In KL's palm

As you fly into KL you see what all the fuss is about. Palm oil plantations, next to freshly bulldozed fields waiting for more palm oil, almost as far as you can see.

Palm plantations on the way from the airport

KL seems a lot more structured than my short-term home in Bangkok. The streets and highways are wide and well-serviced, traffic flows, even when congested, and they have a new "smart tunnel" — helping to relieve traffic congestion into the city, but when the heavy rains come, they stop the traffic and the tunnel doubles as a way to drain water out of the city so it doesn't flood. Smart tunnel indeed!

An almost empty street?

There seems to be more money here — I could be wrong, but the impression I get here is that people are a little better off than their neighbours north of the border. Things cost a little more — or if you go to the mall at the KLCC towers, they cost a *lot* more.

KLCC Towers

But I guess that slice of wealth, or piece of prosperity has to come from somewhere. For Malaysia, some of it has come from saying no to rainforest, and yes to pulp mills, and paper and palm oil plantations.

I fully support the work of groups like the Australian Orangutan Project, who are fighting to stop the loss of native habitat for orangutans in Malaysia and Indonesia. However I am also aware of the hypocrisy of people from Western, developed countries, who live lives of relative ease and luxury, telling these nations what to do with their natural resources.

They just want what we've got, and what we've been selling them for the past hundred years or so. Work hard for us, and you can have a house and a fancy car too. Build our transistors and electronics and one day you could have an iPhone.

After all, we sold off all our natural resources to get what we wanted didn't we? In Australia, we still are. Why shouldn't they be able to do the same?

Of course, there are very good arguments as to why they shouldn't, but until we come up with an alternative — a better answer than simply do as I say, not as I do — then I'm certain that Malaysia and other countries will continue to sell off what they can't replace to buy what we tell them they haven't got.

D.

Bangkok wildlife

Please note that this post is not about Soi Cowboy, Nana Plaza or Patpong Road. I didn't want anyone jumping in with false expectations.

Growing up in Australia, you forget how surprising it is to see native animals and wildlife in the city. When you're so used to watching the kangaroos hop down George Street (Brisbane or Sydney) and tossing the koalas a eucalyptus lolly on the way to work, you forget that there's something special about seeing the country's fauna where you expect only people.

I've been surprised, and sometimes gob-smacked, at the variety of animals I've seen in Bangkok.

It was hard to tell whether this guy was friendly or not, with teeth poking out like Agrajag
(go read Hitchhiker's Guide)

The most noticeable are the soi dogs, or what Aussies would call strays. There are a lot more of them per square metre than you would see in Australia. And some are well looked after, even though they're homeless. They sleep out the front of disused buildings with their own food dishes and water bowls that people fill up for them.

There are also plenty of stray cats around, but as with cats anywhere, it's hard to tell which ones are actually strays and which ones are just out for a wander and would happily come home with you for a free feed and a bit of lap time.

I've also encountered the soi bats as I walk home some nights - they swoop down in a pale, translucent blur over your head, like an ugly magpie in nesting season. Or maybe their radar just aren't used to farang shapes yet.

I encountered one Bangkok local long before I ever saw it. I heard a noise that I assumed was the noise the traffic lights make before it's safe for pedestrians to cross, only it seemed to be coming from odd places (trees, bushes, drains). I have discovered that it's a frog call, and not a traffic aid for the visually impaired (I actually have no idea how a blind person would cross the road safely in Bangkok - my guess is by taxi).

There are squirrels a-plenty in Bangkok - you see them in much the same places as you'd spot possums in Australia - walking down the powerlines to get to another tree, or jumping on roofs. I'm not sure if they also live in your roof and wake you up at 2am when they come home and find another bloke with their girlfriend.

One animal that I didn't expect to find here was a sugar glider, but apparently they are also native to New Guinea and Indonesia. I spotted one in it's native habitat here in Krung Thep - sitting in the hand of a street vendor near Khao San Road. Here's my friend Holly modelling the beasty for us:

Holly was so impressed that she did a web search and found a site claiming the sugar glider as the number one pet to have in an apartment. It seems the glider likes nothing better than hanging out with people. In their apartments. The people's that is, not the sugar glider's.

Alphonse, who lives at the end of my Soi

Another animal I didn't expect to find strutting around the end of my street was a rooster - I have at least two. This one - let's call him Alphonse, or Fonzie for short - has his own little wicker basket that he sits in sometimes, but most of the time he's just scratching around the footpath as I walk by on my way home. I've tried saying hello, but so far we haven't really connected. Some nights I walk past, Fonzie isn't there, and the people who hang around on the street near Fonzie are enjoying a hearty meal with the local moto-taxi drivers, and I get worried for the Fonze's well-being. But the next day he's back, cock of the walk again.

I've also heard that, just like Australia, there are snakes to be found in backyards and bushes, though only the spitting cobra - nothing really dangerous like the taipan, yellow belly black, or king brown.

Bath time at elephant world

Thailand is of course well-known for monkeys and elephants, and while I have seen these in the "wild" during my time here in Thailand, I have yet to see either monkeys or elephants wandering the streets of Bangkok sniffing around for stray peanuts. Although, I have read that there is a famous elephant who often frequents Soi Cowboy.

Ha! Tricked you! I did talk about Soi Cowboy after all.

D.