Kuality Time

Heaven can wait, we're only watching the skies

2010-01-25T17:30:00.018+08:00

As I was a student, in my early 20ies, I remember picturing me in the future, like when I’d be very old, like when I’d turn 30. I used to picture me as a mature, full grown adult. I’d have a beard, a wife, kids, and a large car; I’d be paying a mortgage for the house, I’d watch the TV news everyday and I’d spend my vacations in an all-inclusive. And most importantly, I’d have a clear picture of who I am and where I’m going. Well, I’m about to turn 30 and guess what? I didn’t comply with any of those!!! Well, ok, I have a beard. But aside from the beard, the 30-years-old-Rémi is far from the 30-years-old-Rémi-as-pictured-by-the-20-years-old-Rémi.

Since I’m approaching my 30th birthday, I started to get anxious about all this. Was this a legitimate concern or was I just being a victim of peer pressure?

Since the topic was growing on me, I started to bring it up in the discussions, especially with my friends in their 30ies. All of them were reassuring and I tend to receive the same feedback: in his 20ies, one is supposed to try to find oneself and develop his own personality. One is supposed to be dumb and do all sort of plain stupid things to experiment life. But during his 30ies, one gets more mature, self-confident, with a clear path ahead. Being still young, curious and full of energy, but more independent and less naive, one can really enjoy life and make great accomplishments. Some of my even older friends (like in their 40ies ;-) say the best memories they have are from their 30ies.

Anyway, since I’m 2 months from turning 30, that means I have only two months left to be dumb and do plain stupid things. I’d be glad to ear your suggestions. But make no mistake; the list is quite long already:

Being DWI and screw the car up …check
Intend a double backflip to impress the chicks and end up with a broken wrist …check
Get a tattoo that you will have to spend quite some money to get rid of …check
Spend 5 years on a relationship that went nowhere …check (I might actually have learned a thing or two from that one)
Ride your mountain bike as fast as you can in an unknown, curved, steep dirt path and broke 4 front teeth, and the jaw bone in 3 parts …check
Claim to your friends that you can drink a bottle a rum by yourself and that you won’t even get drunk, and find yourself almost brain dead …check
Plan a round-trip from Chicago to New Orleans over fall break with a dying 25 years old Oldsmobile and break down in the middle of nowhere, stuck for a freezing night without cellphone …check
Drink 4 cups of maté in the evening and still be insomniac after 4am on a Sunday night with a busy week ahead at work, and find yourself blogging about turning 30 …check (actually, this one is just going on right now…)
…

Youthful indiscretion or life experiment, I could go on like that for a good while. But let’s focus on what’s more important: it’s not the Past. It’s not the Future. It’s the Now. Another feedback I regularly got from my friends in their 30ies is that it makes no difference! That there is no such thing as a sudden enlightenment while turning 30! That they wake up the first morning of their 30ies exactly the same as when they went to bed for the last time of their 20ies! 30 might sound like a big number, but at the end of the day it’s only a number. If a year was only 363 days long, I’d have turned 30 already by now! If it was 369 days long, I’d still have a year before turning 30… Bottom line: no worries, who cares if get married and get kids when I am 29, 31, 32 or even 35, as long as it’s the right time for me! I'll keep learning all my life long, therefore there will always be a few more plain stupid things that will have to be done.

With that in mind, and the book “The Power of Now” in my hand, I’m ready to seize the day more than ever!

Alphaville - Forever Young (1984), here.

Summiting El Pico de Orizaba

2010-01-18T22:40:00.007+08:00

Ever since I set foot in Mexico, I had in mind to summit El Pico de Orizaba. At 5636 m (18490 ft), this is Mexico's highest (and most beautiful) summit! Shortly before Christmas I had the opportunity to intent an ascent: while doing rock climbing a few months ago, I met Mathieu and Argenis, two mountaineering junkies. They were training for the ascent of the famous Aconcagua and offered me to join them for the ascent of the Orizaba. For them, it was a peaceful Sunday stroll, but for me it was the biggest mountain I ever climbed!

We set camp at the shelter (4,200m) and did an "alpine start": getting started at 2am and do a one-shot ascent. The atmosphere was incredible! Being alone in the dark far above the clouds is just magical! We made it to the bottom of the glacier by sunrise, geared up and finally reached the summit two hours later.

I really felt the lack of oxygen! Ever step forward was a challenge, we had to stop and catch our breath every 10 steps. Quite an experience!

I let pictures speak for themselves:

Wondering about wandering

2009-10-19T14:29:00.004+08:00

While visiting the little-known Olmec archeological site of Chalcatzingo last weekend, I came across this old Ceiba tree whose roots are crawling along the rock crag, desperately looking for some soil to dig in and feed.

Being so remote and deserted, the site had some cryptic grain of magic, which might have contributed to the burst of thoughts that hit me when I saw those winding roots.

How long can those roots extend their limbs before dying, dried and starving? What hunger is strong enough to compel them to undertake such uncertain journey along this endless parched rock? What’s the point?

At that moment, I felt I was like those roots. I’ve been away from home for a while now, leaving behind everything that was known, easy and comfortable. Am I running after something or fleeing away from something? Is there something at the end of the quest? Shouldn’t I get closer to what matters most: family? And more importantly: shouldn’t I also settle down and start a family myself? Isn’t it quite egoistic to keep seizing the day and not giving back at some point? Well… am I not sounding a bit too religious now?...

Anyway, this was questioning time…

But shortly after, once I made it to the top of the hill overhanging the archeological site, I had cleared my mind from those doubts. Only sure thing: coming back to the comfort zone is not for tomorrow.

To be continued…

Impre - sea - ve

2009-03-25T23:50:00.003+08:00

Just wanna share with you this humongous wave I shot in Pie de la Cuesta, near Acapulco, last weekend! I miss the South China sea big time ;-)

Closer to you, my Lord

2009-02-11T08:07:00.014+08:00

The good thing with el DF is that there are plenty of volcanoes within an 80 km radius from the center, more than enough to satisfy the urge for mountains for the height-addict like me!

I was in particular immediately attracted and fascinated by the Iztaccíhuatl (aka. Ixta). At 5,230 m above sea level, it is the third highest peak in Mexico, only 200 m lower than his famous neighbor: the very active Popocatépetl (access forbidden since the 2000 big eruption).

What first stirred up my curiosity is the Aztec legend. Courtesy of Wikipedia: Iztaccíhuatl was a princess who fell in love with one of her father's warriors. Her father sent her lover to a war in Oaxaca, promising him his daughter as his wife if he returned (which Iztaccíhuatl's father presumed he would not). Iztaccíhuatl was told her lover was dead and she died of grief. When Popocatépetl returned, he in turn died of grief over losing her. The gods covered them with snow and changed them into mountains. Iztaccíhuatl's mountain is called "White Woman" because it resembles a woman sleeping on her back, and is often covered with snow. (The peak is sometimes nicknamed La Mujer Dormida ("The Sleeping Woman").) He became the volcano Popocatépetl, raining fire on Earth in blind rage at the loss of his beloved.

I felt like the Ixta has been teasing me ever since I came in Mexico: I first tried my luck with this ascent last October, but it was the moist season, it started snowing and I was ill-prepared so I had to give up… for the moment! The Ixta is sometimes visible from the center of Mexico City, like a constant reminder of my failure to climb it… Few months later, while on the plane on my way to Peru, the air was crystal clear, I had a perfect close-up view on it. The Sleeping Lady had put on her most beautiful white snowy dress and disclosed her charms to me.

I had to go back, and reach the summit, this time! With two mates, we got all the gear we needed and waited for the snow cap to melt down sufficiently to allow us making it without ice axe or crampons.

The plan was:

Leave the DF Friday after work hours (i-e at 2pm, yes, Friday rulez in my company :), arrive at La Joya trailhead (4,000m) few hours before dark, and start the first part of the ascent until a shelter at midway (4,800m), as a nice warm up for the next day’s ascent.

Spent a good refreshing night, get acclimated to the altitude overnight and wake-up at dawn raring to go, take a pleasant walk to the summit, take few pictures and come back sun tanned, happy, and invigorated by the fresh air.

But actually it went like:

Get jammed in f*cking endless Friday afternoon Mexico jams and arrive really late at the trailhead, actually shortly before dusk, but still stick with the plan and start the first part of the ascent.

Get frozen when the night fall and that the temperature drops more than expected. Get lost in the dark because it is just not easy to find one’s way in the dark at 4,500m. Walk the wrong path downhill before realizing and turning back.

Arrive exhausted at 10pm at the shelter. Set up the camp quickly and spent the most horrible night: first symptoms of altitude sickness (persistent headache, difficulty to breath regularly), cold (although I got good clothing and sleeping gear). Almost didn’t sleep at all. At dawn that was it, I decided to give up one more time and get back.

But… Force chug a large can of Red Bull, swallow 1000 mg aspirin, wait for the first sunbeams to warm you up a bit, get your friends teasing you on… and finally change your mind and decide to stay in the race!

Out of 3, 2 of us eventually made it to the summit at 5,230 m. I have to admit it was really not piece of cake. I had to struggle before each new high pitched slope not to turn back. But it was all worth it: one’s doesn’t get to step everyday on a 5,000 m high crest path above the clouds, with a 360 view as far as 150 km. A bit of an on-top-of-the-world feeling… The most tiring part for me was the 1 km long glacier just before reaching the last crest before the summit.

But once on top… What peacefulness what serenity, what a majestic view… From the top we were able to distinctly see as far as the Orizaba summit, 150 km away… The long descent on the way back was just a knee killer!

I want to go back. But this time with a different schedule, more gradually and with more steps to acclimatize. I’ll hit the Ixta one more time by April/May when the weather is the nicest…

Courtesy of Vincent for all the pictures were I appear.

¡Ya hace seis meses!

2009-02-05T08:24:00.006+08:00

Yep, time flies, already six months that I moved in Mexico and I finally bring this blog back to life! A lot to catch up on…

Stating the obvious, life is way different by many aspects here. Malaysia and Mexico are not only antipodean geographically speaking but also in the lifestyle, and well, to be frank I am still a bit "lost in translation" trying to find my bearings. Moving from a human-sized city where everything is reachable within a short motorbike ride to one of the biggest and most jammed and polluted megalopolis on Earth is just not an easy thing. And starting over again with learning a new language either.

That said, I’d have already been gone for long if that wasn’t for the kindness and the hospitality of my Mexican colleagues and friends! After a few weeks I already felt like I’d been around for months. It doesn’t take much more than the first meeting to enter the circle, be considered part of the group and be invited to fiestas and outings.

Speaking of which, fiestas are taken very seriously here! The slightest event can become a reason to celebrate! It all starts with a simple get-together after work hours and ends up in the middle of the night. Dance and tequila are the two mandatory ingredients for any fiesta, but there are many others to tune the flavor: singing, mechanical bull, piñatas, spicy tacos, and many more!...

Spanish is still a barrier, sometime quite frustrating, but I spend efforts on it, studying handbooks on a daily basis. And of course I harass my cubicle neighbors for constant feedback on my verbs mistakes and mistranslations… Cada día un poco mejor :-)

Although I have to admit it was not love at first sight with Mexico City aka “el DF” , after a few weekend outings and trips I now know for a fact that Mexico (the country, not the city) really has a lot to offer. More on this coming up soon…

Nuestro "depa" en la colonia Condesa

One last word

2008-08-05T02:15:00.003+08:00

My time in Malaysia is over. I've just spent two incredible years discovering so many interesting places and learning so much about myself. Although I dedicated most of my time off to travel around, I still feel I barely scatched the surface! South-East Asia has a lot to offer and I'm sure I will be back someday.

But before I start a new chapter of my life and of this blog, I take the opportunity to publish hereafter a few last entries I had on-going for a while.

Jumpalagi Malaysia, ¡Hola México!

Laos, the refuge of the last dreamers, the last lovers, the last troubadours

2008-08-04T11:16:00.023+08:00

I managed to get a 15 days off-contract break before heading to Mexico. 5 days dedicated to the tons of paperwork lying ahead and 10 days for one last killer trip in Asia before I leave Malaysia for good. Tough call really! I wanted to deepen my experience of Vietnam and visit the Northern part of the country but it didn’t plan ahead of time and it was too short notice to get the visa. Same for China. I dreamed about a rough trip in Eastern Indonesia (Sulawesi, Ambon, Papua) but I guess I didn’t have the guts to hit such remote and off-the-beaten-path place with so little planning. I thought about a nice trekking/rock climbing adventure in lovely Borneo but my partner stood me up at the very last minute for this trip (any comment on that, Ben?? ;-) Since I was 18 I knew I would do a once-in-a-life trek in Nepal, but July is just not the right season for it. I thought about Mongolia for a while but the airfare from KL was just a rip off. So what’s left? There is this little quiet country I’ve been told about, that is pretty nice and mysterious. It only recently opened to tourism and is still not a widely popular destination. A quite isolated country, stuck between Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, China and Vietnam, with no sea access, only two international airports, and very few border crossings: Laos. It may sound like it was a last minute potluck backup plan. But I don’t regret a single second I spent in Laos. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I will never forget this trip.

