Yang
The quantity of advertising here in SE Asia is something we were not prepared for. Certainly, in the West we are used to such aberrations as Piccadilly Circus, Times Square or Las Vegas, but our daily lives are mercifully free from the worst abuses of advertising (especially if you own a PVR).
Advertising here is ubiquitous, and big. Whole sides of buildings, some 20-storey high are used. There are gigantic cubic TV screens (with sound levels to match) on street corners.
The quantity of advertising here in SE Asia is something we were not prepared for. Certainly, in the West we are used to such aberrations as Piccadilly Circus, Times Square or Las Vegas, but our daily lives are mercifully free from the worst abuses of advertising (especially if you own a PVR).
Advertising here is ubiquitous, and big. Whole sides of buildings, some 20-storey high are used. There are gigantic cubic TV screens (with sound levels to match) on street corners.
There are of course billboards, including on some places such as overpass-supporting pillars.but some streets have screens on every lamppost. There is no respite on public transit. In Bangkok LRT stations, hundreds of TV screens continuously show ads. On the trains, as in Shanghai, dozens of TV screens continue the same pitch. In KL, monorail stations are sponsored and the sponsor has a monopoly on advertising in and outside the station, including on the pillars supporting the monorail.
In restaurants, forget about little menu holders: you can have double-door sized ads for Henessy XO adorning the walls (many Chinese people drink Cognac like wine with their meal).
Interestingly, a lot of the models used in advertising, despite being oriental, are the most white-looking orientals they can find. Skin-whitening products are sold everywhere. Even roll-on deodorant comes in a skin-whitening version: imagine spending all that money on skin-whitening products and being betrayed by dark armpits. Exactly.
In restaurants, forget about little menu holders: you can have double-door sized ads for Henessy XO adorning the walls (many Chinese people drink Cognac like wine with their meal).
Interestingly, a lot of the models used in advertising, despite being oriental, are the most white-looking orientals they can find. Skin-whitening products are sold everywhere. Even roll-on deodorant comes in a skin-whitening version: imagine spending all that money on skin-whitening products and being betrayed by dark armpits. Exactly.
We have not watched any TV so I don't know how much advertising goes on there, but if the cinema is any guide: a lot. As a rule, before the movie starts, they first get the useless business of trailers out of the way (they usually show one); then come 20 to 25 minutes of commercials. The ads themselves are not particularly good but people sit through them anyway.
All this advertising to people whose disposable income is but a fraction of our own.
Speaking of movies, Gold Class is the way to go. Table service, booze, hot food, the lot. They also provide blankets to protect against the Arctic AC.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels redux
This happened to us in Bangkok. It is relatively harmless but indicates that a deep conspiracy to fleece tourists seems to pervade the city, if not the country. Here’s how it went: we were going towards what we were told was the entrance to one of the major temples and a man steps up and says the entrance is “over there”, 150 yards away or so. No problem, we turn around and walk to the “real” entrance. At that entrance, a lot of locals are going in, wearing lanyards with photo IDs. One of them tells us that the temple will be closed for 90 minutes for private prayers. In the meantime, we could go see the Standing Buddha; he hails a tuk tuk and negotiates a price of about $1.30 return, which is a great deal, and the driver will show us other stuff on the way back. By that time, Lo realized what was going on, as tourists kept going through the “wrong” entrance 150 yards away. But it was stinking hot (probably 45 C with humidex that day) and I wanted to see the Standing Buddha, so we went anyway. We made it to the Standing Buddha in about 20 minutes. This must be a near-sighted statue by the way, as it is not offended by bare limbs.
After walking around, we return to our driver, who excuses himself to go to the bathroom (because it’s free in temples). A fellow sitting by engages us in conversation. Amazingly, he had lived in Vancouver for 6 years (our driver knew we were from Canada, of course, it’s usually the first question people approach you with). He then talks to us for a few minutes, and essentially delivers this three-pronged message: tuk tuk drivers come from the countryside and are very poor; the best thing to buy in Thailand is silk; the second best thing is jewelry. Things were getting pretty clear by then, so I just asked our returning driver to take us back to the temple directly. He pleaded with us and explained that, if we just went into a couple of store for a few minutes, they were going to give him gasoline. So we went along with him to, wait for it, a clothing store and a jewelry store. It was actually great, as both stores were air-conditioned to what seemed to be a temperature within a few degrees of freezing and I needed to cool down. The driver got his few tablespoons of free fuel, we got to see the Standing Buddha and to cool down for almost nothing. Everyone was happy.
Just think of the choreography of all this. I don’t know whether there is an organized gang doing this or if it’s just a thing that everyone knows about and play their role when things happen to come their way. It just seems unlikely that we were targeted and that this dance was performed just for us.
Babe
We went to a Spanish restaurant for tapas yesterday. We had albondigas made with pork(*): we didn’t realize until then how much we have missed pork. Sure, pork is available in most Chinese restaurants, and I suppose we get our share in dumplings and such, but it’s otherwise difficult to find (except in German restaurants). As a rule, we have eschewed turkey ham, chicken sausages and beef bacon, which they will throw at you in other kinds of restaurants. You can buy pork in supermarkets, but must pay for it separately. It’s not quite like the old XXX section in your local Rogers video store (for those who remember such things), but you know you’re doing something note quite… (I want to say kosher). Wine and liquor must be paid for separately as well, but not beer or coolers. I have read that it is difficult to obtain a licence to sell pork but I haven’t been able to confirm that. I don’t know how this whole thing squares with Islam. See for example http://islamqa.info/en/81778
(*) The pork, we were reliably assured in writing, was “air-flown” from Spain. As opposed to what? Water-flown?
