8 Karma
Wednesday 28 April 2004

From two separate Buddhist sources in the past week I have heard that when someone harms you, they actually do you a favour as they are taking away some of your bad karma. Unfortunately, they take it on themselves—but that's their problem. Still it is nice way of looking at it.

7 New computer
Monday 26 April 2004

Went to Singapore on Saturday. Stayed with my storytelling friend, Kiran, there Saturday night. Was a storytelling get-together on Sunday night but I really wanted to get home and pick up my new computer. So I didn't stay.

Now I have the slow process of setting it up which I find frustrating as I can't do everything at once. Patience!!!

I start with no music. All my music is on the external hard drive which I left locked in a drawer at Tzu Chi, for safety. Probably wont connect it until Wednesday. I gave myself the day off today to collect and set up this computer. I won't take this computer in tomorrow because it is the cooking class night!

I borrowed two CDs from Soon so that I would have some music to listen to. I don't like to work alone without music. I am listening to Ella Fitzgerald and BB King. I thought Soon was only into Reggae but since he discovered I like Blues he has played little else. He has some good stuff but mostly on cassette.

Yesterday an Australian woman turned up here. Her name is Stephanie and she is from Perth. She is about my age. Just been talking to her about music and she has a Walkman with her and a few CDs. So, I have borrowed a couple which gives me some variety.

I bought two more books in Singapore: an advanced manual for Word (didn't realize it was advanced when I bought it but it is OK, I think the basic one might be too basic for me) and one for iLife which is what Apple now call all the extra stuff you get with OS X, including Garage Band which is for recording your own music.

When I went into Singapore I put on the form that I would be staying for two days. They gave me 90. They must like me because when my friend's sister came through (from India) she got only thirty. However when I came back into Malaysia, I asked for 90. He asked where I was going after Malaysia, I said I wasn't sure, maybe Thailand. He said, OK, I will give you three months but after Thailand you must go somewhere else. Can't come straight back to Malaysia. That's OK. Just have to plan accordingly when the time comes.

I am still trying to think what to do with the YHA membership. I have not used it for years. And I do not think I will ever use it in Asia. Possibly I could spend the rest of my life in Asia. Mel said that she never used them. But I do know that in America about the only way to get good cheap accommodation is through the youth hostels. I may never go there. But if I ever do it would be worth the $100.

6 Passport
Thursday 22 April 2004

On Monday I got a message to say that my passport was ready, so Tuesday I took a trip to KL. Everything was OK. I think the girl put it through as urgent because she stuffed up on the photo. She was very nice.

This morning I went to Immigration here in Melaka. They stamped my passport to say I could stay until Saturday 24. So now my plan is to go to Singapore on Saturday and to return here again on Sunday. India is on hold for the moment.

I have also had a message today to say that my new iBook computer is waiting for me. It would be nice to get my hands on it but I will resist that urge and leave it in the shop till Monday. Besides I still have about 100 pages to read in the manual.

5 My first trip to KL
Friday 9 April 2004

On Wednesday all the documents arrived for my passport. I was waiting on a photo to come from Australia. It was taken here in Melaka but I had to send it to someone to sign to say that it was me. Also I needed my Visa card—for two reasons. I needed it as a form of ID and I needed it to get some money to pay for the passport. Anyway, all that arrived on Wednesday. Thursday I paid my first visit to Kuala Lumpur (KL). I have never heard anyone say anything good about the place so I did not have high expectations. Actually, it is OK, as far as big cities go. There is lots of green around and while it has many tall buildings, including the world's tallest, you don't get the feeling of being in a concrete canyon.

But the passport did not go smoothly. I think the instructions for the photos are written for people living in Australia. If you apply for your passport in Australia, most people have no problems because over the years photographers have been educated about the requirements and they get it right. But photographers here do not know about Australian requirements. And the instructions are incomplete. So, I get in there, everything is right, except the photo—the one I had waited to come from Australia. The women there are very nice about it and very apologetic. The Australian woman explains that if she accepts it the system will spit it back out. She says I will have to get some more taken or printed and send it back to Australia. I ask what if I get an enlargement of this one will the signature still be accepted though it is on a different sized one. She says that is OK. The guy who is behind me in the queue tells me there are shops that can do it over in the Twin Towers (the world's two tallest buildings) but they don't open until at least 10 am. That's the way it is here in Malaysia. Nothing much opens before 10. I had got up early and got the six o'clock bus. At this time it was about 9 am.

