Today I meet my Russian friend Lisa for lunch for the first time in two years! And in the evening I meet Cici! So I have a lot on my schedule today!

I am always a late riser, so we decided to meet at 3pm at Bukit Bintang. I love the Chinese food on this street, so I really wanted to try it. Apparently, Lisa loves Indonesian food, so we decided to have nasi goreng. I was really looking forward to eating Indonesian nasi goreng, too! So I was really looking forward to it.
I had some time to spare, so I bought some tapioca juice at a convenience store and waited.

Finally! Lisa is here!

To my surprise, she was dressed very prominently, as usual. My impression of her is that she is “graceful”. When I first met her in Japan, when I met her in Russia, and the stories I see on Instagram all seem very elegant. This time, the clothes were apparently bought in Thailand. I recognized it right away lol.

We decided to go to Jalan Alor night market

Lisa introduced me to her boyfriend. He is Nick, whom she met when she was in Georgia, and they have been traveling together since then. I thought it was a really romantic and sweet encounter. Nick is Australian, so he is my first Australian friend. I told him Aichi Prefecture, but he didn’t understand, so I said Nagoya and he understood.

With Lisa and Nick!

Then we introduced our jobs to each other. To my surprise, I am a web designer and programmer, and he is also in the web industry! What a surprise. I wondered how such a thing could happen. He is also a freelancer, and Lisa is working full time remotely for a Russian company. So we are all freelancers in a way lol.

There was no Indonesian food, so we decided to have Thai food

We ended up eating Thai food. I ordered Thai tea and some kind of noodles.

There, Lisa and Nick told me a lot about their adventures. They had lived in Chiang Mai, Thailand for about a year and then in Danang, Vietnam for six months. It was unbelievable how different the scale is. I had only been in Vietnam for a month and that was enough for me, but Lisa and Nick had been in Danang for 5 months. I could not help but think that was amazing. But they really seemed to be having a good time.

Lisa and Nick’s adventure story

Chiang Mai is a very prosperous city, and I hear it is a very nice place with lots of greenery. But the city near Bangkok is chaotic because it seems to have only prostitutes. It was very interesting to hear about a city I have never been to, Lisa likes Thailand and Nick likes Vietnam.

By the way, I think I like Thailand the best so far in Southeast Asia.
The temples are fascinating, the Big Buddha gives me goosebumps, the food is delicious, the country is free and smiling, you can use virtual currency, and the sea is beautiful. But there is a problem, and that is the heat. So I felt that if I were to build a villa in Southeast Asia in the future, it would have to be in a city with the sea.

Besides, apparently Danang is full of rats lol. I have only seen rats in Da Nang once, but where they lived, there were rats everywhere lol.

Apparently, their route was Georgia -> Vietnam -> Thailand -> Laos -> Malaysia. They lived in Southeast Asia for 1.3 years, which I thought was just really amazing. I knew it would be very fun to have an adventure with partner.

They also told me about Laos. She told me about another town in Laos that has ballooning activities and is very beautiful. But the capital of Laos has nothing and is not interesting at all. I guess it is inevitable because Laos is a dictatorship and a poor country, but I learned a lot. So I thought that 3 days would be enough time for me to visit Laos.

Nick and I talked about future projections

Nick and I talked about our work and virtual currency. I love crypto assets, so we shared information about Ethereum 2.0, the half-life of bitcoin in 2024, and other future trends. I also talked about how our jobs will probably disappear in the future and that we need to be prepared for that. I love talking about the future, so I really enjoyed it.
It was already 6:00 p.m. as we were talking about all kinds of fun things. I asked Lisa and Nick to write me a letter. My adventure notebook is filling up. Lisa’s message was in Russian, and Nick’s was a wish that I would like durian lol. So I thought, “I should be able to eat durian when I visit Nick’s house in the future haha.

We then decided to go to a nearby cafe. It was a cafe I had been to once before. So I ordered an affogado.

Nick gave me a advice “You shouldn’t go to bars in Australia”

The affogado, which I haven’t had in a while, was very tasty. Or, in my opinion, all sweets in Southeast Asia are too sweet. However, the affogado, because of the espresso, matches the bitterness in a good way, and the sweetness of the ice cream is drowned out. While I was enjoying myself like that, Nick taught me about Australia.