Changing Lanes
KL has to be one of the most maddening cities to get around in. By and large, public rail transport does not reach the major tourist attractions and traffic jams are ubiquitous and epic. Taxis are supposed to be metered, but most drivers still want to quote you a fixed price that you are powerless to argue because you have no idea how long it takes to get from anywhere to anywhere else a non-trivial distance away. Sometimes, you can convince yourself that the driver didn’t understand where you wanted to go and is taking you somewhere out of town. You always get there in the end, though.
As far as I can tell, there are two universal rules to driving in KL:
· Wherever you’re going, you have to start in the opposite direction;
· You are always in the wrong lane.
It sure makes me appreciate the relative lack of traffic in Calgary (nothing compared to what you find in Asia).
The Producers
I love movies: they are a wonderful way to explore reality and fantasy where everything is possible. In counterpoint to that, I am starting a list of things that do not exist in movies. Item one: morning breath. Suggestions are welcome.
Lagniappe
All this advertising to people whose disposable income is but a fraction of our own.
Speaking of movies, Gold Class is the way to go. Table service, booze, hot food, the lot. They also provide blankets to protect against the Arctic AC.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels redux
This happened to us in Bangkok. It is relatively harmless but indicates that a deep conspiracy to fleece tourists seems to pervade the city, if not the country. Here’s how it went: we were going towards what we were told was the entrance to one of the major temples and a man steps up and says the entrance is “over there”, 150 yards away or so. No problem, we turn around and walk to the “real” entrance. At that entrance, a lot of locals are going in, wearing lanyards with photo IDs. One of them tells us that the temple will be closed for 90 minutes for private prayers. In the meantime, we could go see the Standing Buddha; he hails a tuk tuk and negotiates a price of about $1.30 return, which is a great deal, and the driver will show us other stuff on the way back. By that time, Lo realized what was going on, as tourists kept going through the “wrong” entrance 150 yards away. But it was stinking hot (probably 45 C with humidex that day) and I wanted to see the Standing Buddha, so we went anyway. We made it to the Standing Buddha in about 20 minutes. This must be a near-sighted statue by the way, as it is not offended by bare limbs.
After walking around, we return to our driver, who excuses himself to go to the bathroom (because it’s free in temples). A fellow sitting by engages us in conversation. Amazingly, he had lived in Vancouver for 6 years (our driver knew we were from Canada, of course, it’s usually the first question people approach you with). He then talks to us for a few minutes, and essentially delivers this three-pronged message: tuk tuk drivers come from the countryside and are very poor; the best thing to buy in Thailand is silk; the second best thing is jewelry. Things were getting pretty clear by then, so I just asked our returning driver to take us back to the temple directly. He pleaded with us and explained that, if we just went into a couple of store for a few minutes, they were going to give him gasoline. So we went along with him to, wait for it, a clothing store and a jewelry store. It was actually great, as both stores were air-conditioned to what seemed to be a temperature within a few degrees of freezing and I needed to cool down. The driver got his few tablespoons of free fuel, we got to see the Standing Buddha and to cool down for almost nothing. Everyone was happy.
Just think of the choreography of all this. I don’t know whether there is an organized gang doing this or if it’s just a thing that everyone knows about and play their role when things happen to come their way. It just seems unlikely that we were targeted and that this dance was performed just for us.
Babe
We went to a Spanish restaurant for tapas yesterday. We had albondigas made with pork(*): we didn’t realize until then how much we have missed pork. Sure, pork is available in most Chinese restaurants, and I suppose we get our share in dumplings and such, but it’s otherwise difficult to find (except in German restaurants). As a rule, we have eschewed turkey ham, chicken sausages and beef bacon, which they will throw at you in other kinds of restaurants. You can buy pork in supermarkets, but must pay for it separately. It’s not quite like the old XXX section in your local Rogers video store (for those who remember such things), but you know you’re doing something note quite… (I want to say kosher). Wine and liquor must be paid for separately as well, but not beer or coolers. I have read that it is difficult to obtain a licence to sell pork but I haven’t been able to confirm that. I don’t know how this whole thing squares with Islam. See for example http://islamqa.info/en/81778
(*) The pork, we were reliably assured in writing, was “air-flown” from Spain. As opposed to what? Water-flown?
Changing Lanes
KL has to be one of the most maddening cities to get around in. By and large, public rail transport does not reach the major tourist attractions and traffic jams are ubiquitous and epic. Taxis are supposed to be metered, but most drivers still want to quote you a fixed price that you are powerless to argue because you have no idea how long it takes to get from anywhere to anywhere else a non-trivial distance away. Sometimes, you can convince yourself that the driver didn’t understand where you wanted to go and is taking you somewhere out of town. You always get there in the end, though.
As far as I can tell, there are two universal rules to driving in KL:
· Wherever you’re going, you have to start in the opposite direction;
· You are always in the wrong lane.
It sure makes me appreciate the relative lack of traffic in Calgary (nothing compared to what you find in Asia).
The Producers
I love movies: they are a wonderful way to explore reality and fantasy where everything is possible. In counterpoint to that, I am starting a list of things that do not exist in movies. Item one: morning breath. Suggestions are welcome.
Lagniappe
This was taken in Kuching, Malaysia in a shopping mall. I have one question: will someone who wants to climb on the bowl and squat understand that a check mark means OK and a X means no?