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I went to the Hindu festival called Thaipusam a few weeks ago. Go here to see the pictures, along with a few other pics from around KL.

My friend Tony was over here from New York last week. He and I went to Bangkok last weekend and had a great time. We did a lounge crawl of some of the swanky hotels along the river . . The Shangri-la, the Peninsula and the Mandarin. The Peninsula was my favorite -- it was so lush and exotic. The next morning we took a boat tour of the river and canal and then toured the Golden Palace, which had the famous emerald Buddha. Then we went to What Pho, a very old temple with an enormous reclining Buddha. It was really hot, so afterward we trotted back to the hotel and lounged at the pool. Sunday morning we got up and went to the Chatuchak Market, which is this enormous indoor and outdoor market with booths that sell just about anything you can think of. The place had to be a mile long and a half mile wide -- at least. Then back to KL.

Here are the pictures!

I finished reading The Final Solution. That Michael Chabon is a good "adventure" writer. I loved Kavalier and Clay a few years back. I just started on The Sportwriter by Richard Ford.

So for the past few weeks, the Hilton has been hyping a Queen "tribute" band with big posters in the lobby, signs on the elevator and clips of the concert on the in-house TV channel. I've always been a big Queen fan (stop snickering . . . right now), since I was a teenager in Ohio and I first heard "Rhapsody in Blue." I have to admit, every time I saw one of those ads, the adrenyln pumped in me just a bit and I was curious. Normally I'm a big cynic . . the first to roll my eyes at such schlock . .but this was a "Queen" tribute. That made it different. :-)

Anyway, the day of the concert, Gary, Tony and I were in the lounge having dinner and I admitted to them that I kind of wanted to go check it out, but didn't buy a ticket in time. Oh well, too late now. I get back to my room about 9 p.m. and Gary calls and tells me he scored 2 comp tickets and asks if I want to go down to the ballroom and check it out. "Duh!" Don't need to ask me twice.

I already had a few drinks in me from dinner and as soon as we got there we started with beer on tap. It wasn't long before all my inhibitions came down. I was dancing and swaying and clapping like a school girl. After a while we shared a cigar . . . and if that wasn't the icing on the cake. I was flying high. Later, when I was telling Derek about all this, he said, "You totally went all 'Will Farrell' on Gary, didn't you?" and I have to admit that is exactly what I did. I was completely Will Farrell in "Old School." Woooo wooo . . . Par-tay!

I had a great time. The band was a really good copy -- I could have had the same experience with the real thing and come away totally satisfied that I went to a great Queen concert. . . .which I never had the chance to do for real. So, what the hey . .
Anyway, go here to see the pictues.

Here are the pictures from Christmas in Tulsa

Just got back from Tulsa, where I went to spend Christmas with Derek and his family. It was fun but schlepping back and forth between Malaysia and the United States is beginning to be a drag. The trip from Tulsa to KL took me 40 hours, door to door. I did get back in time to see a great New Year's Eve fireworks display -- probably the best fireworks I've ever seen. The city must have spent a fortune because the fireworks were so extensive, elaborate and sophisticated. The best part was, they were so close to the hotel, I felt like I could have reached out my window and touched them -- they were that close.

My friend Tony is coming over from the States in a few weeks. We're going to go to Bangkok. I have to start researching now to pick the places I want to see. I expect it will be a little like going to Rome, except that instead of seeing one church after another, it will be one temple after another.

I really want to learn more about Eastern religions. I realized how little I knew about Islam, Hindu, Buddhism, Taoism, Zen, Confucianism, Shinto, etc. so I went to Wikipedia and read up on all of them. It is all so vast, each belief system with its own tenets, histories, and nuances. I can appreciate just how vast the study of theology is. It would take years to get an understanding of any depth. (I guess that's a whopping understatement, considering that most people's entire lives are spent on just such a quest. I meant more an intellectual understanding than a spiritual one.) I still don't really get it -- many of them, with the exception of Islam, seem more cultural and philospohical, rather than based on set theological tenets.

By the way, I'm noticing more and more women in Burkas here in KL. The sight is still a little startling, especially in places like the mall or around the pool. If the intent is to make themselves "invisible," or at least "non-descript," for me it has the opposite effect. My eyes are drawn to women in Burkas and I find it hard not to stare. I know that my own cultural biases and preconceptions are making me feel that way, but still . . . I think even an objective observer would find the look a little spooky.

I finished The Plot Against America. Highly recommend it. I also finished Middlesex and The Constant Gardner. I have just been a reading demon!

Go here to see the pictures I took when I was in Singapore.

