Kissinger

There is no fairness and justice in the world. While he was never made accountable during his life, we can only hope that history judges him harshly (for whatever that is worth). Unlike with Munger, Kissinger dying has no impact on my own sense of mortality. I always assumed he made an immortality pact with a demonic entity to absorb the souls of all the people whose deaths he caused. Good riddance, asshole.

Charlie Munger

Out of all the people in the world, I never thought Charlie Munger's death would have an impact on me. I am not a fanboy and don't have particularly strong feelings either way about his financial advice or world view. Also, there are thousands of people dying around world in various conflicts, whose lives should be considered to be just as precious. Unfortunately, those people didn't have the good fortune that Munger had to be be born and grow up in a safe environment where he could develop (being white during that time didn't hurt either). 

So why did Munger's death evoke a kind of emotional response, whereas reading headlines of X number of people killed in senseless war and indiscriminate bombing doesn't? (seeing images and footage is a different matter) Probably because it is a reminder of my own mortality. I am fortunate enough to live in a place that isn't going to be involved in violent armed conflict any time soon (*fingers crossed* but who knows how quickly and deeply Chris Luxon and Winston Peters can fuck things). The stories of tragedy and mass killings in other parts of the world just don't apply to me. On the surface, the life of a billionaire doesn't seem that relevant to my life either. However, it does represent the best case scenario when it comes to privilege. I don't have better access to healthcare than Munger. As a regular peon, I will have to rely on the local healthcare system in my country (I am fortunate that I am not an American peon who doesn't have this basic right, though). It is unlikely that I will live to 99, and when I subtract my current age from that number, what's left looks smaller than I'd like. 

It is a lovely sunny day outside, and I should probably go outside and enjoy it, rather than wallowing in my feeling of guilt that I am more concerned with my own mortality than the lives of unfortunate people in faraway countries (whose lives are just as valuable as my own).

Fatboy Bites

2017

2021

First bites might last forever, but this sign probably won't. Hopefully this place isn't out of business permanently, cause that hot dog looks good.

Getting the Sinovac vaccine in Kuching

About a week ago, I got my first shot of the Sinovac vaccine. This experience was surprisingly painless, both in terms of the process, and the actual needle in the arm part. Whether or not everything was done properly is another matter, but I attended and had a needle that presumably had some vaccine in it come into contact with my arm, so that is good enough. Plus, MySejahtera (Malaysian national Covid app) now indicates that I have had the first dose, which is more than it shows for my dad (and he has actually had two doses of the Pfizer vaccine).

I registered to get vaccinated sometime in early June (can't remember the exact date). I found out about my vaccination appointment date a few days before it in early July. I hadn't checked for a couple of days, so I may have been given about a week's notice. I was surprised that I got a date so soon, as people had been registering since February and this phase of vaccinations only started in July. I was expecting a big backlog and a FIFO approach (but who knows how they organized it). The vaccine rollout is being done at a different rate according to each state, so I guess I was the beneficiary of Sarawak being on their game and getting people vaccinated quickly.

My time slot was at 8 am on a weekday morning, which is an annoying time as I had to leave early to account for any possible morning traffic (also, I had never been to the health clinic before). I took a Grab around 7 am and since traffic was light, I got there pretty early. There was already a decent-sized queue outside, but it seemed like the folks there were normal patients of the clinic. I saw a dude ask the security guard there about vaccinations and he was told that the vaccination site was at a different place, about 500 metres away. So, I walked to there, and it turned out to be at the site of the building where I did taekwondo as a kid. That old building is gone (it was pretty old and in need of refurbishment even back then) and there are a couple of fairly new and swanky looking buildings in its place. I was a little sad, as the old building was for the Orang Ulu (a group of indigenous people of Sarawak). Google tells me that the new buildings are for the Islamic Affairs department, which is cool and all, but I hope there is a new Orang Ulu building somewhere. 

I was greeted at the vaccination location by a fairly substantial queue, which I joined just before 8 am. I estimate that there were about 50-60 people ahead of me (the queue snaked around the building). The mood was pretty chill and it seemed like most people were in good spirits (perhaps happy to be getting vaccinated or just to have a reason to get out of the house). The queue went unexpectedly fast. I wasn't timing or anything, but it probably took about 10-15 minutes to get to the front and into the compound. After scanning in, I got into the first building, where I filled in and signed a paper form. I needed to get help as it was in Malay, but I felt a little less sheepish when I realized I wasn't the only person in that position. After filling in all the paperwork and scanning MySejahtera again, I was given a number and moved on to the second building where the vaccinations were actually taking place. 

