Aaron's in Malaysia

White on White.

2008-08-01T17:16:00.005+08:00

I spy with my eye something...... white. Orang Putih? YES!
There are not too many Caucasians this side of SE Asia, particularly in Terengganu. Most times, it seemed like just Adam and I. So one day we decided to do a potrait series of one another, secretly capturing any other Whities we encountered. This was easier said than done. First, we needed a camera handy. Second, we needed to be together so one of us could take the picture of the other. Third we needed to be in a good position to get the image. Much like UFO's or Sasquatch, our subjects were very elusive and usually on the go. Once or twice it sent us running down the street to be in position for the shot.
In Malay "Orang Putih" translates directly to "Person White." There is also a second term for white people: "Mat Salleh." This is the more polite version also indicating "Foreigner."
Below are the fruits of our labor. Enjoy!

Ko Phi Phi (Southern Thailand, Andaman Sea)

2008-07-26T13:59:00.011+08:00

This month I had the pleasure of making another trip into Thailand. My Malaysian visa was about to expire; I had to leave the country and re-enter in order to have it renewed. This time I got to see the south and another stunning island: Ko Phi Phi. Here's a little trivia; this is the island filmed in the movie "The Beach" starring Leo DiCaprio. You can check it out, although I believe it is a cinema bowel movement.
In a coincidental matter of fact, I was contacted by a girl named Rachel through this blog. She had been traveling through SE Asia and was wondering about Malaysia. One thing led to another and we agreed to meet in the south of Thailand, see Ko Phi Phi, and then travel to Malaysia together. She turned out to be a really cool girl and a new friend, I'm very happy we met. It also turns out that her family and my cousins on Staten Island are very close. We also both went to LaGuardia HS just two years apart! Very small world indeed.
Here's some stuff to look at from the trip.

After climbing a billion steps to the top of this cliff, I could see the entire island. This has also been made the evacuation point after the Tsunami pummeled this island in 2004.
One of the amazing beach coves in the morning. The tide would sometimes retreat for hundreds of yards, leaving beached boats and only ankle deep water. Rachel throwing up the standard in Asian picture posing...
This picture makes me laugh. We both look so unhappy to be sitting on such a gorgeous beach. I believe we were very concentrated at the time, trying to capture the reflection in our shades. Maybe a little NY attitude to boot.
In terms of development, Ko Phi Phi is way ahead of most of the islands on the East coast of Malaysia. There were actual streets, restaurants, bars, cafes, book stores and even a 7 Eleven... some would certainly argue that this is a bad thing and ruins precious land conservation. Most times I might also agree, however, basking in some modern convenience and good western food was a nice change of pace.
Best time of day.A PUB!!!!!
Me and Rachel!
A few nights we even dined over Italian! AND- it wasn't bad! I even had my first glass of wine in 5 months... gotta be red of course.
This island also had its fair share of domestic dogs, stray dogs, cats, kittens, birds, even pet monkeys and squirrels. I wish I had my camera handy for some of the latter ones. But, here's a couple I caught.
The tiniest kitten....

This lil fella...

Sketchs & Doodles....

2008-07-07T23:14:00.007+08:00

What would an animation director's blog be without sketches and doodles? Here's some quick stuff I've done while living here ..... more to come this week.

Adam passed out on the couch.

Stress doodle at work.

Crazy Bends.

2008-07-06T00:08:00.003+08:00

Check out this overzealous bendy straw. I thought this was an awesome mistake until I checked the rest of the juice boxes I bought. Apparently here, two bends are better than one! Malaysian manufacturing is literally one upping the competish.

Salamat Malam, Terengganu.

2008-06-28T22:54:00.005+08:00

(Goodnight KT)
A couple quick shots of our fair city just before nightfall.

"Malaysia, eat your heart out. Fo real!"

2008-06-27T21:01:00.002+08:00

Here we are with our new (old), Malaysian Motorcycles. We leased these puppies from a couple of our animators. Crusin' around town has been a blast. Not pictured are our helmets, don't worry mom.

Left to right: Adam on "White Lightning," Me on "Ol Sally Blue Eyes."

Dinner of Champions

2008-06-23T23:07:00.004+08:00

There is a Chinese dish here pronounced "Bah-coo-teh." Essentially it is stewed pork soup and is incredibly good. There is one place in China Town we often venture to for this delight. Along with the pork, they throw in some mushrooms, lettuce, some spongy stuff, and tripe (pig intestine) Imagine a hot dog minus the filling. Trust me, its great. Malaysians have a version substituting beef (daging) for pork that I've yet to try.

