Academic publishing is a hostage of a commercial industry. You've no doubt read a few million and a half thinkpieces and committments about how: academics' free labour is exploited by publishing houses for profit; universities, libraries, and other similar institutions are funnelling millions in taxpayers' money to private publishing houses in order to access knowledge their own employees or peers produced; the peer review process is BS (and, and, and, and, and, and, and) and the social web is doing a grand job; academia is elitist and knowledge is inaccessible; metrics for measuring scientific impact and quality are BS; reusing data or building on other peoples' work and ideas is hard with the existing tooling; physical-paper-based methods of knowledge dissemination (like PDF) and the tools to produce them are missing out on the potential of modern technology (particularly the Web); given low to zero cost of publishing thanks to the Web, it is even more ridiculous that access to these resources costs so much; ... I could go on. People have been writing about this stuff for literally decades. The Open Access movement isn't much younger than the Web itself. And yet. Don't worry, people aren't only writing about it. People are building things too. Things like: Tools for creating and editing academic-style documents and data on the Web, so you're less constrained by paper-based formats. Repositories for publishing 'papers' (research reports, articles). Systems for web-comment-style peer-review, feedback, and commentary. Open access, web-based journals (aggregations of selected articles, as approved by a knowledgeable committee). Mandates to publish research and data openly. Archives of publications or data, despite the terms of service of other publishers or copyright holders. Ontologies for describing scientific contributions and the connections between them. Open standards for social-like interactions in general. Systems providing researchers with unique identifiers and profiles. Alternative metrics and other informal engagement initiatives. Another list There are so many different angles to approach this from, and so many things that need to change in sync. We need: to make research outputs digestable and learnable; to connect ideas and people; to chain things together - provenance, derivation, inspiration; to connect people and make collaboration easy; for people to not be afraid to publish work in progress, or share half-baked ideas; ways to ascertain quality of scientific output - repeatability, verifiability, and qualifications of the researcher - to know if something is good; to acknowledge people for their labour, particularly peer-review; to encourage quality reviews and ongoing conversations; to give researchers control over their work; to make research discoverable; to aggregate relevant progjects and publications; to congregate communities for discussion and development; to preserve work for the future. A puzzle that needs piecing together There are many pieces to the puzzle. There are many people working on these pieces, or components which could be part of a piece. Maybe not even in the context of improving academic publishing. Are you one of them? If you count yourself amongst the academic community and you're frustrated by the state of publishing - or working to change it - or just working on something that could be applied to improve it - there are some things you can do right now to help roll this ball... Write about your experiences. Write about your ideas for change. Write about your action for change. Then: show up in Portoroz, Slovenia, at the end of May and talk about it with other people who care. The big picture is big The big picture is big. We need lots of people with broad and niche expertise to address this properly. No one research group, project, or even discipline (and certainly not individual person) is going to be able to shift this alone. The first workshop for enabling decentralised scholarly communication, is co-located with the 2017 Extended Semantic Web Conference (but by no means limited to SemWeb people, or even computer scientists). We're eschewing the formal conference proceedings and encouraging you all to publish contributions online, at a domain of your choice (but ideally one you trust or control). Specifically, write about (any or all of): Why you don't publish all of your work on the Web, open access, today (a few paragraphs, like a blog post). What you're working on that might plug into a future ecosystem for academic publishing (even if you're not finished or not sure how it fits yet - that's what we'll discuss in person). Challenges (or solutions!) specific to your discipline or field regarding open access or online publishing of research and results. See you in Portoroz!
Last morning in Langkawi; breakfast, ferry terminal
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Last day, CouchSurfing and hitchhiking with Lucas and co. Durian Perangin waterfall and Kuah
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Two days at Wild Pasir Panjang on Pulau Tuba. No wifi, no aircon, no walls, no cars, almost no people, beach, sea, hammock.
