U.S Fulbrighter Welcome Dinner

Last Wednesday night Nicolas Papp, the Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in KL, hosted a dinner to welcome all of this years Fulbrighters to Malaysia. There are currently 5 Fulbrighters located in KL, three professors and two students, and there are three or four others spread across other locations in Malaysia. I have been here the longest, almost four months, whereas others have just arrived. It was nice to get to know the other Fulbrighters and learn more about the experiences here so far.

Here is a of my fellow Fulbrighters in Malaysia. It is a group with very diverse interests.

Colleen O'Neal is a professor from NYU who is interested in clinical psychology.

Sean Foley is a professor from Middle Tennessee State University who is interested in Islamic studies.

Sandra Hochel is a profesor from the University of South Carolina who is interested in communication studies. She is located in Sarawak in Borneo.

Jaki Bradley graduated from University of North Carolina and is here studying performing arts.

Michael Feldman graduated from Rice University and he is interested in ASEAN Studies. Micheal also is located at UM so I see him on occassion.

Micheael Vishnevestsky graduated from Yale University and he will be working at the Sarawak Biodiversity Center.

Margaret Perry graduated from Swarthmore College and she is studying turtle conservation in Terengganu.

More Signs on UM Campus

I really like signs, especially those that have pictures on them (probably because "picture signs" are the only kind around here that I can understand). Here are a couple of signs I saw on campus today.


UM Dress Code.



Prohibited: (1) Tattered, ripped jeans, (2) tight pants, (3)shorts (uh oh, I am in trouble), (4) t-shirts with derogatory pictures or words.


Prohibited: (5) sleeveless shirts, (6) tight and see-through clothes, (7) body revealing dresses, (8) skirts that exeed four inches above the kneew (I don't know who the official measurer is- what a tough job).


Prohibited: (9) unruly hair, (10) face accessories, (11) brightly colored and odd hair styles, and finally the always evil (12) flip flops.

I have posted many photos taken around UM campus so you have some idea what students are wearing. In my experience I don't see that many students attempt to flaunt the dress code but similarly it does not seem to be overly enforced (e.g., it is pretty common to see students wearing flip flops and the occasional short skirt). If you want to see any of the prohibited clothing styles, then you merely have to go to any of the major malls on the weekend!

What Not To Do With A Water Fountain!




Other Exciting On-Campus News!

There are monkeys living on the UM campus. How cool is that!?! I must admit that the prairie dogs and jackrabbits living on the Tech campus are great, but monkeys!!! I haven't seen any yet, because I am usually on campus during the middle of the day which is not prime monkey viewing time. I will make an expedition soon to take some photos!!

Recent Malaysian Sports Victories

Although the sole Malaysian entry into the Women's Table Tennis World Cup did not end up as the winner, Malaysia has had some recent success on the world's sports stage.

Nicol David


Probably the most popular person in Malaysia is Nicol David. Last week Nicol won the womens' squash world championship for the fifth time. She has been ranked as the number one player in the world in for the last 55 months.

Nicole, from Penang, is of mixed Indian and Chinese ("Chindian") descent. In February, a Malaysian Readers Digest poll listed her as the most "trusted person" in Malaysia. Next month, Nicol hopes to win the Gold Medal in the Commonwealth games (if India gets their act together in time for the games to go on) to cement her place as the greatest female squash player of all time.


Nicol (in the foreground) plays her Egyptian opponent in the finals of the World Championships.

photos from www.worldsquash.org


Lee Chong Wei

Lee Chong Wei is currently the top ranked male badminton player in the world. Over the weekend he defeated his arch rival Lin Dan from China to win the Japan Open title.


Lee Chong Wei celebrates his victory over Lin Dan in the Japan Open.

photo from Star

Brief Texas Sports Update

The Texas Tech football team did not play this weekend. They will travel to Ames to play Iowa State next Saturday evening (that will be around 7:00 AM on Sunday morning in KL). I had to chuckle when I saw that UT had been upset by UCLA in Austin (again!!).