The affogado is delicious.

To my surprise, I heard that if you go to a bar in Australia, a single cocktail costs about $14. That was amazing. Of course, working at McDonald’s for one hour, you can get about $18, which is amazing, and on weekends, the pay is even higher, about $30 per hour. This is so high salary that you would think it is the highest in the world. However, Australian freelancers don’t often go to cafes to work. Instead, they work at home.

Also, the rent is very high, and five people can live together for $215 per person. So I feel that the cost of living in Australia is very expensive now. However, I would like to visit Australia someday because the scenery is so beautiful there. Apparently, Bali is the closest island to Australia from Nick’s hometown in the north. So it is cheaper than a domestic trip to the west. Also, the center of Australia seems to be a desert, and there are many towns and people living along the coast. The Great Barrier Reef is right up there. He told me such things.

Nick and Lisa also wanted to go surfing in Australia, but it was too hot during the day, so they prefer to surf in the evening or early morning. I learned that surfing is better in the morning.

It was time to go, so we decided to say bye-bye

We talked about where in the world we would meet next, and decided that I would walk home and Lisa and Nick would take a cab home. At the end, Nick and I shook hands, Lisa and I hugged, and we said goodbye. It was really refreshing and fun to see each other for the first time in two years! I wonder where we will meet next?

At 7:30pm I will meet with Cici and crossing the bridge near the center of KL

Today, Cici came to Malaysia from Vietnam for her visa run! So she went to the embassy to get her VISA and we will meet up with her this evening!

We decided to meet at a beautiful illuminated bridge near the hostel. I wanted to go there because it was a photo spot and my Malaysian friend recommended it to me. I walk toward there. I always have earphones in my ears, and I was a little nervous because I was going to meet Cici for the first time in a while. I always get nervous when I meet someone, and even more so when it has been a long time. But that is what makes it fun and exciting.

We finally met at the bridge! Cici was very awkward, as if it was her first time meeting me. She didn’t make eye contact with me, and I wondered why. I love to talk anyway, so I share a lot about what happened today.

Cici apparently wants to go to the KL Twin Towers or KL Tower. So I hope we can go there tomorrow.

Besides, when she was waiting before meeting me, a Filipino tourist asked to take a picture with her, and they took a picture together lol.
I thought to myself, “Cici is very popular with everyone” lol. Indeed, I can understand why she is popular, since she is good-looking, has seductive aura and looks younger than she actually is.

We talked a lot in front of the bridge, how is KL? I also told her about yesterday’s incident at the hostel.

To my surprise, we were staying in the same hostel! OMG

Believe it or not, she is staying at the hostel where I am currently staying. Last night in the co-working space I was having a videoconference with a Russian friend of mine. I was talking Russian with my friend without thinking anything about it. So, Cici asked me in an Instagram message, where are you staying? I sent her a screenshot of my location. Then she went back to her room and saw it. Then she realized it was me there. I was so surprised too. The distance was just 2 meters.

She sent a text message to her friends that “there were Russians around me” lol. That alone made me happy. It meant that I could speak Russian well enough to be identified as Russian. But in reality, it was not so. Since there were many Japanese people in the hostel where we were staying, I was a bit embarrassed to speak only in Japanese with my Russian friends who could speak Japanese, so I mixed it with Russian. I was very worried that I might have said something strange in my Russian, because there were some topics that I did not want to be heard lol.

When I asked Cici about it, she said she wasn’t really aware of it and that it was okay, so I was relieved.

Photography also near KL Tower

We also took a lot of pictures near the KL Tower. Cici took a lot of pictures under the Twin Towers, which are the most iconic buildings in KL, and she used the panoramic setting to take pictures of me, which was a great discovery. If you need a wide angle lens, a panoramic camera will give you a wider view. That was a great discovery for me. But the wide angle lens on my iPhone camera is still of better quality than her iPhone! Heh heh heh.

We took many pictures of each other like that.

Go to a shopping mall in KLCC

I was hungry, so I suggested to Cici that we go to a shopping mall in KLCC, and we decided to go there together. I was familiar with the shopping mall (though I had been there only once), and I had been writing my diary and working at Starbucks there, so I was familiar with its structure. I think there is a food court on the 4th floor. We were talking about why OMEGA and ROLEX are there even though it is Malaysia. We were talking about how there is a very big difference between the rich and the poor in Malaysia too.

