The Future of 90's Music

Future Music Festival Asia ~ 2013 Edition

De La Soul

Naughty by Nature
PSY
Fun.
The Prodigy

By selecting three acts that were big in the 1990's and two one-hit-wonders our festival lineup was stacked and possibly lacking relevance.  The highlight was definitely PSY ranting about how sick he was of Gangnam Style, and then performing it twice.  Back-to-back.  The first time was specifically for the crowd to record it on their mobile devices.

The Malaysian weather was surprisingly comfortable for the festival, aided by a brief deluge of rain immediately after being admitted to the grounds.  This isn't to say that the whole day was cool.  A very hot hour-and-a-half was spent standing around on the racetrack tarmac while we waited to be admitted.  Apparently, the organizers felt that letting people through the gates a half-hour after the first act was scheduled to start was as close to on time as was required; I'm not sure if the opening bands even got to play.

At some point while melting at the will-call booth we were ushered forward to stand beside a different tent (also offering no shade) to serve as a photo backdrop for the Minjnster of Tourism's visit to the venue.  In exchange for this valuable service we were issued VIP ticket upgrades and confetti cannons, the latter of which were slightly concerning for the Minister's security officers.  The Minister did some glad-handing and broke open a pinata filled with temporary tattoos and fake Beats by Dre headphones.  Onto the VIP tents!

As expected following the botched entry process, there were a few other hiccups with the event.  Headliners Bloc Party and The Prodigy played at the same time, and the concert ended 20 minutes after the public transit was scheduled to stop running.  It wasn't really clear if things were running late or if they planned it that way.  The prebooked return taxi service ran out of cars with several hundred people left standing in a lineup by the highway.  In the end we took a taxi ride back into KL that cost more than our hotel room, ears ringing and very, very stoked.

Dave

Who is this PeeEssWhy character?

Koala Lumps

There were two goals we had to accomplish in Kuala Lumpur: Get Liz's tooth fixed and make it to the Future Music Festival on March 16th.  The hotel we had booked was supposedly very close to public transport and a dentist's office, so it seemed like we would accomplish our goals without breaking a proverbial sweat.  (Breaking an actual sweat was of course guaranteed.)

The VIP bus from Penang arrived in the middle of an intense afternoon rainstorm.  The aforementioned proximity of our hotel to the bus station suddenly became a drawback as the taxi drivers all refused to take us to the hotel, instead offering route advice that maximized time under the cover of awnings.  We were completely drenched by the time we got to Petaling Street.  Liz's mood, thoroughly fouled by the rain, suddenly improved when she realized that our hotel was in the middle of a street market.

A little more about the hotel.  At first glance it was about as well equipped as anywhere we'd stayed, even including a shower curtain!  Then the deodorizer that housekeeping sprayed wore off.  And then the internet stopped working (naturally).  Five days of mold headaches and $4 coffees at Starbucks while using their wifi and we were really happy to be getting out of there.  The street market was pretty fun, though.

Public transit in KL seemed very well laid out if underutilized.  For about a dollar, we went 15km out of town with 6 other passengers to the Batu Caves.  A slightly busier LRT took us to the Petronas Towers and attached shopping complex.  Even the long ride to the airport and concert grounds was less than $5.  The most difficult part of the whole process was jamming Ringgits into the machines to get our tokens.

Mission #1 accomplished!  The dentist was as well priced as the street market's food.  A crown was applied to Liz's tooth for $60, while I enjoyed the waiting room's air conditioning and plastic surgery magazines.

Penang and KL really seemed to move at a different pace than other Asian cities, and I don't think the rough sidewalks and the heat fully explained it.  The propensity of people stopping in the middle of a sidewalk for no apparent reason was nothing short of boggling.  I started referring to these people as ACORNS (Asian Citizens Obstructing Normal Speed).  I guess it could be that the good roads and relatively reasonable driving in Malaysia leaves walking as more of a leisure activity than an actual means of conveyance.

More on Mission #2: Future Music Festival to come soon!

Dave

I don't see why a taxi wouldn't want to drive down this street...

The Dark Cave.

World's largest Murugan!  (42m)

Do they mean heterosexuality?

Dental problems created downstairs, are solved upstairs.

Pulau Penang

Many people along the travel trail have told us about this mythical island in Malaysia.  According to backpacking legend, the food on Penang is unbeatable.  Naturally, we had to check it out for ourselves! 