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Short scramble through the jungle to the next beach where I met Won from KL, who took me on his scooter to visit some other parts of Tuba for a couple of hours
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Thaipusam coconut smashing near Times Square
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Balloon Festival and Chinese New Year finale show and fireworks
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Jade Emperor Temple (it was his birthday) early evening, and Kek Lok Si lit up at night
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Breakfast at Purple Stone in Air Itam, then a gentle hike from Kek Lok Si to Balik Pulau via the Air Itam Dam/reservoir
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CS meetup, downpour, and surprise Thaipusam final day
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Wholey Wonder smoothie bowl, and snickers bars
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The Wild Pasir Panjang cook was away so I made my own dinner with the provided vegetables and spices
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I marinated firm tofu in lime juice, soy sauce, and chilli flakes for about an hour, then dry fried it on the Wholey Wonder grill pan. It was amazing.. consistency of halloumi; a little salty for some people, but definitely hit a spot that used to be hit by cheese for me. We ate it with a bunch of stir fried veggies and lentils.
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Improv chocolate cookies: white flour, cocoa, baking soda, dessicated coconut, oat pulp (from the oat milk), vegan margarine, coconut sugar
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Lunch at Brown Poodle with Malaysian Mum. The food was good, but we were left really thirsty afterwards so I think they use lots of MSG. The best part was Poppy the puppy.
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Hiking George Town to Teluk Bahang via Botanical Gardens, Penang Hill, Western Hill and Teluk Bahang Dam. Photos with me in, taken by bengo.
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On the way home we stumbled across two very old men who lived in a treehouse and invited up to share their wisdom.
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Far too much food at Woodlands with Dani (Sri Ananda was closed)
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My first WW mezze platter; dinner at Sushi Kitchen. Then I went to China House and made some dreads for Daein; we got quite an audience.
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Visiting Tammy and Jon's place at The Light Collection in Gelugor. Many pools, sharks, and incredible views.
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Two meals in one day at Annalakshmi. Tried pal appam for the first time.
My time in Penang is almost at an end. Nasi lemak for breakfast, the view from my room this morning, and the bag of things I will leave behind.
Twice to Air Itam in one day. Breakfast at Purple Stone (with MM, E & K), then a raining evening wander around Kek Lok Si with Claire.
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Food questing. Adventist Hospital canteen, Chuang Yen, and way too much food at Mama Vege
Last meal in Malaysia (at BMS Organics in KLIA2)
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Tofu quiche at WW, surprisingly structurally sound
I decided to spend a day getting back to KL for my flight to Bali, instead of taking a direct route. Fairly haphazardly, I booked a late-night bus from Ipoh directly to KL Airport, and figured I'd let the Penang to Ipoh part of the journey take care of itself. It did: someone (K) posted on the CS Penang facebook group that he's driving to Ipoh this weekend, and he rearranged his time to Sunday evening so that I could join him. Dani tagged along, and he also offered us to stay in his Mum's house in Ipoh. So K picked us both up on Sunday evening, and off we went. Ipoh should only be about a 1.5 hour drive... Unless you get a flat tire on the highway. We did. The car had a spare, but no jack. The highway rescue people showed up fairly promptly though, pulled a screw out of the spare tire and patched it up, and set us on our way. All part of the adventure. We slept well in K's lovely family home, and the next day he showed us around his hometown. Three Hindu temples: We stopped at Andersonians for tasty banana leaf, and really good chai. A walk down Concubine Lane, which is a bustling little street full of cute shops and cafes. It houses the most famous Tau Fu Fah at Ding Feng. I tried ginger flavour, for just 1.60 MYR. It was delicious. Dani found durian cendol, her fave. (Anything with durian is Dani's fave). There were also some cool abandoned buildings, and a film crew of some famous travel vlogger seemed to show up wherever we were. There's lots of really nice street art, too. We lounged around with coffee in Burps and Giggles, having super interesting in-depth discussions about diet and philosophy (actually this was all day). Burps and Giggles was a good place to chill for a couple of hours. We took off and managed to get to Kek Look Tong with an hour before closing. This is a cave temple, with some nice gardens. The cave was pretty spectacular, with great rock formations. I was sad about the stalegmites that would never form because of the concrete on the ground, onto which stalegtites were dripping ferociously; we debated whether humans are interfering with nature, or just a different part of it. I suppose it wasn't really a debate because none of us are sure; just a discussion. There were lots of small intricate statues around as well. K took Dani and I to Amanjaya bus station, which is inconveniently far from the city center. We ate curry at the food court, and Dani took a bus back to Penang. I've been sitting around for three hours, and have another two to go before my bus to KLIA. Until half an hour ago, the wifi was surprisingly functional and fast. But now it's gone. Alas. There's power here, too, and vegetarian curry and rice (and a samosa) was about 3 MYR. Photos from the day and GPS trace.
