monkeycrap's Diaryland Diary
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cameron highlands 15/06/07-17/06/07: random ramblings
The question then, is, why do I keep going back to the place? Why do I, when supposed to be filled with wanderlust, the want to explore new and different places, still make the almost annual pilgrimage to this rather ordinary, oft-overlooked salad bowl of Malaysia?
Maybe because it's the place that first invoked wanderlust in me. Maybe I'm attracted to things, people, that are often given the quick glance and disregarded, when they actually have more, much more than that, even if they don't realise it themselves because, well, they're just being themselves. Maybe it's a safehaven, a place where the feeling evoked from the addiction to familiarity gets remodeled into this inspiriting high. Maybe it's just cause it's my mum's favourite place, and it'd do me good to spend some family time over there. Maybe over there I can have many cultural learnings for make benefit of glorious nations of me, myself and I.
Maybe it's just the beauty of the place. Brash, simple, direct, what you see is what you get.
You take a look at the uncomplicated, carefree life of the people there and you wonder, just actually how much of your discontentment is self-inflicted? Not that they're untroubled, not that discontentment's a bad thing(you've to get pissed to get progressed I guess), not that it's fair to compare us and them because we're talking about different qualities of pleasure here, (but then again, who are we to determine that yeah).
Not too sure about different qualities of pleasure, but I'm pretty much sure about the different quality of drinking water.
No prizes for guessing which one's bottled and which one's boiled.
I took a solitary walk when everyone else was taking an afternoon slumber in the hotel and ended up in this small, battered prata shop. No signboard, no name, just a structure made up of 4 (very)off-white pasty walls as kosong as the pratas themselves. The logistical algorithm is simple. Burly Indian man flips pratas on griddle non-stop. Scrawny wife gazes at displayed pots of curry and stew. Cooks more if it's running out. Got myself a glass of teh tarik for 40 cents...
which might've tasted better, or worse I wouldn't know, if there weren't armies of houseflies plundering the glass's rim at every given second. Don't believe me?
In loving memory of the brave who died in battle.
The newspaper headline that day reeked of more violence in other parts of the world. I wondered how much longer this area would stand the test of time, how long before it succumbed to total destruction caused by development. And then I saw this while turning the corner.
Like that confirm gone la. I'm not, like, anti-globalization or anything, but I just feel that chicken, in these parts of the world, should continue to remain cooked in fresh red chilli paste, topped with housefly eggs and the occasional strand of H5N1 virus. Not fast fried or steam marinated or super sized.
It was in a souvenir shop that I discovered a great way to pull my CAP score up next semester. Imagine the distraction I'll cause to fellow students during the exams when, after the invigilator says 'start writing', I start writing. With this.
Heard an awful noise, some sort of weird clattering almost, emanating from the back of some building. Upon futher scrutiny, realised it was the sound of singing, if you can call it that. Thought it was a kbox session gone wrong, or you know, when you've hit the 3rd hour mark in kbox sessions and start singing rubbishy, horrible songs, and when you start to get really really out of tune, whether on purpose or not. Went to check it out, and saw this banner.
And yes, there was a substantial audience, and yes, there were 3 judges sitting in front of the stage. Simon Kow, Paula Abdullah and Randy Jack son of Velasubramaniam.
The food was good, needless to say.
Really can't say the same for town planning and architecture though. What would a good town planner or architect want to be placed right smack in the centre of town? Something iconic, something that symbolises what the town means to the people, something of aesthetic value right? Thus, we have the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum, the Leaning Tower, the Taj Mahal. So why, why would they erect this neon glowing elongated upright standing cactus structure, which, honestly, looks offensively vulgar?
Yeah, I can hear y'all saying that I'm being sick, impure thoughts blah blah. I can assure you, I didn't mean to think this way initially, but it kinda gets a little hard to do so when the structure has this for accompaniment.
Not that the advertising campaigns there helped to clear up any misconceptions.
It's actually for an ice cream company.
We took a bus down from Cameron to KL, where we had to hop on another bus to get back to Singapore. My new seat's armrest came with a bonus attachment, courtesy of the sleeping lady seated in the seat behind me.
then at least have some decency to keep them where they belong. In the Asian Civilizations Museum. My sis tried to phase out the grossness by blocking the view of those horrific mountain ranges with her bag. My mum suggested setting it ablaze with a lighter. I couldn't stop laughing.
On a more sombre final note, heard from a taxi driver that the 2 tour guides that first introduced me to the sights and sounds of this interesting place when I was much younger and hence got me lovin it so much have both passed on into the great big strawberry farm in the sky. Both were young, and were supposed to enjoy many more years of tea drinking, vegetable eating and rose smelling. I guess that's the way it is, the unpredictability of life, in the most predictable of places.
10:32 a.m. - 2007-06-19
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