I walked into a large conference hall/ballroom that had the vaccination booths at one end. I was directed to one of the booths, where there were three nurses (I presume nurses). Unfortunately, none of them spoke very good English. I wasn't too sure what was going on but I managed to figure out where to sit and I just rolled up my sleeve and presented my arm. Now, I am not actually sure what happened next as I wasn't really looking. I felt a tiny amount of pressure, but no actual pain. I think the needle probably broke the skin, but I am not sure. The nurse actually said "whoops", which concerns me slightly. The whole thing was over in a split second and my arm wasn't sore at all, so it left me wondering if the nurse had actually done things properly. I wouldn't put it past someone who is under pressure to vaccinate a whole bunch of people quickly in a short timeframe to not redo things if they fucked up. So I may or may not have been vaccinated properly. In any case, when receiving the next dose, I will watch carefully. 

After I was "vaccinated", I walked to the observation area (which was basically the rest of the hall) and sat down. There was a lady sitting beside me who seemed to have a fairly sore arm, which got me even more concerned. The lady in front of me decided to take a photo, which reminded me that this is something that I could do as well. So I did.

I waited out my time and then went to a check out table, where I scanned MySejahtera again. The nice young dude there asked if I was experiencing any negative effects (which I wasn't) and informed me of the date for my second dose. After this, I was all done and free to go.

All up, the whole thing took about an hour (including the observation time). I was impressed by the efficiency of the whole operation, as I didn't have to wait very long at any one step. They were clearly getting through a lot of people very quickly, which is great. Hopefully that wasn't at the expense of doing things properly (certainly in my case), but I guess time will tell. For what it's worth, my arm did feel a little weak for a few days after. Presuming that the feeling was real and not just in my head (psychosomatic?), then I probably did get some vaccine in me. As long as I got some exposure to the virus and my immune system has something to work with, it should be fine. 

Rant about comparing countries during pandemic times

The Economist has an index which is designed to measure/estimate the level of "normalcy" that countries are at (compared with pre-Covid times). Now, I actually really dislike these types of aggregated metrics. While not totally useless, it is just one organization's approach to estimating something that is impossible to accurately quantify. There is a degree of subjectivity in determining things like: what to include, what to use to measure it, and which countries to include (not to mention weighting of each indicator etc). This is unavoidable when tackling such a huge subject. While the individual country results for each indicator are interesting, I wouldn't put too much stock into the aggregate figures, and definitely wouldn't use them to compare countries. The reason why lists like these irk me is that they provide a numerical rank which other media outlets can lazily take and use to put out clickbait nothing content. "Country X is ranked in X position according to X organization for X thing!", while disregarding that X position is within a few points of 10 other countries and, with a slightly different methodology, could be significantly higher or lower. Not taking issue with The Economist, because at the end of the day, they made a good faith stab at understanding the situation. They have to produce content to stay in business (that subscription rate is pretty high). I'm just saying that this list (and others of its type) are probably closer to Buzzfeed top-10 list clickbait than readers would care to admit. The Economist normalcy index got my attention, and I only felt slightly less dirty reading it than a list of top ten ways to know if someone is attracted you (not that I have read too many of those *cough* *cough*).

I had originally intended on writing about the difference between New Zealand in 2nd place (Basically 1st as The Economist is being a bit naughty putting the "country" of Hong Kong in the list) and Malaysia in last place (among the 50-ish countries ranked), rather than ranting about edutainment. I am kind of losing steam and a desire to write seriously (let's rant away!). So, of course life in New Zealand is basically normal, the country has almost completely sealed off the borders and also has geographical advantages to keeping those borders sealed. The Sarawak/Kalimantan border can't really be controlled because it is miles and miles of jungle. So it remains a vulnerability and an excuse for Sarawakians to (mostly unfairly and in a somewhat racist manner) blame Indonesians sneaking across the border for problems in the state. "Oh, it is hard to control Covid in Sarawak because people will sneak across the border and bring more of it in." Well, even if that were the case, if there was a proper lockdown/MCO with stricter rules then at least the people who followed the rules would be safe. Also to my knowledge (which isn't great to be fair), the vast majority of people with Covid in Sarawak are Malaysians, not Indonesians. 

