're grinning Annie!)

-Jeeem-



(Sorry 'bout posting this a fortnight late, y'all, I was in Poland raising hell. Leastways, that's *my* excuse...Chris.)

Hello everyone!

I'm back in Hong Kong for (hopefully) my last visa run. I've got less than one month at the godforsaken Phoenix City Bilingual School and they are really raking me through the coals as far as my contract is concerned. Suffice it to say that I am beginning to believe that they are in some sort of contest to see how badly they can breach my contract.

Anyway, I'm at least trying to enjoy my time here in Hong Kong and just got back from eating at my favorite restaurant on Causeway Bay, the Yin Chang Vietnamese restaurant. The food there is truly delicious!

So, in the a.m. I'll grab some breakfast and then I'll be off to Wan Chai for yet another visa run. I was smart this time and purchased my return ticket ahead of time so I can be guaranteed that I will be in Guangzhou at a decent hour tomorrow night so I can catch the bus back home instead of having to spend $100.00 Yuan on a taxi ride.

I've got a new job prospect in the wings, possibly at a school in Beijing, but not totally sure yet. I'd much rather travel to Thailand, but beggars can't be choosers at this point.

More later...

-Jeeem-

Selamat Datong Malaysia!



This is a picture of my good friend Annie, taken in her car during my visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Sorry Annie, but you knew I'd do this!) I spent a glorious seven days in Kuala Lumpur and also got to visit Malacca, which is a three hour bus ride to the south of Kuala Lumpur.



The "Cat Eye" soup was wonderful!

It's not really cat eyes. The Malay name is Mata Kucing, which means cat eyes, because the fruit, which is also called Mata Kucing, looks a lot like cats eyes. (Annie was none too quick at mentioning this, no doubt reveling at my reaction) This "drink" is a mixture of the Mata Kucing fruit and winter melon. It's really not too bad, but not something I'd make a habit of sampling.

My hair was painfully short during this trip, the shortest it's been since Navy boot camp in 1979. I attribute this to Tanka's lack of fluency in Mandarin, when he accompanied me to Xintang to get my hair cut. From now on I will remain alert while I'm getting my hair cut! Thanks a lot Tanka!



This is Central Market in downtown Kuala Lumpur. My stomach was pretty tender during this trip, after Annie took me to an authentic Indian restaurant in the city. My poor tummy wasn't used to such an assault, although my taste buds thought it a treat! So, we went looking for a lighter fare while shopping about the market, which was filled with interesting souvenirs, clothing shops, restaurants etc.

We finally settled on Ahmad's Restaurant, a tiny Egyptian restaurant located in a small alcove. We ordered the chicken shawerma, which was a delicate and delicious tasting chicken wrapped in a piece of flat bread with other, unknown condiments that only added to the delightful flavor. Just thinking of this meal makes my mouth water. It was truly delicious.



There was really so much Annie and I did, day-after-day, that it's hard to remember the course of events. This is a picture of the outdoor market in Chinatown. Felt funny to visit here, as it almost seemed ridiculous to come all the way from China and visit a Chinatown, but still it was fun.



This is Masjid Jamek, the Muslim area of Kuala Lumpur. I loved this place. Annie and I came here looking for some aftershave lotion for my pal Tanka, a treat you can't find in China very easily. The people in Majid Jamek were all so friendly and the sheer culture of the place was enough to keep me there for days.

I remember that Annie and I had some packages with us, an umbrella and a newspaper. When we approached the store, they had a package check window where you put your stuff before entering the store. The gentleman at the window took the umbrella and the newspaper, allowing us to enter the store with our packages.

Annie and I looked at each other like, "What the heck?" Annie turned to me and said, "Perhaps there are many items in the store that can be smuggled out in a newspaper or an umbrella!" We got a good laugh out of that one!

