The smells of Malaysia

Just got back to my home in Japan yesterday...

Must be the age catching up on me and my better half as we were almost dead tired from traveling just this 'short' distance...

And to think of the possibility that I may be going to Urumqi in western China in a few days...

The temperature there is probably like, minus 20 degrees...

Anyway, had a ball of a time in Malaysia...

In the quaint little towns we traveled to, pretty no doubt, it was the smells that got the better of me...

The drains... the toilets... the blocked waste water...

Somehow Malaysians must have developed this enviable stamina to shut off from their biological radars, the stench and the ugliness of the drainage system...

At one place in Banting, I was sure that the stench came from a dead cat or dog... and people were eating not too far away from there...

On another 'smelly' matter, I am once again reminded of the 'holier than thou' stance taken by the government...

They are prohibiting the Malaysian Christians from using the word 'Allah' to denote 'god'...

I do not know much about this area but from numerous reports, 'Allah' simply means god in Arabic... so, what is the big deal?

Nonsensical, if you ask me...