For some time now I've been wanting to hike from Air Itam to Balik Pulau (which literally translates as 'the other side of the island'). We finally got around to it on Monday: GJ and H, and Tammy and Jon from Wholey Wonder. We started our journey at Purple Stone Vegetarian Food Center in Air Itam, around 8am. We ate loads of delicious and extremely cheap things to set us up for the day. A selection of bao to share, some people at the buffet, and I had won ton mee. I was delighted to be able to get a nasi lemak parcel. They sell the normal versions everywhere on street corners for between 0.50 and 1.50 rm, but they contain anchovies and egg. The little triangular parcels are so enticing, so I was happy to get a veggie one (containing peanuts, veggie sambal and a little mock meat) for the road. Tammy and Jon moved their car (with us in it) to the top of Kek Lok Si where there's cheap parking. We walked down a bit to find the start of the hiking route. It was blocked by a police barricade, and we were told there was a landslide and no way through to the Dam. Not the type of people to let a little landslide derail our plans, we walked to the road that goes around to the other side of the Dam to see if we'd have better luck there. It wasn't long before we were distracted by a trail into the jungle, and we left the road. This trail rapidly deteriorated until we found ourselves fairly stuck on a hillside. After a few false scrambles, Tammy noticed a trail of paper triangles stapled to various leaves and trees, so... we followed it. And followed it. And followed it. We climbed, sliding through the mud, clinging to trees, clawing at roots. Some of the trees have spikes growing out of their trunks; I grabbed them once or twice. We chatted about snakes and monsters. It was tenuous at times, but finally whoever laid the trail of paper triangles came through, and we made it back to the road. But not the road we started from... the road we had been blocked from heading down originally. We continued along it and ran into no more problems, which I suppose means we managed to clamber around the landslide somehow. The next landmark was the Air Itam Dam and reservoir. We walked clockwise around, stopping at a couple of Chinese temples on the way, until we reached a fork. We took the left track, and proceeded west. After this point it was mostly a gentle downhill slope. We proceeded through plantations of herbs and fruit (spotting bananas, papaya, and jackfruit, amongst others), and got some amazing views over parts of the island I haven't seen before. It took us about two and a half hours to reach the start of Balik Pulau. We walked for another hour, seeking Chin Choo vegetarian, which I had on my map. Alas, it wasn't there. At least we tried. There's a little history in Balik Pulau, but it's a very small town so not a lot to see. We decided the beach was too far to continue walking to, as the others wanted to do other things with the rest of their day. We took the bus back to Air Itam, and then drove to Janxden near Gelugor for a late lunch. Photos from the hike and GPS trace.
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I was going to hermit and work really hard on my thesis (and related and semi-related things) when I got back to Penang, but I met loads of cool people in Langkawi who are now in Penang and want to hang out, plus there's still tons of Chinese NY stuff going on sooo... working might have to wait a couple more days.