The "covers" that the Muslim women wear, called "tudong" in Malay and "hijab" in Arabic, are as diverse as any other article of clothing. Some of them are stunningly beautiful silk adornments. A sign of the times, many women simply wear their hijab with jeans and tee-shirt underneath, while others wear the more traditional long silk robes, called Baju Kurung, also very colorful. Still other Muslim women dress in black or white with face covered except for their eyes. This is mysteriously captivating to behold.



Annie and I took a three-hour bus ride south, to Malacca, the oldest city in Malaysia, which was a wonderful experience. These colorful tri-shaws are everywhere and reminded me of the ornate and ostentatious jeepneys in the Philippines. For a mere 20 Ringgit, Annie and I were transported to the small Portuguese settlement of Malacca.

Crammed tightly into this garish three-wheeled bike, we got a slow tour of Malacca, without having to budge. At some point, Annie's mobile phone went off and after a brief pause I asked her, "Well, aren't you going to get that?" We both got a good laugh out of that one, because we scarcely had room to breathe, let alone fish something out of one of our pockets.

Malacca, founded in 1400, has a rich history, one that I am not prepared to tackle here on this blog, but suffice it to say I was able to visit the Malacca Fort, the Dutch church (with a wonderful view of the Straits of Malacca), Padang Pahlawan Square, the Red Square (with a brief stop at Annie's favorite Chicken rice ball restaurant), the suburb of Bandar Hilir and not to be missed...The Straits of Malacca themselves, where I got UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL with the Strait, a personal story for another blog?



Monuments and historical places are okay, but give me a Monitor lizard any old day! This rather scaly fellow was on lease to me for three Ringgit, while Annie snapped away with the camera. The owner of this cheerful fellow had two other, rather large snakes, which he offered to place on loan for a picture or two, but I gently declined as I am not really partial to snakes, especially ones bigger than me.



I couldn't wrap up this blog without mentioning Simone, who is Annie's sister. This is a rare photograph of her hugging her evil counterpart, who tortured her through the better part of her young life. We finally got to meet on Wednesday, after she returned from Singapore. Simone was a delightful person to get to know and it still amazes me that she remained intact, through all these years at the hands of her villainous sister Anne Charmaine!

Well, enough for now. I hope to publish more pictures in the future and please, please stay tuned for my...confession, er, uh, excuse? In regards to the truth about my (and poor Annie's) experience upon (in?) the Straits of Malacca.

-Jeeem-

Howdy!

I'm in an internet cafe in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia checking out my blog site again. It's funny how I have to leave China to do that.

I'm gonna be posting some very interesting photos of my Malaysia trip, so stay tuned! So far, Annie and I have taken a trip to Melaka, Malaysia where not only was I able to see the strait of Melaka, I got stuck in it!

I can't tell you more now because my time here at the cafe is running out. But please stay tuned!

Ciao!
-Jeeem-

Hello everyone!

Just a short posting to let everybody know that I am safely in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - staying with my longtime friend Anne. I arrived late last night at KLIA airport, which interestingly enough is nowhere near Kuala Lumpur. They announced during my flight on China Southern airlines that it was a balmy 27 degrees Celsius in KL, but after walking outside the airport with Anne to get into the taxi, I'm SURE they got that information wrong. Thirty degrees celsius MAYBE, but surely not 27.

I'll be vacationing here in Kuala Lumpur for a week and will be returning to China on Friday the 7th with plenty of pictures to post! This place is really, really awesome!

-Jeeem-

Back Home From Hong Kong

This is a picture of the famous Bank of China building in downtown Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island.

I'm back home from Hong Kong, wishing my stay would have been longer. I was just starting to get comfortable with the city and then had to leave.

This is what the night life is like in Hong Kong, reputedly the city that never sleeps.

Nightlife in Hong Kong is simply amazing. Bright lights from signs hanging out into the road from both sides of the street, steam rising from bamboo baskets bearing Dim Sum delights, fleshy carcasses of chicken, duck, goose, monkey, dog, and whatnot hanging from hooks in large paned shop front windows, money exchange counters sandwiched between large restaurants or cell phone stores, bubbling crock pots filled with octopus shish kebabs, restaurant hackers out in the streets announcing their specials and trying to drag hungry night revelers off the street and into their places of business, brightly flashing barroom beer signs, massage parlors, reflexology centers and busy news stands.

