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The rarely updated blog of Joel Dixon
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 2010
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 06/04/2010 21:20:06Updated by Joel Dixon at 07/04/2010 22:45:10 - Added photos from Jules
This past Easter weekend, a friend and I decided to spend the weekend in Malaysia. This is our story:
The Setup
Last Wednesday I was at farewell drinks for a co-worker, I was chatting with other work mates about living life and being spontaneous. How I should stop waiting around for things to happen (like when I can afford to travel overseas, etc) and live life for the now.
The next day, we were having a few drinks at my manager's apartment (notice a pattern?) and I was still thinking on that theme. I had two more items to go on my 10 things list, and decided to knock one of them off. I then pronounced "I'm going to Singapore this weekend!"
Everyone was positive towards my idea (everyone was drinking), and I eventually realised that I'd prefer to go to Tokyo. Julian decided that he liked the way I was thinking - and said he'd join me. So I left the night early to go home and plan an impromptu Japanese holiday. As pretty much all flights to Tokyo were booked out for the next two days - we settled on Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia as our destination. We also decided that staying in a backpackers hostel would be a different experience, so we booked a few rooms at the Green Hut Lodge.
Everything was booked on the Thursday night - and we left for the airport Friday night to get into KL around 6am Saturday morning.
Arrival
When we first arrived at the hostel, we questioned our accommodation choice immediately. We went for a quick walk and saw the penthouse suite at the hotel across the street was only around $140 a night. While on our walk we also saw a heap of 7-11s, and heard a heap of car horns. I guess we looked weak-legged - as 75% of the taxis passing us would honk their horn and yell "Taxi!" out of their windows at us. We'd heard enough about dodgy taxis to remain pedestrians.
When we got back from our walk we decided to stick with our hostel for the first night - and upgrade the next night if needed.
I really don't understand the colour scheme for this room - maybe it's better I don't
The room could only just fit the bed, but the air-con worked and it was pretty clean
City Walk
We decided to go for a walk around the city, and went on a treasure hunt in a local shopping pavilion (just try to find some chalk in a very high-class shopping centre). Outside the pavilion there was a guy with a "Free Hugs" sign that I couldn't resist, but I was surprised to hear that I was the first person that took him up on his offer that day.
We had a look at the Petronas Twin Towers, checked out the monorail, drank some American-style root beer floats and ate a genuine KL lunch.
He wasn't that bad a hugger to be honest
The Milo nuggets are what I wish our Milo Bars resembled!
Our Malaysian lunch, very nice
Mono-d'oh!
The Petronas Towers. Tickets are free - and you can go at any time you'd like - but you need to line up from 7am to get the ticket.
Not Malaysian at all - but I love my root beer floats!
Almost more than motorcycles, Malaysians love their high-priced watches
Batu Caves
Although not too enthused - we decided to check out the local Batu Caves, mainly drawn to the promise of monkeys. We had great difficulty finding the bus to get us there (buses in KL don't actually run to a published schedule), then the bus took ages to reach the destination.
But when we finally arrived - I was so happy we decided to make the trip - the place was beautiful. Firstly, it was hard to not notice the giant statue of Murugan - but it was the cheeky monkeys that I enjoyed the most. They were running around everywhere, stealing food off tourists and climbing everything. The inside of the cave was pretty impressive as well, although a bit of a shame that people had scratched their names in the walls.
Even the giant statue of Murugan would struggle climbing all of these steps
The inside of the caves, really pretty!
"Milo the Monkey" stole my empty drink container
... and immediately dropped it when he discovered it was empty
Monkey on a post
Dinner
Dinner on day 1 was a huge highlight for me. We decided to eat at one of the street restaurants, and it was amazingly good food for the price we paid. It was also a thrill to see half the road blocked by the tables and chairs of the restaurants.
It must have taken a long time to drive down this street when dinner was on
Jaz, a local beer, was cheap and went down smooth
Sambal rice and chicken ginger, onion - very nice - and no annoying side effects
Night Time
We went for a few beverages at one of the local tourist bars. It started a little slow, but around 11pm or so the bars really started filling up. We weren't taking advantage of the cheap Malaysian beer, drinking a "fresh" German brew - Starkers. Because it needs to be drunken within 7 days there's no preservatives and apparently reduces the chance of hangovers (apparently).
The beer comes in it's own keg and is tapped onsite. Pretty classy, and the fact that the beer is served by a Japanese waitress in a German uniform classed it up some more
The night was pretty hilarious but we didn't get ourselves into any trouble, which I was happy with. Getting home around 3 am (having about 2 hours sleep in the past two days) we both slept for about 12 hours straight.
