Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Merry Christmas and Selamat Año Nuevo
I've been here in Kuala Lumpur for five weeks now, and one thing I notice a lot is how people (ab)use languages here. From casual conversation that mixes Malay, Chinese, English and whatever works, no matter what the speaker's native language is, to a very popular Spanish TV soap opera, you can't really get the "full Malaysian experience" if you're not multilingual, and at least functional in Bahasa Malaysia , or the Malay language. This is proving an interesting challenge, but nowhere near as difficult as, say, Arabic or Vietnamese.
In Ho Chi Minh City, where I was before coming here, most of the Internet cafes are geared towards browsers and chatters. Whatever chat program you use, whether it's ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, IRC, Paltalk, or whatever, they're set up for you. Connections aren't always speedy or reliable, but they're (almost) always there, running on very mature Pentium II and III PCs. My usual spot was run by an older lady and her family; they would always say hi and get you a glass of tea after you were settled in.
Here in KL, it's a bit different. Net cafes are gamer hangouts, with 3- or 5-piece speaker systems, large monitors and fast processors. (The cafe I'm in now has a big sign outside, "All New - 2.4 GHz processors in every PC. Come check us out.") All the latest games are on the desktop, and it's rare to come across a cafe that has office-type applications.
Compared to the typical Pentium II-300 in HCMC, these PCs are amazingly fast; I can't imagine trying to run some of the newer games on the older hardware. But because the cafes are oriented towards games here, the culture is pretty different. Casual chat - except among gameplaying competitors or teammates - is kept to a minimum. Sound levels are at maximum. And most systems are tightly locked down, so that new or updated programs - or even Windows security fixes - can't be installed. However, one of the major chains has their homepage set to windowsupdate.microsoft.com - so you can install the latest updates, reboot so that Windows knows about them, and watch GoBack revert your disk to the "official" contents. In HCMC, even in areas where you can walk past ten Net cafes in a block, there's always a feeling that one more would be a Good Thing. Here....why?
Sounds like I like Malaysia more than Vietnam? That's the case - but one of the major reasons is that here, htere is life outside the Net cafe. :-P
And to all, Selamat Hari Raya Idulfitri, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and come home safe!
In Ho Chi Minh City, where I was before coming here, most of the Internet cafes are geared towards browsers and chatters. Whatever chat program you use, whether it's ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, IRC, Paltalk, or whatever, they're set up for you. Connections aren't always speedy or reliable, but they're (almost) always there, running on very mature Pentium II and III PCs. My usual spot was run by an older lady and her family; they would always say hi and get you a glass of tea after you were settled in.
Here in KL, it's a bit different. Net cafes are gamer hangouts, with 3- or 5-piece speaker systems, large monitors and fast processors. (The cafe I'm in now has a big sign outside, "All New - 2.4 GHz processors in every PC. Come check us out.") All the latest games are on the desktop, and it's rare to come across a cafe that has office-type applications.
Compared to the typical Pentium II-300 in HCMC, these PCs are amazingly fast; I can't imagine trying to run some of the newer games on the older hardware. But because the cafes are oriented towards games here, the culture is pretty different. Casual chat - except among gameplaying competitors or teammates - is kept to a minimum. Sound levels are at maximum. And most systems are tightly locked down, so that new or updated programs - or even Windows security fixes - can't be installed. However, one of the major chains has their homepage set to windowsupdate.microsoft.com - so you can install the latest updates, reboot so that Windows knows about them, and watch GoBack revert your disk to the "official" contents. In HCMC, even in areas where you can walk past ten Net cafes in a block, there's always a feeling that one more would be a Good Thing. Here....why?
Sounds like I like Malaysia more than Vietnam? That's the case - but one of the major reasons is that here, htere is life outside the Net cafe. :-P
And to all, Selamat Hari Raya Idulfitri, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and come home safe!
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Hello!
My feet hurt. That isn't unusual these days; in the six weeks or so since I've arrived in Kuala Lumpur, I've been walking a lot. And I mean a lot. A friend of mine joked yesterday that if I had ten sens (Malaysian pennies) for every step I've climbed up and down since I've been here, I could retire. (One US dollar is worth about 3.8 Malaysian ringgit, or about 380 sens. Do the math for your idea of what it takes to retire). He was joking, but on days like this, it doesn't feel like he was by much.
That being said, I am glad to be here. I've visited 22 countries and lived in seven, and I feel like I have more personal freedom here than in most places I've lived - certainly more than in George W. Bush's and Ariel Sharon's imitation America. I have one project to work on (but am certainly looking for more - to see my CV, please click here.
That being said, I am glad to be here. I've visited 22 countries and lived in seven, and I feel like I have more personal freedom here than in most places I've lived - certainly more than in George W. Bush's and Ariel Sharon's imitation America. I have one project to work on (but am certainly looking for more - to see my CV, please click here.