A day in Ipoh
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I'm going to try to adjust my diet whilst in Bali. K, who I spent the day with in Ipoh on Monday, eats a ketogenic diet. This is high fat and protein, and low carb. He mostly eats meat, a few nuts and pulses, and not many vegetables. This seems pretty thoroughly at odds with veganism, and he, Dani (who is also vegan) and I had some very interesting discussions. Mostly, as he was explaining the science as he understands it behind his diet, one or two things rang true to my experiences. Particularly how carbs, insulin, and glucose in the blood are related, and the physical effects of that. I get hungry a fairly predictable number of hours after I've last eaten, no matter how much I've eaten. And I get so hungry, I can't focus or really function until I've eaten. I make an effort because of this to keep meals small, because I know eating a lot now isn't going to reduce how much I want to eat later (and once I start eating I'm quickly satisfied). But that went a bit to shit in Penang because all the food was so great and I wanted to eat all of it, all the time. I also have been eating far more rice than usual, and a lot more greasy fried foods from Chinese economy rice places. I consistently eat a lot of bread. Anyway, I was reasonably convinced by K that a high dependency on carbs causes the hunger spikes thing. I've also been increasingly lethargic over the past month or so. I have been attributing this to a combination of eating too much, having some pretty terrible meals, and not running, in combination with general thesis-depression. Anyway, Penang is out of my hair, so it's time for a change. Basically I'm just going to try really hard to reduce carbs, and eat less overall while I'm in Bali. I will have to deal with being hungry for a few days or a week, but I don't think it will take me long to adapt back down to smaller or fewer meals. I observed this when going from the US (where I got used to large portion sizes) to Japan (much smaller) and back to the US again (after a month in Japan I could no longer eat even a full main at Veggie Galaxy; previously I'd eat a main and usually share a side and dessert at least, no problem). So I fucking love bread and potatoes. But instead of desperately searching for good bread here, I'm just not going to look. I'm not remotely compelled to buy shit bread, so I just won't get any. My kitchen is fine, but not super shiny and I don't feel overly excited to cook there, so I probably won't even buy any groceries for a while. I'm just not going to eat rice. Fine with that. Okay, so vegetables. I googled a bit and found a list of lower-carb veggies that I'll stick to. I'm not going to go too crazy with this though. I'm going to buy a bunch of nuts and eat them instead of snacking on fruit, though I'm obviously still going to have the odd dragonfruit. Indonesia is thankfully abundant with tempeh and tofu, so I can lean on those for low-carb proteins. Chickpeas are also good, and delicious. There are loads of organic / health food shops in Canggu, so when I do feel like buying groceries I can stock up. There is also an amazing amount of restaurants on the street I'm staying on alone which cater for vegans with an abundance of astonishing salads (amongst other things). I'm not really into salads, but I think a month of dining only in Canggu is not going to bore me. And I can choose or tweak these to leave out high-carb vegetable. There are also a lot of juices and smoothie bowls. Having a juice instead of a meal is appealing from the eating less standpoint.. I think I still will, but I'll try to get spinach-y green ones as a rule and not sugary fruits. I can also chase avocados, coconut oil, chia seeds, and dark chocolate. And.. I will start running again. On the beach! What I'm not going to do is actually count carbs. It's also going to be difficult to scientificishly assess the change it makes to my body, because I am simultaneously changing location (atmosphere, vibe) and routine. Oh well. Follow the action at /eats..
Ketogenic veganism, and other dietary musings
I spent the afternoon at Pasir Panjang, and now I'm spending the night. It was hard to get here, but worth it in the end. Partly due to me assuming locals knew what they were talking about and not triple checking the instructions sent by the accommodation. There are (at least) two jettyes from which boats leave for Pulau Tuba, but from one of them - Paken Rabu - they don't or won't stop at Pasir Panjang. This was the one I ended up at first, just north of Chopm Park. I asked after boats and was told to wait around (by a lady selling snacks and cakes). I got the same information from a random guy with a van. The only authoritative place I found was a tour desk in side a desolate mall-like building, and the guy there essentially told me to go ask random people outside. So having been given time estimates of between one and two hours, I wandered back through Chopm Park to see the Langkawi Legends statues (photos). I had never been anticipating getting on a boat immediately; just went to find out times. I needed to find an ATM and pick up some supplies. I did this in the main Kuah Jetty, which took a while due to crowds and queues, and then I walked back to Paken Rabu. I was told to wait some more... then as the boat arrived, they told me they couldn't drop me at Pasir Panjang after all. And pointed vaguely back to the main jetty. It would have been nice if they'd told me that two hours prior. I wandered around the main jetty asking after boats to