We are currently taking a mid-dinner break between our first course of roti chanai and martabak before we head to another Malay food stall for some sate and perhaps some fish curry. Kota Kinabalu is a very interesting town. It’s…
Today I (jm) went to Melaka for the day with my boss. Actually, we had a presentation to do at a high school which was about 30 minutes away from town, but we used it as an excuse to have…
True story: The Italian Ambassador to Malaysia in the mid-1980s said, upon leaving, that he was glad to be going back to Italy where the political factions, corruption, and infighting were easy to understand. Malaysian politics were just too hard…
Today I (jm) went back to the British school I visited last week with my boss to give a presentation about going to college in the US. It was fine, but I think the only person who was really interested…
One of the perks of JM’s job is that they travel all over Malaysia to do presentations about going to college in the US. Not just travel, but travel for free. So we have figured out a way to take…
We are happy to report that we have, after being in the country for two months plus a week, received our visas. They are good until the end of September, which is a very nice bonus. It seems that things…
Here’s a recipe for dhal, Indian-style lentil stew. It’s a bit different than then North Indian dhals, which are the kinds that you find in the States. For one thing, it’s thinner. Also, this has a bit of a Malaysian…
Today is a holiday in Malaysia because it is the anniversary of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. It’s a bit strange, from our perspective, though. As compared to Islamic holidays in Indonesia, things here seemed very subdued. The mosques weren’t any more…
So lately at work, I’ve (jm) been seeing lots and lots of kids. Every single day there is at least one person who comes in and tells me they want to go to Harvard. Sometimes it’s more like two or…
The earlier post on Islamic banking has led me (TP) to think some more about the whole system. In my readings, I have come across some more interesting stuff. In addition to the principles of "guaranteed custody" and "deferred-payment sale,"…