So, I go over to the Twin Towers and hang around waiting for the shops to open. There are three photo shops there. Two cannot do it in a hurry. The Australian High Commission passport section is only open until midday. The third one does not open until 10.30. They are there. They talk to me. But they will not accept the job because they are not open. So, at ten I go and browse in a bookshop. At 10.30 another Australian couple walk in just ahead of me. They have exactly the same problem! The shop says it will take two hours. They pay extra for a rush job. So do I. Back to the bookshop for another hour—where I buy a manual for the new computer that I have ordered.

11.30, I pick up the photos and head back to the AHC. Outside I meet the aforementioned Australian woman. Her photos have been rejected. The size is right but they have been cropped too close. Mine look much the same.

I go up and, yes, they are rejected too. Back to the Twin Towers. We both wait while they reprint them. By this time it is past 12. The young Chinese woman in the AHC, said I can drop them in to her after lunch. She already took all the rest of the forms and documentation. When I go back, the receptionist takes them up to her. I still have the one with the signature. I explain that she will want this one and this one. But no, she wants to give her choices. She takes the signed one, another the same and two of the new ones. She returns ten minutes later and gives me the two smaller ones, ie including the signed one. I insist that this cannot be right but she insists it is OK.

Friday, I come into Tzu Chi and check my email. There is an email from Violet at the AHC—very apologetic. She has made a mistake. Can I send the signed photo by Pos Ekspres? (That's Malay. Can you read it?)

It takes about two weeks to process the passport. My visitor's permit (not a real visa) expires at about that time. Not sure which will come first. Will just have to see what happens. It is out of my hands.

I have been studying my new computer book. It is 900 pages. I am highlighting all the stuff that I will need to go through again after I get the computer. (Quite a bit.)

Yesterday I attended a day for the recipients of Tzu Chi aid. That is a long story too. Maybe I will write about it another time.

© copyright John Shield 2003 - 2004

To read this in the order it was written scroll to the bottom and start with number 5.

Blog archives
March 2004, includes: What I am doing in Melaka; Independence / Interdependence; Brother Yap; Why this blog is late.

May 2004, includes: Getting it all together; Across the street culture; It's happened again; Writing process; Sincerity; Boring; Why?; Bag snatchers; Cross-cultural communications; Listening without projections; Malaysian or what?; Definitely Malaysian; Battling Bunga Raya; Free food.

June 2004, includes: A democratic proposal; Towards a mail-forwarding etiquette; The smell of durian; Almost free food; Charity fair; Fighting evil; Attempted robbery; Smokers; Cyber cafes; Tropical fruit-lovers paradise; Consumer society; Another snatch-theft death; Passport application—again; Why I prefer squat toilets; If I had a mothball in this hand; Troubles in southern Thailand; Ninety-one today; Going back; Stopping the snatchers; Karma and choice; Hazy skies; Formula for happiness; Where to next?; Trishaw respect; Desire for union; My new grandson.

July 2004, includes: No water; Malaysian society & politics; Buying a camera; KL scam; Attachments; Garage Band; Grandchildren; Moves; Farewell Tzu Chi; Travelling: Melaka - Penang; Women in black; Bureaucracies: I can cope; Giving with no expectations; Back in Thailand; Making merit.

August 2004, includes: Back to Mahasarakham; Independence; Passing time; Observations from the omelette shop; Pad Pak; Procession; Storm; Famine?

September 2004, includes: Street vendors; The omelette shop; Shopping in Sri-sawas; Restaurants; Off to Udon; In Udon; Toad soup; Buying speakers; Sweet talk; The price of happiness; The right to vote.

October 2004, includes: The real issue; Who are the real Australians?; The Best?; Out of Thailand; Instant Millionaire; Nong Khai to Vientiane; National Library of Laos; Social security in Laos; Please help me!; Lao delicacy; Everyone wants a sponsor; Vientiane markets; Of girls and bombs; Pronunciation of names; Being dead; Renting a bicycle; Losing and gaining customers; Making plans again; Bun Nam Festival; Party's over.

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