So to use an analogy, New Zealand with it's advantages is like a dude with a large penis. Sure it is nice to feel proud and not have to feel ashamed in the changing rooms, but at the end of the day, you personally didn't do anything to get a wang of that size and is it really something to be that proud of? (and you certainly shouldn't be rubbing it in other people's faces) Sarawak is like the dude with the average-sized member who thinks it's small because he sees big dick New Zealand manspreading without a towel on the changing room benches. Sure, you didn't get dealt the best hand, but it could be worse, and you should probably do what you can to compensate in other areas, like self-improvement (buying a big car don't count). How about you walk fearlessly into that communal shower and you wash your sweaty ass clean, because you don't want to get some sort of infection, right?

The analogy might not have been the most appropriate (in whatever sense you wish), but I think the sentiment is close enough. In my opinion, based on having lived there through pandemic times up until 6 weeks ago, there is a sense of complacency and arrogance in the New Zealand population. It's just my opinion, and I don't have the inclination to create a "complacency and arrogance index" to compare and rank different countries based on a number of factors selected by me, which I would then see if any media outlets would want to use to create freebie clickbait content (not that I have the same credibility as The Economist). I guess I'd just like to remind New Zealanders that you are no better or worse than anyone else in the world, you are just lucky enough to live in a country with natural advantages in dealing with a pandemic (isolated geographical location, strong food production, low population density etc) and a relatively less incompetent government (but still somewhat incompetent). You could be living in a country with a porous land border, and a part of the population that thinks attending gatherings during Hari Raya and other holidays are a risk worth taking during a pandemic. You could have a government that didn't have the stones to enforce a stricter lockdown/MCO before it was too late. I would love to insert several jokes about the Malaysian government, but there is a real possibility that I might cross the line.  I am not crazy and am not under the illusion that I have any real anonymity here (other than basically no one reading this blog).

While the mood in Malaysia seems to be pretty pessimistic, it's not like there isn't a reason for it. People here are suffering. Perhaps the government would be in a better spot to provide welfare and support for the people struggling here if it wasn't for tiny little things like corruption. Not going to dwell too much on corruption (I repeat, I am not crazy), but with a lesser amount of it, there would have been more money available to feed the folks who put white flags outside of their dwellings to ask for community support (which is really heart-breaking). Perhaps we could create a metric of super yacht and sports cars to starving people index, and rank countries based on that. I bet Malaysia would be pretty high on the list! Wait, there is a GINI coefficient? I guess that works. If we are going to aggregate data, then why not use GINI, the Economist "normalcy" index, the Corruption Perception Index (which is hilariously subjective, but it is in the name), some Covid infection and death figures, some economic figures and smush them all together to create a super metric to determine how fucked each country is. I think New Zealand will come out looking good! Relatively less fucked!

Life in Malaysia is much further from normal (whatever your definition of normal is) than New Zealand, and you didn't need a well-respected publication like the Economist to cobble together some data to tell you that. You could just take the word of some random, frustrated dude who is in lockdown/MCO in Sarawak, who is living off of instant noodles and peanut butter (not complaining, I am grateful I have food, plus I could put in more effort to eat better), who probably has drastically low melatonin levels from being cooped up inside all day (again I could make more of an effort there) and who is reflecting on the life choices that led him to this situation. I may or may not take this down soon, so I hope the 3 people who read my blog enjoy it while it is up.

Sarawak Quarantine Food

Here is a run-down of the food I was given during my time in quarantine in Kuching.  I don't consider myself to be a particularly picky eater, but there are some things that I quite dislike. I will also note that this food was provided free of charge by the government, so was obviously never going to be gourmet stuff. 

Breakfast

The basic composition of breakfast was some fried noodles or rice + some egg (omelette or hard-boiled) + a small bread roll/muffin/pastry. Like this:

The exception to this was getting a couple of dim sum style meals:

and nasi lemak on a couple of occasions:

It wasn't the best nasi lemak, but I love nasi lemak, so I was really happy with this.

I also got a western-style breakfast once:

This wasn't great, but it was something different. I was grateful for the larger than normal amount of protein in the meal.

