The top 20 weird, funny and unexplainable moments of my Holiday in South East Asia - Jan-Feb 2009

Before I start, I would like to say that my previous entry on the first day of my trip was deleted. This is because I did not finish my series of entries that I had anticipated, due to crap internet connections I had overseas, and the lack of time that I had. Which brings us to this entry.

I present to you, the Top 20 weird, funny and unexplainable moments of my holiday in South-East Asia.

20. Meeting each other every 5 minutes at Kuala Lumpur International Airport
As we arrived at the satellite terminal at KLIA, we decided to go in our usual pairs (Me and Eric, Richard and Ricky), and looked at around at the ultra modern terminal. Because the central part of the terminal was built in a circular fashion, for some reason, we always met each other out of the blue. First we met each other in front of a Duty Free store, then a souvenir shop, Starbucks Coffee, a bar, and finally at Burger King. Pleased to say that we met each other again 40 minutes later at our Departing Gate.

19. Watching John Howard on Channel NewsAsia
Channel NewsAsia is a news channel on Singapore's television network. At the time of our arrival, it was 10 years since the channel was established. On one late night, I saw John Howard congratulating the channel for their great broadcast over Australia and mentioned they had a great time with them. Since when did John Howard became so interested in Asian News?

18. Jan 16: Sit next to a Singaporean woman on the day we leave, Feb 1: Meet the same woman on the day we go back home
By pure luck, the Singaporean woman that I sat next to on the day we left, was leaving with us on the same day we leave! Not everyday you get to see the same passenger leave the same days as you are, eh?

17. "We came to Singapore for some Australian Wine!"
A quote said by Ricky on the trip. Indeed, when we were walking around Singapore's Clarke Quay, we saw a stall selling our very own Wolf Blass wine. When we thought that was crazy, we were surprised to see our Harvey Norman in Singapore as well.

16. Buy 1-for-1
Ever since arriving in Asia, I came across bars and clubs having this "Buy 1-for-1" offer. I finally found the answer when we went clubbing one night in Singapore. Richard was approached by two girls holding some bottle of liquor (Vodka I think), asking him to purchase a drink for them. Richard kindly declined, but I guess its a 'bit expensive' way to buy a drink for a girl you only just met. What if the girl wasn't good looking if she gave you the offer? IMO, the girls weren't that bad looking.

15. For every cute girl in Malaysia, there will be a guy next to her
When I was walking around Kuala Lumpur, I managed to see a lot of cute and pretty girls. You think you would have a chance with them, despite yourself being a foreigner. Unfortunately, unless I was walking around the wrong area, every girl had a boyfriend! Geez... well at least it seems that in teenage society, its easy to find a partner than here in Australia, no matter how you look. Even some fat guy I saw managed to score a girl...

14. Playing soccer on a projected screen in Hong Kong
When we visited the EA games centre on Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, Eric and I saw a soccer pitch projected on the floor of the centre. Amazingly, you can kick the projected ball and score goals! Although hard to play, I scored a goal, and for some reason, I celebrated the goal by doing what all real-life players do. Run around like crazy.

13. Motherly Love
I will be honest here. Every single day, I get messages from mum, asking where I am, and what time I will go home, etc. Although replying resulted in a huge mobile phone bill, she gets worried all the time, but I guess thats because of me being the only child. Due to the time difference of 3 hours, she would not sleep till I send her a message saying that I am back at the hotel at the end of the day and I would go to sleep. It may seem weird, but I do respect that she has concern for me and I would always assure her that everything is alright.

12. Criticising Australia for lack of Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream
No matter which SE Asian country we were in, we always saw a Häagen-Dazs store (ice cream brand) in every shopping mall, or a Häagen-Dazs stall at every corner of a city. Their ice cream is expensivem but definitely top quality, way more than New Zealand Natural or Copenhagen. We always criticised why Australia has no, or lacks this superior ice cream.

11. "Chan-jee", not "Chan-gee"
I know that Ricky and Richard were playing along, but being a person who likes airports and aviation, I can't help getting irritated at them pronouncing Singapore's Changi Airport as "Chan-jee" and not "Chan-gee". This continued on as we were in Singapore.

10. How do you say "Orchard"?
If I thought the Changi pronunciation was bad, then saying "Orchard" was worse (we were talking about Orchard Road in Singapore). Richard, Ricky and Eric kept on arguing with me saying that the correct way to pronounce that word is "awr-kard", and not "awr-chard". Well, I'm sorry to tell you boys that you fail at simple English and I am correct. Damn you guys; the MRT announcer, the bus conductor, the general public in Singapore, and every damn country that has English (both UK and US) says it the way I say it. You want proof? Here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Orchard and click on the damn speaker icon so you can hear. Ask your parents and your friends and I am sure that most of them will say the same thing.

9. Back way to the Petronas Towers
When both Richard and Ricky were running out of time to catch the performance of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra at Petronas Towers' concert hall, they decided to catch a taxi. However, we all knew that in most South East Asian countries, cabbies will try to take every cent off you by driving the back streets to the destination. It happened for the both of them, despite knowing the most direct route there. Thank God, at least Malaysia is a cheap place and they didn't pay that much.

