Bangkok

On the way back to Oslo we had 18 hours transit in Bangkok (yes, I know Islamabad is about midways from Bangkok to Oslo...). Spending two nights in a row on economy class is not my favourite thing, but this time I had nothing against it, since I was going to meet Jess in Bangkok! Jess works in Sri Lanka, and just happened to be a few days in Bangkok to visit Amreen from Dhaka, who works as an English teacher.

Amreen worked, and Jess and I spent the day taking the "river bus", getting a foot massage, practising our Bangla with a Bangladeshi tailor, and most of all, catching up. I have missed Jess a lot, and it was so good to be with her again. Such a great coincidence that we both happened to be in Bangkok, of all places, on this particular day.

Jess left a few hours before we did, and after seeing her off to the airport bus, Amreen, Per and I had dinner at "Cabbages and Condoms", a restauran chain run by Thailand's Population and Community Development Association to fund their work for condom use. Good food and a playfully kitchy ambience made this a place I would like to go back to. They hand out condoms with the bill, and mine slid in between the pages of my passport, where I luckily found it just before giving the passport over to the immigration officer...

http://www.gonomad.com/features/0011/snedaker_cabbages.html

Islamabad - 2

We met these guys in a dvd&kitch store. They bought a movie and gave it to us. This is just one of many encounters in Pakistan with random people who go out of their way to be kind or helpful.

A few hours earlier I had the greatest pedicure experience ever. Not because of the pedicure itself, but because of the workers in the parlour. It was three girls working there, and I was the only customer. One of them spoke some English, and we started talking about Valentines Day, men, marriage and the like. Perhaps that was what inspired one of them to put on some Bollywood music, and soon after we were dancing. Totally unexpected, and because of that, totally great.

Islamabad - 1

After a week in Kuala Lumpur, we went to Islamabad. This time we only stayed three days (and frankly, that's enough time in Islamabad). On the day of our flight we hired a car to go to Murrey, a place up in the hills close to the city, where the British used to go to escape from the heat in the hot season. This time of the year it is quite chilly in Islamabad, and as we came closer to Murrey, it started to snow.

The snow caused traffic chaos, so we turned and went to see Faisal mosque instead, which reminds me of Saruman's place in "Lord of the Rings". As we admired the mosque, a group of young guys approached me and asked if they could take their photos with me. Before I knew it, I became a of prop for their posing. They rested their elbows on my shoulder, tried my other shoulder, took jackets on and off, shot photos alone with me or with a friend, and after quite a while they were confident that they had gotten a least a few good shots...to do what with? Show their mothers? Post in a matrimonial ad? Anyway, they had a good time, I had a good time, and it was all videorecorded from a distance by my colleague Per...

Penang

Weekend trip to Penang. Colonial hotel, pool, GT...

Chinese architecture...

coming an hour too early to the bus terminal, having a tea at a roadside café before going back to Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia - truly unreal

Arriving Malaysia, I had the tune from the Malaysian tourism tv-commercial in my head: “Malaysia – truly Asia” . I only spent a week in Malaysia, two days in Penang and the rest in Kuala Lumpur, so my impressions are of course limited, but what I have seen of Malaysia is far removed from the Asia I have experienced. With a big exception for the traffic jams, that is. Once the jam looses up, on the other hand, the driving is really controlled and smooth. At least in comparison with all the other places in Asia I have been.

Another reason that “truly Asia” is not a fitting description, is that it is so clean. No rubbish in the streets, and neatly shaped bushes along the road for miles. But the main aspect of the Malaysian unreality is the lack of beggars. I did not come across a single beggar, not even in the bus terminal. And after looking hard, I only saw one person sleeping in public space. Where are the potential beggars? In jail? Kept away from the streets by the police and dropped far away from the city border? Or are all Malaysians simply content?

Zeeshan's birthday

On Saturday Zeeshan's twelwth birthday was celebrated at Megazone with lazer-war and pizza afterwards. We were sneeking around in a dark labyrinth with loud techno in our ears, shooting our enemy, the green team, with lazer. The adult team won, so I could leave the place with my honour intact. The birthday kid is the one with his hands in the air.