.: Travels - Malaysia :.

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Arrival date: 23 August 2007
Visa: 90 days
Trips: Genting Highlands, Batu Caves, Port Klang, Kuala Selangor, Putrajaya, Penang
Abstract: Knowing KL better has been quite disappointing, the city is crowded, busy, but above all extremely polluted. Malaysia it's on the equator line, therefore the weather influences donate great average temperatures during all year round, Unfortunately you can count the sunny days with the fingers of your first hand. You will rarely see a clear and blue sky, it's mostly cloudy, gray, rainy, probably due to the pollution and the high level of humidity. Regarding the people: you will find 3 different main ethnicities: malay, chinese and indians.  They all claim to be cosmopolitan, but they are not really interacting within each other. The muslims are very close minded due to their religion, they rule the country and they seem to have more social and economical privileges.

Updates:

19 November 2007 - I ended my Malaysian visit with another old friend reunion, by meeting again Krish who is temporary living in Penang Island, north of Malaysia. We attended some of gatherings with few traveler communities, swim, walk around the creepy cemetery, driving around the city with his old beetle vintage car, man oh man talking about girls which i missed since long time. I also had the chance to meet very friendly people, and all this made me realize once again that Malaysia is not Kuala Lumpur. Now I have to leave this country, my visa is expired and I have other adventures waiting for me. [In the picture, me and Krish at the 31th floor of his condo, with a great night view, click to enlarge it]

01/11/07  Meet Alan Rooster! If you are around Malaysia, I'm throwing a Couchsurfing gathering in Kuala Lumpur on the 3rd November 2007, at 6.30pm outside KLCC shopping mall main entrance. The meeting will be divided in 3 parts: First session: eat. We will choose a place where to have dinner to eat together. Second session: movie. We will choose a movie to watch together at the cinema in KLCC, Twin towers. Third session (Only for tough people): Alcohol. We will choose a place for drinking together and talk. Objectives of this meeting: 1) Getting to know each other 2) Getting drunk together 3) If you are looking for travel buddies 4) Talk about rising problems in CS Community 5) Talk about blockbuster movies. **Note: Everyone is welcome to this meet up. Feel free to bring also non CS members. P.S. Happy new year to all the Indians.

23/10/07  The trip to Klang Port: It deserves at least a short note, my trip to the small fishing village with the purpose of  visiting my friend Bun. I just found by chance his mobile number in my contact file of Malaysia, I didnt even remember he left me his telephone number. So I immediately called to inform him that i was in his country...a hour later I was on a train heading to his place to have dinner. I felt some kind of happiness mixed with love, I was excited...last time I saw him it was  one year ago in Maldives, he was working there on a temporary project, but we spent a lot of time together and he also took part (as second cameraman) at my shooting for the short film "I still believe in paradise" . When I left the island, I didn't think I was going to see him again. It's the happiness from the surprise I got today and for meeting an old friends after years, that keeps me alive. The world is small for me, but...

14/09/07 Granpa's last ride! Yesterday night I remembered that from time to time in my life, out of my pessimism, i still can enjoy some really good laughs. I must have forgotten about how nice it is to laugh till the point in which I am almost crying, my stomach is contracting so hardly that I could barely stand and I am forced to bend down or at times even to lay on the ground. Moreover it seems that I cannot really control it, I am suddenly taken by those laughing attacks when I less expect it, even after several minutes from the cause or after days and week with laugh-flashbacks. It didn't happen many times in my life, but the few I can recall, it was always when me and another buddy were taking joke of the behavior in someone else: not really about that person itself but by putting them in the middle of a certain comic and kind of imaginary situation. Anyway yesterday was the turn of Jessica's uncle, an old, blind and deaf man who was driving his car like crazy, while taking the family out for dinner. The spark that lightened up the fun was that judging by his behavior, it could have been a sort of his "last drive"... Anyway the motive is not so important, but the good thing is that made us laugh, and after that, I felt really good, really really good. The last time I felt that way it was probably in Canary Islands (2003). By the way what's the moral of the story? Being too serious, dramatic and thoughtful sometimes takes away the joy of living with stupid little things...

