The Left Foot
Today we found a supermarket that sold Wolf Blass chardonnay at only RM 27 so it is chilling in our fridge at this moment. We haven't had wine since we dined with the Australian consul on our second day here. The same supermaket sold Tim Tams, Werther's and Tasmanian milk so we bought them all. No vegemite anywhere - even a Google search failed to reveal any vegemite outlets in this city.

The Sugarbun Warriors don't scare me. They stand benignly behind the counter in their neat uniforms, doling out egg banjoes served with rice rather than fries, looking anything but warlike. They thank us for our wonderful support and loyalty and invite us to join Friends of Sugarbun. Membership will entitle us to buy, at drastically reduced rates, 30 kg bags of rice as often as we need to. We also receive a copy of "Hand-in-hand" so we can read all about the marketing activities of various Warriors around the country. Sugarbun is truly the worthy winner of the Chief Minister's Award for 2002.

This is the "City of the Cat" and has the world's first and largest cat museum. Exhibits range from the interesting if macabre mummified Egyptian cat to cute and cloying chocolate-box ornaments. Around the city are numerous cat statues which we have been photographing assiduously from every angle. The real cats are lean and mean and dangerous to touch.

Great excitement at work yesterday when an international courier arrived with a parcel for me containing some highly-prized catalogues from Raeco and S & M. Oh, such stationeries! Such dump trolley! Such display stand! No longer do I dwell in a sensory deprivation unit thanks to my esteemed colleague, Rhonda. The gals also included some photos of themselves cavorting in the Ref office and workroom. Wonderful to see them all and know I'm not forgotten but after closing the last one I was left feeling as you do in hospital when all your visitors go home.

The Left Foot
Now that The Right Foot had found himself a job I have lost my navigator / chauffeur and have to drive home toute seule, alert for every landmark. First that jungly trio: Jalan Lowlands, Jalan Midlands, Jalan Uplands; next the wismas: Saberkas, Satok and Kim Lim Soon. Awas! Do not run into that bas sekolah or those motor cyclists riding four abreast. The three-lane roundabouts require concentration and no-one uses their indicator. It's OK to turn left against the red light - have to break THAT habit when I get home. Do I need petrol? Self-service only a month old here and there are lots of helpers to help me help myself. Duck into Wisma Saberkas to pick up my photos (there's a gorgeous one of Mere 'n' Matt taken back in August). Drivers are very patient in this car park. You're given a plastic disk as you drive in but no time or date is stamped on it. How will they know how much to charge me? But there IS no charge when I hand back the ticket. If parking is free why do I need the disk at all? Then it dawns on me - this is the only way they can tell when the carpark is full.

Heart flutters subside as I drive triumphantly along Jalan Stadium - the last leg. I find The Right Foot waiting for me at the gate.

The Right Foot:
Sitting in an interview in the beautiful State Library, on a misty morning overlooking a peaceful lake haunted by dazzling white egrets, the craziness of today's world is suddenly brought home to me. I mention that I will have to upgrade my visa so that I can undertake a 6 week project and that it will probably help my case if I have a letter from the Library to that effect, and the conversation moves on to border security in general and the post-Bali situation in particular. Several of the librarians are planning to visit Australia early in the new year and were surprised when their Australian contacts e-mailed suggesting it might facilitate their visa application if they have supporting letters from the Australian libraries they plan to tour. I recall with a start that the Internet is thick with relayed warning messages to Australians originating from Foreign Affairs and the effect that they have had on our friends and colleagues. What's going on? Has Little Johnnie given the signal to raise the draw-bridge, boil up some oil and sound the tocsin? Has "Fishnet" Downer suddenly decided that Malaysia has declared on the side of the Evil Axis? Is there An Election in the air?

The Left Foot
We hang around the teh tarik (pulled tea) stall for the theatricality of its preparation. Drinking it would not be possible. Made from tea, powdered milk and sweetened condensed milk, with added sugar if you like, it froths up like cappucino or a badly poured VB. But no expensive, sophisticated machinery is involved. The effect is achieved by throwing the tea from a mug to a cup with arms stretched as far from each other as possible and adopting the insouciant air of a Lygon Street sophisticate.

Of all the jalans, Simpang Tiga is my favourite. Jalan Astana has a nice ring to it and Jalans Green and Rock are easy to remember but Jalan Simpang Tiga comes so trippingly off the tongue that I hope for opportunities to say it.

We went to the cinema on Saturday night to see 'Road to perdition'. Not bad if you like that kind of thing. We could simultaneously hear the soundtrack of Jackie Chan in the next cinema but the interesting thing was trying to avoid reading the sub-titles. After so many foreign films down at the Europa, it seemed more natural to read the dialogue than listen to it.

There is a certain kind of person on this planet, identifiable by the same curious indiosyncracies irrespective of race, nationality or creed. They are called Technical Services Librarians.

The Left Foot
Awe-inspiring visit to Bako national park today, up close to Proboscis and Macaque monkeys. Whispering to each other and to other tourists as if we were in a David Attenborough special for the BBC. To and fro this island national park we had an exhilarating ride across the South China Sea. Spectacular scenery on all sides reminiscent of Halong Bay in Vietnam but without the soul-piercing cold. Instead a warm, mellow, expansive breeze that mad you open up instead of hunkering down like wind usually does.
So many new sights to distract and yet, all the time there is a lead weight in the pit of my stomach like exam nerves. It is a new form of Bali Belly - a partially repressed but always present sense of loss and grief and anger.

One thing that is really weird about living in Asia is that so many people are at eye level with me. My height of 155 cms is about average for women and even many men are smaller than me. This is a very strange sensation and I feel like my body has reoriented itself in space, rather like the feeling you get when pregnancy changes your centre of gravity.

My favourite things to eat are small, flavoursome bananas that grow on a spiky tiara like Maggie Simpson's hair. They are impossible to buy in small quantities, and with my banana eating daughter many kilometres away, the challenge is to eat more than I have to throw out.

The Right Foot hasn't lost his impressive navigational skills or flair for finding a parking spot, although he did get a parking ticket the other day which cost him the equivalent of 25 Australian cents. They need Stonnington City Council over here to show them how to make money from the fractionally late.