Quick background info: Laos gained independence from France protectorate in 1949 and a long civil war took place. The communists (Pathet Lao) eventually came to power 25 years later. (As a result), the country is still ranked as one of the poorest nations in the world. The country’s main ethnicity is the Lao: The Lao belong to the Tai linguistic group who began migrating southward from China in the first millennium AD. They constitute most of the “lowland” population and drive the culture and the economy of the country. In the isolated mountainous areas live the hilltribes people, mainly Hmong and Khmer. When I visited them it immediately reminded me of my visit to the Karen people in Chiang Mai area, Northern Thailand.

My first glance at Laos actually started in Kuala Lumpur airport where I hooked-up with an Australian voluntary worker based in Vientiane for deforestation prevention programs. He told me how nature is preserved in Laos due to the very poor economy. And I was later able to confirm what he said: as much as I love Asia for hosting some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, I have to admit that uncontrolled development and tourism industry has sometime spoiled the best gems. But not (yet) in Laos. The capital’s airport has only two runways. The capital is incredibly calm and sleepy for an Asian capital. There is no highway and it is really pleasant to walk the streets. I especially enjoyed walking along the Mekong banks, facing Thailand. The river conveys some sort of magical spirit. At sunset, the crowd gathers along the banks on stilts terraces above the river. I loved seating there, enjoying some stall food, cheap Lao beer, delicious fried Mekong weed with sesame seeds while watching the fishermen or the travelers cruise the Mekong. History is still present with many colonial buildings still intact. Laid-back and authentic are the two first words that come in mind to describe Vientiane. If an opportunity pops-up, I could definitely live for some time in there.

I then headed towards Luang Prabang, the cultural capital of the country. The city is notable as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Now, you may wonder why! I’ve seen several Unesco sites, and every time I immediately knew why, whether it was a natural wonder like Yellowstone national park in the USA, or a historical site like Borodubur in Indonesia. But in Luang Prabang, it takes time to realize what’s the point, since what the Unesco wanted to reward was not a monument in particular but the atmosphere of the town! It took a few days to realize how peaceful and truly lagging in the past that place is! I enjoyed riding a bicycle to the countryside (even got stuck with a broken chain in the middle of nowhere 40 km away from Luang Prabang, but peasants where kind enough to help me out)… In 1909, Marthe Bassene, wife of a French resident doctor was a visionary and wrote “Oh what a delightful paradise of idleness, this country protects by the fierce barrier of the stream, against progress and ambition, for which is has no need! Will Luang Prabang be, in our century of exact sciences, of quick profits, of victory by money, the refuge of the last dreamers, the last lovers, the last troubadours?”

Throughout the whole country, Bouddhism (Theravada style, the only instance in the world) is at the heart of the culture of the Laotians. But it is particularly present in Luang Prabang, gratified with plenty of temples, including the oldest one in the country. It is spreading an inner peace and after few days it definitely started to build up on me!

I finally left Luang Prabang and make a quick overnight stop in Vang Vien to rent a motorbike: I hesitated a lot before doing it, but finally made it: I rod all the way from Vang Vien to Phonsavan to discover the valley of the Jars, and much more. This hell of a ride with the crappiest Chinese-made motorcycle took me through the mountains in one of the least developed countries. I stopped over in hilltribe villages where time stands still since the last centuries.

While in Phongsavan, I had the chance to get to learn a rather little known fact about Laos: the country was massively bombed during WW2. Massive aerial bombardment by the United States followed as it attempted to eliminate North Vietnamese bases in Laos in order to disrupt supply lines on the Trường Sơn Trail. Between 1971 and 1973 the USAAF dropped more ordnance on Laos than was dropped worldwide during the war of 1939-1945. In total more than two million tons of bombs were dropped (almost half a ton per head of population at the time), destroying the country's limited infrastructure and restricting much of its population to living in caves. This was called the “secret war” because Laos was neutral in WW2 and it was illegal for Kennedy and then Nixon to bomb the country. As a result, the lands and rice paddies are filled with unexploded ordnance, mainly bomblets from cluster bombs. The horrors of mine fields in neighboring Cambodia are rather widely publicized and various NGO are raising funds to improve the situation. Unfortunately, being more isolated, Laos doesn’t benefit from as much international support, although the unexploded ordnance takes a terrible toll on the population (and especially on the childs). Now it is important to mention here that the USA faces its responsibility and supports UXO removal programs in Laos with 2.5 millions USD/year. Thanks to this and the local efforts, a significant portion of the soil has been cleared from bomblets, but the threat is still there and will still be for a long time. The photo on the right displays a crater dug by one of those bombs.

One thing that contributed to make that trip so unique for me is that I traveled alone. Most of the time I travel with Marie and I really enjoy it. Sometime I head out somewhere with a group of friends for an extended weekend and end up having lots of fun. But this time I was alone, and it felt really different, like good different. I’m stating the obvious for whomever has been traveling alone once, but travelling all by myself made me closer to people. I really got more opportunities to get to know people, whether for a casual small talk with a spring rolls seller at the marker or for long discussions on a food stall/bar along the Mekong (have I mentioned that the second religion in Laos after Buddhism is the national brewed Lao Beer, which cost less than a dollar a liter)?

Well, everything comes to an end, and I finally had to get back to Kuala Lumpur and get ready for a new chapter of my life in Mexico.

தைப்பூசம் - Thaipusam

2008-08-03T12:01:00.032+08:00

As Wikipedia indicates, the Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (Jan/Feb). Pusam refers to a star that is at its highest point during the festival. The festival commemorates the birthday of Lord Murugan (also Subramaniam), the youngest son of Shiva and Parvati.

But Thaipusam is much more than "just another traditional festival"! Thaipusam is the most intense religious ceremony I ever attended! Thaipusam begins few days before the full moon. Participants gather in an Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur and process to the Batu Caves, 20 km up North from KL, smashing coconuts all over the place as an offering to Gods on their way. One curious thing is that Thaipusam doesn't exist in India, Kuala Lumpur is really the main place to see this ceremony. It also takes places in Singapore, but to a lesser extend.

Once in Batu Caves, the most sacred place for Hinduism in Kuala Lumpur, the devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer and fasting for several days. Meanwhile, complex ceremonies take place to prepare the Kawadis. Basically Kawadis are portable altar up to two meters tall, decorated with peacock feathers and, wait, there is more, attached to the devotee through 108 vels pierced into the skin on the chest and back! Some of the most fervent devotees attach offerings to their back with hooks stuck underneath their skin. Fire walking and flagellation can be practiced as well.

This mortification of the flesh sometime gets a bit too extreme and Thaipusam is often criticized as an incentive to masochism. The look in the devotees eyes is really scary and I could see most of them collapsing after climbing the 200 stairs leading inside the cave, to the temple where they can deliver their offerings. It is hard to believe that there is no drug involved in such behavior, but an Hindu colleague of mine, whose family is very religious and involved in the ceremony, swore me that the devotees reach such level of transe only with food and sleep deprivation and intense prayers all day long during several days. They are supposed to reach such level of faith that they don't feel pain and that their wounds don't bleed when the skin gets pierced. I'm really confused, I don't know what to believe. But I don't underestimate the power of human mind when it comes to spirituality and religious devotion...

Anyway, it was an incredible night: the procession starts at midnight, and one million people are gathered in a huge crowd, so thick that for few hours I litterally didn't see my feet, I was carried by the crowd.

Easter with the Batak at lake Toba

2008-07-23T02:09:00.018+08:00

I usually don’t make a blog entry every time I head somewhere for an extended weekend. But I really had a crush on Lake Toba and the Batak people.

Lake Toba (Danau Toba in Bahasa Indonesia) is located 4 hours drive from Medan, in Sumatra Island, Indonesia. The site is just incredible: the lake is inside a huge volcano crater, and is surrounded by pine-clothed mountains slopes. The lake is so large that you can’t see both edges at the same time. The scenery is just fantastic, and the little villages blend in perfectly in the landscape with their emblematic horn shape houses. The area is particularly wild and the atmosphere of peacefulness is a real relief after a terrible 4h drive from Medan on Easter weekend, when the regular small 2 lanes road turns into a heavily jammed 6 lanes “highway”…

The area is the home of the Batak people, who practiced cannibalism rituals until the nineteenth century, when they became Protestants due to the Dutch influence. And they like their religion! What a good idea to visit Danau Toba during Easter weekend! All the villagers brought their “A game” to go to the church, and they just couldn’t greet us, visitors, with enough “Horas!!!” (i-e hello in Bahasa Batak).

After quite a few travels in South-East Asia, I will remember Indonesia as the most beautiful country, full of variety. Variety in the landscapes, ranging from desert black-sand volcano slopes to paradise blue water beaches or breathtaking rice paddies… but also variety in the cultures, traditions, and religions. IMHO, it is the most attractive country for travelers in South-East Asia.

Thanks Marie & Vanessa for the nice pictures!

Finding George Orwell in Burma

2008-07-21T10:19:00.006+08:00

Marie suggested me to read this book this book that, among others, made me want to visit Burma. If you are ever interested in understanding the connection between George Orwell, 1984 and Burma, go for it.

Via Bookist:
Larkin (a pseudonym), an American journalist based in Bangkok, believes that it was George Orwell's stint as an imperial policeman in British-ruled Burma during the 1920s that turned him into a writer of conscience. To prove her theory and assess what imprint if any he left on the culture, she bravely journeyed throughout the now brutally totalitarian state to visit the places Orwell lived and worked. A meticulous observer, she captures the masked spirit of a people monitored by military spies and constantly threatened with incarceration and torture. As her risky conversations with Burmese intellectuals, writers, teashop waiters, and students reveal, censorship is severe, yet Burma remains a profoundly literary country as people harbor secret libraries and talk passionately about books. Writing with admirable suppleness and understatement, Larkin reports that Orwell is known as a prophet in Burma, so closely do Animal Farm and 1984 reflect what has happened in this beautiful yet tragically oppressed land. Her quest for the past illuminates the grim present in this true-life Orwellian world.

¡Estoy en Mexico!

2008-07-15T02:52:00.006+08:00

Finally made it to Mexico City after a hell of a 30-hours flight via Taipei and Los Angeles. I´m quite disoriented since I went through two nights and two days since I woke up (that´s the thing when you fly eastwards, days & nights last only about 8 hours)! The circle is now completed, I´ve been "round the world": I´ve been on each and every latitudes on that planet :-)

I have to thank Malaysian Airline´s crew for making this long haul more pleasant: we´ve been chitchatting to kill those long hours over the Pacific, and they ended up offering me a bottle of red wine as a farewell present when they figured I was leaving Malaysia for good! How nice is that?!?!

Jompalagi Melayu!

Me-x-iting!

2008-06-23T17:44:00.013+08:00

No, this blog is not dead (yet)!

To make up with my long silence, here is breaking news: my assignment in Malaysia is over and after more than two years spent in Asia it’s time to move on. My next home will in Mexico, Mexico City!!! I have been looking forward to settle there ever since I set foot in this country for a short trip over spring break few years back as I was student in the USA. Besides I got pals over there who can’t seem to stop filling me on how top notch their life is…

This nice opportunity popped 3 month ago and since then I’ve been kept pretty busy. Asides from the troublesome arrangements with the movers and the Mexican custom/immigration officers, I had to deal with Malaysia authorities who tried to rip me off a third of my income this year… And I was in the urge to register on a Spanish crash course cause the extent of my knowledge of this language is more or less limited to ordering a beer at the bar! On top of it I caught the dengue last month in Thailand and it didn’t make things any easier since I got high fever for a whole week :'-( Not to mention the high workload with 2 critical offers that kept me at work a few weekends and nights. I think the message is clear: Asia is kicking me out!

The plan is: my assignment in Kuala Lumpur ends by end of this week. I'm then off for a quick 10 days break in Laos (it was a tough call to pick up a destination for this last trip in Asia), and back in KL for a few days, time for me to do some paperwork with the Mexican embassy. And then on the 14th of July: en route to Mexico! That's gonna be the longest flight in my life! 24h with connecting flights in Taipei and Los Angeles...

Marie and I can’t wait to re-unite with Latinos culture, live in a city where it is actually possible to enjoy walking to go from point A to point B and where buildings have decades or centuries of history… Of course I’m not gonna sugarcoat it and I also know we will step in one the biggest, most polluted and possibly dangerous cities in the world. But if we survived it once, we should be able to survive it again!

Wow, ¡México! ¡Llego!

