Wednesday, 19 September 2007

We're on a slow boat in Borneo

Latest news...large wind blows down telecommunication system. Also, Co-op Bank halts credit transactions due to fraud possibility. Yes, after several attempts to withdraw money in Borneo's capital city I discover that my bank has frozen my cards. Once I managed to get through to them, I discover that crossing over into Borneo has triggered their automatic fraud alarm - obviously an issue for a British person daring to leave the EU. It seems that Borneo is a hotbed for c/card fraud...which is a shame cause we like to use our cards with dodgy back street traders...for a dare I like to leave it with them for 24hrs to see how much they can spend.
We've succumbed to the boredom at this resort and booked some of their in-house activities. The boy's have been to Kids Club...you send them there looking remotely normal and they come back with faces painted like tigers or with tattoos all over them (thankfully this mutilation is free), Marie's permanently booked in at the Spa and I'm off to see some wrecks on a diving trip. Th weather has been a bit cloudy but still in the mid-30's and we've tempted the boys' with more Indian spices.
Our big discovery in the last few days' is how surreal modern cartoons are. For those who know, check our Lilo and Stitch - what the hell is going on there? Another one is Girl Spies - Spice Girls meets Charlies Angels. The premise being teenage girl super-heros who also like fashion and music - early conditioning for the little ones!
The other huge annoyance is Malaysian TV has 2 big vices. Firstly, it syndicates American TV, especially the Disney Channel (almost a homage to corporatism) and it is now pushing High School Musical 2 - including various Malay/Chinese remix versions of the songs.We know all the lyrics to the "Music in Me" - agghhhhhhhhh!
Secondly, home-made Malaysian TV soaps doesn't mind showing pretty graphic violence (bizarre for a Muslim country - perhaps it is the good v evil axis). So, we can leave the boys watching a children's soap opera about some homely-looking little girl detectives, come back into the room to find the little girl detectives tied up and being threatened by a masked man with a knife! It's not so much the image but the hours worth of questions it generates from 2 inquisitive minds. How do you explain in a rational way about naughty men. Seba has begun to associate naughty men with Madeline McCann - and so the growing up begins.

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