Singapore. My new favorite city. Perhaps I just had low expectations, but I had a great trip this weekend. Everyone told me Singapore was just like a typical "western" city. Well, western cities wish! Ok, first off I guess it is kind of a police state, what with the canings and all (in fact, I'm even a little nervous being a tad critical of the place here!) And my libertarian leanings were severely tested by the compulsory use of seat-belts in the back seats of cabs. They make a cute t-shirt for tourists: "Singapore. A Fine City. A Fine for jaywalking. A Fine for chewing gum. A Fine for littering." You get the idea. But still -- what a wonderful town! Yes, the city is clean, but not sterile. It is really beautiful -- they invest a lot in keeping it very green and lush with orchids and palms and other foliage. Here the jungle isn't concrete. And there was so much street-theater going on everywhere -- from kids doing some type of Asian line dancing, to a contest to see how many people could squeeze into a car (a lot), to a percussion performance ala "Stomp."

I went to the Raffles Hotel to soak in a bit of late 19th century British colonialism and trace the steps of famous residents like Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham and Jack London. This is where the "Singapore Sling" was born -- in the "Long Bar" -- and I had to try one -- because I'm a tourist and that's what we do. Now those who have been drinking with me before know I'm not averse to the sweet and fruity drink, but oh my gosh. This drink makes Hawaiian Punch seem bitter. Gin, Brandy, Benedictine, Grenedine, Cointreau (whatever that is), pineapple juice and lime juice. It's one of those drinks where you don't taste the alcohol but you get bombed anyway.
So once I was sufficiently looped, I went on to a night safari at the Singapore zoo. Smart, right? Get drunk and go pet the big cats. They do it really well -- it's probably the closest I'll ever get to a real jungle safari. They must use some sort of invisible fencing because except for a few tigers, leopards and other big cats, all the animals are roaming freely. In most cases, the only thing separating you from the animals is a very shallow moat (the kitties are behind glass). Elephants, hippos, rhinos, boar, lions, tigers, . . you name it. They even had native dancers and fire eaters to recreate the jungle experience! I know, it sounds hokey, but I assure you it was not. It was a really spectacular show!

From there I went to the Boom Boom Room. I couldn't resist a name like that. That, and the drag performers. I may be queer but I'm an Old School queer. The next morning, after shaking off my morning-after headache, I headed out to see the city and to take pictures. I went down to the harbor to look at the boats and from there wandered around the old colonial neighborhood. As I did so, I heard these loud shouts -- like a crowd cheering. Sure enough, as I went to investigate, I found that the annual dragon boat races were taking place along the Singapore River, in a cool part of town called the Boat Quay. Apparently, all these schools, businesses and even local government agencies have rowing teams that compete every year. The team captain sits at the front of the boat (a dragon head at one end and a tail at the other) beating a drum to synchronize the rowers. I stopped at an English pub with tables along the river to sit, eat lunch and watch the races. My first real "western" meal (other than breakfast) since I got here (do Ritz crackers count?). Sunday night, I headed to the bus station and then settled in for the long ride back to Kuala Lumpur. Traffic was heavy and it took almost 7 hours to get back. ugh!

I started a new book -- The Plot Against America, by Philip Roth. (I finished the Kite Runner a few days ago). I don't want to turn this into a politically-themed blog (lord knows, one per family seems enough) but it's startling how the plot and characters in the book mirror current events and certain world leaders. Chilling actually. Reading it, I shiver.

I moved to a new hotel. I was in a Meridien but decided to move to the Hilton. Even though the Hilton is in the same complex I was in before -- the 2 hotels share the same grounds, pools and spa -- it is much more conducive for a longer-term stay. For one, there are many more business people, especially expats, who are staying here. In fact, I made a new friend, Gary, who's another IBMer here on a short-term assignment. He's lives in Hong Kong but is originally from the U.K. He convinced me that the Hilton was a better deal -- and he was right. My room here is really cool. 35" flat screen TV, floating platform bed, gray slate floors and a huge white marble bath. The separate shower has one of those "rain"-type shower heads where the water comes out of the ceiling. And the housekeeper comes in every night and lights an aromatherapy candle that makes the room smell nice. I am going to be so spoiled by the time I leave. Who will light my aromatherapy candle when I am back at home? And who will leave me dates and chocolates on my pillow?

I had the hotel do my laundry. It cost me $550 ringgits, which equals about $150 US. I think I'll find a laundromat for next time. I finally got a new SIM card for my mobile phone so I am able to make calls from my cell. Voice-over-Internet is an intriguing idea but it's not really ready for prime time.

I love Madonna's new video, Hung Up. MTV Asia plays it about once an hour. I wonder if it's getting any play in the U.S. since she's not exactly on the cutting edge of the music industry these days. I don't care -- that song rocks.

Randi lent me The Kite Runner before I left and I cracked it open the other day. What a great book! I'm already about 2/3rds through.

I'm thinking of catching a bus and heading down to Singapore this weekend. It's so close -- it seems silly not to see it. But I'm really more excited about the next trip I'm planning. I'm going to take a Friday off and head out to one of the islands off the east coast of Malaysia -- Pualu Tioman. Just white sand, blue sky, palm trees, a hammock, and pina coladas. A Bali Ha'i fantasy!