Dingle Speaks

While I was waiting at the airport the other day I noticed a nun sitting opposite me.

I was just starting to think about how easy it must be to travel as a nun, no worldly posessions, only the clothes on your back and maybe a change of habit, when I noticed her digging around the inside of her habit for something, “ah, she’s probably digging around for her prayer beads I thought”.

No, I couldn’t have been wronger:

Yes, that’s an iPhone4 which she started clicking away on (presumably the VirtuaPrayer-Bead app, I mean nobody wants to carry ACTUAL prayer beads in 2011 do they..).

Or did I understand it wrong? Are nuns allowed worldly possessions these days?

That was the headline in the Malaysian New Sunday Times paper which most caught my eye as I sat down to eat breakfast at 7am on Sunday (having just finished my 2 hour workout – I follow the 5BX Canadian airforce regimen for reference).

It’s a splendid article and I wasted no time in tearing it out to share with H, much to the annoyance of the owner of the paper sitting at the next table who had been trying to snatch it back from me for the last minute or so.

The article goes on to say “A man married to a woman who is as good as or better than a prostitute in bed has no reason to stray. A man’s appetite, which is greater than women’s, cannot be denied. And rather than allowing him to sin, a woman must do all she can to ensure his desires are met.”

Well, they’re preaching to the converted here, I’m all for it, H is going to be thrilled when I show her the article. However, I’m not in a position to properly rate her performance as I’ve never solicited the services of a first-class prostitute, they’re.. well… too expensive!

It turns out it was written by a lady called Dr Rohaya Mohamed, the vice-president of the “Obedient Wives Club” (H’s application form is already in the post), the club promotes female obedience as the solution to social problems such as infidelity, prostitution, domestic violence and abandoned babies which apparently stem from a lack of belief in god and the failure of women to keep their husbands content”

So there you have it women, it’s all your fault, everything! EVERYTHING!!!

Well, it’s been a busy few weeks, firstly my family came to visit for a couple of weeks and we went touring round China, taking in Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and H’s hometown. Then the day after my family left I flew down to Kuala Lumpur for an exhibition and customer meetings, I’m here until next weekend (with Singapore and Penang squeezed in the middle somewhere).

Anyway, it’s been a while since I posted anything, let’s see what I’ve got for you.

Ok, I’ll skip my family trip, birthday, wedding lunch etc until later and post about KL. It’s actually something like my 4th trip to KL  but this is the first time I’ve stopped in the city centre. Normally our distributors here put us out in the Sunway Pyramid (15km outside KL) for convenience in visiting customers etc. we’ve never actually ventured into KL itself as it’s not convenient and my only glimpse of the Petronas towers was on a free afternoon I once had in which I visited a friend in Bangsar for a late lunch before my evening flight.

So, despite my previous trips I can happily say this is my first trip to KL proper.

I’m stopping at Fraser Place which I can thoroughly recommend, for around 100 USD per night I’ve basically got a very clean and well equipped studio apartment with free internet, a kitchen (no use to me..), very comfy bed, music system with ipod dock, LCD screen with DVD player etc, all within 5 mins walking distance from KLCC, one of the best places I’ve stayed in a long time!

Anyway, here’s some random photos from my first few days here:

The first night I ate street food at Changkat Bukit Bintang, decent food, cheap, but waaaaay too hot and sweaty outside, made worse by the spicy food, when I moved on after around an hour I was drenched.

The glove for handling the bread while cutting in my hotel, it's a little known fact that Malaysians are born with only two fingers and a thumb

I met up with John on Friday night (you may remember him from old Shanghai days), he took me to the originally named “Skybar” (doesn’t every city have one of these??) on the top of the Traders hotel for views of the Petronas Towers at night.

continue reading…

I just got back from a whistle stop visit to Kuala Lumpur, I was there for a grand total of 30 hours to give a conference paper.

It went mostly well, around 60 people were attending (more than we anticipated) and they seemed interested in what I was saying.

Oh, when I say “mostly well” what I mean is that it went as well as it could considering I stepped into thin air while trying to point something out on the screen and fell off the stage..

Anyway, it got their attention!