Below is my dinner served in a piping hot clay pot. (Say that 3 times fast). This is a classic Chinese table setting: A side of rice, soy sauce, raw garlic and diced chillies. One mixes the garlic, chillies and soy into a small dish for dipping or drizzling. And yes, that is ice in my beer. I don't remember when I started doing this but it's common here and I love it now. It really helps cut through the day's heat.

This is the outside of the restaurant. Most of these places look like holes in the wall, but serve marvelous food.

The pork is stewed in a big pot with spices and tons of fat, then ladled out onto the cutting board, chopped up and served immediately.

fun word

2008-06-22T21:34:00.002+08:00

Pronounced, "EE- steem- eh- wah" this word in Malay means "special."
As in, Masakan Istimewa (mah's- a- con , EE-steem-eh-wah); special dish or Cengkerik Istimewa (Chen- cur- ick, EE-steem-eh-wah); special cricket.
It's very fun to say. Try whispering it to yourself.

Long Lost....

2008-06-11T22:49:00.006+08:00

OK, wow - I just found this photo among other misc. pics of things here. I thought I posted it a while back. Anyways, in the middle there is Fendi. He was our guide on a fruitless excursion to see fireflies. He also explained how his best friend died because he ate watermelon, then ate honey. Apparently, Malays consider honey to be "hot" and watermelon to be "cold." If one accidentally mixes the two, disaster occurs. Or, "depending on how strong your blood is, you might just feel a headache." He said. He also told us how he used to be addicted to heroine and how polygamy in Malaysia is legal. "Only if your can prove in front of a panel of officials that your hero," he called it, "is strong by coughing and making it jump." Of course.
It was a great night.

left to right: Me, Fendi, Marty, Adam.

Jungle Fever

2008-06-11T20:57:00.013+08:00

This past weekend we took a trip north to another of Terengganu's islands. Called, Pulau Perhentian, this lil place is actually two islands separated by half a mile of ocean blue. It was recommended to us by locals and friends remarking it for its inexpensive lodging and relaxed atmosphere. However true, the journey there is tough. A three hour bus ride, then waiting at a jetty another hour or more for a boat to take us to the island. All in all it's about the same price (when including additional travel costs) as Redang, which is just a quick boat ride from work. Still, we had a good time.

We took a trip through the jungle to get to the other side of the island.

A few rather large Monitor Lizards crossed our path. This was the only one I could snap a quick pic of, it was about four feet long.

This is a stock photo just to show you what they look like in detail.

Here's a crappy lil mural of Perhentian. On the right is the Flag of Malaysia. Seem familiar? I think Betsy Ross did some freelancing.

All the beaches on the island are independent inlets. To access the one next to where we stayed, there was a meandering wooden plank bridge over rocks and jungley hooha we had to use. Somehow the Indiana Jones theme worked its way in to my head whenever I crossed it.

The other side....

Bizarre ....

2008-05-03T15:02:00.008+08:00

I wandered around China Town in Bangkok and spied some weird stuff. Below is a mask store open year round. Why? I have no idea.

Just in case breast augmentation is too expensive, here's some equipment to get ya started. Don't mind the severed arms...

I also came across this toy store housing some very "non-PC" items. You'll see...

Creepy little dolls

"Aghem...."

They also had this toy piano....

TukTuk Ride Through Bangkok

2008-05-03T14:51:00.005+08:00

While in Bangkok, we took a ride in a TukTuk. Surprisingly, this one actually took us where we wanted to go. Here's some stuff to give you the experience I had....

View from the back seat.

Bangkok

2008-04-25T22:40:00.018+08:00

I just returned from a trip to Bangkok last week. Thailand is a very different experience from that of Ternegganu. Instead of chants in Muslim blasted from Mosques preaching conservative who knows what..... in Bangkok, one can hear the cocaphany of girls yelling "massage!" to passers by or taxi drivers offering a visit to the "ping-pong show." (Which, is not played with paddles.... I will say no more.) This city offers a very different side of the coin.
There is also an extremely high population of white folk. Travelers, ex-pats and the like all flock here. As a result the tourism and commercial industry are booming. Below is Khoasan Road, the mecca for tourism and commercialism in Bangkok.

