A weekend in Malaysia

Monkeys!

A great benefit of living in Australia is you can get cheap flights to South East Asia. Hooray! So that is why Brad and I took fours days and flew to Kuala Lumpur (KL).

It was an amazing few days. The first day was spent checking out the city. The largest chunk of time was in Chinatown…eating, drinking and bartering. Petaling Street is a bustling street bazaar where I felt I needed a shirt that read “No I don’t want any DVDs”. We found that, in general, the people were much more relaxed than in China. They still try to call you into their stalls to look at their goods but they are no where near as pushy as the guys in China.

And we saw monkeys hanging out outside the Planetarium. Sweet.

The next day we took a bus to Melaka, a historic-type town about 2 hours south of KL. It was air conditioned. Awesome. While there we learned all about the Portuguese/Dutch/British colonizations. Melaka was a bustling trade hub run by local Sultans till the Europeans showed up around 1500 and basically messed it up. Melaka never recovered the glory of pre-European arrival. Way to go guys. Yeesh. We saw a church built in 1521, bits of an old fortress, and lots of dioramas. Malaysia really likes dioramas. The bus back to KL was not air conditioned. Boo.

Diorama number 85 of a sultans court

Next day, more monkey spotting in downtown KL’s rainforest park. Sweet.

Took another air conditioned bus to Kuala Selangor, about 2 hours west of KL. Saw more monkeys crossing the road. Sweet. We went to see a humongous firefly colony inhabiting the banks of a near by river. It was beautiful, but no photos turned out. Boo. After spending the night in the mosquito forest…whoops I mean the mangrove forest…park, we checked out some more Dutch ruins (and saw more monkeys…these guys could take over the country!) including an execution rock and poison well. Those guys knew how to get things done. Walked around the very nice mangrove forest (more details in a later post…stay tuned!) and fed the mosquitoes. Then one non-air conditioned bus back to the city.

Brad punching diorama number 105

Food was fantastic. We made an effort to find places that looked a bit like they could be a hidden treasure (ie down alleys, stalls at the markets and places filled with locals and not Westerners). It proved to be a good strategy and my belly was very happy at the end.

In conclusion, Malaysia is very humid and a delight. When you visit cross your fingers for air conditioned buses and if a restaurant/stall only sells one thing they’re probably really good at making that one thing, trust them.

Mmmm...random menu pick

Canada gets a failing grade

canadian_flag Out of all the G8 countries, Canada has been ranked the lowest for it’s actions on climate change. *sigh*

I think many Canadians feel Canada is a green country because it has so much green space…but that’s not what counts. Are we taking care of that green space? The survey thinks not enough.

Our emissions per person are among the highest in the world. The conservative government just hasn’t stepped up to the plate.

As Canadians we need to put climate change higher up on the priorities list. And I think it is for a lot of Canadians. So make the effort to let the government know. It would only take a few minutes for you to look up the email of your MP and send them a note that you’re worried about the climate and are upset at our low ranking among the G8. Or email the PM himself at pm@pm.gc.ca. Tell them you want the environment to become a key issue of the government.

If you want you can use this template I modified from a website for a campaign for the Australian government. Just sign your name at the end!

Dear Prime Minister,

I’m writing you about Canada’s climate change policies, because I am deeply concerned about the future of our planet, not just for myself, but even more importantly, for Canada’s children and future generations, because they will be more seriously affected than us by climate change impacts.

The repeated news of changes in Canada’s north does not allow us to ignore climate change any longer. The melting of glaciers and the altered hunting grounds of polar bears show us that this is a real issue with real consequences for our people.

Climate change is no longer something that happens in the future, or something that happens “elsewhere”, but it is with us, here and now, and our population is deeply affected. That’s why I count on you all taking my message to you as urgent and extremely important.

Cool, and scary, science

I found this on the BBC site today.

“Deepest Ever Living Fish Filmed”

This is pretty cool science but I feel it means soon they’ll film all the scary things we never get to see and don’t even know exsist! At least then my fear of the ocean won’t be seen as irational. 🙂 And finding new species is pretty exciting, even if they’re monsters.

Obama…why do I love you so much?

I tell ya, this Obama guy keeps doing the most amazing things! It seems every other day he makes an announcement about going greener. Love this guy! I’m just waiting for the bubble to burst. He can’t be this great!

Anyway, enough blubbering about him. On to the issue!

President Obama Announces National Fuel Efficiency Policy

The new standards will set nation-wide levels for emissions, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2016. This is the first time a nation-wide standard has been attempted.

An article in The Canadian Press talks about what this means for Canada. After all, we’re going to need to be making/driving the same cars they’re making/driving in the US, the two auto sectors are not separate. Yay! Emissions standards basically forced on Stephen Harper. I wasn’t holding my breath on his announcement about setting emission standards. car

On a nice note about Canadians (what isn’t nice about Canadians?), given the same options for car models as the US, 60% of cars bought by Canadians are small, fuel-efficient models while that figure is only 30% in America. Way to make a statement about your values Canadians!

Swine Flu: What can I do to help?

So, having taken a class that covered the Spanish Flu of 1918 (Dr. Perrins’ History of Medicine, Acadia…great course…take it!), the Swine Flu is terrifying. This is what I’ve been waiting for ever since that course. A new flu that is going to be more deadly than anything we’ve seen for decades, maybe worse. Now, I’m not saying that is what is going to happen, just that this virus seems to have high potential to become very serious, based on what the WHO is saying.

Now, fingers point to Mexico as the starting point of this outbreak, although it hasn’t been confirmed where/how the virus was created. Possibly due to conditions and practices at huge factory farms (not confirmed by research yet!). Hmm….why do we have those huge factory farms again? Oh right! Huge demand for meat products!

Now, in an effort to not be preachy (I am in no position to preach, as I have been know to ingest meat products every blue moon), I in no way expect you to become a vegetarian. That is a personal decision that requires a lot of research and thought. But what are small ways we can all change to maybe take the pressure off intensive livestock practices that are not in the best interest of the future of our society?

1) You can eat one less meal with meat a week. That’s not too bad! Have a veggie lasagna. It’s so filling you won’t even notice. Burritos can be made with just re fried beans, skip the beef. Don’t say it’s too hard…my parents (former meat and potato people) are doing a great job of it, and I didn’t even have to harass them! Here’s a recipe for black-bean burgers even my super meaty boyfriend likes.

2) When you do buy meat, buy organic (when you can, I know it can cost more). That way, you can increase the demand for organic, causing more farmers to become organic, causing less use of antibiotics that can create super-bugs.

3) If you live in the country, try the farmers markets or even go direct to your neighbours. It night not be certified organic, but many small scale farmers don’t need to use heavy loads of antibiotics.

4) Know a hunter? Ask for some wild game! Rabbit stew is yummy. If you happen to be in Australia, try the roo (sometimes farmed, but much less intensive than cows). Grab a fishing rod and catch supper. It’s more fun than standing in line at the supermarket too.

Now, again, I’m not saying swine flu started on a factory farm. However, the conditions on factory farms are primed for outbreaks of nasty diseases than could jump to humans. So just to try do whatever you can to help a little bit. If we all help a little bit, it will help a lot (wow that’s cheesy, nice ending Carolyn). 🙂