Sorry I havent written anything for awhile! I havent been able to log
many hours online for the past few weeks since my cousin's PC blew up
and my social network here in Malaysia has expanded exponentially.

After 6-7 years of daily work and home access to the interweb, it's
taken some adjusting to get used to life offline. I'm sorry I havent
been able to individually reply all your emails. I have enjoyed
reading them however, so keep them coming!

I've got some amazing and funny stories to share with you, some of
which are not suitable for mass consumption ahaha. Let's see how many
I can type out before my brain implodes from the earbashing its
currently getting. Malaysian internet cafes are disturbingly loud
chambers of horror, with booming subwoofers blasting out the latest in
distracting violent video game sound effects and canto techno pop.

My trip down to Singapore was a blast. Thanks to Mike for putting me
up in 5 star resort accomodation and spinning some awesome hiphop! I
attended the premiere of my friend's film "Bubblegum, BJs and Bartop
Dancing" - an amusing mockumentary about the recent legalisation of
bartop dancing in Singapore (they now have their very own Coyote Ugly
bar complete with pole-dancing). The film argued that perhaps it's
also time for the Singapore Govt to revise other anachronistic laws
such as those outlawing the sale of bubblegum and oral sex, for which
you can still get a jail term! But to be fair to Singapore, there's an
ungodly amount of beautiful women there, I've had a great time on both
trips, and am continually impressed with how well-planned, green, and
pleasant the place is. As William Gibson once said -"It's like
Disneyland with the death penalty."

Back in KL, I've made some great friends who are not only fantastic
clubbing buddies but extraordinarily connected and entrepreneurial.
It's been quite inspirational hanging out with them. I've been helping
them out with the launch of their sleepwear label as well as planning
a huge rave party around the F1 Grand Prix in Shanghai... Yes, I've
started to make contacts in Shanghai before even arriving there!

I've been busy the past few days attending meetings, writing copy for
press releases, promotional flyers and sponsorship proposals. I've
also been doing some bizdev and marketing consulting for a skincare
company that sells whitening products. It's been quite a ride.

Naturally, I've also been fervently watching the Olympics and
barracking for both the Aussies and the Chinese into the early hours
of the morning. The Olympic coverage in Malaysia is nothing short of
fantastic - 6x channels covering different sports 24 hours a day. I've
been captivated by the taekwondo and fencing... and I never knew ping
pong and badminton could be so darn sexy. Roughly half the Olympic
coverage in Singapore was dedicated to these two sports. I watched
Singapore's best medal chance, Ronald Susilo, being defeated in the
Badminton Quarterfinals, live on a double-decker bus on my way home to
Holland V from Orchard Rd... if only we had live TV on the public
transport back in Oz eh?

Other local novelties I've taken a shine to, include: ying yong (half
coffee, half tea), boiled coke with ginger (surprisingly medicinal),
late night mee goreng and teh o ais, $4 movie tickets (Aust. cinemas
are a rort), Channel V Asia VJs, red bean ice potong and mango sago
loh (fresh mango puree with crushed ice and sago), bizarre drinking
games (asian's have no concept of "just drinking"), the expletive "Ji
Bai" (ok this is a bit juvenile but I find it amusing that people here
like to yell "vag*ina" in place of "fcuk"), samurai jack & spongebob
square pants (not local but I've been watching alot of TV with my
little cousins) and last but not least, crawling home at 5am and
sleeping under a ceiling fan until 1pm everyday... ah, am I making you
envious???

Anyway I'm flying out of KL tomorrow night and will arrive in Shanghai
8am Monday morning (10am Sydney time). That's when the real adventure
begins! I'm looking forward to the challenge of finding accomodation,
learning the language and settling into a city that boasts the same
population as Australia and Malaysia.