It seems that there are more taxi's and buses in Hong Kong than there are passenger vehicles. This picture shows one of the typical scenes of taxi's lined up waiting for fares.

My accommodations at the Wang Fat Hostel in Causeway Bay were modest to say the least, but at least comfortable and affordable.

Hong Kong Island was an awesome experience, if not a bit intimidating. But, in looking back over the last couple of years and all my travels, traveling only gets easier. You just have to forge ahead and not get rattled by new scenery, loud noises, fast traffic and total chaos. I found most of the taxi drivers in Hong Kong spoke English, but if I had to sum them up, I would have to say they are rather impatient.

Several times, I opened the door of a taxi, only to be curtly told to go to the other side of the street (a system I never figured out). It seems certain areas are for taxi's only going to certain locations but damned if I could figure it out. Also, I noticed that they sit idle in one place for long periods, but when they have you as a fare, they want to get you where you have to go and they don't want you dawdling in the vehicle once they get you where you're going.

One guy was so impatient with me fishing money out of my pockets (I was trying to get rid of the heavy one, two, five and ten Hong Kong dollar coins I was amassing) that he just grabbed what I had in my hand (about fifteen Hong Kong dollars) and accepted that as a fare, when the total fare was twenty-two Hong Kong dollars. It seemed he couldn't wait to get me out of that cab.

I could have walked the streets all night long, but alas, I returned to my small, cozy, modest room at the Wang Fat Hostel on Patterson road in Causeway Bay and turned on the T.V. American Idol was on the tube with a scrolling announcement that voting was closed to Asia (no doubt, because we're a day ahead of everybody else). I watched that non-sense for a bit before finally retiring in order to make the consulate in Wan Chai in the early morning for my China visa.

Wan Chai is a different (and more expensive) world than Causeway Bay. My taxi got me there quickly, in about ten minutes and I set about trying to find the China Resources Building. It wasn't any different from other consulates I've been to. Armed guards, metal detectors, etc., until I got up to the seventh floor and saw the mob (I was only five minutes late of the opening). I was told that my downloaded visa application form wouldn't do, and was handed out another (which wasn't much different than mine).

I was given a ticket number (A60) and told to have a seat.

Looking about, I felt like I was at the United Nations or something. Looking at their passports, I identified Moroccans, Algerians, Indians, Argentineans, Brazilians, British, Germans, Nepalese, South Africans, Filipinos, Indonesians, you name it, and they were all there, waiting to get their Chinese visas. Surprisingly enough, I only saw two Americans.

I waited from 9:15 a.m. until 11:25 a.m. before finally being seen, told I could not apply for a multi-entry visa if I was claiming I was a tourist, and instructed to come back at 3:30 p.m. with $840.00 Hong Kong dollars in my hand to pick up my passport. I wiled away the hours at, embarrassingly enough, a local McDonalds, reading the South China Morning Post, strictly out of convenience.

So now, back in Guangzhou, today is a beautiful day after two weeks of monsoon rains. I would have loved to get out in the sun today but I desperately needed to spruce up my apartment a bit, open the sliding glass doors and airing the place out. I've got a new respect for mildew.

Tanka, Bala and I will be going out tonight, once again, to explore the back recesses of Xintang for its shops and exotic restaurants. I'm still not burnt out on roasted oysters and mussels, so maybe I can talk them into hitting our favorite oyster haunt. I managed to pick up Tanka's highly coveted chickpeas (which I call Garbanzo beans) while in Hong Kong, so maybe I can bribe him to stop for a dozen oysters.

I've already started the slow process of consolidating my possessions here, which isn't too difficult because I didn't bring much with me when I arrived in China and I haven't really purchased many solid goods while here. I'll be giving away my printer, my lion head goldfish Lester, and some of my books, but the rest will go in the trash or in my luggage.