8. Deal or no Deal: Malaysian Edition

On our first night in Kuala Lumpur, while we waited for the night's soccer game, we flicked through the channels and found a Malaysian Edition of Deal or no Deal. Same style of gameplay as in Australia, with only a few minor differences of dealing and the banking offer style. The weirdest thing about it is the enthusiasm of the audience. The crowd were less enthusiastic when the contestant got a huge bank offer, but when the contestant had a smaller offer (ie. RM10 = AUD$5), the crowd celebrated with delight. Great way to influence the contestant, eh? Also, the highest you could win there was RM100,000 (AUD$50,000). Not a lot.

7. The NOW channel - Hotel Edition
In all of my history watching TV overseas, this channel from Hong Kong is one of the most weirdest I have ever seen. Firstly, the only commercials being shown were the channel's OWN commercials, and during the commercial break, sometimes they repeat one of the same commericals, twice, in the one break. And they were weird and long. Also, the shows being shown were old! Quake Republic (an Online gaming show where British folk fight it out online on the game), Earth & Space (a science show), Tech-zone (a show on the latest technology), were copyrighted from 2001! Thats why I was so surprised to see why the Nintendo Gamecube was the latest Nintendo console on the market o_0. And they also showed old sports programs, an example would be Touch Footy State of Origin in 1989. The NOW channel they showed in the hotels is a crap version compared to the NOW channel shown in normal HK households.

6. Indians everwhere
Everywhere I went in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong there were Indians, mostly as store owners in the markets, and in internet cafes. They are more persistent in selling their items than they are over here in Australia. The funny thing I noticed is that when Eric and I went to a net cafe in Hong Kong, some of the Indians there could not speak proper English, which I find very odd, considering they reside in Hong Kong, and can't speak the local language. They are very hard to shake off.

5. The further you go, the better price you will have! A bargain!
When Richard and Ricky were going around the markets in Hong Kong, they were looking at some products at a stall when the stall owner told them the price of the items they were looking at. Both boys said no since it was expensive and started walking away. The owner then lowered the price a little, but the boys were not interested and continued walking away. Then the owner halfed the price and the boys were like "WTF?" But they were originally uninterested and left without saying a word. Then they heard the owner swearing in Cantonese as they left.

4. GG
GG = Good Game. In out time staying at our Hotel in Singapore, there was a channel called "Arirang", and it specialises in Korean shows, and is broadcasted in English. One show that caught our attention is "e-Sports", where they show Korean gamers play against each other. Korea is a computer gaming country and the youth of the nation takes their gaming seriously. When we were watching two players battling it out in StarCraft, we couldn't help but laugh at the commentators being so serious into the game. But the main part of it was the end, when the commentators say "I think its GG for him", mentioning that the game is going to end. Because of that, GG is now in the vocabulary list for Ricky and Richard.

3. Caught on the phone
As I was talking to Richard on the hotel room about what would be happening the next day, he became quiet. I thought he left the phone for the time being, so while I waited, with the handset on still on me ear, I talked to Eric, saying that he should stop chucking pillows at me, as it was very suss. Then I joked and sarcastically told him that if I was ever in the mood, then we can have some pillow fights. Then I went back to the phone and the following was said:
Me: Hello?
Richard: Yeah I'm here. I didn't leave.
Me: What the hell... does that mean you heard what I...
Richard: Yep! I heard it all!
Me: OMFG... you sneaky bastard. I hate you Eric you S.O.B.!!!!

2. Old man pats my head for some reason
While we were waiting for our ride to the Peak Tram in Hong Kong, the place was crowded and we were stuck between a lot of people. As I was talking to my friends, this Chinese old man was looking at me, and was having a laugh at my unshaved beard. He then pat me and said something in Chinese. After that, he continued to look foward. I looked at the boys and just gave them a "WTF" look.

1. (A tie between two events) Eating your sorrows away - KFC Style & Itchiness on Victoria Peak
One day, I was disappointed at Richard and Ricky for failing to notify me where they went for the day in Kuala Lumpur, and because of that, half my day was wasted by staying in the hotel room and trying to contact them. I forgave them after a while, but for some reason, it wasn't enough to make me happy. So for some strange reason, I went to KFC, bought a whole Variety Bucket (containing 6 pieces of chicken, 20 Nuggets, 20 wedges, 3 Strips), and all of it. I did it, so I can feel better. And I did. But because of it, I was mocked in the whole duration of the trip, and it was ever popularised due to a Red Rooster ad back in Australia when a black guy from the US said "Chicken... CHICKEN?!?!?!" I vowed not to eat KFC for a long time. >_>

Also, one of the funniest, yet weird moments to top at number one was when I was trying to adjust my pants in my... ahem... crotch area, when Ricky, testing his camera on me, caught the moment. The boys just laughed so hard when they saw the picture. I told him to delete it, but knowing Ricky, he didn't. There you go. An embarassing moment for me. >_>

Thats all there is to it. Overall, the best thing about Holidays is always spend time with your friends. Despite these weird, funny, unexplainable and embarassing events, these are memories that I will cherrish forever.

Siging off,

Renato

Random picture for the day:


Yep. That's the whole Variety Bucket I ate.