Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Library in KL

These are hard to come by in this city however, they are around and subsequently we have been reducing our book store bills by attending one out in PJ.

Entirely volunteer run and non-profit, the PJ Play centre Library has an excellent selection of children's books, making it a regular fortnightly outing for Isaac.

I have wonderful memories as a youngster of being taken to the Glen Innes, Auckland library and I remember well, the in-depth knowledge of the dewy system required to find the perfect book. I may be wrong but leisure reading does not appear a popular past-time in Malaysia and I don't doubt that the limited access to cheap/free literature is a factor.

The address is: 18 Jalan 6/6, Off Jalan Permai

15 RM per year membership - 2 books per membership (can buy multiple memberships)




Friday, June 19, 2009

In the jungle

Long tales, intrepid
with hot bath endings
Brown water and muddy banks
Forest men with orange hair
and orangutans to
Edged by palm oil rats
Board walks to somewhere, to skate in - mudslide
A noisy place at 3 in the morning - good noise but
Crook necks and squinting eyes flick left and right
seeking shadowy shapes and silhouettes up there
Long sleeved coats required if you please
in 35 degrees
On long boats up long rivers filled with interested white faces
Bodies damp from 3 day sweat and night time rain
Bloated, puffed eye lids betray messy sleeps with crazy strangers from other planets
And hovering suckers don't leave
They'll be there tomorrow
unlike me, just visiting

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Book Review - What I Talk About When I Talk About Running By Haruki Murakami


There haven’t been too many book reviews lately. I have not been reading as much as I did last year; however this book was well worth the effort.

Murakami’s previous work is unknown to me; however I gather he has mustered a loyal cult following both in Japan and abroad with social commentary on Japan and Japanese culture that is controversial in his homeland.

‘What I talk About When I Talk About Running’ particularly drew my attention as my current obsession in life is running. I can empathise with his feelings about running long distances and how it changes you, and Murakami weaves it into a part memoir, explaining how it has shaped not only his work, but his life.

It's a deceptively simple read, at times focusing on the most mundane of things. Even the most unfit reader could reel off 100 pages without a sweat. The insights captured, however, paint the picture of a man at peace and comfortable with not only WHO he is, but WHAT he is, still leaving room for the insecurities that most of us share. He freely admits that as a runner, he never was, and never will be the best, but as in life, this is beside the point.

His relationship to running is akin to a long married couple. He has seen better days but the deep seeded love and respect remains, and for better or for worse, he will continue till he can no more.

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

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Vacation Ramblings.......And a Trip to Cherating


Cherating, Pahang, Malaysia is a welcome and pleasantly accessible getaway from KL and although not endowed with the pristine clear, blue water of the island chains on this coast, is an excellent getaway destination. That is the tourist brochure version (as I have imagined). As far as I am concerned, it’s a beach – more on my opinion of beaches shortly.

This is the not the melting pot of ethnicities that is a characteristic of Kuala Lumpur. It is the land of the bumiputra – son of the earth/soil, where many Malays choose to take their holiday. Where a beer, when found, will send the restaurant bill from cheap to steep. In fact, we were the only Mat Sallehs (Europeans) at the resort.

This was the first week of the kindy holiday and Isaac and I were invited, along with a couple of others, for a father-son getaway. It was a timely getaway given the poor air quality in KL at the moment. There has been a scarcity of rain in KL for over a week, and the dreaded haze pollution had been hanging around like a bad smell (literally). Visibility reduces considerably during these times, and the obscured view of the Petronas twin towers from our neighbourhood is a sure sign that things aren’t right in air.

When I was back-packing through the tropics all those years ago, I was never a fan of beach destinations. When traveling with a group of others in a communal van during the European summer, they would want to stop at every beach. For me, one beach is the same as another, so my preference was to seek a travel experience that was original for me. As far as I was concerned that could not be done at a beach.

Things have changed slightly with age now. The thing that attracts me to a beach holiday these days is the simplicity. Room, restaurant, pool, beach. My slumming, living on a dollar-a-day, travel days are over. Well and truly.

So back to our sojourn to Cherating. It was four days of swimming and sand castle making which of course is a little boys dream, and this is an agenda that dad is entitled to enjoy it as well. And for a bit of variety, the hotel pool was always at hand. Again, simplicity is the name of the game. Let’s not forget great seafood, ever present in coastal Malaysia and always an irresistible option.

And all this within 4 hours of KL.

It’s a tough life in the tropics.

PS - Many thanks to Adriaan for several of the following photos



This kid knows how to relax








Sand castle construction





The Legend Resort - Cherating







Making many friends in the pool



Jamie & Adriaan


Are'nt self portraits so flattering