Abseiling Batu Caves

2008-04-09T17:12:00.006+08:00

Since I got into rock climbing, I became adrenalin junky. In order to get my weekly fix, I hit the Batu Caves last weekend for a scary abseil, along with Rachel and Benoit.

The trip involves crawling in a slippery cave, getting covered in bat's shit, sweating in the dense jungle, getting bitten by mosquito, fleeing away from wild dogs, getting sunburn, and riding a motorcycle through the storm with about 30 cm high water flood on the way back home... But it was definitely worth all of this: the well-deserved reward is a scary 100 meters multipitch abseil both along the crag and inside the cave.

Pictures below speak for themselves!

Uncut, Untitled, Paper House

2008-03-19T16:19:00.010+08:00

For those interested in understanding the Malaysian society structure, the influence of religious moral and the relationship among races, don't miss "Uncut, Untitled, Paper House". It will be performed for the next five days in the KL Performing Art Center.

Those three new plays won't turn into an endless boring analysis that will put you asleep: written and directed by up-and-coming talents, this triple bill illustrates serious topics like censorship or parents authority with examples from Malaysian everyday's life.

I was really stunned to see Islam being criticized so openly, and happy not to see the religious police burst into the theater! I see it as a great step forward for Malaysia! Is it somehow related to the latest elections where the BN, coalition holding the power since independence 50 years ago, scored its worse score ever???

Here is the program.

UNCUT

Written & directed by Teng Ky-Gan

Featuring Fish & Aishah Sinclair

This play explores the theme of censorship in Malaysia and the influence of fanatical moral policing over works of art. As he struggles to reconcile his professional and moral obligations, with his basic human instincts, Zakaria the director of the Censorship Bureau finds himself spiraling out of control as he slowly learns that human wants often triumph over didactic logic.

...

Damned Hanoi-ing cold!

2008-02-19T18:53:00.014+08:00

Here I am in Hanoi (Vietnam) on a business trip for the whole week. Temperature is ranging between 10 and 15 Celsius and the weather is all gray and sad. Quite a shock for me! I’ve not been exposed to such low temperature in the past two years, and I realize that I can’t stand it anymore! Or at least that I need time to adapt. It’s really damned annoying and depressing! Barely wanna go out at night and discover this amazing city!

Well, in order to not sound too negative, here is a good side of being here: French colonialism has left a strong influence on the Vietnamese cuisine, and I was happy to re-discover real croissant, cheese and oven fresh “campagne bread”. Not that I’m obsessed with those things, but once in a while it feels good to bite into good old bread tasting like bread.

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention: most of my colleagues around my cubicle are heavily smocking in the open space! Really disturbing, not to mention the impact on health in the long-term… I’m happy I was born in a world where, in most places, smocking in the office is not only frowned upon, but forbidden by law. Gosh that must have been really major annoyance when it was a normal practice in the offices!

Edit 2: I had the chance to secure a few hours on Friday afternoon to visit downtown before heading to the airport on my way to KL. I just fall in love with the city. I loved the narrow and crooked streets, the traditional handicraft in all the market places like Dong Xuan, the peaceful walk around Hoan Kiem lake and its Ngoc Son "floating" temple. I met a very kind lady who spent about one hour trying to teach me "survival vietnamese" in order for me to be able to order food at the foodstalls by the streets. It didn't feel bustling at all, and the whole city seemed very authentic to me. This city still has a soul. I can't wait to be back, but for the fun this time!

Indian hahas

2008-02-12T11:19:00.001+08:00

With all respect due to the USA presidency, please enjoy this piece of joke I got from an (American) friend of mine, currently living in India, namely, Jayna:

“Donald Rumsfeld is briefing George Bush in the Oval Office.

‘Oh and finally, sir, three Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq today.’

Bush goes pale, his jaw hanging open in stunned disbelief. He buries his face in his hands, muttering ‘My God…My God.’

‘Mr. President,’ says Cheney, ‘we lose soldiers all the time, and it’s terrible. But I’ve never seen you so upset. What’s the matter?’

Bush looks up and says…’How many is a Brazilian?’”

-as seen in Eastern Panorama (January 2008), a monthly publication about North East India

Singapore Q&A

2008-02-03T20:53:00.000+08:00

Kuality Time >> Hi Remi, is it true that last Friday was public Holiday and you took your motorbike out on a trip to Singapore?

Remi >> That's correct!

KT >> Awsome, how was that?

R >> Moist... it rained every afternoon :-( Fortunately I got to wake up early and enjoy some morning sun.

KT >> So it's been your trip on the East coast, then a trip up North to Penang & Pangkor, and now Singapore, not counting all the weekend trips in Selangor... Don't you get any bored of it???

R >> No, really not! It's been different every time: Malaysia is full of variety, and conservative East coast is definitely different from urbanized Penang or wild Pahang! And while driving down South through Johor I got to discover a new face of Malaysia: little towns that are fare less developed than Klang Valley, but that are still very different from conservative East coast. Actually I think this was a glimpse of what Malaysia used to be 50 years ago, before Kuala Lumpur and the whole Klang Valley become so industrialized.

KT >> Did you bring any picture back?

R >> Not really, I'm definitely not good at capturing urban scenes and I'm not happy with was I shot.

KT >> Come on, you're being shy, I'm sure you've got some OK shots!

R >> No, but I wanna work on this aspect of photography and learn how to capture street snapshots...

KT >> So you crossed borders by plane, bus, boat, car, train, taxi, foot... and now motorcycle. How was that?

R >> Actually a bit boring: a crowd of Malaysians from Johor Bahru crosses the border everyday to get to work in Singapore, and the queue of motorcycle is huge! With all those engines idling, I was breezing in exhaust gas during all the waiting time...

KT >> And how was Singapore?

R >> Actually I've been there 5 years ago. I remember when I was roaming through Little India, I thought it was a bit messy and dirty. Now, 5 years later, after living in Malaysia and traveling through South-East Asia, I found Little India was the cleanest Little India I ever saw! Singapore reminded me of some Europeans cities. The memory I had of Singapore from my previous trip 5 years ago was wrong: I forgot how much greenery there is, and how pleasant it is to walk around. Singapore strongly differentiates from other Asian capital in that it is not as bustling. I expect quite a reverse cultural shock when (if ever) I'll settle back to France...

Aside from this I really enjoyed the cultural display in Singapore, like the amazing Asian Civilization museum (currently being renovated btw, can't wait to see the new version). Singaporeans are very good at preserving cultural heritage and old buildings, which is definitely missing in M'sia.

Phil free to visit

2008-01-21T10:35:00.001+08:00

After nearly two years spent in South-East Asia and plenty of travels in the region, I consider I've been pretty spoiled with paradise islands, beautiful unspoiled nature, charming little remote villages, fancy jungle treks, you name it. However none of all those great landmarks can compete with Philippines!

Our trip started with an overnight layover in Metro Manila, where Ines was kind enough to show us around and bring us to the very friendly and casual Penguin Bar in Malate, Remedios Circle area. We also had a chance to hang out in Intramuros, where we really appreciated the relatively quite atmosphere compared to the rest of the city. The Rizzal Memorial Park is a real green haven in an ocean of concrete and smoky jeepneys... But we didn't stick too long in the capital since we felt the urge for nature.

Our next hop lead us to Palawan Island, aka The Last Frontier. Believe me, Palawan is totally worthy of this nickname. After few days visiting Puerto Princessa, the capital of the Island, and its surroundings like Honda Bay, or the Subterranean River in Sabang, we headed up North to El Nido. El Nido is a place you got to deserve: we got there by bus from Puerto Princessa. It's only a 250 km journey, but it took more than 9 hours! Indeed, the only road that crosses the island is only paved about half-way, then it gets really rough. The bus was already full long before we reached the departure bus station, so the driver offered us to seat on the roof. After few seconds hesitating, we seized the opportunity to benefit from a perfect view point all along the way. That's only once the bus left that we realized how stressful it is: many power lines or branches are just slightly higher than the roof of the bus, and passengers heads could have gotten chopped off several time. In order to prevent such thing from happening a bus attendant seats on the roof as well: he yells whenever he sees a wire or a branch approaching, in order to make sure everyone bends over... A couple of times, the powerlines were so low that the attendant actually made the driver stop the bus and go very slowly while the first row of roof's passengers grabbed the powerline above their heads and handed it over to the second row, etc... I decided not to imagine what could happened if the isolating coating was worn out. Security standards are not the same in the Philippines...

We eventually made it to El Nido totally exhausted, but with our heads still attached! And that's when we realized that it is totally worth the ride: think of beautiful limestones archipelago like Ha Long Bay in Vietnam or Krabi in Thailand, and remove all the pollution and the tourism infrastructure. Replace the muddy waters with crystal clear turquoise water and the resorts with fisherman stilts villages. That's El Nido. This is pure heaven.

One fun thing about El Nido is that there is not enough electricity for the whole village, so they round robin different streets of the village. One street can be "the place to be" one night, and be dark and gloomy the next night... Disorientating! We chilled out few days in El Nido, island hoping or motorbike riding. This is a really remote area, pretty much untouched and preserved from tourism industry. Believe it or not, Marie and I managed to find a 4 km long perfect beach just for us! Well, by just for us, I mean no tourist at all, but we spend most of the afternoon playing with a group of young kids. One thing struck us is that they weren't begging for money: as a westerner tourist in Manila or any city in Philippines, you get used to being target number one for beggars, especially for children. But at no point those kids ever asked for money. They were first curious and shy to see foreigners, and then really, sincerely happy to play with us. They saw Marie collect some shells, so they mimicked her and brought her several fistful of it!! They built sand castles with Marie, they taught us some Tagalog words, we taught them some English, asked them about life in the village, school, what they wanna do later etc... A true meaningful exchange. And that shows how untouched Northern Palawan is from the tourism: because unfortunately one of the first things that tourism dollars create in a country like Philippines is beggars.

We met some westerns pioneers who settled in Palawan and live of a small business like boat services, motorbike rental, coffee place, guided tours, diving, etc... They really brought up some doubts in my mind... What kind of life am I really looking forward to?...

Anyway, all things come to an end and we left Palawan, en route to Bohol island, next to Cebu, South of the Visayas. Bohol is much less adventurous, but as friendly as Palawan. There are some really nice rice paddy landscapes to be seen on Bohol. We took the chance to have a look at the two landmarks of the island: the very touristy Chocolate Hills and the Tarsier. We met a very friendly Filipinos at a market, who happened to have spent some time in Kuala Lumpur. She invited us over at her place for some fruits and drinks, that was very thankful of her.

We planned to spend few days South of Bohol, at Alona beach. We came in at evening time, and ended up leaving the place the very next morning: we couldn't stand the atmosphere: this beach is packed with the eye hurting mixed couple of a thin, beautiful, shy young Filipinos lady with an old, fat, sunburned, drunk and rich Westerner. A German guy told us that you can "rent" a lady for 24h. She will do whatever you want. She can do your laundry, cook some food, massage you, or... And it will cost you only 1,500 P, he said. 20 Euros. That's what one day of their life is worth. Just plain horrible. Modern slavery. I hate that. To make things up, we heard many stories of such guys who got manipulated by their lady and end up being tricked into coughing up lots of money. It sounds bad, but somehow I figured it is fair enough. Come on, those repulsive guys can't take advantage of Filipinos beauties for nothing!

We were back in Manila just for new year's eve. Quite impressive: fire crackers all over the streets, lot of people celebrating. In a nutshell, a big mess! Before midnight we ran for our lives and came back in the guesthouse: outside was really too dangerous!

To wrap-up, this trip was one of the best I did in Asia! I was just amazed by he friendliness of the Filipinos. Every country has its own culture, but the Philippines have less in common with most countries of South-East Asia. That's probably due to the strong Spanish and then American influence. The Philippines is definitely the least Asian country of Asia.

As usual, a batch of my favorite pics:

En route to the Philippines

2007-12-08T00:55:00.000+08:00

I'm off for 3 weeks in Borneo / Philippines!
Stay tuned for cool pictures and crazy stories...

สงกรานต - Songkran

2007-12-04T10:49:00.000+08:00

I was browsing through my picture collection and came across this set of pictures taken by Guilhem last April during Songkran (Thai New Year).

Songkran festival used to be the celebration held for the Thai New Year, but since the year now starts on January 1st, Songkran is a public holiday. Traditionally, Songkran used to be a time to pay respect to the elders, visit the Wat (Buddhist monastery) and pray. As part of this cleansing and renewal, Buddha images in monasteries where cleaned by pouring water perfumed with Thai fragrance.

The tradition evolved into showing respect to people by gently pouring a few drops of water on their hands or shoulders. But since April is also the hottest month in Thailand, young people were more prone to actually splash each other with jugful of water...

Nowadays, that's mostly what Songkran is: a joyful mess in the streets where people randomly spill water at each other with jugs, hoses, water guns, you name it! To spice it up, some reload their jugs with nearly freezing water, or with water mixed with plaster usually used by the monks to mark blessing... And loads of alcohol.