Day 2
Day 2 was pretty tame by Day 1 standards. We still had some fun, visited the KLTower, had an incredible meal at an Indian restaurant and had some drinks sitting outside the hostel for the end of the night. We decided that the hostel was actually pretty good as part of our whole experience. Cheap and clean was the motto - and they were true to their word.
Summary
Malay words learnt: 1 (restoran - pretty obvious)
Souvenirs bought: 0
Fun had: plenty
More Photos
Here are some more photos from Julian's camera
My free hug.
Getting towards the end of a long day
The German-attired girl serving us booze
We said hello to some random Belarus chick
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Kuala Lumpur
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Yeah ... Baby!
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 03/03/2010 20:04:48The green light has been given for my favourite book series to be turned into a HBO drama. Considering how much I loved Rome, The Wire, Flight of the Conchords, etc, etc - I'm excited!
Here's the announcement from the author.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Books
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
xkcd Parody
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 09/02/2010 23:09:41Was stopping the mysql service on my laptop when I had an idea for a xkcd-style comic:
Alt Text: sc interrogate ex_girlfriends offers no hints either
Super geeky, crudely copied from a previous xkcd strip, and not very amusing - but it made me chuckle. A little bit.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Web
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Donate money for my next stupid run
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 04/02/2010 23:22:53Updated by Joel Dixon at 13/12/2011 17:47:40
I decided to enter the 2010 Run for the Kids 14.6 km event, and will probably stuff up my knees again. But I'm racing a friend from work - so it shouldn't be all bad.
How about you donate some money to sponsor me? Or don't.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Running
Feta, Sushi and Underwear
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 04/02/2010 23:18:24That's right - I knocked off items 2, 3 and 9 from my 10 things for 2010 list.
Feta and Sushi have been eaten (not as bad as I remember them), and I feel I'm now ambi-jock-drous.
That's 5 items out of the 10 down, half-way there. But it also means I'm running out of the easy wins (or low-hanging fruit as managers like to say).
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: 10 in '10
Friday, January 15, 2010
Pimpy McHat Attack
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 15/01/2010 00:41:41I'm flying through my 10 things for '10 list, wearing a hat at number 8 has now been crossed off.
As part of my birthday outing, Bell and I went shopping for some clothes for me. Firstly - it's brilliant to have jeans that don't require a belt to prevent panty flashing. I also made sure we added a hat to the shopping trolley, and I'm now the proud owner of a pinstripe fedora.
Proud owner might be too much. Maybe a resigned owner
To be honest - it's clearly not something I would normally wear - but I guess that's the point of my list. I got a bit of crap for wearing it - but I actually didn't mind the look of it, especially when I have it at the rakish angle that Bell taught me.
So that's two down, only eight items to go. Too easy!
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: 10 in '10
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Chai did it!
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 14/01/2010 21:28:03Well - number 1 has been successfully crossed off from my 10 things list.
I really loved the Chai Latte - but don't think I'd have it often with all that sugar and milk. When I tried a normal Chai (sans milk and sugar) yesterday I still really enjoyed it. I love cinnamon - so I don't know why I never gave Chai a try before.
I've also started some of my longer term items such as getting more sun and boxers or briefs - but I'm not ready to cross them off yet.
Wonder how long I can maintain this pace
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: 10 in '10
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
10 things for 2010
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 12/01/2010 22:54:10At work I'm often accused of resembling a grumpy old man. It's partly because I don't like many other people (they generally shit me), and partly because I'm very resistant to change. An example of this is that I eat the same meal every night, because it's easier to prepare one large batch each Saturday. (I personally believe I'm just sacrificing variety to gain ease, price and healthiness).
So to expand my horizons and teach me that change is not always bad, a list of 10 new things were drawn up for me (and neatly laminated). The intention is that I will slowly try these 10 new things in 2010. Here's the list:
Things To Eat
1. Chai Tea / Chai Latte
Chai - apparently Chai means tea, so Chai Tea is like saying PIN Number or My Cute Ragdolls
I don't drink tea or coffee, so we thought Chai would be a good start. I've actually almost achieved this one already, as in the afternoon I tried a Chai Latte. It may have something to do with the copious amount of sugar - but I really liked it, I'm looking forward to a proper Chai.