Pulau Tuba for ages, with people pointing vaguely in different directions... all seemed pretty confident there were boats, just not very specific with information about where to find them. I eventually went far enough around the side to find an opening which looked like it led to boats. Some teenagers led me through a gate to a cafe attached to a small jetty, where they confirmed I could go to Pasir Panjang. This is Marble Beach jetty; and if I'd continued along the road I would been able to enter through a gate with a sign that said as much. I had to wait until there were more people unless I wanted to charter a boat for 50rm. I bought some juice and waited. Just as I was starting to think about giving up, about 50 minutes later, I was summoned to join a couple, an old man, and a young boy with a cake box. I paid 10rm for the 10 minute journey, and they dropped me on the beach at Pasir Panjang. This is an 800m beach accessible only by boat or a crawl through the jungle around the edge of a cliff to the next beach (which is connected by road to the rest of the island). It's owned by scrawny, beardy, 72 year old Gus; the cabins were built by workaway volunteers. Everything is palm trees, coconuts, natural wood and corrugated steel. There's everything you need, but nothing more. Koi from Thailand runs the kitchen, cooking up local and Thai dishes for far more than they cost on the main island; but that's okay, there's no shop or supplies on Tuba, so stock has to come by boat. The food is delicious though, and taking (off-menu) veggie options reduces the price considerably. I'm writing this in dimming light as I sit around the table with Koi, Gus, and other guests. Everyone comes here looking to get away. We just ate dinner (kangkong and rice for me) and now we are variously nibbling at chocolate, coconut, beer, wine. As they drink more and relax, the conversation gets political and strongly opinionated and the rest of the world starts to feel closer again. This afternoon I made the aforementioned crawl through the jungle to the next beach, then started following the road that leads to the homestay there. After a few minutes walking, I met Won, who took me on the back of his scooter to see the brdige across to the next island (or is it still Tuba?), a small waterfall, and a couple of villages before dropping me back where he found me. Pulau Tuba is the only other inhabited island of Langkawi's 99, beside the main one. Won was visiting Langkawi from KL, and took a day to see Tuba. This was a stroke of good luck, as I wasn't expecting to see much beyond Pasir Panjang. We were out for about two hours, and covered about half of the roads on the island. Photos of exploring Tuba. Back, I swam in the sea and set up my hammock. Finally! I've been carrying this thing around for years and this is the first time I've actually managed to string it up between palm trees. Most of the other guests were leaving the next day, and whilst I didn't want to have to charter my own boat to return to the main island if I didn't have to, I also didn't want to depart before noon. I decided to stay longer, meaning I'd ask for my own boat in the evening, but Gus and Koi took this to mean I'd stay an extra night. So... what the hell. I stay. The accommodation options are private cabins, one of two double rooms in a shared cabin, or a bed in the dorm. I chose the latter of course. The dorm is open to the world, and beds are thin mattresses under mosquito nets. There's no wifi here, but the dorm has one power outlet. I'm the only person sleeping in the dorm.
I slept great. Falling asleep and waking up to the sound of the ocean so close on one side, and the trills of the jungle on the other... of course there's no aircon or even a fan in the dorm, but there are also no walls, and a pleasant breeze. The temperature was pefect. I awoke with the sunrise. An infalliable way to get me out of bed in the morning is to put me literally on the beach. The allure of the two steps to sand and sea is greater than a mattress. The tide was out, revealing mud flats and coral. After breakfast (bread, jam, beans, orange juice), I waded through the mud for a while. Now I'm back in the hammock. The tide has come almost all the way back in, and the other guests bar two have left. I'll leave with them tomorrow morning; no one else is due to arrive today. My original plan had been to couchsurf tonight and tomorrow. One of the guests lent me his data connection just long enough to change the plans with my host (but not long enough to find out what's going on in the world). It's warm and pefectly breezey. A little overcast, so no overpowering sun. I'm going to grab the litter picker and pick up trash from the beach. I had an urge to each time I walked down, and since the beach is of finite size I think it will be satisfying.
Langkawi 6: home is where the hammock is
I filled two bags and a bucket picking up rubbish, and made it half the length of the beach before I stopped for a nap in a tree. Then there were loads of ants on the branches, so I switched to napping on the sand. There were ants there too. I swam the length of the beach, and rested on a floating jetty for.. I dunno, half an hour or more. There was a little water-walking insect I'd never seen the like of before; I watched it flit around. I swam back. I showered in the outdoor shower, and washed my hair with soap, which I hadn't done for a while. Didn't you want a blow-by-blow account of my day? There's not a lot to do here but chill out and then write about it :) Thesis Now I'm eating noodles by the ocean.
Photos from the last two days on Tuba. After a leisurely breakfast yesterday I shared a boat back to Kuah late morning. I waited around the jeti for Lucas, my next CS host. He gave me a ride on the back of his scooter to his place, just outside Kuah. There I met his other guests, P and V from Russia, and GJ from the Netherlands. Together we headed out, attempting to hitchike as five to Durian Perangin waterfall. It took about 20 minutes for us to be picked up in a car big enough to seat us all comfortably, which took us about 1/4 of the way there. Very soon after we managed to fit five of us in the back of a normal sized car... The three guys took the seats, and us two girls sat on top of them. They took us the rest of the way there (even though it was a diversion from where they were going!). We climbed to the top of the waterfall and swam and relaxed in the sun. We wandered back, stopping on the way at a black bee farm where I stood in the swarm (they're stingless) but declined to suck honey from a hive with a straw. Then we hitched in the back of a pickup to Kuah town. We wandered through Chopm Park, got a snack from the Jetty, and Lucas, GJ and I went to eat nasi kandar (hitched again, even though it wasn't far) while V and P went to Eagle Square to busk. We hitched back to Lucas's place, actually picked up by a passing friend of Lucas. Photos of hitchiking, waterfall, and Kuah. Later that evening GJ and I wandered through the restaurants of the local area, discussed vegan food, and ate laici kang and rojak. We got a mango salad too, but OF COURSE mango salad is filled with teeny tiny staring anchovy heads. Who didn't know that? We left it in the fridge for Lucas. This morning I got up early and went for roti canai near Lucas's place. This might have been my favourite roti canai so far. Then GJ and I hitched to the jeti; we were picked up after about two minutes by a couple. I had budgeted a lot for taxis around Langkawi, but only took one on the first day. Bargain! GJ tried to to get a ticket to Penang on the same ferry as me, but it was already full. So he left to look for bus/train options, and I got iced lime tea from the jeti food court and checked in for the ferry. Now I'm aboard, and waiting for it to leave. Some photos from the morning.
Last day in Penang.. breakfast with MM at Ee Beng, and the rest of the day at Wholey Wonder.
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There are many reasons to homemake crisps. Maybe you like making everything from scratch. Maybe the ones in the supermarket are just so full of crap and all you really want to eat is potatoes and salt. Maybe you just have a lot of potatoes around. Those reasons are great. Me? My main reason is that I'm too lazy and antisocial to go outside.
I made oat milk this morning. It... could be nicer. The texture is really good, but it tastes weird. Maybe I'll add more coconut sugar, I just used a sprinkle. It could also be the water isn't great; maybe it'll be nicer chilled.
I'm definitely getting a Penang belly.
So much for recovering from Langkawi, it's the peak of festival season across the various different cultures and communities in Penang. Balloon festival (4 Feb) After the ferry from Langkawi returned me to George Town, Malaysian Mum picked me up from the jetty without my asking, because she's nice like that, and delightedly exclaimed that my skin is now darker than hers. It wasn't long after I got home before I was heading out again. GJ had made it to George Town too, Ira was staying in a room in my apartment, and GJ had met H, another aspiring vegan, on his ferry. When I meet aspiring vegans I feel obligated to share my knowledge and food discoveries, especially when they're as excited about food as I am. So I took GJ to Ee Beng first, and we ate quite a lot. Then we met H on Love Lane, and walked through town to Little India. IN NR Thali Sweets they ate curries and I bought some of all of the vegan sweets to share. We stuck around until Ira could join us. We walked to the jetty and picked up a free shuttle to the Polo field, where a balloon festival was happening. There were loads of food options here too. We walked around then chilled on the grass and waited for the hot air balloon and fireworks show to start. Chinese New Year (4 Feb) We took the bus back to Chew Jetty then watched the Chinese New Year dancers, fireworks, and wandered around. Bumped into some others from the Penang CouchSurfing community. Walking back after midnight, in every direction were fireworks and on every street sudden firecrackers. Lots of people, lots of scared stray dogs. I've had a quite enough of the Chinese fixation with fire