Very fitting indeed to be at Kuah, Langkawi Island, today. Langkawi features a serene, sublime, breathtaking and tranquil sky, ocean and natural landscape that never fail to invite me to 'get high'; only to be pinched (get real) by the irony of free market capitalism and globalization.
Langkawi has been my favourite cultural text for post modern ironies at work - of getting high and getting real; a space that is both lucid and conFUSED (plus the whole baggage of re-used, refused and abused).
I just came back from having my lunch at a Thai restaurant that echoed ambiance Thai songs and music to make me feel like I was in Krabi or Phuket. For a while I thought I was, not until I was greeted with 'salam' by a Malay waitress.
By then I could hear a French women talking loudly on her handphone in French, while a couple from Hong Kong tried to enjoy their spicy Thai friend rice. An Arab family was having a language problem in asking for a plain white rice.
Around me, in front of most of the duty free shops, I saw shoppers busy getting high, while the shops owners busy getting real.
A smile from the waitress (she was from Thailand actually), reminded me that I was in Langkawi, enjoying the parody of globalization and free market capitalism.
Time for me to get high and get real simultaneously.
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