Cuttlefish

cuttlefish |ˈkətlˌfi sh |

noun ( pl. same or -fishes)

a swimming marine mollusk that resembles a broad squid, having eight arms and two long tentacles that are used for grabbing prey. Its internal skeleton is cuttlebone, which it uses for adjusting buoyancy.

cuttlefish

• Order Sepioidea, class Cephalopoda: Sepia and other genera.

ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from cuttle + fish ¹ .

I ingested one of these things for the first time today (actually I had a few of them) and I didn't even know I was going to when I ordered my meal! Although this thing is sort of weird looking it is tasty. Sometimes it's a good idea to try things with complete blind faith. The dish I ate is called Fried Mee Jawa. Click this: link from foodstreet.com.my to learn more about Mee Jawa! 

Car Accident, Salsa Dancing & 86 Stories To The Top Of The World.

Well, my past five days have been quite enthralling! First, I was a passenger in an automobile accident last week. My friends' Benz was the last link in a three Tin-Lizzie like, chain pile-up. Luckily, by the time the middle car played bumper-car boogie with my buddies 1994 Mercedes, it was merely a low impact incident for us. The real loser was the driver at the core, as he got it in the front and rear, both figuratively and literally. Most important though, no one in any of the involved vehicles was injured. Mercedes Benz bumpers are pretty amazing as well, apart from a few scuffs it appears like nothing ever happened.

Later that week I went out to a local Latin club called QBA, inside the Westin Hotel Resort in downtown Kuala Lumpur. To my surprise it was one of my friends' birthday! He kept the event a closely guarded secret. Never mind though, now I can mark it on the calendar for next year! Hours of dancing, towers of beer and a piece of cake, that was my Friday!

Today I took the lift for a ride up and down the Petronas Towers and captured some really jaw-dropping views! 

(Trivia: The Petronas Towers were featured in the film Entrapment and they are the tallest twin towers in the world).    

                  

Room Service @ Victory Hotel - Fried Meehoon / Bee Hoon Singapore Style

I'm so happy to be spending my final weeks in Malaysia in comfort. I really feel more like a local now having a home base and the opportunity to learn the area from a central vantage point. Backpacking from place to place has it's pluses but when I came to Asia this time I thought I'd do that for a while and then find an apartment. Well, I did not find an apartment this time. However, I did find the hotel I'm at and a huge advantage, that being room-service. 

The menu at my hotel is from a nearby restaurant called Sakura, which delivers. They have Chinese, Singaporean, Malaysian and western style dishes on their menu. A new found favorite for me is Meehoon, click this link: Fried Meehoon / Bee Hoon Singapore Style, for a recipe. It's a delicious light meal made with noodles, seasonings, vegetables, shrimps and meat as desired. When I get back to the United States I'll be preparing this one for my mom to try. She's going to love it!

TRAVERSE

WVITV © 2012 Photo by: Michael J Trojak

It's a jungle out there! Are you making your way through foliage of life? 

I started a countdown a couple of weeks ago. If I live to one hundred years old, I have 62 years, 1 month, 30 days and so many hours, seconds, etc., until check out time. Put like that, it's a reminder for me to do something with myself. (What? I don't always know).

traverse |trəˈvərs|

verb [ trans. ]

1 travel across or through : he traversed the forest.

We are all just making are way across time, through this life. I try to make my journey and adventure! 

despair

WVITV © 2012 Photo by: Michael J Trojak

I'm not going to write a blog post about how people should be grateful for what they have and make a cliche remark or two about how someone else likely has it so much worse. What's the point in that anyway?  

A PICTURE SAYS A THOUSAND WORDS. 'nough said.

"TRY" Time In The Mirror

TRY
 (photo from Bangkok - interesting the word try was captured - at the time I hadn't noticed)

It has been a full year now since I started my latest odyssey. Life as I remember it then seems like it was just yesterday and forever ago all wrapped up in some kind of weird time-warp. Time is a very interesting thing. The present can feel so surreal, the future so uncertain and the past like a dream. 

I have experienced a lot over the last year. The one thing I continue to work on is being fully engaged in the moment. I think planning for the future and reflecting on the past are both healthy things. However, I don't want reflection to turn into dwelling, nor do I want my planning to become obsessive. Time is our most precious resource and it shouldn't be wasted. That said, I will take the advice from this photo I took recently, while enjoying a moment in Bangkok and always "TRY" to do and be my best.

I Have Decided To Live In Malaysia

WHAT?

Yes you read that correctly! Wait... No, it's not permanent.      

When I set out on this trip I always kept it in the back of my mind that I might want to settle down over here. There certainly are plenty of opportunities for me to live in Asia. My heart was set on exploring and leaving it partly to chance and partly to how I feel about what I can make of a life over here. Well, so far the past couple of months haven't been anything like what I imagined. Is that bad news? No! It's perfectly fine. I have had one hell of an experience and I'm glad I came. In life nothing really turns out as we imagine it, imagining things is the best way to get started though. I not only got started by I feel satisfied with the outcome and myself for doing what I set out to do. 

As for living in Malaysia, I am thrilled at this point. First, I feel I've placed enough miles on myself and explored enough that I'm ready to chill out in one spot for a while. I'm in a great neighborhood in the city and many of my favorite things to do are close by and easy to get to. So, I secured a room for the entire month and I'm going to mingle among the locals here in Kuala Lumpur until it's time to fly back to the states. Okay, I'm still considering a weekend trip to Singapore but if I go I have a place already set up to come back to. This is my home for the next thirty days!

Cheers!

Travel Lesson 101

Do you like to sit or squat? 

Do you like camping? Would you quit your job and live in the woods, in a tent, without your TV, cellphone, computer, etc.? Relocating abroad is a similar question. 

The lesson: Before attempting to relocate overseas first, know yourself. Also, know what you need and what you want and what the difference is. In addition to that know how much you're willing to compromise. Then go out and explore! 

Bottom line the grass isn't greener on the other side, it's the same green everywhere! What do I mean? Well, take a look at the pictures above. I took these on a previous trip to China in 2006. One is the typical Chinese style of toilet where you squat and the other is a western style toilet which you can sit on. What comes to mind? Are you thinking, hmm that's interesting I'd be willing to try the other kind or are you thinking something else? 

If you aren't intrigued by differences traveling will be tough. If you have dreams of relocating someplace and think all will be so much better because it's cheaper or people are going to be nicer to you just as examples, think again. Life will be different and it's that fact which makes exploration something you need to do or something you need to avoid. 

I've been to and lived in a lot of different places. I love something about them all, even the places I've grown tired of. Something I can say with certainty that has helped me is that I'm willing to try things out because I know what I want and what I need and I know the difference. 

Happy travels!

Bangkok Was Buzzin'

WVITV © 2012 Photo by: Michael J Trojak

As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words; above, a photo I took of bees swarming a water lilly in the garden, on the grounds in front of the Grand Palace of Bangkok Thailand. This illustration sums up my trip to Bangkok: a very intriguing, subtly dangerous, eloquent & beautiful, hive of activity that isn't completely understood by this outsider, but nevertheless respected and appreciated.  

I suppose I could go on about the sort of "checklist" of activities I managed to complete or how my first impression of the city was thrown by the sites and smells I'm not used to, but I'd rather not. If you want to know more about Bangkok from this blog have a look at the photos I took in the Photos Tab. I didn't include any description or labels, nor are they in any real order. Flip through the pictures and enjoy their cornucopia of chaotic randomness just as I enjoyed it in person.


Of course, if you really want to learn about Bangkok I recommend a visit!