'I' On Malaysia

Driving to the mall last weekend, I was quite surprised to be behind perhaps the most auspicious car I have come across in Malaysia.  It is probably not the most amazing thing to see for most people in this country but it did make me wonder about its value and who was driving the car.

Today marks the start of the Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year here, though other cultures/countries celebrate their New Year on this day as well).

It is the year of the Rat taking over from the year of the Pig, meaning that I would have been safe to put CNY decorations up in the office had I been inclined to – something I’ve done happily for the past two years, but not so this year for various reasons…  Wendy and I did put a few decorations up in our apartment though which are shown here.  Nothing fancy, and no Disney Mickey Mouse decorations have been put up; even though some of them look really good, Disney decorations are just far too commercial.

My Xmas holiday draws to an end today so am heading back to work tomorrow for the first time in three weeks.

It hasn’t been all roses either.  Started the holiday hosting a BBQ which I really enjoyed, and subsequently came away from with a flu that took a week to get rid of. 

My girlfriend also ended up with a bad allergy which made her eyelids swell up to the point where she almost couldn’t see out and it hurt to blink.

The New Year of 2008 started in a friend’s apartment looking out over the KL sky-line, watching the (rather unimpressive) fireworks. Yes, the fireworks that go off on Merdeka Day are way more impressive than the ones for the New Year. I figure everyone’s firework budget must get spent in August.

Yep, it’s time for greetings, SMS messages and all the fireworks, drinking and party games that you have been looking forward to for the past 365 days.

Oh, and the over-inflated entrance fees, taxi fares and, if you live near me, closed roads leading in to the capital city.

So Happy New Year! to everyone and have an even better year this year!