Coffee Addicts Advice

If  you are traveling in SE Asia, you might discover that finding a bag of freshly ground coffee beans is not an easy task. The shops are full of coffee, yes ---instant coffee. And, although you can find coffee at Starbucks or an exotic coffee shop, most of us addicts need to have coffee in our place of residence on hand at all times. At least, I do. So, what's the answer?

Well, if you are in Thailand, you'll find "real" coffee in most of the 7 Eleven stores. What I do, in a pinch is to get the plastic-wrapped paper cup of coffee that says, "Cappuccino" on it because, inside the cup there is a little coffee bag full of real coffee grinds that's not too bad at all. Now, you can either use that and fill it with the hot water at the shop, or just buy it sealed and do it at home. But, you have to make sure that it's the real deal, so you may want to check inside. The coffee bag is nice and big, so if you take it home, you can use it for a big mug of tasty "real" coffee.

However, if you don't want to use that kind of bagged coffee, you'll have to go shopping in the grocery stores for ground coffee or coffee beans if you have a grinder. In Thailand, you may find a bag of coffee that's a normal price if you look hard and long.

In Malaysia, although you may not find coffee at 7 Eleven, you can find real coffee at Tesco. Yes, folks, believe it or not, Tesco is the one place that has a large variety of coffee on their coffee aisle. Unlike Jusco or Aeon that only have one brand of ground coffee in a black bag for an outrageous price. It's not very great-tasting either. I bought the "gourmet" one and it was perhaps a little nicer.

But, in Tesco, you'll find several imported coffees, including French coffee and Brazilian coffee and the store brand. They're pretty good, like a Westerner takes their coffee, you could say.

However, when all is said and done, what we really want is organic coffee from real coffee beans that haven't been sprayed with tons of pesticide. In Malaysia, you can find organic coffee at Ikai in their "cold storage" shop. Organic coffee is a rare find, however, even in Malaysia.

Even in China, I found it difficult to get anything other than Nescafe. You sort of get used to drinking instant coffee after you've been in China for a while.

But, if you happen to be in a Western country, heading to SE Asia, BRING YOUR OWN COFFEE. Even if you do find real coffee over here, it may not be the brand you love and it most certainly won't be organic.

I found a one-cup coffee press which I take with me wherever I go and it sure has come in handy. Or, the alternative is to simply get a coffee filter holder and bring along some filters. You can buy them here, too.

Of course, you needn't worry about finding a Starbucks or McDonald's in Thailand or Malaysia. Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos probably don't have many if any of them, yet. But you can find a decent cup of coffee in Laos sort of like European style, which is very nice and cheap. China? Forget it. They don't know what coffee is, at least where I've been. You can find Starbucks in the bigger cities though, just not so much in the South which is where I spent most of my time. (Although I have to say that last time I was in Kunming, specialty coffee shops were opening up with lots of variety in them at a very high price, if one is on a budget.)

Ghastly Ghostly Haze!

Every year, Indonesian farmers have their annual “burn-off”. They burn palm oil palms by the hector.

Why?

Why is the question I and many other inhabitants of SE Asia ask. WHY? Well, we know “why”, but what we want to know is, “WHY?”

It’s so inconsiderate. It’s so damaging to our health. It’s so inhumane, so selfish. It’s plain, downright narcissistic. And all just to save money. And mostly because they are just plain, downright lazy.

How much easier is it to pour on the petrol and light her up than to chop down the dormant trees and hack them up for compost? In fact, they could probably use the wood for lots of other purposes. They could probably come up with all kinds of creative ways to make money out of those trees. And, save the rest of SE Asia the pain that their smoke causes. 

SE Asia suffers: students missing school, loss of tourism, financial loss, climate change. People here are not able to breathe. They get head-aches. 95% of the air is smoke. How can you suck that into your lungs without causing bodily harm? We're all breathing Indonesia's second-hand smoke! 

The selfishness of the few causes the many their quality of life. Quality of air. It's not fair to the children. Not fair to the adults.

They say we're looking at another six months of it. Just when we thought it was over! When will it stop? When it finally stops, it is only to start up in another six months! There's no mercy. It's barbaric. Archaic. 

Where is the Indonesian government? WHY? Why aren’t they stopping it? Don’t they care about the health of their own people? Their own children? Not to mention, Singapore and Malaysia, their closest neighbours. This stuff goes all the way up to Thailand, for heaven’s sake.

  

The fines should be heavier than the profit they make by burning. Throw them in prison. FOREVER.

ALARM CLOCK BIRD

This morning, bright and early, I was rudely awakened with this wooping that sounded like a big bird right in my bedroom. I told him to shut up and went back to sleep. Moments later, he DID IT AGAIN. So loud!

Oh, man! Cut it out! Are you serious?

Eventually, with all his persistence he got me out of bed. Turns out he was sitting right on my window sill on the outside window sill and just looking right in the window like as if he wanted to make friends.

Well, he was just so gorgeous I had to take his picture. But I dared not open the window cuz he was right on top of the bottom edge.

 He just kept parading up and down the outside window ledge, swelling up his neck and bellowing out this whistle. Funny guy. SHUT UP! COME ON! It's actually not a pretty sound at all.

But he is a pretty bird. A bird with attitude. And I'll bet you money that he's going to show up on my window ledge again tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn. He's been at his bellowing thing all day but he may be sleeping as I post this. Little bugger.

I Can See the Sky at Last!

I can see the sky again! It's still blue. Such a lovely colour of blue! I think the rays of the sun can finally shine down on us once again here in Malaysia. At least, here in Seremban. It's just lovely.

Like they say, "You never miss the water till the well runs dry." and, "You never miss the sun till it's blocked by haze."

Thank you, God. It's like a rebirth.

We have our lives back. How refreshing. The rain brought a sparkle of greeniness with it and the blue sky is just an added luxury that we welcome with open hearts.

Poetic, eh?

Well, maybe you'd feel the same way if you'd lived under a cloud of smoke for a few months like all of us here in Malaysia. Not to mention, the rest of SE Asia.

Seriously, Indonesia?

Come on! Since I got here, I haven't been able to see the sky! No kidding! It's a white-out. Haze in the morning. Haze in the evening. Haze at supper-time.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, I'm BEGGING YOU, INDONESIA! STOP THE BURNING!

You're killing us! They can't even send their kids to school here! A couple of days ago, the index reading was at 200. I'm not sure what that means, but it's bad.

I have a white table cloth on my table in the kitchen and it gets covered with little black pieces of soot every day. I leave the table cloth on so I can get an idea of what condition the air is in that day. BAD. We're breathing this stuff in every day for months! It HAS to be illegal.

I'm just a tourist without any influence, but I pray someone somehow will do something to stop this. The conditions for human life are very bad here. No wonder there are no other tourists around. Even the natives are taking off to get out of this.

Over the past month, I've been living inside of a cloud of smoke. On top of which, three times already I have had my temporary home smoked with DDT!

It's a good thing I don't have asthma.