I had planned on staying up last night to listen to the Dallas Cowboy's game against the Texans (about a 1:00 AM kickoff). I crashed, but I was pleased to learn that the Cowboys finally won their first game. Sadly, being 1-2 puts them right back in the NFC East race.

Women's Table Tennis World Cup

When I first moved into my new apartment over here I was pleased to see there was a ping pong table. I have always enjoyed playing ping pong, so I thought that I might get a chance to play a little while I was here. Then I realized that this is Asia; they don't play ping-pong here, they play table tennis... and they play very well! Some of the pudgy old men that play here can really smack the ball around. Thus, I have decided to remain a ping pong spectator.

Women's Table Tennis World Cup

This weekend Kuala Lumpur hosted the Women's Table Tennis World Cup. Because I have only seen top level ping pong played on TV, I thought it might be fun to view it in person. So on Friday afternoon I went out to the Kuala Lumpur Badminton Statdium to watch the first day of the three day tourney. Nineteen players from 14 countries (China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Canada, Congo, New Zealand, and Mexico, including six of the top ten ranked players in the world were in KL, so the table tennis quality was pretty impressive (just like the game that I used to play in our rec room). All but three of the players (from Mexico, Poland, and Hungary) were of Asian descent. I was the only white guy in the crowd who was not part of the "official table tennis community". Here are some views.

Opening Ceremonies

Malaysian cheerleaders lead the parade. Because the opening ceremonies were at 2:30 in the afternoon the crowd was pretty sparse. Attendence picked up throughout the day.


Here comes some of the players. If you look carefully at the player in the red and white warm up suit (from Poland), then you might notice that her arm barely extends below her elbow. She was able to use her shortened arm to toss the ball up to serve and play at a world class level with only one hand. Pretty impressive!


Some of the best female table tennis players in the world.


There were several long speaches given by various dignitaries before the action started. I think that they were speaking in English, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. No wonder the Chinese players look so bored.



Officials Preparing For the Match

Checking the net height.


Checking the width of the paddles. Af the end of each match the officials would collect the paddles and only return them at the start of the next match.


A View Of The Action

Each match is the best out of seven games. Games are played to 11 points. Each player serves twice and then the opponent serves twice. From my "expert" point of view, the game at this level seems to be one based on disguising the spin and pace of the ball. Ocassionally, the game escalates into a furious rally with both players smashing the ball as hard as they can which is very exciting and fun to watch.



There were two matches going on simultaneously.


Some Of The Players

Zhang Mo, from Canada, who is the current North American champion. Ranked 113th in the world.


Silvia Yadira, from Mexico, who is the current Latin American champion. Ranked 272nd in the world.


Yang Feng, born in China but represents Congo Brazzaville, is the current African Champion. Ranked 151st in the world. Yang Feng had the most interesting service syle because she would toss the ball about ten feet in the air before sticking it. There were basically two tournements going on at once. Clearly the best table tennis is played in Asia and Europe. Four participants from the remainder of the world (North American, Latin America, Africa, and Oceania) were invited and played in the International Cup, eventually won by Yang Feng. The difference in quality between the best Asian players and those from the rest of the world was obvious even to me.


Feng Tianwei, from Singapore, is currently ranked second in the world. If you look at the table behind her then you can see the Polish player preparing to serve.


Tie Yana, from Hong Kong, is ranked 19th in the world. In the best match I saw, she upsent Feng Tianwei in a match that went seven games.


Hirono Sayaka, from Japan, who is ranked 14th in the world.


Guo Yan, from China, who is ranked 3rd in the world.



And The Winner Is.....

The two semifinals both matched a player from China against a player from Hong Kong. Jian Huajunm from Hong Kong, faced Guo Yan, from China in the finals. Guo Tan became the champion (earning the $45,000 prize money) by winning 4-1 thus maintaining China's deominance in the World Cup. A player from China has won every Women's World Cup (first played in 1996) and this was just the third time in history that a non-Chinese player had participated in the finals.