Breakfast was easily the best meal of the day. The portions were about the size I would normally have for breakfast and every single meal was at least ok (edible). Some of the breakfasts were quite nice. There was this garlic fried rice one morning that I would actually go out and pay money for. I usually scoffed down everything at breakfast because I knew that lunch and dinner were going to be a crapshoot.

Lunch and Dinner

Lunch and dinner were basically the same, and consisted of a protein (usually chicken or fish) + some vegetables + some rice + fruit. Like this:

The rice came in a generous-sized portions. This was the one constant in all the post-breakfast meals, and was actually pretty tasty when warm. I think white rice gets a bad rap among the health-conscious in Western countries. Sure, it's not super nutritious and it has a high glycemic index, but in general, populations where it is a staple seem to do okay, health-wise. I find it to be very comforting, so I wasn't going to complain about eating it twice a day.

The vegetables were generally okay. It would have been great to get a slightly bigger portion of them, but for the most part, they were fine. There was also a wide range of vegetables, which included some local vegetables that I don't know the names of. There was one that is like bamboo that was pretty good. The only downside to the variety of vegetables is the inclusion of bean sprouts (which is a reasonable, I just happen to hate them); and bitter gourd/melon. Including bitter gourd (on multiple occasions) is puzzling, because it is super bitter and quite an acquired taste.

The fruit was fine as well. Everything was all pretty fresh for the most part. I enjoyed it when I got melon or orange. I ate apple the first few times I got it, but after that:

Apples have to be the most boring fruit in the world. I kept them all and they are currently sitting at the bottom of the fridge (I am hoping my brother will eat them).

The protein component of lunch and dinner was very hit and miss (usually miss). The main protein offerings were:

- Curry. This was the best outcome, as it ranged from mediocre to really good. There were some weak-ass thin curries that were lacking in flavour, but these were still edible and serviceable enough to flavour the rice. The best curries were genuine delicious, with a deep curry and meat flavour and a satisfying amount of fat sitting on top. This curry was one of the best things I ate:

- Sweet and sour chicken or fish. This was could be fried or non-fried before being coated with sweet and sour sauce. While it did taste good on occasion, the sweet and sour stuff was mostly fairly bad. The sauce usually had too strong a flavour of the sweet or sour and not enough of other stuff (like tomato sauce or fruit juice or whatever they used to make it). This was one of the better sweet and sour meals:

- Fish or chicken in some kind of other non-sweet and sour sauce. The chicken was generally decent and the fish was usually pretty bad. Fish that has been deep fried and coated with sauce is mostly edible, fish that was not fried but sort of stewed (thereby releasing fish oil into the sauce) is probably okay for some people when warm. It is absolutely foul when it is cold, and there is a layer of cold fish oil coating everything. This was the worst meal I had:

This was some kind of fish curry (I think). The flesh to bone ratio was not that high and I had the delight of having to deal with some scaly bits. Of course, it was cold when I got it, so it was like sucking tiny bits of cod liver oil covered fish off of scales and bones. I tried to eat it for a bit, but I nearly hurled, so I gave up on that.

- Deep-fried chicken or fish. This was the best fish, because it was crunchy and not super fishy. All of these were competently fried and didn't taste too bad when they were cold. The only downside to this option is that there was not enough sauce to accompany the rice. Fried chicken:

All in all, lunches and dinners were okay. I kind of wish there weren't meals that were adversely affected by being eaten cold, especially when meals were often delivered early. I can understand the lack of a consistent delivery time, as the staff probably had a lot to get through and wanted to deliver them all by the promised time (12 noon for lunch and 5.30pm for dinner). However, this meant that sometimes lunch would arrive at 10.45 and dinner at 4.15. You can't really make the choice to wait until later, as there was no way to heat up food. So I basically ate everything as soon as it arrived. 

Finally, the portion sizes were a little lacking when it came to the protein component of the meal. A lot of the fish and chicken was quite bony. This is fine, I am not one those folk who can only eat boneless chicken breast and fish fillets. However, if the food is quite bony, then it means there is less that you can eat. A pile of ribs looks like a lot, but you are really only eating half of what's there. There just wasn't enough meat included in these meals. Once again, I get it, the food is paid for with tax money and protein is expensive. Also, I have higher caloric requirements than your average Malaysian person and can't expect the government to budget calories for a 90kg dude. It just sucked to be hungry a good chunk of the time and have to rely on rationing the outside supplies I got sent.