Annie sent me a text message last night, telling me she's been trying to reach me since she was in Lisbon, wondering if I was screening my calls. I get a lot of complaints from friends that I never answer my home phone or my cell phone calls, which doesn't surprise me because I usually don't. I really don't like the phone much, but it is a necessity and comes in handy when I run into language barriers here, which is just about every day.

For an example, I recently found myself without the aid of my little pocket notebook, which has several needful things scribbled in Chinese, to show to taxi drivers and the like. So, I just sent a message to my faithful friend Derek and asked him to send me a text message in Chinese, telling the driver where I want to go. Simple, yet a bit complicated, no? Ha! But it works! After a brisk "Ni hao!" I hand over my mobile phone, show the driver the Chinese text and I'm on my way.

Although I've only been abroad for eight months, I know in my heart that I belong here in Asia. Maybe not China, mainly because of it's pollution and language barriers, but surely southeast Asia, where I can just fold into the beautiful landscape, get dark skin like the natives and watch the awesome sunrises and sunsets over the ocean. I've found my niche and I'm happy, although I do wish I'd done this a long time ago.

-Jeeem-

Hello Blog world!

It's me again! The jeeemeister is BAAAAAAAACK! And I'm in Hong Kong. It's so awesome to actually see my blog after eight months in the dark.

Yep, I've been to Hong Kong several times, but only to Launtau Island, to the airport. This time I'm on Hong Kong Island, trying desperately to renew my passport. My school (which is less than one year old) doesn't have any more authorization to get me an "F" visa, so they had to send me to Hong Kong for a multiple entry visa.

I just arrived here at around 2:00 p.m. this afternoon, after leaving from the China Hotel in Guangzhou by bus at 9:00 a.m. I don't care what the hell they say or advertise about three hour bus rides to Hong Kong.....it ain't true! Hell, it takes a good hour in-and-of-itself just to get through customs in Shenzhen/Hong Kong.

I've been in a light panic to get my business sewn up with the Thailand ESL agency in Bangkok, and my latest venture has been to wire 2,500 Thai Baht to the agency to take care of my work permit fees. Going to Western Union in Guangzhou is a harrowing experience to say the least and they don't speak English....what a hassle! So, I decided to do my business here in Hong Kong.

I'm on Hong Kong island, in Causeway Bay, at the Wang Fat Hostel which is widely advertised in the China Lonely Planet guide. Nice place and right in the heart of things. This city is AWESOME! So much to see that it is just mind boggling.

Anyway, my trip to the Western Union proved fruitful. I hopped into a taxi (they actually speak English here) and showed the driver where I wanted to go. Much to my surprise, he said to me, "It's close....real close," then showed me how to get there and let me out. I was dumbfounded. In Guangzhou they would have just taken me there and then charged me the 7.00 Yuan to get there.

Taxi's here are a bit more expensive, at 15.8 Hong Kong dollars for the first click and 1.40 HK thereafter. So, I'm going to enjoy doing some walking around this awesome city with it's never ending tall buildings.

It was a snap at the Western Union. Easy as pie and in ENGLISH!!! Awesome. I had a nice walk from there, rubbernecking around and exploring some of the nifty sights. Hunger pangs hitting me, I ducked into a Vietnamese restaurant and had a wonderful meal of mixed vegetable soup, rice and lemongrass porkchop.

Still used to my China experience, I spoke Mandarin to the waitress at the restaurant, who was very pleased, proceeding with a flurry of Chinese, thinking that I spoke fluently. Ha! I'm very limited, and hell, I threw over half of my twenty-six some-odd words at her!

Well, gotta run folks. I'm gonna go out on the town and check out the nightlife here. Then it's to bed early and up early in the morning so I can hit the consulate at opening time. Then I'll be heading back to Guangzhou, in time to rest up before my private lessons on Saturday in Guangzhou.

-Jeeem-