The first day of the celebration, Marie and I were in Ko Phangan, on the Northern tip, a pretty remote area. There was almost no sign of this celebration going on. Of course we knew it was Songkran weekend, but we didn't really know what to expect. The frenzy suddenly hit us when we reached the main village: we were crossing the island by motorcycle towards the jetty in order to get a boat to reach Ko Samui, and from there a flight to Bangkok. The village used to be very quiet and peaceful when we got there at first, few days before. But this time everyone was getting crazy, yelling and spilling water all over the place! We seriously thought we wouldn't make it through the village on time to catch our boat!

We eventually made it and reached Ko Samui's jetty. From there we took what we thought to be a short bus trip across the island to reach the airport, but it took forever since the roads were crowded with drunk, swamped people!... They even stopped the bus and got in in order to splash the driver and passengers :-) Works better than AC!

The frenzy was even more intense in Bangkok's touristy Ko San Road...

At the beginning we somehow felt a bit oppressed, because we were just passive "victims"... but once we got loaded with small water guns the real fun started to seriously kick in! We were like kids for the whole afternoon :-) Great time, lots of fun!

Repression, Malaysian style!

2007-11-15T21:19:00.000+08:00

Check out Malaysian government's answer to people peacefully demonstrating for more transparency in the "elections".

This happened last Saturday, 500 meters away from the place I live.

Malaysia tak boleh...

Balik Kampung by bike

2007-11-05T10:56:00.001+08:00

Like for all the Muslim countries, the celebration of the end of the fasting month brings up a lot of festivities in the country. In Malaysia, the Eid is called Hary Raya. For the Muslim Malaysians, Hari Raya is the time to reconcile and renew relationship with others, mainly with the family. It lasts usually a week, during which the Malays are supposed to gather with the family in their hometown and ingest as much food as their belly can contain! There is a dedicated Malay song for it, broadcast on all the radio, TV, supermarkets, cabs, food stalls, etc... This is called Balik Kampung and literally means going back to one's hometown (most likely in the remote countryside) and celebrate Hari Raya with friends and family.

Jerome and I have been totally brainwashed by the song, so we took the whole week off for Hari Raya, and decided to go on a tour in Pahang state (the most rural state of Malaysia) and go visit the Kampungs during the celebrations... Since there is almost no public transportation in this area, and to be more flexible, we rode our motorbikes. The good thing with Pahang is that it's the biggest state of Malaysia and it spreads from one coast to another. Therefore Pahang is a concentrate of the whole Malaysia.

Our trip started on the West coast along the strait of Melacca. We visited little industrialized towns with a strong Chinese influence like Muar. Those towns were created during the Spice Trade period and are now hosting most of the Malaysian industry. The West coast is from far the most developed part of Malaysia, but Jerome and I were looking for more adventurous, kampung-style attitude, so we quickly left the West coast and crossed the country from West to East, across the central mountains.

As soon as we passed the North-South highway (main trunk road in Malaysia) we instantaneously felt we reached an very different environment! No more highways, malls and tall buildings. The road became a lot more bumpy and we crossed only small dusty villages. Finally we felt we reached the middle of nowhere! The fun can take place!

On the way we stopped at Endau-Rompin park for a jungle trek. To reach the trek's starting point one must follow a dirt path for about 60 km through palm tree plantations. It seemed fun at first until the monsoon rain started to pour... Dust became mud and it became really hard to control the bikes... My bike was so mishandled that the steel fly case support got literally ripped off by the shocks. Then the trek was nice and very wild, but we felt safe because our young guide was really good. He is an Orang Asli (first inhabitants in Malaysia, they now live in tribal villages in the jungle).

At this point of the trip we were seriously exhausted and needed some rest. We spend the next two days on Tioman Island. We went straight to the Eastern side of the Island, the most quiet and wild one. We spend the next two days chilling out, diving and rock climbing. We hung out with a old Malaysian who once lived with a Dutch lady who ended up leaving Malaysia. But in the mean time they created a gorgeous half-blood Eurasian girl who took a one year sabbatical on Tioman... Yeah, this is life!

One interesting anecdote about the rock climbing thing: to pull the rope on top, we needed a local guide to show us the way. But since it was Hari Raya week, the guy was busy with the family gathering. However after few minutes he came back to us and said it was OK. So he came, along with 2 of his friends to help him setting up the climbing spot. Jerome and I felt pretty bad about it: the guy left the family gathering because of us, and for not so much money... So once everyone was more relaxed after the first climb, I told him again that we were sorry to bother them during Raya, and that since the rope was pulled up, they could leave us and come back later on to pick up the gear. But they didn't want to: he confessed to me that he was really happy to have an excuse to be released from the family thing for a while. He was bored with being a good boy and all, and he brought his best friends along at the climbing spot for them to get wasted on beers while Jerome and I were climbing! Owned!!!... Sometime I really think religions are all about hypocrisy...

After Tioman we were back on track, aiming North along the long stripe of wild, deserted sandy beach stretching for hundreds of kilometers all the way up to Thailand. That very part of the trip was actually the main reason for us to get on this trip. This ride was the most expected part! And I got to say that I was only disappointed... by the fact that we didn't have more time to spend on it! By chance the monsoon ceased pouring for few days, and riding along the beach at sunset, through small fishermen villages is a unique experience! The East coast is definitely very different from the rest of Malaysia, it really lags behind in terms of development and infrastructures.

We finally had to leave the East coast and crossed again the country from West to East through the mountains to reach Gua Musang and finally Brinchang in the Cameron Highlands. Some fresh air felt good. And I loved riding the crooked slope from Brinchang to Tapah. I only touched 4 times the concrete with my footrest...

Some figures to wrap-up the trip:

9 days in Pahang

1670 km by motorbike
6 different repairmen visited along the road (yes, bikes are local brand ;-)

1 Pepsi can used by repairman #2 to fix my loose wheel barring...

1 fall (but no major injury)

60 L of premium gasoline released in the atmosphere

~27 fried rice/noddles dishes eaten

~10 leeches stuck under my skin

6 white water rivers crossed by foot

999,999 liters of rain water poured over me

Priceless: tons of fun and discoveries all along the way!

In a nutshell: I was really hit by the duality of Malaysia: on one hand the Klang valley around Kuala Lumpur, its modern malls, huge elevated highways, Petronas Towers (tallest building in the world), industries, bustling development. On the other side, the rural Malaysia with many villages made of wooden stilts houses, dirt path, little markets along the road etc... Really two different countries.

Beside this, I discovered a new approach of traveling, and I sure will be back on a bike someday for another trip like that... The little man in my ear keeps whispering: "Sumatra, Sumatra"...

The French through the eyes of an American

2007-10-31T20:21:00.000+08:00

We were delighted to have you for few days in KL, Jayna! I liked our discussions about cultural differences, about being Asian-American in the heart of Hoosierland (where I spent one year myself) and about French people and body smells ;-) Come again whenever you feel the urge to work on your French!

I wish you all the best for you voluntary action in India... Farewell!

Out of the blue

2007-10-30T00:27:00.003+08:00

I finally made it! One year after getting my PADI, I enjoyed diving in Malaysia world class diving spot, namely Sipadan! Sipadan is an Island off Sabah state in Borneo Island, in the Celebes sea. It's unique in the sense that it is a huge limestone cliff standing in the middle of the ocean. From far, it just looks like any other paradise tropical Island.

But when you get closer, you notice something weird: just 5 meters off the beach, the color of the water suddenly swaps from light blue (indicating shallow water) to dark blue (deep water): there is a huge 600 meters vertical drop just few meters off the beach!!! Quite dizzy when you swim above it...

This creates a perfect environment for underwater species and the wildlife is incredibly abundant! It's really an eye orgy! It's actually hard not to see any amazing colorful uncommon species. In few dives, I saw more that in the rest of my (rather short) diver's life: sharks, turtles, barracudas, nudibranchs, lion fish, tuna, you name it! (check Marie's blog for some underwater pix). Visibility is of course exceptional since there is not muddy ground spreading particles.

One of the most famous spots in Sipadan is Turtle's cave: as per the name, it's an underwater cave were turtles can get in but not out, like a prawn's trap. This was my first "indoor" underwater experience, and it was pretty perturbing. Marie was afraid and disoriented in the dark, so she grabbed my hand... but I've got to confess I was happy she did cause I really started to lose it a bit as well. Then as our eyes got used to the darkness and our brain managed to recover the sense of balance, we tried to swim upside down: the air breezed out was accumulating on holes on the roof of the cave, and due to reflection it really looked like puddles of water on the ground. Try to imagine yourself swimming upside down, weighting nothing, and slowly approaching those air puddles on the ceiling, dipping your fingers in it and figuring out that it feels dry in this puddle.... Really really disorienting!!! When we left the cave, a gigantic school of jack fish was swimming like a vortex, as to greet us with a welcome back to the bright world! As I said, it's eyes orgy.

The last day we tried a totally different approach: we went for a muck dive on nearby Mabul Island. It's shallower and the ground is made of sand. Visibility is of course not as good, and we have to actually look for wildlife. But it's rewarding since we got to see really strange underwater things like scorpion fish (really ugly and also dangerous), crocodile fish (still very ugly, but not dangerous), frog fish and moray eels.

Since Sipadan is a really fragile environment, it is protected and it's not possible to spend the night on it, so we found accommodation in a longhouse on Mabul Island. Mabul is a very international Island: it used to belong to Indonesia territory a few decades ago, but it's now part of Malaysia and inhabited mostly by illegal Philippinos fishermen... Some may argue that the contrast between tourists spending in a few dive several month worth of earnings from fishing is disturbing. I can't deny. But I can witness that the kids hanging out at the pontoon, shouting and jumping in the water to splash everyone looked everything but sad!!! (thanks Marie for the kiddies pix).

Check out my pictures:

100 questions for the American Dream

2007-09-28T16:17:00.000+08:00

The Bush administration unveiled the new version of the citizenship test for immigrants. As opposed to the previous one, it is not based on pure memory, but it is meant at assessing the knowledge of things that make America what it is.

You can take a sample test here.

I scored 83%! Georgie, I'm comiiiiing!

Any American pal reader? Would be curious to know how good you score at it?!?!

The equation proving English a weird language

2007-09-21T09:58:00.000+08:00

There it is! After years of research, worldwide experts came up with the complex equation proving English the weirdest language on Earth:

ghoti = fish

Yes, in English, the word "ghoti" is pronounced exactly the same as the word "fish", although both are spelled in very different ways. Let's prove the equation:

"gh" like in enough (gh = f)
"o" like in women (0 = i)
"ti" like in station (ti = sh)

So, to wrap up: ghoti = fish !

Please, native English speakers, have some patience for us, bothering hard to master Shakespeare's language!

Cocorico!!!...

2007-09-14T18:32:00.000+08:00

Screw France!
Some family members and close friends ask me every now and then why I decided to live so far away from France... Once for all, here is the answer: thank you Sebastien!...

Clic-Clac

2007-09-06T13:40:00.000+08:00

I just took my 10,000^th picture since I bought my DSLR two years ago!!! This gives a mean shooting rate of 14 pics/day...

That's amazing how digital cameras made photography easier. If you take a look at web galleries, you can notice the growing number of skilled amateurs who really reach nearly professional quality. We are now flooded daily with tons of images via the Web, the TV, the magazines, etc... The level of demand for professionals to differentiate is higher than ever. At the same time, there is a trend to give more credit to those "amateur" pictures and videos in the news. Readers are educated and know the wide range of tools available for the "pros" to manipulate their shoots and change the reality. An "amateur" looking pictures seems more credible I guess.

Anyway, I'm not pretending to be a reporter or an artist, I just enjoy watching pictures I took in places I liked, that's all! And out of 10,000 pictures, how many are worth keeping? Only one out of five since my galleries host nearly 2,000 picts. Indeed, the 10,000^th picture itself was not satisfying so it was not a keeper, but the 10,006^th was. It's the same frame as the 10,000^th, just with better DOF and exposure.

Sir, yes Sir!

2007-09-05T16:49:00.000+08:00

Imagine you're lying on a deserted beach somewhere in Asia, let's say in Malaysia. Everything is so quiet, and you fully enjoy yourself. Aside from a tidal wave, what is the worth thing that could happen to you and spoil this very special moment?

--> an organized tour tidal wave...

Since I've spent quite some time on various Islands and touristic spots in Asia, I've noticed many of those groups of tourists traveling on an organized tour. And by "organized", I mean that each and every second of the day is organized.

You can't miss those groups if you go to the Perhentians Islands, they love this sea paradise. They are easy to spot: first they are numerous. Most of those tours gather at least 10 people. That kind of tourists likes to be surrounded by his fellows, he feels protected against all the dangers threatening him when he is so far away from home sweet home. Especially on the Perhentian Islands, this is really dangerous place. And they will always stay close to each other. It's like a school of sardines: strength lies in unity.