Drinks

All meals were accompanied by a Yeo's brand drink, usually jasmine tea or soya bean milk. I did get ice-lemon tea a couple of times, but not after the first few days (maybe they ran out). Here is the range of drinks:

Room service

On a couple of occasions, the food was so bad I decided to supplement with room service. I got a burger and brownie both times. 

They were good. The brownie even came with a couple of macarons on top, which tasted fine.

Wrapping up

My biggest piece of food-related advice to anyone who is going to be quarantining in Sarawak (and intends on eating the food provided) is to let your quarantine hotel know your dietary preferences. Halfway through my stay, I told my hotel that I didn't like eating the fish, and they noted that down. I still got served some fish, but I probably avoided other fish meals. Also, eat your meals as soon as you can, as sometimes the meals taste a lot worse when cold. You could try to survive off of what is provided, but unless you have low caloric requirements, you will probably be hungry quite a lot. I tried to hold off ordering other food for as long as I could, but it is probably better for your well-being to eat the stuff you want to eat (especially since, you know, there is the whole thing of not having freedom of movement and the mental health risks that come along with that.)

The different colours of the view from the Riverside Majestic Astana Wing

The view is not something I normally consider when selecting a hotel. Hopefully, I 'd have something better to do than sit in my hotel room staring out the window. Normally, I just choose the cheapest room that that hotel offers, which means that I get a view of a parking lot or the building across the street. However, after spending two weeks stuck in a hotel room, I can see why some people are willing to spend a little more to get something pleasant to look at. I didn't get to choose my hotel or my room, but out of all the possible outcomes, I probably got really, really lucky.

My room looked out West over the Sarawak river, so I got some some nice sunsets. It also got extremely bright and hot between midday and 6pm. The view (including the window) looked mostly like this during this time:

It really was too hot to have the curtains open. Also, the sun reflected quite a bit off the river, which was not great for your eyes. So, most of my photos were taken in the morning and evening. 

One of the positives of having small windows was being able to be consistent in taking a photo of roughly the same area each time (even if the angle of the skyline was not always the same). There was only a limited range where I could avoid getting some window frame or the next door Hilton hotel in the shot. This is what my view of the Hilton looked like:

Not super interesting.

I am not the world's greatest photographer (in fact, I suck). Also, my phone camera isn't all that great. However, I hope that at least the general mood of the scene comes through.

Day 1, 6.41 pm

Quite a nice and subdued sunset on the first full day of quarantine.

Day 7, 9.24 am

This photo shows the positive effects of reduced commercial activity on the river. It was looking greener and clearer than I have ever seen it before. In the past, it could look pretty brown and muddy. The colour of the water and the reflection of the trees is something I would only expect further up in the less populated areas the river runs through.

Day 9, 7.04 am

The mountain (Mount Serapi?) in the distance is mysteriously shrouded with fog. 

Day 9, 6.58 pm

This was taken just as the sun disappeared into the horizon. The lights were just starting to get switched on.

Day 9, 7.07 pm

I like the difference between this shot and the one before. This was just 9 minutes later, but the street lights and building RGB have already taken effect, leading to the river having a dark blue colour.

Day 11, 6.20 pm

I like the long reflection of the sun in the river.

Day 12, 6.43 am

This was a peaceful morning. The sun was not visible (as it was on the other side of the building), but it was nice to get a hint that it was there.

Day 12, 3.13 pm

The clouds were magnificent, and seemed to enhance the sunlight. The picture was taken just as the weather started to change.

Day 12, 4.59 pm

Those beautiful bright fluffy clouds suddenly turned dark and we had an impressive tropical storm that set in really quickly. There was thunder and lightening and it was bucketing down with rain. This was taken when that was finishing up and we got some sun peaking through the dark clouds.

Day 12, 6.53 pm

The sun continued to come through and we got a very nice orange and yellow sunset.

Day 13, 6.34 pm

This was taken the last night before freedom. I accidently caught a tiny piece of the Hilton on the left side.

This might sound a little cheesy, but it really did help a lot to be able to look out of the window and see that the world outside still existed. The level of activity outside did drop after the movement order came into effect. It was a little surreal to see the river devoid of larger boats. I wonder how much better the fishing was for the folks out there in their little dinghies.