07/09/07  Jessica's first video editing experiment: Today Jessica released her first video editing test with the use of windows movie maker software. The subject is our memorable time in Italy during the month of July 07. It's a pictures slideshow with some special effects and a cool soundtrack. It's a very simple but as well very meaningful for us. Thanks a lot for your nice edit full of love and congratulations for completing your first  project! Click HERE with right button and select "save target as" to download it or check my videos page.

02/09/07  In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: A lot of happenings recently, after surviving 48 hours of stopovers, I finally reached KL where I will be staying for the next 3 months. I am temporary without internet as Jessica's house is under renovation so you wont be hearing from me very often. In my very short term plans there is a will for shooting a commercial against the mobile telephony, so stay in touch for further news.

Videos:

Title:  My Malaysia 2007
Download:  Click HERE with right button and select "save target as..."
Year and location: 2007, Malaysia  
Description:  Mixed clips of Malaysia. You will watch a show of real life in the streets of KL, foodcourts, nightmarkets, the Petronas twin towers and much more. A quick view of Putrajaia. And of course few clips of some of my local friends.
Size:  135 Mb Format: .wmv high quality Language: English
Credits: Video editing: Alan Rooster ; Cast : Jessica, Lazy-mei mei, Amy, Soundtrack: Lin You Zhong and Ning Baizura - Melody

Title:  Pulau Penang
Download:  Click HERE with right button and select "save target as..."
Year and location: 2007, Penang Island , Malaysia
Description:  Mixed clips of Penang, Krish a friend of mine is showing me around.
Size:  60 Mb Format: .wmv high quality
Language: English
Credits: Video editing: Alan Rooster ; Cast : Me, Krish, ChinChin, Alex, Ong, Jasmine ; Special thanks to all the CS i met in Penang. Soundtrack: 王力宏-你是我心内的一首歌 (Lee Hom) 

Photogallery:

<< Left: Jessica, Me and Amy, at the Batu Caves, a huge cave near KL where you can observe a giant statue of an Indian divinity, you can walk those staircase that you can see behind us, for a total of 300 steps which are numbered! The place is full of monkeys that are begging food from the people. Also enjoy the stupidity of the tourists feeding the monkeys with junk food. 


>> Right: Me with the twin towers (Petronas), the second highest building in the world and the tallest twin-towers building in the world. During night and sunsets you can take very nice shots thanks to the lighting set up of the towers.

<< Left:  DSC00001.JPG, Guess what, the first picture of my new Sony T20 digital camera! Me, Jessica and the sales assistant at the Sony stand during the photography fair in KL.

>> Right:  Me, little vampire (Jessica's sister), and Jessica at the bowling in Genting Highlands.

<< Left  Jessica's mother cutting my hair, Chinese-Malay style! But I look the same.


>> Right, On the LRT metro, around 5 o'clock, the very nice colored and blooming burkas blending with the malay dresses.

<< Left, Me, mama, papa , wife of uncle Tom, papa's brother the speaking machine



>> Right, Jumping at Independence square

 << Left :  The highest flagpole in the world !!! Jalur Gemilang


>> Right: It's one of those immense shopping malls you can find in the city, numerous floors , lights, modern design and a freezing temperatures.

<< Left: Me and Jessica, in the background the prime minister office. In Putrajaya city.

>> Right: In Putrajaya city. One of the biggest, if not the biggest, mosque in Malaysia. The pink dress it's something you must wear to cover your impure body when you are visiting a muslim mosque. The good thing is that pictures are allowed.

<< Left:  Chinese Lantern festival with some guys of Ampang area. Pandah Indah park

>> Right: Me on the skybridge, located at the 42nd floor of the twin towers, where you can enjoy a nice view of the city.

Photogallery Penang:

<< Left,  a kind of malay tuc tuc i guess, with an old man resting after an exhausting pedaling life...


>> Right,  at an old chinese malay mansion,

<< Left,  A costal area of Penang, nearby the biggest hotel


>> Right,  The creepy cemetery of Georgetown where the founder  of Penang, the british captain Francis Light, is buried.  

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