I did not know these things before
- in all 3 countries, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia - they drive on the left like the British
- there was a Communist uprising in the early 1950s in Malaysia which the British squashed and which obviously did not turn into their Vietnam
- there are local languages, such as on Bali, which are similar to Sanskrit. I thought no one spoke Sanskrit anymore, but not so.
- the Thai language uses a curly pretty alphabet, but the Malaysian and Indonesian languages use the Latin alphabet like us. Alison, Charles's sister, speaks Indonesian (which is very close to Malaysian) pretty fluently. It was impressive.
- the Thai king has been on the throne for 67 years, the longest reign in the world. He is greatly respected, as is his wife, whose pictures were everywhere. In Malaysia, the king or sultan is a revolving office - for about 5 years each time, the different rulers of the different kingdoms in Malaysia get a turn. No king on Indonesia, who kicked the Dutch out in I think the 1960s.
- Malaysian Muslims women wear different head scarves to women in the UAE - more colorful and with a sort of brim in front.
- Malaysian palm trees are used for oil. They were not date or coconut palms. Apparently the oil palms are not native to Malaysia and they have created a sort of monoculture. Anyway, the fruit of these palm trees are crushed and oil comes out.
- it was a British of course who introduced tea to Malaysia. Lots of Nepalese people come to pick the tea, as they know the mountains. Lots of the tea gets shipped to England to be mixed with other teas for English Breakfast tea bags.
- Alison had a civet cat for a pet (which is sort of like a mongoose apparently) but it was stolen. Civet cats apparently eat coffee beans and then poop them out and the beans are washed and get used to make coffee luwak which is supposed to be smooth and nice. We tasted it but could not really tell the difference....
- in all 3 countries, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia - they drive on the left like the British
- there was a Communist uprising in the early 1950s in Malaysia which the British squashed and which obviously did not turn into their Vietnam
- there are local languages, such as on Bali, which are similar to Sanskrit. I thought no one spoke Sanskrit anymore, but not so.
- the Thai language uses a curly pretty alphabet, but the Malaysian and Indonesian languages use the Latin alphabet like us. Alison, Charles's sister, speaks Indonesian (which is very close to Malaysian) pretty fluently. It was impressive.
- the Thai king has been on the throne for 67 years, the longest reign in the world. He is greatly respected, as is his wife, whose pictures were everywhere. In Malaysia, the king or sultan is a revolving office - for about 5 years each time, the different rulers of the different kingdoms in Malaysia get a turn. No king on Indonesia, who kicked the Dutch out in I think the 1960s.
- Malaysian Muslims women wear different head scarves to women in the UAE - more colorful and with a sort of brim in front.
- Malaysian palm trees are used for oil. They were not date or coconut palms. Apparently the oil palms are not native to Malaysia and they have created a sort of monoculture. Anyway, the fruit of these palm trees are crushed and oil comes out.
- it was a British of course who introduced tea to Malaysia. Lots of Nepalese people come to pick the tea, as they know the mountains. Lots of the tea gets shipped to England to be mixed with other teas for English Breakfast tea bags.
- Alison had a civet cat for a pet (which is sort of like a mongoose apparently) but it was stolen. Civet cats apparently eat coffee beans and then poop them out and the beans are washed and get used to make coffee luwak which is supposed to be smooth and nice. We tasted it but could not really tell the difference....
Comments
Post a Comment