We arrived at the food court, but there was absolutely nothing for Cici to eat, and I couldn’t find any vegetarian or vegan food, so we decided to go to a different place.

Cici tells me not to worry about her and to eat what I want, but there is something strange about my personality that makes me not hungry if my friends don’t eat anything, so I no longer feel like eating anything. Surely there is something to the effect that a meal tastes better only if you eat it with someone else? I felt that if I am going to eat a meal, which is “material for human survival,” I would like to eat it with others and talk with them. If I eat alone and Cici just waits for me, I feel bad for her and I feel bad for myself. I think it’s because we eat together that we have fun and there is a connection. That’s my nature. Frankly, when I’m alone, cheap KFC or MacDonald is good enough for me.

Talk about Malaysia at the place with the fountain

Then I decided to walk to where the fountain is. It was my favorite place, where I finally found a bench that I couldn’t seem to find and replied voice messages to my friend. I decided to go there with Cici because it was a beautiful view.
When I walk behind her, I always feel very comfortable because I can smell sweet coconut shampoo produced by Moroccan Oil company lol.

There we talked about Malaysia. We talked about whether Chinese or Indian descent people originally lived in Malaysia, whether they call themselves “Indians” or “Malays” even though they look like Indians. And also, we were talking about how it is very interesting to see the different races living in different regions. Whenever I talk with Cici, it’s always about knowledge sharing or imagination, so it’s really a lot of fun. Really.

Buy evening meal at a food stall in the Malay area and go home.

So we decided to go to a food stall in the Malay area, Cici looked it up on the map and we decided to go here. Maybe because it was in the Malay area, 90% of the people were Malay, and there were hardly any Chinese people. I feel it is very interesting to have this kind of experience. I think it is an amazing experience to see the different ethnic groups in one country just by changing the location.

We saw many stores at the food stalls there, but I was scared. Because there were many Malay people staring at Cici and me. Interestingly, when Japanese people look at me, they immediately look away. But in the case of Malaysians, even when I looked them in the eye, they kept eye contact with me. I thought this was interesting, but I also felt scared. I couldn’t help thinking that they might attack me or something. I was walking behind Cici, but there were many men watching her, so I wondered how she was able to travel alone. I hope she masters Brazilian jiu-jitsu soon, and gets the ability to beat the hell out of anyone who attacks her.

I was buying a mango shake and she was buying coconut water. Besides, one stall was selling vegetarian rolls, so she bought those. I bought an Indonesian one. But I don’t remember the name lol. There were a lot of tables here, but it was dirty and I didn’t feel like eating here, so we decided to eat at the hostel and we left. Until my Indonesian food was ready, we talked about dinosaurs, and Cici suddenly asked, “What is your favorite dinosaur?”
I really love this kind of thing about Cici. She is really, really unique, which makes me super interesting.

Well, I said, I’m a Triceratops; Cici is a Velociraptor, I think. She likes dinosaurs with feathers. She had recently seen Jurassic World, and apparently they had recently discovered that “dinosaurs actually have feathers,” which hadn’t been discovered when the movie was first released in 1984, and it was incorporated into the movie, and most of the dinosaurs had feathers. In the vein of that story, I shared that Jurassic World is doing a new one next year or this year.

Then, to my surprise, the Japanese “Wild Speed” was actually “The Fast and Furious”. I thought the whole world was Wild Speed, so I was completely asleep in the Japanese sea. She asked me if I had seen “The Fast and Furious”. I wondered what she meant by that, and when I looked at the translation, I found out that of course I had seen it. She likes the old ones and recently she watched a new one in Vietnam.I thought to myself, “Of course she loves cars, so of course she’s going to see it” lol.

I also shared with her that I was really scared because so many people were staring at us, and she told me that women feel that kind of fear wherever they go. I thought that because she had experienced that kind of thing, she could understand that. And since she was talking about how nice it is that USA is able to have guns, again, I realize that she must have had quite a frightening experience. I felt really sorry for her. And if it was at a very young age, the trauma must have been horrendous. I, too, am still traumatized by what was done to me when I was little, and it is a big wound. But if you look at it positively, it is a flaw, but it is a “experience,” and through it, you discover something. For example, I was bullied very hard way which I wanted to suicide almost, but thanks to that I am now in Malaysia, leaving Japan.