Mid-Autumn Festival: Moon Festival

Yesterday, September 22nd, Chinese (and Vietnamese) people around the world celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival. Because of the sizeable Chinese population in Malaysia, the Moon Festival is widely celebrated in Malaysia (although it was not a public holiday, so I still had to go to work). The Moon Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival

In Malaysia the most obvious signs of the celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival were a large number of colorful paper fans hung in public places and malls (although the Amcorp Mall where I live has yet to remove their Hari Raya decorations, so there was no sign of the Moon Festival here) and shops selling "moon cakes".

Moon Cakes



Moon cakes are traditional food for celbrating the Moon Festival. The typical moon cake is shaped like a hockey puck (although about twice as large). The inside of the cake is made of a paste from ground up lotus seeds and often the cakes contain a yolk of a duck egg. The cake is covered by a thin later of dough and usually have elaborate decorations on the top. Moon cakes come in a variety of flavors and high end moon cakes come packed in elaborate packaging (I think that a pretty package may be as important as the taste of the cake).



I tried one moon cake. Let's just say it is nothing like the Betty Crocker chocolate cake that my Mom used to make for my birthday. But I guess that over 1 billion Chinese can't be wrong!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mooncake

Malaysia (& Mark) in Mourning: Paris Is Not Coming!

Today the newspapers and the airwaves in Malaysia were filled with the distressing news that the great American, Paris Hilton, will not be visiting KL tomorrow as planned. Paris wwas scheduled to visit as part of a three city Asian tour (Tokyo, KL, and Djakarta, Indonesia) to promote her line of purses and perfumes. Unfortunately, she was denied entry into Japan because of her recent drug conviction so she decided to return home and cancel the remainder of her trip. I am sorry that Malaysians will get an opportunity to see a real American Blonde Bimbo up close and personal!

The photo of Paris arriving in Tokyo from www.washingtonpost.com

Random Photos

Although I have travelled a lot in the last 10 years or so, I have never bothered to buy a good camera. Becuase I was spending so much of my time on boats and I was afraid that I would ruin a nice camera by getting it wet, I used cheap disposable cameras for years. Because most of my scuba trips usually involved divers that were great photographers, I have been able to get by without my own camera for far too long. I bought a new camera before I came here, but it should be obvious that I don't really know what I am doing. I just point and shoot and figure I should post it because you probably have never seen anything like it before. Here are a couple of pictures that I took last weekend.

The King's New Palace

The King of Malaysia currently lives in the Istana Negara (the National Palace) located in the KL area. They are building a new palace located in the Damansara Heights region of KL. You can build a palace fit for a King in Malaysia for only 800 million ringgit (thats $250 million).

Here's how the palace looks right now. You can notice the KL skyline in the distance. I bet the King and his family are going to have some great views!



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istana_Negara,_Kuala_Lumpur

Interesting View of Petronas Tower and KL Tower

The two iconic buildings in the downtown KL skyline are the Petronas Towers and the KL Tower. One of these days I promise to try to take some good photos of both of these buildings.

This weekend I was having a coke light in the McDonalds in Bangsar when I noticed that I had a unique view of downtown KL. Look at how the KL Tower is directly in front of the Petronas Towers!

Midafternoon Tropical Thunderstorm

Kuala Lumpur gets about 100 inches (2.5 meters) of rain each year (compared to around 15 inches per year in Lubbock). Before I came here, I was a little worried that KL might be like Seattle, where it drizzles all the time and the sun never shines. That is certainly not the case. Although it rains regularly in KL, most often rains occur in the late afternoon or early evening and don't last for too long.

I was working at home this afternoon when a thunderstorm came through (it was either thunder or else the Indonesian Navy had brought in their battleships to try to settle a recent boundary conflict because it was very loud).

The Views From My Apartment Window at 3:15

The rain was pounding down and the lightning and thunder show was in full swing.






The Views From My Apartment Window at 4:30

The worst of the storm lasted for about 15 minutes and then it rained steadily for another half hour. An hour later at 4:30 everything was back to normal.


I saw the Hotel Armada, the white building located in the center of the photo, get struck by lightning during the middle of the storm.