However, it's not all sex and commerce. The people, the food, the hospitality, the architecture are very nice. There is a beautiful backdrop of Buddhist temples and ideals for those who seek them.

Below is The Royal Palace. It is very common to see a sign that reads "Long Live The King."

In addition to general sight seeing, I had the pleasure of getting reacquainted with an old friend, David Lawitts. He has been living in Thailand for three years completing a masters study. He also happens to be fluent in Thai, which was of great assistance getting around. Below is a dock where we waited to take a boat taxi to china town.

Below from left to right: David, Anna, Adam

This is The Temple of Dawn as seen from our boat on the river.

Finally, here is a picture of a Tuk Tuk. These are like tiny cabs you can find throughout the city. However, unlike real cabs that take you from point A to B, a Tuk Tuk will take you on a meandering journey making at least one stop at a massage parlor or tailor shop that commissions him to do do. If you are white, and have not been told this already, chances are you will find out for yourself.

They stake out tourists passing by and hope to catch their fish.

More to come.............

Linen Suit Stoke À La Model Pose.

2008-04-25T11:59:00.005+08:00

I recently returned from Bangkok. There, I purchased this full linen suit, three shirts and two silk ties, all custom tailored for around 200 bucks. I figured this was the best way to show them to you.

OFFICE

2008-04-23T22:08:00.008+08:00

Someone recently asked why I had so many topless photots of myself and none of the studio where I worked. Although that point is only slightly valid, I figured I would oblige anyway. Here are some images from inside our hive.

This is a handful of animators and designers from our crew.
(There are a total of 90). Can you guess where I am?
Here's a clue: Think "white guy wearing pink."

Here are some workspaces. It was break time when I took these.

This was the scene outside my office one day while nearly 100 computers were being unpacked and installed.

Merang River Safari

2008-03-30T15:59:00.015+08:00

This weekend we took a ride by boat up the Merang River, about a half hour from KT. We were guided by an employee of a local tourism company called Ping Anchorage. One the way, we saw two Monitor Lizards exploring the river banks. The larger of the two was around 4.5 ft long. We docked at a jetty and headed into a village, whose chief revenue came from making palm thatched roofing (cost= 15 cents a yard) and extracting sugar from coconut juice. Which, sells for around 30 cents a package.
We also came to a man who had 5 monkeys, chained to trees by their necks. He "trains" them to climb palm trees and collect coconuts. Then, after three months, he sells them to local coconut farmers for 150 RM each (about 50 dollars). This section of the trip was rather disturbing. Why the farmers do not just use ladders is beyond me. I'm looking into agencies who might help free and rehabilitate creatures like these.
The man showed off his monkey's skill and sent one up a nearby tree. Once up there, it twisted the coconuts until they broke free and came crashing to the ground. Each was about the size of a volley ball and weighed around ten pounds. If one fell on your head, you might die. Our guide opened them with a machete and we all drank the juice. I also shared a cigarette made from coconut bark. It was a very surreal journey.
I shot some video of the monkeys. I will post that as soon as I can.

Journey up the Merang River.
These were the variety of gigantic F#ing! spiders literally hanging from every tree. I'm not kidding. I've never seen so many arachnid ever. As soon as we got off at the jetty there was a tree with around 20 of these puppies hanging from massive webs. They were commonly the size of an open adult hand including finger length. I'm not sure if they were poisonous or not. Our guide was not too fluent in English.

This was a field with grazing Malaysian Buffalo.

That is our guide walking through the village where the monkey's were kept.

Coconut slaves.
Village road.

Back to Pulau Redang

2008-03-30T12:58:00.011+08:00

Two weeks ago we traveled from sleepy Terengganu to even sleepier Pulau Redang again. We stayed at a much less expensive resort than the first trip. It was on a long coast of beach surrounded by coral. The resort offered snorkeling at a marine park conservation, filled with natural reefs and fish tucked back in one of the island's inlets. Schools of fish swam right against me, one even bite my toe. There was also a huge Moray Eel living in the reef, revealing 4 ft of its massive body at one point.
As the sun set, the moon rose up from the water. It was one of the most beautiful things I've seen. At night, the jungle around us came to life. We could see giant bats flying around and hear monkeys playing in the trees.
It's truly a gorgeous and exotic place.

