Topper's TravelsTopper Kain's blog. Topper Kain is a world-famous kazoo player and traditional norwegian food chef. He wants you to use the comments. Monday, July 11, 2005OK, this should be a really big update, but we'll see how long I actually want to write. As I speak I am sitting in an internet cafe in Penang, Malaysia. Yes, I Topper have finally become a real backpacker. I'm in a country that doesn't (actually, it's more like barely) speaks my langauge, with a giant backpack and an INCREDIBLY good exchange rate. You can stuff your face for like $2 here, with really good food. Internet is $0.50 an hour. It's great, I feel like I'm a colonial overlord... AHAHAHAThe way I ended up in Malaysia is a long involved story that basicly goes like this: I met a Malaysian girl at Monash, Malaysian girl invited me to Malaysia, I went to Malaysia. Vivian Chen is the best Chinese Malaysian who wants to be Australian ever. Vivian's brother is a hotshot in the hospitality business, so i just got a really good deal in a four star hotel on the island of Langkawi with Viv and family. There I saw the tomb and museum of the legandary princess Mahsuri, who was falsely executed for adultery and cursed the island for seven generations, then Pedang Gallery (actually I think its called something else), which is where the former prime minister of Malaysia put all the cool stuff other country's gave to Malaysia, and gave to him. The gallery was AMAZING in so many ways. The stuff that states give in high-level exchanges is beautiful and EXPENSIVE, but it also gives an incredibly cool look into how a nation thinks of itself, and how it wants other people to think of it. BTW- the gallery only had two things from the USA as far as i can tell- A box of potpurri and wooden peaches, and a model of a helicopter. China had hundreds of items, including the most amazing jade carvings and gemstone flowers. The rest of the day was spent at a crocodile farm, a black sand beach, and in a very impressive cable car ride that allowed us to see the entire island. At both nights the Chen's treated me to incredible chinese seafood, and I treated them to the site of a white boy who could eat foods as spicy as they ate. Mr. Chen said I must of been a Mexican in my past life. Ole`. Today I went diving in a marine park where the fish were so thick that they blocked your view. Amongst other things I saw stone fish, a school of squid, schools of huge groupers, and a massive school of yellow fish that kept on making designs that looked suspicously like slope fields. I hear a bio-math research project coming on. (Christ, wouldn't that be a great way to do research, diving in Malaysia). Okay, I need to go check into a hotel and (hopefully) find a way to call my parents. Later everyone, I hope to see everyone soon. .: posted by Topper 5:48 AM
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