The Water Has To Go Somewhere

When this much rain falls in such a short period of time, the water has to go somewhere. Unlike Lubbock, KL and PJ have a well-developed drainage system. In my area there is an open drainage system that initially drains into the lake in the park across the street. During the storm, the water level in the lake rose almost two feet above the normal level. (I tried to take a photo of this from inside my building during the storm, but I found out that my "auto focus" camera would rather focus on the water droplets on the window than on the lake across the street). The water drains from a lake into a drainage ditch (in Lubbock we would call it a river) that runs behind my apartment. I don't know where the water in this ditch eventually ends up.

Usually, the ditch contains so little water that I could easily jump across is (remember, I am a white guy so that can't be too far). Here is the river during the peak of the storm.

Forgotten Photos From Melaka- Fishermen

During my trip to Melaka several weeks ago, I enjoyed watching a number of fisherman working off shore. There were about half a dozen people working in chest deep water. I waited to post the photos until I could figure out exactly what they were doing, but I haven't had any luck. If anyone knows what they were fishing for then please let me know.

They walk through the water pushing a net attached to two long poles,


It looks like they are pushing the net along the bottom. I don't know if they are trying to capture some sort of shellfish or bottome dwelling fish.


Eventually, they would stop and pick up the net.


They would pick something out of the net and throw it into a floating bucket thay they dragged befind them.


I don't think this looks like the most fun way to spend an afternoon.
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Guest Lecture in UM Ecology Class

Yesterday Dr. Susan Lim invited me to gice a guest lecture in her ecology class. From teaching my own class here I have started to realize that one of the most important things that an outsider can provide is a different point of views. Thus, rather than trying to teach them something specific in ecology, I tried to give a brief overview of my view of the history of Western natural history and ecology and discuss the approach to studying ecology that has proven to be most effective in the US. I then tried to discuss how I would suggest using our experience in the US to help develop the next generation of ecologists in Malaysia.

Malaysian ecologists face several challenges that we do not face in the temperate zone including very high diversity, many undescribed species, little knowledge about the natural history of their organisms, and very complex ecosystems. In addition, Malaysian scientists will need to be able to communicate effectively with Malaysian policy makers about environmental issues. We plowed up the prairies long before we understood the value of biodiversity and the ecosystem services that they provide. Malaysian scientists have the opportunity to guide development in their country.

Here is a link to the presentation that I gave the class.
http://www.slideshare.net/secret/3emiagtsTbvKLl

The class had 25 - 30 students, with a slightly more females than males. They were quite attentive during my talk (that means they at least recognized when I was trying to be funny). At the end of the talk Dr. Lim had to work hard encouraging them to ask me some questions, but once they overcame their initial shyness they asked very insightful and interesting classes. I enjoyed my brief interaction with these students and I was pleased to see so many young Malaysians concerned about their environment.

After I finished I wrote my email address on the board. One of the students asked me if I am on Facebook and they were all surprised when I said "yes". I now have some new Malaysian Facebook friends.

My Office at UM

My multicultural work environment.


Look who is important!!


Do you think I need an interior decorator?

Happy Malaysia Day

On September 16th, Malaysia celebrated "Malaysia Day" as a national holiday for the first time. Recently, August 31, Malaysia celebated "National Day", or Merdeka (Independence). Why the need for two holidays?

A Little History
All of the regions that are currently part of the country of Malaysia were previously British colonies. After World War II, most of the South East Asian countries began the move towards independence. On August 31, 1957 the Federation of Malaya declared its independence from Great Britain. Malaya was made up of a number of sultanates/kindgoms located on the Malay penninsula. Six years later, three other formerly British regions, Singapore, a small island located just south of the Malay penninsula, and Sarawak and Sabah, located on the Island of Borneo joined together with Malaya to form the new country of Malaysia. The plan was to announce the formation of the new country on August 31, Malayan Independence Day, but for various reasons Malaysia was not foermed until September 16th, 1963. Singapore only remained part of Malaysia for a couple of years before leaving and becoming its own country. Sabah and Sarawak, now collectively known as East Malaysia, remain a part of Malaysia.