Random, tiny island on the way to Redang.

Ahhhh... beach.

Sunset.

Passing clouds made a keyhole for the low moon. The light became a spot on the water.

Moon rising over the water.

EPICT Animation Studio

2008-03-04T17:01:00.000+08:00

This is the studio. We work on the top floor right now. Soon we will be getting all the new computers and moving to our offices on the second floor.

Mighty Mosque

2008-03-04T16:49:00.000+08:00

This is the white Mosque right next to the studio. It's a huge group of buildings with gardens and fountains. We can hear prayers being blasted from speakers at various times of the day. (Adam took this shot- he has a "stich assist" on his camera that allows for rather seemless panoramas.)

Malu-malu plant

2008-03-04T16:38:00.000+08:00

Mimosa Pudica, called "Malu-malu" in Malay (meaning shy), is a local plant that literally wilts when touched. The plant's mechanism insures against insects being able to land, and damage it. It's also really fun to play with.

Lion Dance- Chinese New Year

2008-03-04T16:31:00.000+08:00

This is part of the "Lion Dance" that was performed outside my hotel in Kuala Lumpur, during the Chinese New Year. It was taken with my small digi cam- the quality sucks, but you get the idea.

2008-02-17T20:10:00.000+08:00

Island Pru- what can I say?

2008-02-17T20:09:00.001+08:00

Mo' beach.

2008-02-17T20:05:00.001+08:00

"Riiiight by da beach.... BOYEE!!"

-Halfbaked

2008-02-17T20:03:00.001+08:00

This is the production crew: Adam Sacks (left), and Marty Knox (right).

2008-02-17T20:00:00.001+08:00

This was the view from my room.

2008-02-17T19:48:00.001+08:00

This weekend we traveled to Redang Island. I cant wait to return. This island is where pricey resorts sit along coasts and inlets of the most beautiful beaches and scenery I will probably ever see. We traveled by ferry from a pier in KT. It is still the off season for island life here, and we found out why. By boat the trip is about 1.5 hours, and took us through the roughest sea water trek I hope to ever have. We were floating over 10 foot swells. Within minuets of our trip, passengers were fumbling for barf bags. I was not expecting this- no one had said a thing. However, the destination was completely worth it. Pictured is the entry to the Berjaya Resort where we stayed. (It was overcast when we arrived, but the clouds parted quickly).

2008-02-17T19:43:00.001+08:00

This a photo of our local Mosque at night. We live in a suberb of Kuala Terengganu, called Kuala Ibai. Prayers and readings from the Koran can be heard from load speakers mounted on the tower.

2008-02-17T19:40:00.000+08:00

These are the flags that support the BN, as mentioned below.

2008-02-17T19:32:00.001+08:00

Currently, in Terenganu, there is a political election hanging in the balance. In a few weeks the current governmental party (BN- the reform Muslims, responsible for many current Western influences, including my own presence here) is being apposed by the PAS party (Radical Muslims, who used to have the power over Malaysia). Before this election takes place, flags are being posted throughout the city. In the picture you can see the banner for PAS. Their flag is all green with a white circle in the center. The green represents Islam. The BN have another flag that is blue with a white scale on it.

2008-02-17T19:27:00.001+08:00

This is a 360 view of a Chinese restaurant in Terengganu called "Ocean." Appropriately named by its locale. This place is great- cheap authentic Chinese food, and the all important cans of beer they serve. "Tiger" is my new beer of choice.

2008-02-17T19:17:00.001+08:00

It was Chinese New Year when we arrived in KL. This was the "Lion Dance" that took place outside our hotel. Two dudes are hiding under the Lion, balancing on the posts. They performed rather dangerous jumps across the tops of the posts, all the while, acting as a beast. The eyes of the head also blink. (Behind the scene, are the monorail tracks). Really amazing stuff.

2008-02-17T19:09:00.000+08:00

Here I am posting up real hard at the base of Kuala Lumpur's "Petronas Towers." These were once the tallest building in the world until they were rivaled with the Shanghai World Financial Center.

BLOG CREATED!!

2008-02-12T18:24:00.000+08:00

Hi all-

As promised- I have started a blog to chronicle my Malaysian adventures. I have taken this initial step (setting up the space), to post stories, pictures, videos, and any other forms of media I can use to share with you my experience on the otherside of the world.
I am definately not in Kansas anymore......

more to come soon.