Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Merciful Rain and Malay

　　I had an interest in highways in Malaysia. What were they like in comparison with those of Japan? The surface of the road was alike, but accompanying facilities were considerable poorer. As we went out of the downtown of Kuala Lumpur, the cars on the opposite line, which were heading for the city center, were heavily stuck. Traffic seemed to begin to build around eight. They would be late for their work, but it looked like they didn't care. If in Japan, people would leave for work earlier enough to arrive at their workplaces in time. It might be the Malaysian way of life.
　　The next day was the Independence Day of Malaysia. Lots of national flags were raised everywhere on the way. All the city was decorated by their flags. The guide told us that we were lucky to see the ceremony, but it was not by chance, but intentionally.
　　About 30 minutes after we started, the rain stopped and the sky got light. People in Malaysia seemed to welcome such rain. Do you know why? I wrote about the slash and burn agriculture having been adopted in Indonesia in the past entry. This type of cultivation generates smoke pollution in the areas of the leeward direction, such as Malaysia. That was what blurred the scene from our room. The short-time heavy rain washes the haze away and makes the air clear. The guide told us that we were lucky to see the beautiful scenery of the Strait of Malacca. I'm going to show you some pictures taken in Malacca later.
　　A break for using the rest room. When I saw our van in front of our hotel, I found the letters "BAS PERSIARAN" on its body. I assumed that it was the name of the tour company, but I was wrong. Lots of vans and big buses, which I had seen in the streets, had the same phrases on their side wall. It appeared to mean "sightseeing vehicle". The tourism trade would be now prosperous in this country.
　　When I saw some Malayan expressions on the signboard, I found that Malay might be comparatively easy to learn. It seemed to resemble English and also German, in which the spelling and the pronunciation of words coincide. The pronunciation of vowels in Malay was just like that of Japanese. However, that doesn't mean I'll start learning Malay now, but I learned two expressions from the guide, "Thank you" and "See you again" in Malay.
　　Our first destination in Malacca was a short cruise on the river run through the city, but it was closed for some reason. Regrettable! The next spot was a museum showing what the Peranakan culture was like. Do you know the word "Peranakan"? It was not so long ago when I had come across it. Anyway, the museum didn't fall short of my expectations, nay it surpassed it, but photography was not permitted inside except in the entrance. I'll write about it again in the next entry.

(Vocabulary)
leeward :
1: the leeward side of something is the side that is sheltered from the wind; [≠]windward:
We camped on the leeward side of the mountain.
2: technical a leeward direction is the same direction as the wind is blowing; [≠]windward:
to leeward(= in a leeward direction) The ship cruised slowly to leeward.
Malayan マレー語の
Peranakan  プラナカンとは欧米列強による統治下にあった（現在のマレーシアを中心とする）東南アジアの各地域に、１５世紀後半から数世紀にわたって移住してきたマレーシアに根付いた主に中華系移民の末裔を指す。

Squall?

　　When I was working in front of my mobile PC such as copying  pictures which I had taken on the previous day from my digital camera or smartphone to my PC, sending e-mails and taking notes on my trip bright and early, it burst out into terrible torrential rain accompanied by thunder and lightning. The TV screen went black and showed messages like the following picture. The internet connection was also severed. I've never gone through what you call a squall, but was that it?
　　Do you know the historic town of Malacca, which is located  about 1.5 hours' distance by car from Kuala Lumpur. I had been eager to visit the town since 40 years ago, when I was in a history class. The best way for us to see the town is to act by ourselves in an unrestrained manner, but I thought we might as well hire a tour guide to look around the town effectively and time-savingly. I had reserved a guided tour from Japan.
　　We were supposed to meet the guide in our hotel lobby at 8:30, but he was 10 minutes late due to a traffic jam caused by flooding. He made an excuse in Japanese, meaning "I'm sorry, the traffic got stuck by flooding". There are two similar but different words for flooding in Japanese. He mistook one for another. I wondered then if his Japanese skills were ok or not. However, soon later, I knew this guy was in a class of his own when it comes to his job. I'd never meet any guide who surpasses him. I learned a lot from him and I'll write about him later again.
　　I learned the condition of Malaysia from him. The guide gave us really good lessons about Sultans, the automobile industries, Japan's regular car inspections, their domestic industries, natural disasters, their neighbor countries like Thailand, Singapore, and so on and their politics, their economics, their history, multiple tribes, military affairs,,, all of them included lots of humor. His story, viewing outside and picking up topics from the scene, segued from one theme into another and never stopped for about one and a half hours. He seemed to guide tourists in FOUR languages, Malay, English, Cantonese, and Japanese. I admired him.
　　There was a big supermarket, AEON, in the entrance of Malacca, which is widely known in Japan. He told us full of wit and humor like this: He frequently visited AEON and bought daily necessities against his better judgement and he could never beat the point system. AEON has a really good head for business.
　　He naturally knows that AEON is derived from Japan and utilized the fact to relax several Japanese tourists who happened to get in the same van and didn't know each other. He handles four languages. That is to say, he would have four kinds of ways of talking. I'm writing about him again and again in the following entries.

Short Walk

　　The Malaysian Airlines plane, flight MH089, arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on time. The procedure for our entry was smooth. After collecting our baggage, we followed the signboard and got on the KLIA Ekspres train, which took us to the Kuala Lumpur Central Station (KL sentral) for about 30 minutes. The designer of KLIA, KL sentral and NU sentral, which is the huge shopping mall next to KL sentral, is Mr. Kisho Kurokawa, who is a noted Japanese architect and passed away in 2007, and I didn't know the fact. I felt that his three works were highly sophisticated and state-of-the-art. We took the KL Monorail at NU sentral station and reached Bukit Nanas Station near our hotel, the Concorde Hotel Kuala Lumpur.
　　We checked in at the hotel at about 6:30 pm, but the sun was still high. We went out and walked around the hotel. My first impression on the streets was "noisy" or "prosperous" and I didn't feel uneasy with the scene. It might be due to the left-hand traffic like in Japan. I had usually suffered from jet lag for a few days on overseas trips, but I had none this time. The time difference between Malaysia and Japan is only an hour.
　　I came across a bus which you can see in the following picture. It has no roof partially and should be for sightseeing. I tried to ask someone around us how to utilize it, but my wife rejected. It must be hot on the 2nd floor of the bus without its roof and air-conditioning. I abandoned my suddenly coming-up plan.
　　One more thing. The streets looked harsh for the physically challenged. Wheelchair users would have lots of difficulties in the streets.
　　Our room was set at the side of the Petronas Twin Towers as I asked from Japan. We could see the KL Tower at the opposite side, but it was faced with the busy street and we avoided the noise. The room was calm and clean. The building looked old, but the cost performance was really good. If I have another opportunity to stay in Kuala Lumpur, I'd like to choose this hotel again.
　　Take a look at the last picture, which shows the scene from the window. Don't you feel the picture is blurred? I assumed that it's due to the mist at that time, but the answer was given from the tour guide of the Malacca Tour the next day. That was smoke pollution caused by the slash and burn agriculture in Indonesia.

(Vocabulary)
KLIA Ekspres  マレー語で　空港急行列車
slash and burn agriculture 焼畑農業

Currency Exchange Rate

　　I did research about the currency exchange between the Japanese yen and the Malaysian ringgit in advance. It seemed that the exchange rate varied widely with different places. I found a very helpful website which showed the rate of money exchange at a variety of places. The exchange counters in the airports and banks are disadvantageous and I made up my mind to go straight to a money exchange counter in the shopping mall called NU sentral, which offered the best rate for tourists.
　　However, it concerned me that we would arrive in Kuala Lumpur at about 1700 hours and then have to move to the city center by train or taxi. Because I didn't know their open hours and I wondered if we could get to the counter in time, I asked the Q and A section of the shopping mall and they replied promptly, "until 2200 hours!"
　　I thought I would surely reach the exchange counter in the mall, but in case of emergency, I exchanged a small amount in Tokyo. I compared the receipts of both exchange counters, and I'll show you below. I was surprised to know the unexpectedly big difference.

The 1st picture is the receipt of Keisei Ueno Station.
The 2nd one is from NU sentral shopping mall.
The 3rd one is the signboard of the counter in NU sentral.

  5,146   yen/   170 RM    30.27  yen/RM (Keisei Ueno Station)
50,000   yen/ 1975 RM    25.31  yen/RM (NUsentral)

マレーシア旅行記：
　
両替について、事前に調べてみた。どうも両替所によりかなりレートが違うらしい。クアラルンプール市内の観光地にある両替所のデータの一覧が載っているサイトを参考にし、銀行や空港はレートが悪いということで一番有利な場所で交換することにした。
　
１７時頃にクアラルンプール国際空港(KLIA)に着き市内中心部まで列車で移動した。スムーズに移動できるとは限らないし、何かで遅れるかも知れない。遅い時刻まで両替所が開いているのかどうか、両替所のあるショッピングモールに事前にメールして確かめた。時差を考えることもなく、手軽に使えるメールは本当にありがたい。間に合うとは思えたが、間に合わなかったときのために、食事代くらいを京成上野駅で両替したが、こことＮＵセントラルの両替所のレートを比べてみる。

１枚目の写真が京成上野駅でのレシート
２枚目がクアラルンプール中心部にあるNUセントラルというショッピングモールでのレシート
３枚目はその両替所の看板
換算すると、、、

 

In The Cabin

　　When we left Narita, a typhoon was coming around the airport, but it didn't have any effect on our flight. We spent a very comfortable time on the flight, watching movies, but the thick clouds gathered underneath and hampered our sight through the window.
　　I had three things that I wanted to see on the way to Kuala Lumpur. At first, I was eager to see the Senkaku Islands with the naked eye, of which China's going to deprive Japan without any single clear evidence. When our plane was located at the point which the first picture shows, the clouds spread like a carpet underneath the plane.
　　Secondly, I wanted to see Mt. Gyokuzan, the highest mountain in Taiwan. I confirmed the present position and took the second picture. When I shot it, I thought I was able to shoot the picture of Mt. Gyokuzan, but it might be, nay, should be just clefts of clouds. Mt. Gyokuzan used to be the highest mountain in Japan while Taiwan had been a part of Japan.
　　Lastly, the third thing which I wanted to see was the Spratly Islands, which several countries claim control of, and arrogant China is constructing their island, ignoring the verdict of the International Court of Justice.
　　After a time, an announcement told us to prepare for landing and the plane gradually went down. When the plane dove into the sea of clouds and went out of them, I saw the land of Malaysia.

(Vocabulary)
have an effect on sb/sth ～に影響を与える
feel the effect (of sth) ～の影響を受ける
Spratly Islands スプラトリー諸島

Malaysian Airlines

　　It was raining on the starting day, again. When my vacation starts, the weather is always like that. After breakfast, we headed for Terminal 2 by the free shuttle service. The sky we saw from the bus was dark and cloudy. I wished that our plane wouldn't jolt during the 7 hours of flight to Kuala Lumpur. I wanted to see some places from the sky on the way and I really prayed for the clearance of clouds, but in vain. I'll write about that in the following entry.
　　It's my first time to utilize Malaysian Airlines. We checked our baggage in after queuing for 30 minutes. Then a problem came up. Our reservation number was registered on their network system, but our names and ids like the passport numbers had disappeared. How could it be? The person at the counter called her boss and they issued new tickets for us. We were relieved. Then I asked the travel agency which had prepared our trip this time to confirm the reservations of our following flights before departure, and received the reply in Kuala Lumpur. According to their reply, I applied for the upgrade to the business section weeks ago using their bidding system, and the application was accepted two days before departure. However, when their system moved our data from the passengers' list of the economy seats to one of the business seats, something unexpected seemed to happen. Anyway, it's ok. We were able to fly into Kuala Lumpur as scheduled.
　　My first impression of the cabin is its cleanliness. No unpleasant smell, No litter. I'd be able to comfortably enjoy movies. One of the amusements in the cabin is the meal. We ordered different meals and compared them. They were ok, better than we expected, though the ticket fare was considerably low.

Narita

　　We took a stroll around the Ueno area for the first time in 10 years from the morning on Aug. 28th. I visit Tokyo roughly twice a year, but I've rarely had any business in this area. This area includes old towns derived from the Edo period, prestige universities like Tokyo University as well as several modern museums. We enjoyed street performances in Ueno Park and sushi in a traditional sushi bar. We parted from our daughter who had an appointment, and headed for our reserved hotel near Narita International Airport.
　　In the afternoon, we did the last-gasp preparation at the airport; Conversion plugs for Malaysian plugs, sunscreen, insect repellents, masks against hazes from Indonesia, and souvenirs for people in Malaysia.
　　The picture was shot from my room and shows terminal 3 for LCC.

