King of the fruits

(potp: don't take this on the bus!)

STINKY OR NOT?

The picture above has been taken on the bus on one of my commuting trips. It is not really surprising that smoking, eating and littering on the bus will make your wallet less heavy quite soon. This is common sense. Nevertheless, there is one more sign, depicting a thorny fruit called 'Durian'. The name comes from the Malay word 'Duri', which basically stands for 'spikes'.

Why would it be necessary to focus on this particular object, you ask? Well, as always, beauty and maybe the quality of smell lies in the eyes of the beholder. However, one day when I went for a walk on a local market my nose was suddenly exposed (let's put it this way) to a distinctive, nauseating smell, which was situated somewhere between a very old tropical fruit that had been neglected and forgotten in the back of the kitchen or very ripe cheese.



The first of the two pictures shows a typical durian fruit which can grow up to 40 cm in length and 30 cm in diameter (wikipedia). The other one depicts a stall on a market in Kuala Lumpur (please note the electric installation in front of the picture..this is worth another post...). At first I did not know where the smell came from. I have been told before that Durian smell was phenomenal (in a positive way..by a local Singaporean, of course), but that day KL offered the first opportunity to get a genuine personal and permanent impression.

An even better description comes from Richard Sterling (as quoted in "The Travelling Curmudgoen") who says that "..its odor is best described as pig-sh*t, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away. Despite its great local popularity, the raw fruit is forbidden from some establishments such as hotels, subways and airports, including public transportation in South East Asia."

Additionally, I should not forget to mention that Durian is often referred to as one of the most dangerous fruits in the world, since the combination of heavy weight and spiky surface can lead to serious injuries when it bumps into your head while you are strolling around under the trees.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

On the other hand Durian ("the king of the fruits") is being processed to many at least deliciously looking things like cakes or tarts (have not been bold enough to try it yet..but one Durian cake is waiting for its famous moment in the fridge), which are supposed to be almost free of the overwhelming smell.

Maybe I am going to give it a try in the next couple of days when I run out of chocolate. I will keep you posted..

Maik

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian

Insomnia

(potp: Mandarin gardens night watchman having a nap)

KUALA LUMPUR!

I just came back from a nice weekend trip in Kuala Lumpur. Some pictures are up already. Take a look if your interested. As I mentioned at my photo-site, the city of Kuala Lumpur is crazy in many aspects..there will be a detailed report coming up in the next couple of days..

HOW LONG DO YOU SLEEP?

This time the picture of the post is soo symptomatic for Singapore. I took it late September on a Sunday morning around 3am when I got back home to Mandarin Gardens. There is supposed to be security staff around all the night to keep an eye on the complex, but that very moment the cosy warmth of the night obviously was too much for the lonely watchman. Well, this is still understandable for me, since he was guarding the gate just by himself the whole night. The 'problem' is somewhat deeper..I have the feeling that people here work so much that they look like in desperate need for a holiday already on a usual Monday evening.

I am always fascinated to see Asians falling asleep in the subway or on the bus, just to wake up seconds before they have to get out again. It seems to me (no proof here!) that a large amount of people gets out of their beds like zombies in the morning, hardly capable of opening their eyes..just to continue their sleep on public means of transport. Virtually EVERYBODY who looks remotely Asian sleeps in the subway..that really is a major difference to Europe, where people mostly do something..like reading, playing computer games or just staring with this typical empty look to the opposite wall. To be honest, I would love to be able to do this wake-up-at-the-spot-thing. But I guess it would not be very funny to practice it...most probably, my body would totally use the opportunity to sleep in. As everyone knows, driving noise leads to an overwhelming tiredness...I am almost certainly that, whenever I would fall asleep, I would wake up in a very unfamiliar place..:-)

LIFE QUALITY?

Working hours for locals are generally way beyond many things exercised in Germany (as far as I know from my limited experience). Companies here in Singapore have an extraordinary high rate of fluctuation..which has its reason in the fact that many people often just accept the next better package that pops up and that workers are generally stressed to the breaking point, e.g. get no money for doing plenty of overtime. Of course, this makes labour very cheap and contributes to the sustaining economic growth. Luckily, my work load with Infineon is quite clearly defined. That's why I can indeed enjoy a standard 5-day-week, which is extremely luxurous here I guess.

I am still of the opinion that I would rather work for a good living, and not to live for work, like many people seem to do here. I still might be wrong, since my insight is not very profounded yet. Nevertheless, what I see during my everyday commuting tells me that to have so little free time during the week that it bites of a big part of your sleep is widely socially accepted in this society. I am definitely telling this from a very ethnocentric (biased) point of view...I guess this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of local work ethics.

Much more to explore then..I guess

Good night,

Maik