You can usually recognize them with their T-shirt: since they are very proud of belonging to the same tour, they make their travel a real event: they give themselves a name, they find a motto and they created a dedicated T-shirt for their group. It's mandatory for them that they wear it all the time. It's actually very clever: in the unlikely event that one of them get separated from the rest of the group, if you find him totally freaked out and lost, thanks to the name on the T-shirt, you can bring him back to his owner. You might get a reward for it.

Finally, since this is an "organized tour", well... it has to be organized, right? This is serious business. The captain of the group usually carries a loudspeaker to regularly give instructions to the group. Thanks to the captain, the tourists don't need to worry to much about what to do and where to go. The schedule is very detailed an a laminated hard copy is given to all the participants. They are told when to go to the bathroom. The captain is the master and his authority is respected: the only case when it's hard for him to keep control over the group is when it comes to food, especially when it's a buffet. In order to guarantee the ROI (Return On Investment), the participants will rush to the buffet and get as much as their plastic plate can carry. Who cares if they can't eat it all, as long as they consumed as much as possible. It's usually a real mess, and there might not be enough food for the weakers of them who couldn't reach the buffet on time. The captain is also in charge of telling jokes in the bus and of ordering them to watch through the window when the bus is passing a landmark. Gosh, a travel must be so boring without a good captain!

But the most funny part is that they don't swim without a bright orange life jacket and two large buoys around their arms. Yes, in the Perhentians. You know, this paradise tropical Island where the water is like 28°C , shallow, quiet, protected by coral reefs... I'm not kidding, that's for real!!!

As you can see, I'm not a big fan of those tours and I'm getting a bit mean. Echoing Nicolas' post (fr), I think that this type of tourism is more or less responsible for spoiling natural wonders...

Well, that said, believe it or not I was myself part of such kind event last weekend!!! Yep, I got enrolled in the Perhentian Island challenge 2007... I teamed up with sport addicted Louis and we both went through a great sport challenge in spite of the "organized tour" background.

The race consist in a mix of kayaking, running through the wild jungle, swimming (yes, with the bright orange life jacket geared up ;-), climbing steep hills. Four and a half hours of constant physical effort around noon, when the sun is the brightest and when the temperature reaches 35°C. It was really tiring but we were determined and we found the guts to finish the race and our rank is 10th out of 83 teams. We won a great medal and a money prize! There will be a one hour coverage on TV Tiga (Malaysian national TV channel 3) in October, I'll try to blog it if I can find it.

Thanks Louis!

Louis was too tall to fit in the kayak...

They didn't play La Marseillaise...

No need to push mah, just call lah!

2007-08-23T10:07:00.000+08:00

After more than one year spent in KL I noticed that there are phone numbers painted on almost all the sign-posts, streetlights and stop lights in KL, but until yesterday I never had the curiosity to call and figure out whose number it was.

Yesterday, Marie's bike had a flat tire. I came to help and we were getting ready to push the bike over few blocks to reach a nearby garage. It was about noon, temperature was 35°C, that would have been hell! So I asked a guy passing by if he knew a bike shop closer than the one I was thinking about.

He answered: "no need to push mah, just call lah!", and he finger pointed a streetlight... He explained that repairmen write their phone number on all the streetlights within the area they cover!! One can call and get service 24/7 within 10 to 15 min ;-) But you need to speak Malay to give your location since bike repairmen usually don't speak a word of English...

Half an hour and twenty ringgits later, we were on the road again!

Way to go!...

Kiddy Kiddy!

2007-08-20T23:16:00.000+08:00

No big story here, but just the cutest picture I ever took! (not that I'm a big fan of the "kiddy kiddy" type of picture, but I really like this one, though)!

I took those pictures a few weeks ago as Marie and I took a ride to Kuala Selangor.

Those Silverleaf monkeys are freely roaming in the hills around the town. They are famous for the bright orange fur of their infants, before they turn to regular adults' dark hair with silver shining.

But don't give me wrong, this one is definitely my favorite kind: it can even ride a bike!!

Keep in touch!

2007-08-02T09:31:00.000+08:00

I suck really bad at keeping in touch with people who are not around. In my case it's all the more worth since in the past 10 years I lived in 6 different locations within 3 countries...

There are so many people I still wanna be in touch with! Therefore in order to catch up with those people that count for me, I'm giving a try with the Facebook thing. I actually registered few years back when it became big in the US and everyone got excited about, but I never really got to use it since at this time I thought it was useless and I preferred IRL interaction.

But yesterday I got a message from a good old friend of mine (Sweta ;-) and it made me really happy to read about her! Of course I'd much better raise my glass with her, but it's still much better than nothing.

I'll update my contact info and update some pics soon.

So, see you around on Facebook...

Borneo

2007-08-01T23:23:00.000+08:00

I'm not even gonna try to apologize for the looooong time I didn't upload this blog. What can I say? I have really gone through a rough time at work...

Anyway, I still found time during the last two month to do something I kept postponing for too long:

After traveling here and there, I can now claim that I know peninsular Malaysia pretty well. However I never stepped on East Malaysia (Borneo Island) before. In order to catch up, I flew to Sarawak state (Southern Borneo) two weeks ago to attend the Rainforest World Music Festival. This festival is especially famous because of its location: it takes place at the Sarawak Cultural Village, just in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by hills. Definitely a great location, but I wasn't that enthusiastic about the music itself. Also I was expecting some roots/trash/hippie experience with w33d smell floating all around but it was actually more a "friendly event". The day workshops were fun though! And guess what? I had a chance to listen to the unique Breton bombarde noise! So far away from Brittany, that was quite unexpected!

Bottom line: the festival was nice, but I definitely had a crush on Bako Park where Marie and I went for 3 days trek just before the festival. Bako is located on the south-west coast of Borneo Island. It's a wild park, we met only very few other trekkers. What is great about Bako is that after a really tiring walk into steep hills and moist jungle comes a great reward: the sea. Bako is surrounded by beaches and with a moderate luck you can expect to reach a desert beach just for you before sunset! It feels so good to spend a few nights in the simple wilderness. As opposed to Taman Negara, Bako discloses much more variety in the landscapes alternating rainforest with beach ecosystem or dryer meadows. I definitely hold it as the best place I've been in Asia for trekking so far. Big up for Marie who found the strength to carry my bag and find a remote river to get some water while I was literally paralyzed by recurring cramps.

We spent one day in Kuching, the main city in Sarawak before reaching back to KL: it's a very charming city. The riverbank is amazing, very calm and beautiful. Strong contrast with the average large Asian city, usually much more bustling...

Overall, a short trip (only 5 days), but as usual, very well filled!

Java, one Island, two worlds

2007-06-01T10:57:00.000+08:00

I had the chance to flight to Java twice over the last weeks, once for personal travel, once for business trip, but I definitely feel like I've been traveling to two different countries: the urban sprawl of Jakarta is a the exact opposite of the quiet and gorgeous remote countryside of the rest of Java.

The first time I went there for a one week tour on Central and East Java with Pilou, Marie and a bunch of expat friends. Pilou is a good old school pal of mine. We had plenty of great times few years ago in our campus in Brittany, and we hang out a bit every now and then whenever I crash in Paris for few days. Pilou was kind enough to come visit me all the way to M'sia for a few weeks. It was also the opportunity for me to get to know his lovely special one: Aurelie.

In order to immerse Pilou straight away in a true Asian experience, we left KL almost upon his arrival, after only a very short night. There we go, en route to a one week intense experience in remote Java. On the menu: discovering the legendary Hindu and Buddhist temples of Prambanan and Borobudur ; climbing the grand volcano of Bromo (noticed the new banner on this blog?) ; visiting Surakarta and Jogyakarta ; discovering Madura Island before the Indonesian government succeeds in his attempt to transform this farmer's Island into a place for tourists. Knowing me, needless to mention that we traveled on a budget (local buses, dirty guesthouses, fried rice at the stalls, etc...) That's the only way to get an authentic taste of Java

All along our journey, I was constantly amazed by the kindness and the openness of the Javanese people. Everyone was curious to know where we came from, what we where doing in such places so far from the tourists roads. Everyone was willing to give us directions, and most of the time without ulterior motive. At some point in Surakarta bus station a crowd of Javaneses gathered around us in the blink of an eye, and everyone was shouting to advise us on the best way to reach the next hop. Don't give me wrong, I'm not naive and I know that our wallet was also very attractive, but most of the time I didn't feel that I was pushed to purchase anything. I really believe that people where flattered that we come from so far to visit their villages, and that we were able to speak (a little bit) their language. They wanted us to have the best experience of their country. This simplicity in the human contact is really appreciable. Quite a change for a European! However this is only true for the remote countryside villages. In the tourist spots (the temples for instance), it's a whole different story, and you are not a traveler anymore: you become a prey.

Bottom line: a great experience, a lot of contacts with the Javaneses, UNESCO-like sites (BTW, Prambanan and Borobudur are listed).

Only a week after this trip, I was requested to travel to Jakarta for business. IMHO Jakarta is definitely another world, made of pollution, traffic jam, violence, prostitutes, greediness. The landscape is spoiled and Jakarta is a huge soulless urban sprawl. The taxi is the only was of transportation since it's not possible to walk around.

What a contrast! I'm not Marxist at all but I can't help thinking that human beings are not made to live in big cities and that government should kick everyone back to the countryside...

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Colmar Tropical

2007-05-18T17:09:00.000+08:00

A few year ago the prime minister's wife traveled to France over her summer vacation and had a chance to discover the charming town of Colmar, famous for its typical Alsace architecture. She actually loved it so much that she wanted to get the same back home in Malaysia.

The prime minister's wife desires are a serious issue in Malaysia, therefore it didn't take long to built a replica of Colmar's main street in the mountain area of Bukit Tinggi, 80km North of KL.

Not that I was that homesick, but I'm always open to any day trip outside of KL outskirt, especially when the bike ride is supposed to be nice, along a small path climbing up the mountains! And it was the occasion for Vincent to take his bike out of KL for the first time.

It's really astonishing to walk along this replica's streets: it's like France, but surrounded by jungle and in a 35 C moist atmosphere... It feels fake, though. It's a bit like Eurodisney's castles!

Of course there are French restaurants, and yes, it is possible to order a choucroute! Now the real challenge is: can you decently enjoy a choucroute by 35 degrees???

Health First!

2007-04-10T11:34:00.000+08:00

Last weekend I couldn't postpone it anymore, I had to do the boring chore of grocery shopping. While in the supermarket I saw a nice and cheap made in China juice extractor. As I don't have very healthy eating habits those days, I thought I could compensate with a daily freshly squeezed fruit juice. I also brought about 10 kg of fresh fruits (mangoes, pineapple, papaya, banana, kiwi, lime, manggis, oranges, coconut milk, you name it)

To celebrate this new purchase I had some friends coming over. One of them brought plenty of cheap Philippines' Rhum... It all begun with fresh home-made Piña Colada. It ended up with exotic experiments... I'm not sure about the target completion regarding the healthy thing, but at least we had fun ;-)

Bubble Share for dummies

2007-04-09T16:43:00.000+08:00

Following remarks I had from several Internet-illiterate readers, I think I need to publish a short manual to support my readers for a better blog experience ;-)

When you see the Bubble Share applet, feel free to click on the "play" button, it will then display the pictures embedded in the page.

If you want to browse the pictures with higher resolution, please click anywhere on the picture itself, it will redirect you towards the album hosted on Bubble Share website where you will be able to browse them full size as well as to download an archive of it.

(The one above is just a picture for the illustration purpose, it's not an actual clickable Bubble Share applet. But you can practice on the previous post just below)!!

Trekking Taman Melawati

2007-04-09T11:12:00.000+08:00

It will soon be one year that I live in Malaysia and I now have some routines. One of them is a trek on a cliff (actually the technical term is ridge) called Taman Melawati.

One particularity of KL is that it is enclosed in a valley (Klang Valley) surrounded by cliffs. You can really tell when looking from tall buildings. And that's great because it offers plenty of nice opportunities of day treks. The Taman Melawati (officially called Klang Gates Ridge) is one of them. It actually is a WWF classified spot and the officials claim it is the biggest pure quartz ridge in the world... The Taman Melawati is located North East of KL, about 30 min bike ride from downtown. Well, that's when you know the way to the trail head. It's actually hidden at the end of a small dirt path leaving from the village called Melawati. It took me long time to discover it.

The journey to get there is quite an adventure by itself. We've been caught there by the tropical rain once. In Malaysia it can rain 10 cm in a 10 min time frame, and when this sudden huge amount of water is collected by the ridge and concentrated on the dirt path, it gets swamped in the blink of an eye. I had to ride my bike out before getting really flooded and I found myself riding in 30 cm (1 ft) of water, no kidding!! The whole exhaust pipe was sunk underwater so I had to make sure never to release the throttle to continuously exhaust gas and therefore prevent water from entering into the engine via the exhaust pipe, while praying not to fall into the ravine (couldn't see the ground because of dirty water flowing over)! Stressful time! So bad I didn't shoot pictures of it 'cause it was really impressive.

Anyway, most of the time the weather is nice and this is a really pleasant walk. I've been there about 5 times, bringing different friends each time. They all loved it. It is so unexpected to feel so remote from the city after just a 30 min ride. That's a good thing with KL: nature is never that far away. Kuala Lumpur is definitely a rather small capital. Once up there, the view is breathtaking. We actually stand at the edge of the KL area. And as we are on a ridge, we have a perfect 360 view. On one side we can see the whole Klang valley: KL and its suburbs; and one the other side the wild rainforest, the mountains, etc... Strong contrast! I like to be there, I feel like I'm at the edge of the civilized world...

Most of the time the path becomes pretty wild, but we can't get lost since it follows the top of the ridge. Sometimes it becomes more about climbing than walking! It can even be dangerous: a friend of mine survived a 2 meters fall with just minor scratches! Apart from this the real difficulty comes from the heat: there is no shadow at all and the quartz acts as a reflector concentrating the heat... That's why we usually (try to) get there by sunrise.

I heard about other nearby spots like this one, I'll keep you posted about it.

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(thanks to Guilhem for some of those pics)

A friend of mine tracked our itinerary with his GPS. Here is a Google Earth screening of it. You can download the whole kml trace here.

Impossible Mission

2007-03-16T17:47:00.000+08:00

- we need to catch a plane to Penang leaving at 21:30 tonight
- therefore we need to be at the airport (KUL - LCCT) at 21:10, no latter
- she leaves office at 20:00 at Jalan Tun Razzak and Jalan Ampang
- Kuala Lumpur is highly jammed at this time, no way to make it by cab

Your mission if you choose to accept it: pick her up with your bike when she leaves the office. Make it to the airport in less than one hour and ten minutes. (as a reminder: 85 km to be covered on jammed highways with crazy Malaysian drivers rushing home for the weekend).

If you don't get any news before Monday, it will mean that we mad it :-)

If you don't get any news at all, it means that we crashed onto a car :-(

(just kiddin' Mom lah, safety first: I can make it any time to Penang anyway, if not this weekend)

Edit: did it, was nice to discover Penang, especially the old Georgetown and the West coast.

Livin' with the Orang Asli

2007-03-13T10:59:00.000+08:00

Long time no post, again! What can I say, I've been crawling under big workload and also I'm a bit lazy... But for those who where wondering about me, good news is I survived the Taman Negara.

Taman Negara is the main national park of peninsular Malaysia. This 4,500 sq. km wild area has been established about a century ago in order to preserve the untouched rain forest of Malaysia: this forest is 130 million years old and hosts some endangered species like the Indochinese Tiger, the Sumatran Rhinoceros, the Malayan Gaur (seladang), the Asian Elephant and the mahseer fish. On top of that, Taman Negara is a perfect place to watch a crowd of colorful birds like the horn bill (my favorite one, it woke us up every morning with its unique fireman siren noise)... Really a nice place, and two thumbs up for Malaysian authorities for the effort they put in preserving the rain forest (unfortunately, that is really not the case in many other places where tourism incomes take over nature preservation).

This trek was among the most memorable treks I ever did. After a looooonnng drive (traffic jam because of Chinese New Year), we finally made it to the Taman Negara. I give credit to Minh, Sandrine, Audrey and Sam (yes, you counted 4 heads) for being cramped on the rear seat of the car during 5 hours with almost no complaining! (yes, traveling on a budget...)

The first view of the park was a bit surprising: having traveled across USA and having enjoyed most of the gorgeous American national parks, I was expecting a huge parking lot with rows of RVs, big park headquarter with plenty of information booth, camping gear stores, hotels, etc... Well actually when we arrive we saw some guest houses, some food stalls installed on floating barges and that's pretty much it!! Cool :-)

We spent the rest of the afternoon checking for a good guide and working with him on the best itinerary. We made it clear that we wanted to go as deep as possible in the rain forest, as far as possible from the so touristy "canopy walk". Well, our guide clearly understood that we wanted adventure, lack of comfort, loneliness, etc...

The next morning we left early and boarded in a very thin dugout for a 3 hours trip upstream the river. I still wonder how come we didn't end up in the river, eaten by piranhas... Congrats to the dugout driver! We had a chance to see some Orang Asli (native people of Malaysia, still leaving in the jungle).

We made it to Kuala Keniam on the far North of the park. As soon as the dugout driver dropped us, we knew that the only way out of the jungle was to walk three days along the elephants path to reach kuala Tahan. This was the non-return point! The walk was very intense. Imagine a thick jungle, a constant moist heat, a swamped path, occasional heavy rain, bugs, hungry leeches (those are the worst of all). But don't give me wrong, in spite of all that I really enjoyed it, we had fun!

And the first night by itself was worth all the pain: we slept in a cave. A really impressively big cave. The kind of cave in which you totally imagine a tribe of prehistoric people living there decades ago. It felt really weird to be in such a place, so surrealistic in the middle of a wild jungle. We made a fire, made some drawings on the walls (just kiddin' for the latter). It would be perfect place except for the bats: I didn't realize at first because the ceiling is like 50m high, but it is packed with bats. And at night time, bats shit... Just on you when you feel asleep after a long long hike day... Not only the idea of bats dropping on you is disturbing, but also when this dried feces hits you after a 50m fall, it really hurts!!!

The second night was a bit less fun: we fought with rats all night long. And by rats I mean monster rats. The kind of rats that look more like a dog. There where looking after our food, and even hanging the backpacks didn't solve the issue because those clever things found a way to climb along the rope. We basically spent the night round robining to chase them with our flash lights.

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Selamat tahun baru cina!!

2007-02-17T07:32:00.000+08:00

Happy Chinese new year!!!

Taking advantage of the extended week-end, we go trekking for 4 days in the inner jungle at Taman Negara! 4 days in a moist heat, fighting with mosquito's, giant ants, leeches, snakes (among 100 species, only 36 are dangerous for human being :-), tigers...

We are a group of 6, target is to come back with 4 at least.

Back in a few days (hopefully) with great pictures!

You are not alone!

2007-02-11T09:54:00.000+08:00

Hey Mathieu, don't worry you're not alone: we do pretty much the same job in the same company, just in different locations... And I'm at my desk on Sunday at 9am, starting a long work day!
Cheers man!

Pangkor Island: double shot

2007-02-07T10:38:00.001+08:00

I've been to Pangkor Island two week-ends in a row! This Island lays on the West coast, about 200 km North of KL. Unlike the paradise white-sand Islands on the East coast, Pangkor is more developed and the sea is less appealing. However Pangkor offers a nice opportunity to discover the very traditional life of the fishermen, to see women working at drying the fish brought by the men, etc...

The inner jungle offers some nice trekking opportunity, but watch the leeches! I found a bunch of them sucking my blood after a short walk in the rubber trees forest, and I really had a hard time getting them off my feet, and that's really not a nice feeling! (Thanks again Marie, you saved my life, I owe you big time!!)

The atmosphere on Pangkor is very laid back, people are more eager to have a small talk than in KL. There are not many landmarks aside from a typical Taoist temple, but it's still a perfect place close to KL to spend the week-end on the beach :-)

Thnaks Marie for those nice picts!

Biker's Heaven

2007-02-04T01:45:00.000+08:00

Today I found the true biker's Paradize! It's called Fraser's Hill. Fraser's Hill is a mountain resort named after a british fortune hunter who started a tin mine over there about two centuries ago. It's a small cozy and so british styled town lost in the middle of nowhere in the jungle, about 100 km North of KL.

Marie and I wanted to escape KL's heavy heat and chill out for one day in this resort. We took my bike to get there. And this ride happened to be the perfect ride! Especially the second half of the trip. Imagine a small road (actually more a slope), cutting through a quiet and dense jungle, climbing across a steep mountain. Imagine a desert one way road, just for you, laid in a perfect environment and which discloses a breathtaking lansdscape after each curve... Imagine a road in very good condition and plenty of curves! I really had a good time riding up there!

For those KL-based readers who ever plan on going over there, here is a good trick: about half-way to Fraser's Hill, a few kilometers after Kuala Kubu Baharu on road 55, on the left handside and after a bridge there is a freshwater river and cascade with a lake at the bottom. There are big rocks and tiny sand beaches around it. It's surrounded by jungle. Many locals were having a barbecue and swimming in the lake. This is a perfect secret place for a break, and sandwitch and a short swim on the way to Fraser's hill. It can even be the destination by itself! Always good to leave noisy KL for a week-end and end up in such perfect location for nature-lovers. Plus it's just about one hour away from KL.

David vs. Goliath

2007-01-31T11:06:00.000+08:00

Yesterday 30th of January, Micro$oft released its last version of Windows OS: Vista. With a development budget as high as 20 billion USD, and a marketing campaign worth 900 million USD (including fireworks in Paris and many other cities in the world!), Vista is a great symbol of monopolistic capitalism. An expert study has been conducted and according to them Microsoft will force Vista into 80% of the PC on Earth within 3 years...

Well, I'll be part of the 20% rebels because I freshly installed Linux (Mandriva) just yesterday on my laptop :-) In your face, Bill!! What? You don't give a shit about me??

Livin' with the Karens

2007-01-29T19:56:00.000+08:00

During our trip through Thailand, Marie and I had the chance to spend some days with our friend Jim. We met Jim two years ago in Indian, USA where he teaches anthropology. Lucky us, Jim was traveling across South East Asia just when Marie and I took some days of! He offered us to join him for his field trip in a tribal village near Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. That’s how we got to meet the Karen people and share their lives for some days! Thanks again Jim, for this unforgettable experience and unique opportunity.

Let’s start with a short background reminder: who are the Karen people?

The Karens are one of the 20 ethnics groups composing the Thai Hill Tribes. With a population of about 400,000 the Karens are by far the largest tribe in Thailand. Those ethnic groups migrated from Tibet, China and Laos in the 19^th century and settled in the mountains at the Myanmar/Thailand border. Most of them are Buddhists. They are self-sufficient and live a very simple life, mainly unchanged since decades (well, until recently at least...) The Thai government recognizes them and tries to respect their culture, while prevented them from some traditions like growing opium poppy for instance.

We meet Jim at Chiang Mai airport. To reach the tribal village, it takes a 3 hours ride on the back of an old pick-up through a desert and bumpy dirt path climbing across steep mountains. At this point of the trip, I realized that I had definitively left the beaten tracks!...

But the first view of the village confirmed that it was worth the journey and that the coming days would be unforgettable! The little village is composed of about 20 to 30 small bamboo houses built on stilts. The ground floor below the house is used as a storage area and for poultry and pigs farming. The alleys between the houses are made of beaten red-clay, which combined with the setting sun light made a perfect landscape! The most surprising thing was the silence! With the next TV being probably 50 miles away the village was surprisingly calm. We slept in one of the bamboo houses. The inside structure is very simple: only one main room, with the kitchen in a corner and with the fire pit. Yes, they make fire inside the houses… Cough, cough!!

We woke up before the sunrise and climbed the pick above the village and the view in the morning mighty mist was just perfect! On the way back we had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the morning routine of the villagers: the elders start the fire to warm the house up and cook the breakfast. The kids go pick up the traps they left overnight and are very proud to show us how big their catch is… Hmm, makes me hungry! I actually tasted this rat, and not surprisingly I didn’t like it!! The taste is really strong, almost disgusting. The closest I can think of, taste wise, is wild boar.

The mothers get their child ready to go to school. The daily life is very laborious, whether it’s in the rice paddy, at cloth making or to prepare rice seeds… Almost everything they need (food – shelter – cloth, etc…) is provided by the nature.

The Karens traditionally practice slash-and-burn agriculture, which turned out to be very bad for the environment. Therefore the royal government took action to prevent such practice. But in order to preserve Karen’s fragile culture a committee was created to interact with the Karens in a non-destructive manner. Purpose was to teach them how to evolve their habits while maintaining their culture and their self-sufficiency. Lot of pedagogy was used and it took time, but the outcome is pretty satisfying as most of the hill tribes accepted to change their way of cultivation. Well, that’s the official story. Some Human Right association mentioned that those tribes traded their nomad way of life against a sedentary one… That was the condition imposed by the Thai government to grant full citizenship to the tribe’s people. It’s true that some traditions are lost, but on the other side, thanks to educational programs, chance is given to the Karens to adapt to modern life and to continue to exist… What’s right, what’s wrong? Dunno!...

Another outcome of the official tribe development policies is the school system. The government sponsors parents who send their children to school. We visited a nearby school. A particularity is that the students bring food for their teacher. Kids are the same all over the world when it comes to school playground.