Malaysia Day
Merdeka Day has been celebrated on August 31st on the pennisular since the formation of Malaya. However, some of the people in East Malaysia do not feel that August 31 should be considered to be the National Day of Malaysia because August 31st was the formation of Malaya and not Malaysia. Because of this, the current Primne Minister of Malaysia announced that from now on September 16th would be a national holiday known as Malaysia Day.

As an analogy, the 13 original American colonies declared their independence from Englad on July 4, 1776. The Fourth of July is a national holiday for all of the additional 37 states that have entered the union because the states agreed to become part of the United States of America (The USA and Texas did not merge to form the United States of AmeriTex). However, because Malaya, Saban, and Sarawak combined for form a new country know as Malaysia, an event worthy of its own day (and who objects to another holiday). Malaysia celebrated their first Malaysia Day yesterday. I hope it was a good one for all of you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Day

More About Toilets!

Obviously, I face the whole "sit or squat" issue from the Western,sitting, perspective. However, if you reverse roles, then it is pretty easy to imagine how a person that has grown up knowing only squat toilets might react when faced with a a "sitter" for the first time. Luckily, there are many signs designed to help first timers learn what to do.

Sit, Don't Squat
This sign was in a public restroom on the UM campus.


Keep The Restrooms Clean
This sign, from the public restroom in Sungei Wang Mall in Bukit Bintang, contains a list of nine things you should avoid doing in order to keep the public restroom clean.


You should avoid (1)trowing cigarette butts into the turinal, (2) throwing trash in the toilet, and (3) taking water from the cistern.


Also, you should avoid (4) scribbling graffiti on the wall, (5) spitting on the floor, and (6) squatting on the toilet seat.


Finally, you should never (7) wash vegetables in the toilet basin, (8) use your foot to flush, or (9) wash your legs in the toilet basin.


Signs for Westerners
To be fair, I have seen signs aimed at Westerners in public restrooms as well. For example, at Changi Airport in Singapore the stalls containing squat toilets have a sign on the door that says something like "be aware of the open hole inside". It is easy to imagine that some jet-lagged American has rushed into the stall and fallen in. I will try to take a photo next time I pass through Singapore (of the sign, not of some unfortunate tourist).

Malaysian Toilets

Me pondering how to use a squat toilet at a Chinese food restaraunt near Bukut Bintang.

Sit or Squat?

From the time that we are potty trained, we all take using a toilet for granted. When I first travelled to Asia I was surprised to learn that all toilets are not created equal. Unlike the "sit toilets" that we are accustomed to in the US, most of the toilets in Malaysia, and throughout Asia are "squat toilets".

For those of us used to "sit toilets", using a squat toilet can be an adventure.
That is why the first thing that I did after I moved into my new apartment was to determine the location of all nearby "sit toilets". For example, all of the toilets in the pulic restroom in the Amcorp Mall are squatters. It is fairly easy to find sit toilets on UM campus if you know where to look. So far I have not been forced to squat when I needed to sit (however, if you buy me a beer sometime then I will tell you about my experience using a squat toilet in Mentakab, Malaysia during my visit last March).

Here is a photo of a squat toilet in the Public Restroom of Sungei Wang Mall in Bukit Bintang.

You can notice two important differences between this toilet stall and one you would see back home. First, there is no place to sit. Thus, you must assume a squatting position to use this toilet, which is no easy feat for an inflexible, old guy like me). Because they have squatted their whole lives (Malaysians will often assume a squatting position while they are resting), they seem to be very flexible so they have no problem using this style of toilet.

Second, notice that there is no toilet paper holder. That's because they don't use toilet paper to "clean up" after using the toilet. Instead, notice the hose which is used to instead of toilet paper (I am really not sure exactly how this works. All Malaysian bathtrooms, including the one in my apartment (which thankfully came equipped with a beautiful western "sitter") have a drain to allow water to escape after use.

Sometimes It Is Even More Complicated!



Not all Malaysian toilets are equipped with a hose! If there is no hose, then you are provided with a bucket and ladel to take the place of toilet paper. I can guarantee you that my Mom never taught me what to do with a bucket and pail when I was a kid. You can imagine how I felt the first time that I had to use that. The moral to the story is - always carry some TP.