Thai English ;-)

For me a DEEP SAUSAGE for breakfast please

I know it’s not nice to make fun of people – but sometimes the things I came across just made me smile. As English is the lingua franca of tourism, it’s interesting to see how different countries come to grips with it.

There’s something like Thai English, which in a way is a lot more logical than the ‘real’ English, because it is written more phonetically. It would be indeed easier if we would just would write what we say, instead of concocting some incoherent set of letters for words.

• Some great examples of Thai English in this picture post (below):

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A bit of Asia travel stats

What does it take to travel Asia?

Did you ever wonder how much traveling in Asia costs? How many people you meet? What it takes to get there? How many borders you cross? What your trip is composed off?

For me it was: 126 days, 40000 km, 8 countries, 20 flights, 34kg luggage, 170 blogpages, 8 SIM cards, 8752 pictures, 10 currencies, 3x diarrhea, 6 books, 16 languages, 8500€,…

(Gay) Trouble in (Malaysia) Town

The many flavours of Malaysia

Malaysia prides itself in being a great multi-cultural society in which different communities live peacefully together – and when walking around in KL the mix of different languages, religions and cultures seems to be harmonious. But when talking to different people, not everybody is as tolerant as the government might want to see it.

A Malay friend took me to a curry house, and when I asked if it would be Thai style curry (green, red, in claypot) or Indian style (the spicy stew you scoop on your rice), he was almost offended and said it was Malay curry (so that was my first faux pas). So there are some ethnic sensitivities in Malaysia (sounds like Belgium – hehe). The Chinese don’t like the Malays with their mosques and conservative attitude. And a Malay friend of mine said that the Chinese have poor hygiene and smell. So there seem to be quite some stereotypes around – and at the same time it gave me a chance to explore my own prejudice.

Sgprns luv abbrvtns & nrs

Euh, so where does this lead me?

I told you that Singapore is full of signs, whether it is traffic signs or public convenience signs. But what’s worse is that most of the signs (and other written material) contain abbreviations, so that to the outsider the signs are virtually un-understandable…

But the Singaporeans don’t only have a weak spot for letters, they are also crazy for numbers. Everything is numbered: exits of metro stations, the directions of the metro lines, the lanes on the highway, even the urinoirs in the station…

• Some examples below

KL shopping paradise

How many square miles of mall one needs???

So when I asked people, what they would do on their free day in KL (Kuala Lumpur) many of them said they would spend some time in the mall. Hmm – very consumerist I thought, but then they explained that it would be too hot to be outside – so that explains the mall-phenomena in KL I suppose. An outside shopping street would simply not attract any visitors when the sun’s out. And THE shopping streets that are outside (e.g. Chinatown’s Petaling Street or the Little India Bazar) they are covered with roofs or shades to keep the sun out, and every second shop keeper has a fan running in his stall.

Local food, fancy style in the malls: blue rice

So I gave it a try and headed for the newest of the newest malls in Bukit Bintang shopping Mekka. I can’t even remember its name, because taking pictures is forbidden (at least where the guard sees it – so I only took some snaps when the guard wasn’t looking).

Eating is also an easy affair, with on every corner of the street hawker stalls with local specialities – and when I say local I mean: Indian, Malay, Chinese, Arab and some street burgers…

Getting lost in JogJa

Me and my Jogja T-shirt

I had little time to walk around the city of Jogjakarta on my own because I was escorted by the Jogja friends of my Bali friend. They took care of all my needs (well, not exaggerating either): they drove me around to see the sights, they arranged a hotel for me,  bargained to get me a better price on stuff, and took me out to eat local specialities.

But one of the friends had an emergency and had to return to his village, and the other guy played mini-football. So there I was, all alone in a big new city, getting lost and enjoying it. Sometimes that’s the best way of discovering a city.