However, not urinating in a toilet is a stretch even for a German, which would typically just follow orders...
Step through the Cowboy Saloon doors and feel home in an instant: Friendly guests and staff will immediately engage in a conversation, adding you to the family of patrons. Have a cold beer, as advertised outside and kick back for a while as you step back into a time before fancy cocktails, dry ice effects and hipster juices.
Cheers!
Step back in time, get a different perspective! On the outskirts of Ipoh, Malaysia, one will find the Qing Xin Ling Leisure & Cultural Village. From Kuala Lumpur, it takes just about two hours to drive there and it is easily accessible.
Went on Saturday morning, the place is easy to find and very accessible. The free parking is a plus.
And it is a tremendous amount of fun, totally worth the admission fee! The "village" offers a glimpse into the days past of Malaysia, highly informative and entertaining. Luckily, it is not as stiff and formal as a museum.
With the various examples of cultural heritage scattered around, it also becomes highly "interactive" as one gets to experience how things work, for instance pulling a rikshaw. One has to bring the inner child to have fun though.
Apparently, the pandemic has allowed us to re-evaluate some things. The spread of the Corona virus was to be stemmed by taking simple precautions. Here I find myself wondering about this as I observe:
- People standing so close to me when they line up for anything that they are competing with my clothes for skin contact
- Food sellers don't wear masks. Their customers do. I already have a small issue with the vendors handling money, then the produce, then scratch their behind, smoke while they hover over the goods....
- What is it with these buttons we now have to press to open doors instead of motion sensors?
- A nearby supermarket sells frozen beef / lamb / chicken cubes. There are thongs to handle the meats. Of course, some fella is in the freezer, up to his shoulders and grappling EVERY single bit of frozen meat with his bare hands....
- Rubbish everywhere, of the mask type. Since when is it ok to just throw your used face mask into the street. Oh wait, yes, we like a good flooding and clogging up the drains will help.
Even though we look at the material over and over, we still find the nastiest mistakes only in the print-out. Bizarrely, one does not "see" the mistakes when looking at a PDF.
Once each of these pages is checked, they are signed and send back to the printer. And that marks the start of the actual printing process of the magazines. It is also always a very elating feeling as this concludes the work on one issue, whereby each is unique, with a lot of heart and soul injected. It is also the starting point for the creation of the next issues.
Apparently, the Fish Lips Soup is a thing. One would cut off the lips, dry them, then make soup with it, adding other ingredients. We were later told that this restaurant was once famous for Monkey Head Soup. Well, they could keep that, no interest. Same goes for Sharkfin Soup. Personally, never understood the hype about it as it is a dish that you HAVE to add vinegar to in order to give it some taste.
Among the other, rather delicious, dishes we had was the coconut flower soup. Something never seen before, but stunningly nice:
