Monkeyrockworld

E’ uscito il mio primo articolo per il quotidiano indipendente online LETTERA 43 dedicato alla situazione non troppo golosa per gli omosessuali in Malaysia… il ban al gay pride Seksualiti Merdeka… le nuovi leggi civili anti-gay… insomma, tante belle cose per amare il paese adottivo dei miei ultimi 2 anni!!! Leggete il pezzo dal link qui sotto, una versione non-edited presto disponibile sul caro China/Asia Files.

Omofobia alla Malese

Altre novita’ riguardo la Malaysia: punto primo, mi sono finalmente laureato (per la seconda volta), e ora sono “Maestro nello studio di come i Cinesi studiano l’Inglese”. E’ stata una lunga avventura che merita un libro intero, chissa’ se mai sara’ scritto… in ogni modo, l’aver studiato in una Universita’ asiatica e’ una esperienza MOLTO PARTICOLARE che non so se mi sento di consigliare ad amici o nemici.

Alla fine dei conti, in ogni caso, e’ stata una esperienza rivelatoria e ancora piu’ intima con le menti (spesso malate) che popolano questi paradisi tropicali, che eleva il Monkey di un’altra spanna verso lo status di IRON BUDDHA.

Punto secondo, a Gennaio lascio il paese a tempo indeterminato. Novita’ sul grande progetto scimmiesco le troverete presto su questo blog… mutante… per il momento, leggetevi l’articolo sui gay e sperate di non esserlo in Malaysia!!

Ok, year 2010 and the beginning of this 2011 have not been that prolific for Monkeyrockworld. Without getting into too many details, I just would like to say that having to deal with an Asian university flamboyant requirements and trying to jet start a freelance writing career, without counting house and “da wifey” administration, is not the ideal situation to sit down and write. I also didn’t travel that much, in the first place, although yes, I do have many reports about Sri Lanka and my return to China still to pen down. Anyways, what I care to write now is about something I got back in. I did not think this would happen, but eventually, it did: I’m back into the music scene again. It seems I cannot get rid of this passion of mine; for it is too strong to be neglected… so let it be. I did not think also that an apparently sleepy place like Penang could hide so much underground talent… I knew Malaysia was full of hardcore, metal and punk, but all those kids seemed like hidden under rocks until three weeks ago more or less, when I shot a few emails here and there resulting in fast ties with the cream of the crop of East Asian punk, some metal and hardcore scenes. (more…)

After one year, I finally made it to Langkawi to show the island to my family coming to visit from Italy. Langkawi to me was the idea of a tourist trap, the kind of place I always try to avoid. Partially my idea was true: Langkawi boosts all the kind of infrastructure you would expect from a super developed tourist destination. The good side is, among the hotels, resorts and parks scattered along its coasts, Langkawi still has a very wild, lush nature, and a predominantly Malay Muslim population making its more secluded corners look like some part of Malaysian East Coast. The fact this place has been declared as a tax-free zone and alcohol is finally readily and cheaply available is definitely a plus for tourists and drunks alike, making it look more like a verdant mix of Bali and some Thai island rather than an outpost of backward Muslim Malaysia.

This said, I’ve never been to Langkawi before because I thought it wasn’t cheap: on the surface, it is not, but as always, I can manage to find my places and this is why I am writing this article: The internet has a dreary shortage of cheap ass information about Langkawi, and this is exactly why I decided to give my two cents on the matter. (more…)

Here you have my other 5 more reasons why to come to Penang, and enjoy. It is a special place, and like every special place, it takes some time to understand its uniqueness. You can indulge in the food trail, lose yourself in the forest, take some hikes along the Northern shores or shop till you drop in the modern Georgetown city center. What you cannot do, on the contrary, is lamenting because beer is expensive and there is no fun to be found nowhere, when you didn’t go further up than the 15 meters connecting Banana guest house’s front beer patio to the internet cafe’ on the corner.  In this case, you deserve to be sent back to Thailand with a fresh 2 months visa and please, tell all the people like you that Penang is boring and expensive, because we don’t really need losers like you on these shores. (more…)

Penang Island is one of the most interesting places in Malaysia, and definitely one of the most famous stops along the South East Asian tourist trail.  Nicknamed as “the Pearl of the Orient” and recently boosting a superior facility development, it truly amazes me that, out of 10 people I talk to, at least half come up with the following statement, enforced with anxious lip movements and eyeball rolling:

“I don’t like Georgetown”

This is it, the sentence which all sorts of travelers seem to prefer when addressing to Penang Island. They hate Georgetown. After more than a year calling this place home, I felt compelled to try to write down a top 10 list of the best to do in Penang… which is an island, after all, and cannot be reduced to the snobbish statement of those backpackers who, on the sole purpose of obtaining a Thai tourist visa, don’t even dare to leave the backpacker ghetto concoction of Lebuh Chulia, Love Lane and Muntri Street in Georgetown. It is for a reason that these people get bored and call an Island with the name of a suburb!! Let me help you out to find the beauty of Penang Island and discover some of its hidden places. (more…)

A few days ago, something quite cool and unique arrived in the port of Penang.  We got notified by Georgetown Events which, with a quick message on Facebook, invited people to go and have a look to the Jewel of Muscat, a wooden boat which, having started sailing in Oman, arrived in Penang on its way to Singapore. It is quite amazing to see a wooden boat, and a small one, capable of such an undertaking: sailing the Arabain Sea and the Bay of Bengal from Oman, Middle east, to Singapore, South East Asia, in under 4 months. (more…)

I had been expecting this for a long time, being unable to check it out last year because I was lost somewhere in Java. Two friends were staying here with us, a French and a Chinese. Plus an Italian and another Chinese, yes, it sounds like one of those jokes where people are about to jump off a plane or something equally silly. Well, the whole experience was as funny as a joke, by the way. We started taking a walk around my neighborhood around 3 pm, and we stumbled across a full open field full of people running amok, some pierced up for good, some others in the process of being savagely saucered, and others just praying and preparing for the massive feast of religion and craziness. (more…)