The next day we took a walk on the mountains. This is just a perfect area for trekking! Nature is good and there is almost no threat (except for some snakes). Villagers are shy but very welcoming. It’s extremely quiet and the landscapes are just breathtaking, especially in the morning mist!!! I’ll be back some day, that’s for sure!

This trip in a tribal village was really a memorable experience. It’s good to remember that life can be (and should be?) much simpler than it is in big cities, working for big worldwide companies…

Next hop for Marie and me: short layover in Chiang Mai for some days and then en route to Cambodia!

[to be continued...]

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Back on track!

2007-01-29T18:53:00.000+08:00

Sorry, I’ve been lazy on the posting those days, but a combination of heavy workload and plenty of parties/week-ends out made things hectic since I’m back from Cambodia three weeks ago. But it was worth waiting! Soon to be posted: perfect pictures and stories from our adventures in Thailand and Cambodia. On the menu: New cuisine style... Have you ever wondered how does rat taste? Don’t look further than my blog to figure out. But also: some days spent within a tribal village in northern Thailand ; a day on a Cambodian floating village ; a glimpse of a paradise Island off Shianoukville ; Crazy Christmas’ Eve celebrated in a crappy overnight train through remote Thailand with drunken Belgium guys... and even more coming soon… Stay tuned!

Meeting the Karens People

2006-12-18T05:25:00.000+08:00

I'm off to Thailand (North of Chiang Mai), and then to Cambodia!!!
'll be back in 3 weeks with great stories and pictures...

There is not such thing as a free meal...

2006-11-19T01:37:00.000+08:00

... as the proverb says. However tonight in Changkat Bukit Bintang street I had the best free meal ever!!

A new restaurant had its opening tonight just down my condo. For the connoisseurs, it replaces former Copper Chimney but it is managed by the same owner. Marie and I got invitation as loyal customers. The Moghul House serves typical North Indian Food. And tonight, everything was free!...

In a nutshell: I'm stuffed! I'm full! I enjoyed excellent Indian food from 8 to 1am! I never ate so much tasty food in one meal. I think I now understand what a Roman orgy could be... My jaw is still hurting, I don't know if it's due to chewing or laughing!

Shall I also mention that there was an open bar for beer too? Needless to mention how high I am now...

Beyond that, the menu is great, the food is good and the prices are reasonable for Changkat Bukit Bintang. I'm glad to find out that the substitute for the lovely Copper Chimney will keep the same spirit.

Huh, what's that? How, yes, I forgot: I got to wake up in 5 hours to go climb the Taman Melawati : a quartz ridge at the edge of the Klang Valley (WWF classified). A long hike which includes several steps along the way where it really becomes about climbing... Hopefully I will sleep my beer off by the time I will hang with one hand above a 20 ft deep gap :-)

Bons baisers de Jules Vernes

2006-11-09T17:59:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I had the chance to spend the evening with Tristan, Charlie and Jean-Claude, 3 artists currently on tour in South-East Asia. Jean-Claude is a pianist/singer. Tristan is a photographer and Charlie is a theatrical performer. They found a way to match their talents and build an incredible show (cf. title above mentioned), which I strongly recommend (they will perform in Hanoi, Vietnam
tomorrow night).

Those artists have been touring the world for a long time. It was really interesting to chat with them. Their experience of the cultural difference is endless. Jean-Claude in particular has been traveling in the USA for 3 years. Marie and I were amused to figure out that we all have the same feelings about this country. A great country to which one can’t stay indifferent!

I wanna have a gypsy life, so bad!

Haze-ardous!

2006-11-09T11:21:00.000+08:00

What's going on in KL? The whole city is covered with a thick fog smelling just like a charcoal barbecue before you drop the meat on the grill... What's that? Oh, I know: the haze is back in KL :'-( Cough, cough!! What is the haze? It's easy as a pie: farmers in Indonesia (especially on the neighboring island of Sumatra) burn the forest in order to clear off fields for cultivation. This generates huge amount of smoke. Depending on the wind, those clouds of smoke make their journey over the Melacca sea and end up reaching Malaysia West coast.

See "before" and "after" pictures of KL:

Sometimes, when the smoke is too thick, schools are closed, as well as some industry manufactures and offices. This is bad for productivity. And needless to mention the health hazard... But to me the most surprising thing about it is the Malaysians reaction: obviously some of them are very concerned about the above mentioned troubles. But others are pretty happy about it because during haze attack the sun can't reach KL and the temperature drops from a few degrees!!

Malaysian government urged Indonesia for collaboration in chasing those illegal forest fires. Indonesia sent some officers in Sumatra jungle. They caught several fire criminals and deported them towards Malaysia... because they were Malays!! Yes, some Malay people setup business among the pyromaniacs... An excellent way for Indonesia to tell Malaysia: "See, the criminals are from your country, all this is your fault so now stop boring us with this smoke story and let our farmers burn forest if they want to"...

I bet you, we are not gonna see blue sky in KL before pigs fly.

Koh Lipe picts

2006-11-07T14:21:00.000+08:00

There we go:

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One week with the Sea Gypsies

2006-10-31T11:22:00.000+08:00

Get there ASAP, before it becomes overcrowded and corrupted by tourism and easy dollars!!!

Koh Lipe is a small Island located in the South Western Thailand, in the Andaman sea. This Island is part of the Tarutao national park, spreading over a small archipelago. Most of the Islands are wild. Nobody lives there permanently. Koh Lipe is the only inhabited island.

To reach the Island from M'sia, it's a hell of a journey... Count 24h, two buses, three boat hops (including one with the most noisy engine I ever heard in my life (and will ever ear because I'm deaf now), one cab ride. But believe me, Koh Lipe is worth it!

The Island is really like in the movies: thin white sand, lagoon blue water, coral reefs, multicolor underwater life, etc... We lived in a very simple bungalow with a perfect view on the lagoon. We shared our room with plenty of animals, including a fleet of cockroaches, a giant worm and believe it or not, a spider bigger that my hand!

One remark, though: I read on the 1999 Lonely Planet about Koh Lipe that it is a wild Island with almost no facilities for tourists, and that opportunity is given to the visitors to live like the fishermen. On the 2003 edition, some bungalows and guest houses + restaurants are mentioned. And my 2006 experience is that there is a lot of tourism facilities! Especially on Pattaya beach. And not only there are already a lot of them, but also there are a lot being constructed currently... I even got to meet a French girl who settled there, living from necklaces she sells to the tourists! Until recently Koh Lipe was wild and authentic, visited by only a few respectful tourists looking for true experience. My sad feeling is that this time is over, and Koh Lipe is "growing" very fast. In a few years it will just be like Koh Phiphi or Koh Lanta, i-e transformed into a giant recreational park for tourists in spite of its own soul...

However even if it seems pessimistic, there is still hope for those looking for an adventure a la Robinson Crusoe: the neighboring Islands are still untouched (Koh Adang, Koh Rawi, etc...) For a few bahts a fisherman will drop you there for a week... That's actually what we planned at first for this trip, but due to several reasons we couldn't do it :'-( Next time, for sure!

Koh Lipe is inhabited by a handful of sea gypsies, or Chao Lae, the Thai for "people of the sea". Traditionally, they were nomads who traveled from island to island fishing and collecting shellfish. Ethnologists believe their ancestors were some of the first inhabitants of this area. Most of them settled now and they live mainly from fishing. They ride the famous "long-tail boats": their propellers are at the end of a pole, so the person steering the "long-tail" boat looks like a gondolier. We had a chance to walk through their little village, we could see how those gypsies live their life outdoor.

This sounds like they are a bunch of people having a very peaceful and simple life, by the sea, self-sufficient, etc... However the reality is a bit darker than this perfect picture: I had the chance to meet Chris, a German guy who has been wandering in the area for the past 7 years, and who lived the last two years on Koh Lipe. He lived like the Sea Gypsies and and was adopted by them (they named him after the Thai for "our older child"). He had a chance to realize how dark the future is for this People: first they have not been granted citizenship by the Thai government, although they were the very first inhabitants of this land centuries ago. However the Thai government conceded them ownership of lands on the Island. But there came the ruthless Chinese who offered them to buy their land for a few fistful of dollars... Ugly scam! However the Chao Lae are not educate, they are simple people living by the sea. Of course they accepted! They have now just enough land to built their houses that's all. It so reminds me of pioneers buying off Indian lands with alcohol. On top of that they suffer strong racism from the other few inhabitants of the Islands. They are really regarded as inferior human beings. Add to this that they are exposed and were strongly hit by the Tsunami two years ago... And they are still smiling at us. One of them invited us to have a curry dinner at his place and was delighted to help us the best he could when my friend Guilhem lost his passport... Really really nice people.

Overall this was a great trip! So good to leave the noisy KL for such perfect place. However I keep a slight taste of bitterness because I was expecting a truly wild Island... Now I'm informed, next time's gonna be just perfect :-)

PS: pictures to be posted soon!

Off to Koh Tarutao, Thailand!

2006-10-19T16:23:00.000+08:00

Long time no post... I have been kept really really busy by my job lately! I didn't even have a chance to have dinner with my dear one in the last two weeks :-(

But half of next week is public holidays in Malaysia (combinaison of Indian Deepavali festival + muslim Hari Raya celebration for the end of the Ramadan). And tonight I'm off to Koh Tarutao in the Southern Thailand with some friends! Plan is: reach one of the desert wild islands off Satun region and settle there for some days, living like Robinson :-) Hum... Ring a bell? "The Beach" maybe ;-)

Checklist:

-matches: ok
-fishing gear: ok
-booze: ok

Alright Charly, I think we're good to go!...

Long time no see, huh?

2006-10-12T22:20:00.000+08:00

About one year ago I graduated from Ball State University (IN, USA). A former classmate (my former roommate actually) just sent an email to all the alumni last week in order to get back in touch and write a newsletter to know what each one is doing with his life... I am still in touch with a few, but I will really appreciate to get a chance to get back in touch with those I regret not to be anymore! Thank you for this great initiative, Garth!

Only one year ago, and all this seems so far away for me! So many memories suddenly resurfaced. This email relates to a point of my life were I was a heedless student... Not that I am all stressed out now, but the gap between student life and professional life is a huge one. Don't give me wrong, not that I don't like the way it is now, it's just a bit of nostalgia! To be fair, the mood within our class was really positive. I was part of the so called "CICS mafia". I felt more welcome in the USA than in my own country!

This year in was definitely one of the best. First overseas experience, unforgettable travels across Canada, USA, Mexico. North America is so appealing for travels! I also got to met really different and interesting people... When I got back to France for a short while after this year spent in the US, I really felt this was not the place I wanted to be!

Huh!... I gad forgotten how curly my hair gets when I live it for a while...

Small world...

2006-10-12T20:25:00.000+08:00

Last Friday I had a great dinner at a colleague's place, with home made crepes enjoyed while chitchatting. Really great time!

The funny thing is that his girlfriend happens to be the best friend of my brother's former classmate... How small is the world!

Kuala L'impure

2006-10-06T12:46:00.000+08:00

I can't pretend I wasn't warned about this because it happened to almost all of my expat colleagues here. I have been briefed many times. I heard many stories. But it was meant to be, I guess: I have been victim of bag snatching last Thursday night :-(

After a great gathering at Guilhem's I gave a ride back home to a friend living in the opposite side of KL. She sat behind me on my motorcycle while Marie was following me on hers. It was around 2a. As I just got my new motorcycle I don't have the rear fly case yet so I don't have a place where to put my handbag. So I dropped it in Marie's motorcycle front basket, along with her purse.

We have had a very good evening at our friends place. We were happy. We felt comfortable and secure in this district of KL we know well. So we didn't act especially carefully. There was not much we could do anyway: two guys riding on custom bikes came from being, snatched our two bags and flew away. For a sec I thought about chasing them, but I might I put myself in much bigger trouble, not even mentioning the risk for a car accident.

Content of the bags:

our two wallets, including several hundreds of ringgits, 3 credit/debit cards
one digital camera + a 1Go flash drive
two cell phones
Marie's eyeglasses + my sunglasses
two international driving licences which happen to be not renewable from overseas
my Malaysian motorcycle licence which I had obtained the very same day!
and last but not least: the keys to our apartment

So there we are, in the middle of the night in KL, with no money, no ID, locked out of our apartment, and in the urge of finding a way to cancel our credit cards...

We filed a report at the police station until 5a. We called an overnight locksmith who tried to took advantage of the situation and asked us an insane price to open our door. So we sent him back to his bed. We ended up waking up a friend (thanks again Jerome!) in order to sleep two hours before waking up with the dawn to call the real estate agency for a spare key. Couldn't get a hold of them, so we finally borrowed some cloth from Jerome (yes, Jerome, the tall guy... almost 2m long! We looked funny...) A quick shower and let's look fresh for an intense workday which ended up for me in the late evening... What a day!