In Islam, sex between a man and a woman before marriage is forbidden, so Muslims cannot have sex. But apparently the rule doesn’t say “no sex between men,” so some Muslims kidnap someone’s children and sleep with them or sleep with other men to make money. It is a very graphic story. I got goosebumps.

Cici is now learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu so that she can fight if she is attacked. I used to learn aikido, but I gave it up because I didn’t want to sweat and uniform smelled bad lol. But now that I think about it, I wonder how I managed to learn it for seven years. Besides, now I actually want to learn to box against a sandbag with explosive fists and kicks. I think how cool it would be if someone important to me is attacked, or if I was attacked myself, and I could burst into a punch and knock them down, being able to save a life is also very important.

A story in a hostel at midnight

We returned to the hostel, dropped off our luggage, and went to the coworking space. It was surprisingly quiet, almost as if we were in Japan. There were about 3 people there, some watching videos with earphones, others just looking at their iPhones without talking.
She eats a vegetable roll. I eat Indonesian food. It was fried rice with an egg on top. Just one bite and it was so good. When I eat with people, the main thing is not to eat but to communicate. So, eating rice is just a reason to eat, and it’s just an “incidental” thing to do. Maybe that is why I was full after only two bites of fried rice. Because I was excited to have a conversation with her.

Cici and I were talking about Russian sweets and food. She kept asking me, “Do you know about 00?” and she told me about it. I shared that I used to eat “Alexandra Shirok” when I lived in Russia, and that I loved “Karovka”. I also showed her pictures of Georgian food I used to eat when I was in Georgia, and she told me what her favorite Georgian food is. She like her mother’s Khachapuri. I really understand because she respect and appreciate her mother, so if she eat her Khachapuri, she can get Serotonin which is one happiness hormone. I learned about this on some biology book on “Why everyone say “My mother’s something is the best in the world?”
She likes to drink wine, but she doesn’t get drunk at all. In other words, her body reacts but her head doesn’t change at all. She was exactly the same as me.
When I drink alcohol, I also get red, but my head doesn’t change at all, and I don’t become comfortable at all. Cici is the same. She even told me about the green sauce in Georgia. I didn’t know about it, so I thought I would like to try it next time I go to Georgia. We also talked about food in the world. In the world food ranking, Georgia was ranked relatively low, with Italy, Greece, Mexico, Turkey, China, and Japan at the top. I was surprised to see that British food was ranked higher than Thai food lol.

I wondered why such bad food was ranked higher than Thai food. We talked for an hour just about food. I really feel like I am having a good time. I don’t have anyone I can talk to like this. For example, when I talk about food from around the world, everyone just says, “French food is delicious, isn’t it?
So people who saying “Okay, let’s check out the world’s food rankings!” and then take the initiative to connect the communication and talk about food is really rare actually. Even if some people do, it will end up shallow. So I felt that Cici was the only one who could talk about a single topic for hours. That’s why it was so much fun.

We also talked about Russian movies and the darkness of Georgia’s theaters. I heard that Georgia has always been at war with some other country, which makes it a very sad and dark country. I, too, wanted to live in Georgia, and when I went there and lived there for two months, it was a place where I felt that this place was different. The environment and food are great, but I felt that the “economy” and “liveliness” were lacking. And a lot of people is toxic kinda. After all, it is a very poor country and there is nothing to do for business like creating space hotel or something lol.

When she was a university student, she had a part-time job, working 12 hours a day from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. at a call center where she spoke English to foreign customers, and then she went to university. And she was doing that three to four times a week. And yet, she was only getting $200 a month. That’s really not good. And I was surprised how she works 12 hours. Is she really earthling? I was working at 7-Eleven from 10pm to 6am, twice a week, almost like a break, and I was getting about $500 a month. So this was a huge difference, and I saw that, after all, “where you put yourself” can change your life.

We talked for about three hours and it was 3:00 in the morning. We really had a lot of fun, and we never ran out of things to talk about. But the air conditioner was too cold, so we decided to go to bed.