2. Sushi
Knitted sushi
I'm not too happy about this one. I've been told I don't have to try the crazy raw-fish sushi, but my main problem with sushi is the seaweed. I really dislike the taste. But who knows, my taste buds may have changed in the last few years so I'll give it a go.
3. Feta
Is feta better? No whey!
I'd really like to enjoy this new thing - as I absolutely love cheese. Cheese is right up there with onion as my co-favourite edible ingredients. I like pretty much every type of cheese I've tried. Some I like more than others - but I've often said that cheese will improve most meals.
My problem with feta is illustrated by the above image. At the deli, the feta is sitting in water. Apparently the water is actually whey, but I just don't enjoy seeing my cheese sitting in a water-like liquid. I think after I try it - I'll quite like feta.
4. Vegetarian
Thankfully it's only for a week
Another one I don't really agree with - I'm going to be vegetarian for most of one week (Monday breakfast to Friday breakfast inclusive). It's supposed to show me that meals aren't necessarily bad without meat - but I assume it will prove the opposite. I predict a lot of canned baked beans during that week.
Things To Do
5. Get more sun
Sunbathing Turtles
It is no secret that I am a very pasty-white individual, most of my family is. Our mixed-basketball team's name of The Clag-Eaters is a reference to this. So one of the list's contributers thought that 10 minutes of sun, three days a week for a month would be a benefit for me.
I predict I'll fry within a week.
6. Take Drum Lessons
I kinda snuck this one in - as I've been wanting to learn the drums for a long time now. Once I sell the house, one of my first purchases will be a drum kit and drum lessons. Surely my countless hours at Rock Band has made me a rock god by now!
7. Overseas Trip
U R Gay [tee hee]
Another one I'm not too upset about - who doesn't want to go on a holiday. The idea behind this one is that I'm not allowed to go to the US or Canada - I need to step outside of my comfort zone. I would like to visit some Asian countries - or maybe Europe. Another one that needs to wait until the house is sold.
Things To Wear
8. Hat
The awesomeness is clear
I've lost around 15 to 20 kilos over the last 6 months - so most of my clothes don't fit me anymore. I've been planning on doing a big shop soon to re-stock my wardrobe, and maybe trying to buy clothes that the young people might call trendy. Part of this effort would include buying a hat that is not a baseball cap. But probably not a knitted mustache hat either.
9. Boxers or Briefs?
Nice!
My little sister bought me a crazy pair of novelty Domo Kun jocks, all brown with Domo's unmistakable mouth in the crotchal region. I thought they were hilarious, but I've worn boxers exclusively since I started high school.
Boxers or Briefs is my attempt to become ambi-jock-drous (i.e. wear either boxers or briefs, as the situation requires).
10. Sandals
Eww!
Thongs disgust me. I do not own a single pair of thongs, and I do not remember ever owning thongs. I may have had some when I was too young to know better - but I hope not. I think it's mainly the rubber thing going between the toes that offends me. And as far as footwear goes, thongs are quite dangerous.
When it gets hot - I still wear my normal shoes which can get uncomfortable. I would not budge on the thong issue - but I did agree to give sandals a try.
Hopefully I'll achieve all 10 new things in 2010 - there shouldn't be too much holding me back. It would be a good result if I found a few extra things I could enjoy in life - but I'm not holding my breath!
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: 10 in '10
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Party like it's 1999
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 09/01/2010 20:54:37With the most recent New Year ticking us over to the year 2010 - it made me think back to the millennium (hard to believe it was 10 years ago).
This made me remember a pair of Coke bottle I've kept since the year 2000 - pictured below:
Party into 2000 - and beyond!
I had a quick look on the Intertubes and found a site that was selling these bottles for $50 each, although the site is currently "Account Suspended" if you don't view it through the wayback machine.
Thinking I'm sitting on a gold mine here I took some photos and went straight to eBay. During the sale listing process it shows you some similar items, which is where I saw the exact same bottle as mine being sold a few months earlier. For $18.95.
Thinking about it now - I wonder if it's worth going through the hassle of listing, selling, packing and sending of the bottles even if I was going to score $50.
Maybe I'll just wait until 2020.
That's genuine 2000-vintage Coca Cola in that bottle!
# Posted in the General section
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Literal Music Videos
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 02/01/2010 18:29:43Updated by Joel Dixon at 02/01/2010 18:33:39
The Internet doth provide. Literal Music Videos are classic video clips re-dubbed with more literal lyrics. Here are my favourite examples:
Take on Me
Take on Me: Literal Video Version - watch more funny videos
Total Eclipse of the Heart
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Funny, Web
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