Lucky Charm

　　The picture shows my hat which I've usually carried on overseas trips for the past 10 years. I bought it about 30 years ago, but I don't remember where I bought it. Somewhere in Canada, maybe. The other day, I found that I had encountered difficulties on the trips when I didn't bring my hat. When I was almost injured heavily in my leg in Whistler due to the breakage of my ski boots (link), I didn't have this hat. I'll leave for Malaysia tomorrow which will celebrate its 59th Independence Day on Aug. 31st. during the increasing concern over terrorism. I made up my mind to carry this hat so that my luck wouldn't change.
　　I attached three pin badges on the left side of my hat as you see in the picture. The left one is the crest of the German City of Freiburg, and the middle one shows that the bearer is one of the supporters of the cause of retrieving abductees from North Korea. The right one was put on today for extending dearness to people in Malaysia.
　　A program of the International Lions Club did me a favor and sent a Malaysian schoolgirl to my house. My family heard about her country and became interested in her country. My wife and I were going to visit Palau or Switzerland in this summer vacation, but changed the destination to Malaysia. I'm going to write about my trip here after coming back to Japan. Look forward to my travelogue.

(Vocabulary)
crest 《通例単数形で》(波の) 波頭, (丘・山の) 頂上, 山頂; 紋章
the royal crest 王家の紋章の図柄
travelogue ((米)travelog とも)  旅行談, 紀行映画, 旅行番組

http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2012/03/miserable-boots.html

マレーシア旅行記：

テロの蔓延しているときに海外旅行に出るなんてと、家族から非難されつつマレーシアを旅行してきました。旅行中に書きためたメモを起こしつつ、英文で感想を書いていきます。出発前にお守りの帽子にマレーシア国旗を貼り付けました。この帽子を持って出かけたときには悪いことが起こらないという験担ぎです。
　
ピンバッジ：左からドイツ南西部フライブルク市の市章、北朝鮮による拉致被害者救出活動のシンボルマーク、ブルーリボン、そしてマレーシアと日本の友好を示したライオンズバッジ。

Malaysia

　　I haven't had such a friendly feeling towards Malaysia, but it became a trigger for me to learn about Malaysia after a Malaysian school girl stayed at my house for a week last year. I make a trip every summer and I decided to visit Malaysia this year to see her and her family.
　　For all that, the recent wave of terrorist bombings scares me. She was from Borneo island, and the east coast of the island is now designated as one of the dangerous regions by the Japanese Foreign Ministry. It issues the recommendation not to go to the eastern coast of Borneo. I had some time to determine the destination, but my wife and I wanted to see her, so we decided to visit Malaysia for the first time.
　　I've worked out the schedule and where to visit in Malaysia in these past weeks. My destination is Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, and Kota Kinabalu. We'll leave here next weekend and will fly into Kuala Lumpur after staying in Tokyo for a couple of days. I'll show you lots of pictures of Malaysia in September!

(Vocabulary)
for all that とはいうものの
work out 予定を立てる
the latest crime wave to hit NewYork ～を襲う最近の犯罪の急増
the recent wave of terrorist bombings 最近の一連の爆弾テロ

 

YCE (Youth Camp Exchange)

　　YCE is one of the activities of the International Lions Club, which aims to initiate young people to experience another country's culture. They stay in an unfamiliar country and live communally with foreign people. Then, consequently, they will learn to respect the difference between each other. My youngest daughter was dispatched to the Netherlands two years ago by the YCE program, and I felt her personal growth when she came back.
　　I'm not sure about the details, but the YCE headquarters of the International Lions Club sounded the headquarters of Shikoku out in November about the possibility of welcoming two high school students from Malaysia. FYI, Shikoku is the fourth biggest island of Japan, and its population is 4,14 million. After consideration, Matsuyama Chuo and Matsuyama Minami Lions Club were set as the host club for them. Two students were supposed to spend two weeks in Kyushu and then move to Ehime Prefecture in Shikoku and stay there for two weeks. Thus, a Malaysian high schoolgirl was to stay in my house for a week. My wife was worried about food, wondering if she was a Muslim or not. According to her short profile from the headquarters, she was Catholic. We were all relieved at the news.
　　They flew into Matsuyama City on Dec. 13th and their welcome party was held on the next day. Pictures show their self-introduction and the funny performance of Mochitsuki, rice-cake pounding. I hope their stay in Japan will be a great experience for them.

(Vocabulary)
sound sb/sth ↔ out ＜人・組織など＞の考えを探る［聞き出す］, に打診する, ＜考えなど＞を探る
sound sb ↔ out about/on sth ＜…＞について＜人・組織など＞の考えを探る［聞き出す］

YCE (Japanese　日本語のサイト)
http://www.lionsclubs.org/JA/our-work/youth-programs/youth-camp-and-exchange/