Tag: Malaysia
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FINDING CHRISTIAN
PERHENTIAN BESAR – 8 February 1978 Olympus OM-1 on Kodachrome 25. Roll 2. Frames 22 and 23. When you travel alone you are inclined to meet more people … and some of those people become your travel mates. I was hanging out during a Chinese New Year holiday at a guesthouse in a small village on the east coast of Malaysia. A tall, sun-tanned Swede and I were the only guests at the place. Christian was sole traveller and on a long-term Asian adventure. Christian and I decided to try to…
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KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH AN ALBINO
BATU FERRINGHI – 20 January 1978 Olympus OM-1 on Kodachrome 64. Roll 1 Frame 14 Every time I hear Roberta Flack sing ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’ I am immediately transported back to Malaysia. Funny how our brains can so strongly associate music with time and geography. I was 19 years old, half a world away from home and drinking a beer at outdoor cafe while watching the sun set into the Indian Ocean. Roberta set the mood by telling the story of the boy who seemed as if he…
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BATU FERRINGHI 35 YEARS LATER
In 1978, I was a scrawny 19-year-old teenager with a huge lust for adventure. I wanted to experience something exotic so I enrolled for a semester at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. On the weekends I would leave campus and explore parts of Malaysia. I used my thumb to hitch rides and slept wherever I could set up my tent. I immersed myself in the Malay culture and loved every minute of it. On one trip to Malaysia’s east coast I wandered into a village and was introduced to…
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THAIPUSAM: A HINDU EXPERIENCE WITH PENITENCE
I stood among the faithful, the air thick with incense and devotion, witnessing a ritual that blurred the line between pain and transcendence. Each step was a surrender, each chant a prayer etched in flesh and spirit. I left not as an observer, but as someone quietly changed.
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