A quick flight out of Langkawi (we are getting lazy, and it cost a grand total of $40 each) took us to the Island.  We stayed in the capital, Georgetown, which is a UNESCO world heritage site.  Narrow alleys, bright colonial architecture, grand mansions, quirky street art, roti stands, butter chicken stalls and wan tan mee vendors summarize Penang.  The atmosphere was vibrant, especially on Sunday night when it seemed the whole town was out getting their fix of street noodles and curries!

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Liz

Paradise...Theoretically

Langkawi is about as close as you can get to Thailand without using up your 15-day overland visa.  It's duty-free, so the liquor prices are shockingly cheap; it's an uncrowded island, so the roads are scooter-friendly; and it's equatorial, so you surely won't get cold.  Fine-sand beaches, great Indian and Chinese food, and hawkers so unobtrusive, it's like they aren't even there (before 7:00PM).

On the promise of a valid email address we were able to secure accommodation at the Rainbow Guest House, and upon expression of our desire to extend said accommodation, we were told we could have stayed until "the end of the year", if we would have liked.  Technically located in a village, the guest house provided us with serene views of grazing cattle, along with regular repetitions of The Call To Prayer.  Pentai Cenang, one of the premiere beaches on the island, was a mere 7-minute walk away.  It wasn't until we tried this walk in "Feel's Like 41°C" heat that we realized just how long 7-minutes really was.

Excursions on the island were generally limited.  We signed up for an Island Hopping tour, which took us to two different islands.  Highlights of this included: witnessing a monkey steal a baby's bottle out of a backpack, dumping a bucket of fish-guts in the water for 'eagle'-feeding (pretty sure they were actually shithawks), and laughing at the tacky souvenir plates awaiting us on completion of the afternoon.  Naturally, we bought one.  Can anyone say "family heirloom?"

Having recovered from our last scooter adventure in Vietnam, we decided to rent a scooter for the day to see parts of the island that were outside of the 7-minute melt-zone.  30 Ringgit ($10 CAD) in rental fees and 50 cents worth of fuel later, we were on the open road!  As it turns out, the island of Langkawi is deceptively diminutive.  What one expected to take 30 minutes took five.  Within an hour and a half, we found ourselves cooling our feet at a waterfall.  A little over 45 minutes after that we found ourselves atop Gunung Raya, enjoying the relative coolness of 893m.  Our little Honda Ikon didn't get low on gas until almost 100km of sightseeing, and the local (left-hand drive) traffic didn't show us falangs too much malice on the roadways.

The 8 days we spent in Langkawi were relaxing, and likely very bad for our skin.  As much as we tried to love the island, it was just not the tropical paradise for us.  The ultra conservative sentiments of the locals, the ever abundant jelly fish in the water and the utter lack of nightlife left us craving Hawaii's Aloha, and Thailand's friendliness.

D&L

This sums up our beach view!

Ever seen a monkey drinking out of a lake?

Beachin' it

Langkawi Sunset

BBQ ray anyone?

The Ikon

Dave's favorite: chicken on a stick

The Strand

We have been island hopping!  The southern part of Thailand seems to be where everything stops working.  I sweat through the 55 sunblock, the internet is down for "island-wide maintenance" and the weather forecaster puts up 50-50 odds - just to be on the safe side.

Arrival in Ao Nang was auspicious as Agoda's attempt to access our accommodation was abruptly aborted.  A few 50 baht phone calls later we were upgraded to a grand suite three doors down, complete with a four-storey/128-step hike to the pinnacle of LegoLand tower and enough cracked tiles in the room to make me concerned about building collapse.  Ao Nang's appeal was apparent however, (no more alliteration exercises, I promise) as soon as we rolled down to the shore.  Karst-secluded beaches, extremely spicy soup, taco Tuesdays and everything else a tourist might need to be relieved of their currency.

A quick boat trip took us to Ko Lanta, which was a little less intense in terms of the karsts and tourist traps, but still bountiful in terms of beaches, bars and Sang Som soda sets (Hissers, to coin a phrase - not excusing the alliteration whatsoever).  We managed to use up some horseshoe points at the Pada Hotel on Lanta after coming back to the room in time to scare a would-be thief back out the window!  The hotel staff seemed to know exactly who the thief was, which made me a little more confident in my decision not to pursue a barefoot chase.  The proximity to 7-11, however, was excellent; this may have been a factor in Liz breaking a tooth spontaneously on the same evening!  (Note from Liz: I was chewing gum!)  This craziness pretty much used up our 15-day visas in Thailand, save for a brief visit with our friends Shawn and Eva, so it was time to hop once more to Langkawi, Malaysia.

Even the Soi-Dogs are cuter in southern Thailand!

Endless skies...

SuperFAST jellyfish.

Dave