I won't let this happen ever again!

Bali forever!

2006-10-03T00:57:00.000+08:00

Bali is great! Bali is full of variety. Bali is a glimpse of Paradise! Bali absolutely deserves the worldwide fame it is entitled to. However it's really surprising to notice that what it's mainly famous for is not the best part of it, namely Kuta!

Anyway, I'm too lazy for the full story, so here is a must do/"mustn't do". (disclaimer: all this is just based on my humble own experience)... Let's keep the best for the end and start with the (few) mustn't do:

The South West coast (Kuta, Seminyak, etc...). It's like Cancun for the American springbreakers, except you replace Mexico with Bali, American students with Aussie ones and pesos with rupiah. In a nutshell: beaches packed with tourists, seafront covered with MacDonald's, nightclubs, etc... In a word: you won't find authentic Bali there. Great waves, though: we enjoyed bodysurfing for one or two hours before taking off to KL on the way back.

Bali being on a volcanic hotspot, there are of course a lot of craters here and there. One of them happens to be particularly impressive. According to our guide, GunungBatur is the largest crater in the world (17 km diameter, he said). It was erected hundreds years ago. But then 1962 a second eruption provoked a second crater to appear inside the initial crater. We climbed this inner crater, and from the top, at 1,800m above sea level, the view is just breathtaking. One can walk the whole tour on the crest of the volcano. Needless to mention the perfect 360 degrees view. We could stare at the lake and villages laying inside the outer crater, as well as at the Agung volcano some miles away and the long lavas trail leaking from the inner crater. Just perfect. OK, if it seems so perfect, then why did I mention about Gunung Batur in the "mustn't do" list?? But then, I have to admit that part of the pleasure has been spoiled by the "GunungBatur Gangsters"... A few local inhabitants decided to bar all the slopes to the volcano and despoil the tourists passing through. If you don't pay, it's easy, they beat you, and I am not sugar coating it! Don't give me wrong, it's not that I am not ready to participate and help developing this very remote and rural area. But thing is, they steal 80 USD from every tourist. 80 USD! In one day those guys make the money it takes 6 month to the farmer next door to make! And it really looks like it's not shared at all among the Batur community... I can't help but just hate being screwed like that! Of course, no way I could pay that amount. So after 1 hour bargaining, I cut down the price by 8. And to finish with a positive thought: the trek was a real delight. My advise if you wanna climb a volcano in Bali: forget about Batur and drive 20 more miles to reach Gunung Agung which is supposed to be more wild although as beautiful!

Well, even after a few minutes brainstorming, those are the only mustn't do I could come up with! On the must side:

Ubud, its artist galleries, its Hindu temples and just the atmosphere in those tiny streets. Balinese people are really friendly. At some point you wonder if it's just for marketing purpose, but after having some talks we couldn't identify any ulterior motive. It is natural for Balinese to be smiling. At least I want to believe it...

The North coast (dark volcano sand). The Liberty wreck is really worth some dives! It is just incredible how dense the underwater wildlife is down there! Anywhere you look at there will be some weird colorful specimen... It's like making 10 dives in one! We took some underwater pictures. Soon to be on this blog. Beyond that, we felt like the North coast is much closer to the traditional life. It hasn't been spoiled by tourism and easy made dollars, yet...

Driving in Bali is a truly intense experience, especially at night! First, there are very few signs to find your way. Buying a detailed map is really worth the money! Plus, the road are really narrow! At some point we ended up being lost in a very remote area, and the road became no larger than a bike path... Also, it reminded me of Senegal in Africa were the inhabitants settle along the roads. You can drive half a hour and still feel like you are in the same village, a huge village. But actually this is not a village: there are at best two rows of houses and then the jungle... People live on the road. At night time you can see barbecues setup on the sides of the road, people actually sitting on the sides of the roads, etc... On top of that, add a crowd of motorcycles and you as a driver get really nervous!!!

The mountains, and the wonderful rice plantation landscapes. Even better than in the National Geographic. You got to stop by a little town and stare at the vista while tasting some unusual fruits you never had before.

I am in love with Bali and I plan on discovering the Island further anytime soon. To be continued...

Almost there!

2006-09-22T04:04:00.000+08:00

From now on, plan is: 3 hours sleep, pack the luggage, take a cab towards KL Sentral, shuttle to the airport, flight to reach Denpasar, cab to get in Kuta, rent a jeep, make it to Ubud, and finally enjoy some rest in the cheapest guesthouse in town before waking up with the dawn to climb Batur volcano...

That's what I call vacation!

Off to Bali!!!

2006-09-21T21:53:00.000+08:00

Thursday night, almost 10p, and I am just about to get it over with this endless working day. The whole day was pretty intense. Worthless mentioning how exhausted I am now. Also, I'm already late for the dinner I am supposed to have tonight at some friend's in KL near suburb. I should be bored.

But you know what? I'm definitely not! I don't care, because tomorrow I am... off to Bali!!! For 4 days! Can't wait to take off :-)

Well, obviously one can argue that Bali deserves a longer time frame than four days. Let's just say we are making initial eye contact...

KL noise

2006-09-19T18:42:00.001+08:00

When settling in a new place (especially in another country), one has to adapt (at least) a bit to one’s hosting country and its way of life. Among the changes, some are obvious: I mentioned about food in a previous post. Switching driving side is another obvious change you have to comply with, etc…

But after a while, when those new habits which were real brain surgery at first begin to become part of your everyday life, you can start focusing on those more subtle differences. Namely the noises. Yes, the noises. Places often have a very typical noise. Most of the time it’s barely noticeable. It’s just part of the environment. As I said, your mind is too busy to notice them at first, but thereafter you can identify them.

For instance when I moved in Brest, one of the biggest harbor in France, I got woken up every foggy morning (so basically each other day in Brittany…) by the foghorn… When I moved in Muncie, a small countryside town in Indiana, USA, it took me a while to identify this weird noise haunting the streets: Muncie is a major crossroads for train freight. And one surprising thing about US: as per federal law, trains are supposed to honk repeatedly while approaching the least crossroad… Thus this noise days and nights…

It took me while but I finally identified the typical noise for KL: having a mosque nearby my house, I can sometime ear the chant of the muezzin’s preach…

F.R.I.M

2006-09-18T20:09:00.001+08:00

Sunday afternoon Marie and I visited the FRIM (Forest Research Institute of Malaysia). This is a protected wild area concentrating the majors species of trees and plants of the Borneo's primary forest. One good thing about this park is that although it's only 25 min North of KL, as soon as we entered it we felt like we were trekking in the heart of Borneo's jungle! We took the short loop (about 4 miles). This was enough to feel weird: I already noticed this, jungle trekking has a hypnotizing power on me! After some time I feel the same as after speleology. Perhaps it's due to the dense canopy above my head preventing me from seeing the sky and also from the thick silence due to the dense surrounding vegetation. Or maybe just the moist heat getting on my nerves?

Anyway, it was really interesting. We saw giant bamboos, screw shaped creepers, elephant trees, unattached trees, etc... Regarding the latter, the FRIM is really proud of those unattached trees, big time! Apparently the National Geo made a paper about it... Actually it's something truly unusual (cf. picture on the left). It was curious to figure out why on Earth those trees won't just overlap like any other tree! I googled it but didn't get a hit. Same for National Geo online archives. If some biologist specialised in jungle trees wander around please share your knowledge!

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Guru

2006-09-14T10:08:00.000+08:00

The Bahasa Melayu word for teacher is... Guru! Sorry you probably don't give a sh... but it just cracked me up! It made my day!
Guru... hahaha!

Berhenti = Stop ; Beri Laluan = Give Way

2006-09-12T15:06:00.000+08:00

I have been feeling like a teenager lately: I'll take the written part of the Malaysian Driving Licence test tomorrow morning. Therefore, I have been practicing the Malaysian driving rules and road signs all evening yesterday... Kindly reminds me of my 16th birthday! Well, might sounds a bit stupid, but driving here makes a hell of a difference compared to France. Beyond the anti conformist reverse British driving, Malaysian people make an intensive use of their honk. And I now understand why: as per the Road Transport Department of Malaysia, it is officially advise to do so in many case: overtaking, entering a bend, passing a cow... What about kindly waving cops?

Edit: I passed :-)

Where the hell is Matt?

2006-09-11T14:54:00.000+08:00

I wish I was Matt! So does my colleague Sam who spends 10 min steering at this video every morning since a week. What Sam, don't you like seating at your desk?...

Makan lah!

2006-09-11T09:44:00.000+08:00

It's been about 3 month now that I landed in Malaysia. Among all the changes from my previous life, food was a big one! Malaysian having a very rich ethnicity, food is accordingly incredibly varied. In Europe we sadly tend to call "Chinese" any restaurant serving any Asian food. But of course the variety is at least as wide as within European countries! And a Chinese Steamboat has definitely not the same taste as the Thai Fish Curry or the Indian Brinjal plate!

Add to this that dinning out at the restaurant is much much cheaper than in Europe and you will figure out why I spent 3 month without even peeling an apple! Though I like cooking, but even the dish I am the most proud of cannot compete with the mouth fireworks I experience on a daily basis down here. I just can't get enough of discovering new cuisines, new taste, new spices...

However after 3 month not even approaching my condo's kitchen I finally caught up with my favorite hobby: Marie and I spent some time Saturday cooking home made veggie lasagna from scratch. According to the Friends who came enjoy it at night, it was delicious! Either they were being really polite or I just didn't loose it too much during this no-cooking period...

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, a great time spent with some close friends, good wine enjoyed along with the lasagna... To be done again!

Work hard, play hard

2006-09-06T22:25:00.000+08:00

I just found out that I got a meeting with the customer next Saturday morning... One noticeable thing about Asia: work never stops there! But what to say... when you got to see the client, you got to see the client. Period.

Call mom

2006-09-06T13:44:00.000+08:00

In order to reduce cost, my company implemented a gateway to pass international calls over its own network. As a result, when I call my mother, I got to dial:

0320560827P820033495298713
(some digits randomly changed)

Gosh, I got to love her!

Merdeka in Perhentian Islands

2006-09-04T20:30:00.000+08:00

It feels good to leave the boiling KL and relax for a bit on one of the most beautiful paradise Island in the world!

Well, when I say "relax", it turned out that things could have been much different. At first this trip started pretty bad: Merdeka being one of the busiest week-end, I made sure to book transportation, accommodation and PADI course for Marie and I ahead of time. So after an intense working day, we arrived around 9:30p at the Sentral train station, ready for an overnight journey across Malaysia towards Kota Bahru. I suggested going check the platform number and then having a coffee, since we had 1/2 hour before the train leaves... That's pretty much at this point that I figured out that the actual departure time was... half an hour ago!

Now, what? It's almost 10p, the busiest week-end of the year, all the transportation fully booked since at least a month! We had struggled to be able to take one day off, to get the PADI course booked, etc... No way to screw up the week-end like that! We felt so desperate :-( And I especially felt so stupid because I was the one in charge. So we rushed towards the Putra Jaya bus station at the other side of the city, expecting to take over the seats of some passenger not showing up at the last minute. And it turned out that it's pretty much was happen!... Great!

Enough with the complaining: the rest of the week-end was really enjoyable, though. The diving course was pretty intense since it's suppose to fit in three days, but as we took a plane on the way back, we where not supposed to dive 18 hours before take off, so we took the course in two days. The Turtle Bay Diver club on Besar Island deserves some advertisement here: the manager really helped us get the best out of our diving experience! They are both really cautious about security and ready to let the fun show up even 18 meter underwater. I recommend them.

The last day we climbed the hill along a dirt trail across the jungle. Intense and rough experience! But the overview of the two Islands from the top of the hill makes the hike worth it.

I can't wait to get underwater again!

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PADI-ing hard!

2006-08-30T14:45:00.000+08:00

Thursday, the 31st of August is the Malaysian national day, called Merdeka (= independence). Of course Thursday is public holidays. I took a day off Friday, so that I can make it to the Perhentian Islands over this 4 days week-end. Great opportunity to go for my PADI OpenWater certification. Purpose: being able to rent diving gear and dive by myself!

This is for the fun part. Now, the PADI exam requires a lot a reading ahead of time. Nitrogen pressure, thermocline, Archimedes principle, buoyancy control... WTF?? Reminds me of my Physics classes a loooong time ago! So definitely I can say that I am paddling hard with it...

Grand Opening

2006-08-29T21:20:00.000+08:00

It's Saturday morning, around 2p. No special plan to spend the day. Beautiful weather, you want to enjoy the (rest of the) day. The typical question raises up: what to do? Then you wonder "let's see, what did I do last week-end?... Huh I can't recall. Two weeks ago? Can't either!" Pfff... So sad to spend great moments and forget about them right away! So, why not starting a blog? Not a diary, just a log to keep track of all the fun I got...