and loud noises. Pulau Penang is the best place in Malaysia to watch CNY celebrations, anyway, because of its about 70% Hokkien Chinese population. Photos of balloon festival and CNY celebrations. Ira and I got back to the apartment around 1, and jumped in the pool. My feet and legs were still on fire from mosquitoes and ants, plus the jellyfish stings from almost two weeks ago started scarring and itching. Temples (5 Feb) The next afternoon I met them again at Wholey Wonder. After lunch and yoga, we headed to Air Itam to see the Temple of the Jade Emperor and Kek Lok Si. There wasn't much going on at the former; the Jade Emperor's birthday was the night before, when it had been very crowded. We waited around at Kek Lok Si until it was dusk, when all of the lights came on. Photos of Jade Emperor Temple and Kek Lok Si. Thaipusam - coconut smashing (8 Feb) This morning I met up with some people from the Penang CouchSurfing group at Times Square. The Thaipusam chariot is being hauled from Little India to the Waterfall Temple, about 15km, today. As it goes, very slowly, people smash coconuts into the ground in front of it. The coconuts are hastily cleared up by small diggers and men with large brushes, to allow the chariot to proceed. There is free vegetarian Indian food everywhere, which is awesome. And a general party atmosphere. Lots of bright colours and music. While we waited for the chariot and coconuts, we also wandered around a couple of the nearby temples. I threw a coconut but I'm pathetic so it bounced instead of smashed. My wish isn't coming true. I did get pretty well covered in water and bits from other peoples' coconuts though. More coconut smashing photos. Thaipusam - evening festivities (8 Feb) In the evening I walked along Jalan Utama, the road which leads to the Botanical Gardens. It was lined on both sides with stalls, refreshment stands, and people handing out free vegetarian food. People were dancing, sitting around, and the atmosphere was incredible. I stuffed my face with chapati and dahl and followed the road. Lots of people were heading towards the Gardens, and turning off to climb the steps to the Waterfall Temple. I followed the crowd; it's 500-and-something steps up. Lots of people were carrying pots of offerings. As we neared the top, I started to feel conspicuous; I was pretty much the only non-Indian (there were one or two Chinese people by this point, but most Western tourists had remained at the bottom) and was starting to worry that there was some ritual happening inside the Temple I'd have no idea how to take part in. The line became single file, and segregated into three sections. One was obvious: the people with pots hanging from hooks in their skin. I'm not sure what the difference between the other two were. I was also a little worried as my shoulders and knees weren't completely covered. But it didn't matter. Aside from having to leave my shoes (which I'd been carrying) outside, I made it into the Temple and simply wandered through. The people with pots had them emptied into.. I dunno, a bigger pot, on the way in. The pots contained some kind of white milky substance. I wandered around the Temple a bit. Behind it was more free food and seating. People were milling around everywhere, just hanging out. The views of George Town from the top and the way up/down are amazing. My shoes went AWOL, but then I found them again, and headed back down. On my return along Jalan Utama I picked up a stack of food to take home. Most of the stalls giving out refreshments were interestingly by electronics companies. Pretty much everyone I know in Penang was there, but I didn't find anyone because the crowd was so huge. Photos of the evening of Thaipusam. Thaipusam - piercings (9 Feb) I got up early and went to the stadium to watch men having dozens of hooks with things hanging from them poked into their skin. Some men had little swords through their lips, and some have big hooks in their backs from which they will pull chariots later. In other words... aaarrghhh whhyyy lahh Photos of Thaipusam piercings. This evening on the way back from the Penang CS meetup I got caught in a torrential downpour (as usual). But when I made it to my road, I was handed a carton of soya milk. A bit further down, some noodles. Voila! Thaipusam is outside my front door tonight! So from my balcony I watched more coconut smashing, and eventually the golden chariot was pulled past. Pretty neat. More pictures from the balcony. So I am still somewhat in Langkawi vacation mode thanks to festivities and new friends... and there are still things going on until at least the weekend. But, I will get back to work.
