Friday, December 26, 2008

Near death

I had a near death experience.

Well, not a real text book one with a tunnel, light and family members you really didn’t want to meet so soon after your demise – give me a break, I just died - waving at the other end, pretending to be happy to see you... No, not one like that... more one according to my own definition, where you think you might die or are about to die, or are close to dying, ergo: near death.

It was at lake Titiwangsa, a lake and a park nearby the city, somewhat on the outside at the north-east.

All was fine in the beginning. The weather was nice, the Ferris wheel was nice. A bit small compared to the Singapore or London one, but it’s Malaysia, give them a break. At least they have one too.

After spinning our rounds in it, we took a stroll through the park. There was rain coming, that was obvious from the sky, but we thought we could make it. Not so. Half way the park around the lake it started.

Now, I’ve witnessed many rain storm in the city. First there’s wind. KL is never windy, the air in that city doesn’t move, perhaps up and down, but never sideways, so when it starts to blow in KL you know rain is coming. For the scientifically inclined: it’s a quite sudden drop in air pressure which causes this. Then the rain starts and you use your umbrella or you step inside and wait. It’s violent sometimes, but vertical.
But out in the open, over the lake, without the shelter of big buildings, I experienced the real violence of these short rain storms. The wind was cold and aggressive, the temperature must have dropped at least 8 degrees in a few minutes, and it blew the rain almost horizontally through the wooden cabin we had fled into. Just a roof on some pillars, not meant to keep the rain out. We were not alone, some 15 people were seeking shelter, mostly Malaysians. They were smiley and laughing and protecting a father with his baby against the rain by standing all around him. A sweet gesture of community spirit I thought, a bit jealous of the baby.

But then it started: Thunder. We were standing on soaking soil. Water in our sandals, and lightning. Flash Bang... Not ‘flash'......... ‘bang’... No... Flash Bang, instantaneously. Which means it’s right above you (for the scientifically inclined).

And all the knowledge I had gained in a life time, about electricity and water, came rushing through my brain, like the rain through that cabin. The Malaysians were still smiling. I wasn’t... The bangs were ear deafening and the flashes scared the crap out of me. If one would hit the ground, even indirectly, we would all be toast. It was dangerous, no kidding. A measly shelter under treetops, standing in water with some millions of volts right above our heads. I’ve electrocuted myself many time as a kid by playing with sockets and plugs, but a lightning bolt you won’t survive that easily. Of course this story ends in an anti-climax, since we obviously did survive it, else I wouldn’t be typing this… Nobody died, the baby was fine and we all went our merry way after the rain had stopped. Sorry to disappoint you all with this somewhat lame ending (a tree had fallen down though a bit further in the park, at least that’s something...). 

  Click on the pics for a bigger version... 

Monday, December 22, 2008

Coming soon...

Who's this guy...? And more importantly: what's he doing on my blog?

The story of Sri Aman, coming soon on a blog near you...
(picture taken February 2008 - click on it for the bigger one...)

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Green

The thing about Borneo, when you drive through it (which I partly did with the family of Erick): it's green!

If you can't stand green, closing your eyes (or staying away) will be your only option. Else there's just green, green, green and green... everywhere: dark green, light green, in between green, hard green, soft green, every thinkable shade of green, all green, everywhere green, the whole year green. It's amazing and a bit overwhelming and beautiful green.

I'm going through the pictures I took there. It's a while back, in February 2008, and I never got around to it properly. Took almost a 1000 pictures, so you can imagine that takes some time to sort, throw and edit... Here's a few in anticipation of the full album... Click on them for the fuller size...





Friday, December 19, 2008

Commodity

It's such a commodity, quite plain, not something I ever gave a whole lot of thought, until I saw it in the wild. And I suddenly realised I had never seen it for real and still on the plant, only in plastic bags. Which explains why I was quite stunned: I didn't even recognise it. It's not a spectacular picture, the focus is a bit shifty cause it was quite windy out there and the thing kept moving...

Picture taken on Borneo (Sarawak, near Sri Aman - Malaysia) on 21 February 2008, click on it for the bigger size...

rice in the wild... obviously a close up, it's really not that big :-)

Monday, December 8, 2008

East coast II

It was a bit of a paradise. Only one big hotel and otherwise clean white beaches, warm clear seawater, a little market place, and lots of green with monkeys climbing around. They got as close as the hotel balconies. The warnings on the windows were clear enough: keep the doors closed or you might catch a monkey surfing the Internet on your laptop in some palm tree near the beach.

The whole album is online soon, here another two highlights. Click on the picture to see the bigger version.



Saturday, December 6, 2008

East coast

One of the cuter photos of a trip to the east coast of Malaysia. Only today got around to reviewing the pics. More soon...

Monkey enjoying an orange (click on the picture to see a bigger version)