Brown Motion

After getting somewhat acclimated to the near-equator weather in Singapore we made the south to the north transition en route to Kuala Lumpur on a luxury bus passing through local immigration control in under four hours. What immediately strikes you is the preponderence of palm trees along the way. Acres and hectares of this stuff growing in neat organized plantations owned by a couple of local oil producers. Palm oil that is. The country's largest export. Apparenty they are so good at it that the government sends the average citizen a MYR 7,000 refund check each year (approx $2,200). See Uncle Sam you got to change your agri mix. Also another noteworthy item is the state of their highways. Fantastic. Equal to or some cases better than those interstates stateside. For another ex-colonial country that made it to independent status (less time than India has been independent) and occupied by a largely Muslim, peace loving people it is a wake up call for other nations not abl...

I am back. In one piece. Tired and jet lagged. Yet after having added a couple more countries to my roster of places I have been to. Singapore was the first stop. I am not sure how I would describe this place. It is a city, country, megapolis, metropolis, cosmopolitan melting pot (talk about the humidity and heat) all in one. It is mostly clean - I mean you can drop your egg on the boardwalk and can proceed to eat it type of clean - although I assume you would pay a hefty fine to drop said egg on boardwalk in the first place. Not that I experimented but I did fall asleep on one whilst waiting for a technological marvel in the form of a laser light show on water, outside an expensive hotel. The trip was part of a quickie two country visit that also incuded the adjacent nation of Malaysia. Hectic in many aspects 10 days is barely the vacation time we could squeeze but it was very enjoyable and I highly recommend a visit for the unvisited. What strikes one from a background ...