Today bengo and I inadvertently hiked the Penang Hill Forest Challenge ('the longest trail in Penang'). I had pieced together two other hiking trails and filled a gap in the middle, but it turns out that if you do this from the other end, it has an official name. Here is the GPS trace. Anyway, we started from home, and walked to the Botanical Gardens (about an hour). We took the 1500 steps route up Penang Hill, using Path A to reach the top (about 2.5 hours) where we relaxed with fruit and fruit juice for a while. We walked along Summit Road to Western Hill. There's a trail on the left going down, after about 20 minutes. We first missed it and continued down the road, which quickly became signposted as private property. We backtracked; the actual trial is pretty well signposted. From there there was lots of climbing - up and down - supported by a rope most of the way. Lots. Of. Climbing. And another hill. Then some more climbing. Oh look another hill. And a vertical slope. And some scrambling. And another hill. And so on. We encountered only 3 other groups of hikers on the way. There were a few points for nice views, but mostly trees. And hills. And another hill. But just because I was cursing every step doesn't mean I wasn't having fun. 4 hours later, the beautiful sight of local families splashing in pools nearby the Teluk Bahang Dam welcomed us. We dived in and sat in small waterfalls until our legs came back. The pools are in a nice park, which also houses the Forestry Museum. It was very peaceful. Once we'd recovered, we walked up the road to see the Dam and reservoir. Then we backed up and followed the road to Teluk Bahang village. We stuck our thumbs out but nobody stopped. We forged ahead to the beach, and immediately encountered Cat Beach - a cat shelter on a small, beautiful, secluded beach. Run by volunteers, in exchange for housing. I paddled, and hung out with the cats for a while. I think I see... my future. We stopped for vegetable fried rice at a small stall, then caught the 101 bus home. Complete set of photos here.
I spent all day at WW yesterday making this rainbow cheesecake. I was interrupted a lot, and took a break to make the snickers bar (also pictured) but I still want to rename it the 'forever cheesecake'. The base cheesecake cream is cashew, cocoa butter, and coconut milk. The pink/red layer is dragonfruit, the yellow is mango, the purple/blue is blueberry, and the green is spirulina.
Amy added 10 photos to https://i.amy.gy/madefood/
I stepped out today and thought it's pleasantly cool. It's 30°C. I have acclimatised. Those who knew me in the UK might recall I I struggled with a British summer and thought 18°C was more than plenty hot enough for anyone, thank you very much.
Made some improvements to paging for sloph. Explored Langkawi at length, met lots of new people. CouchSurfed, stayed in a hut on the beach, swam a lot in the sea and waterfalls, hitchiked, climbed, hiked, sat in boats, slept, ate (mostly fried rice and roti canai), and got eaten alive by ants and mosquitoes. Watched Chinese NY celebrations in George Town. Went to Jade Emperor temple and Kek Lok Si temple to see the lights. YES I know blog posts and logs are missing, getting on it.
Hiked from Air Itam to Balik Pulau. Reviewed a paper for LD-DL WWW workshop. Started work on converting my not-quite-finished #ownYourData ten-page paper into a 1200 word extended abstract for the AoIR conference. Went to Thaipusam celebrations on a couple of occassions. Cooked and ate a lot. Caught up on my Langkawi blog posts.
Announced the call for our ESWC workshop Enabling Decentralised Scholarly Communications #LinkedResearch Reviewed two papers for LDOW Juggled some AS2 stuff.. Made progress on sloph's feed paging, aka fixed a really stupid think-o that had me stumped for a week (thanks to csarven). Hiked from George Town to Teluk Bahang. Ate at lots of new places. Found a treehouse in the middle of George Town occupied by two 70 year old stoners. Made a rainbow cheesecake.
More AS2 wrangling. Shortlisted three titles for my thesis. Ate at lots more new places. Wrote up my #ownYourData study as a 1200 word extended abstract for AoIR. LEFT PENANG ;_; :O After 80 days, many new friends, and a lot of food. Arrived in Ipoh.
I recall seeing Wild Pasir Panjang on workaway.com. I'm not staying long enough this time to qualify, but there's potential for the future... I'm going to look for a hostel workaway in Bali I think; if I can trade a few hours of cleaning/admin for free accommodation, I'll do it.