Activities Vs. Culture

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Ihsan is dumb, yet he thinks he's clever.

He spends a lot of his time creating highly complex theories in his mind to explain things that can often be explained without any effort at all simply by observing the situation without any unnecessary elaborated theorising.

His latest theory is that I, Usman, "don't like culture." Instead he claims that I only like activities. Ihsan had this epiphany when we were visiting Pulau Penang towards the end of our trip in Malaysia. After weeks of inflated hype and raised expectations I was a little disappointed by Penang, and this left Ihsan confused. He claimed that I was too stupid/ignorant to appreciate the history of the island and the remaining legacy of colonial rule. He compared the trip to Penang to Tian Chi, which I loved, and explained that I only enjoyed doing things and not experiencing things. I just can't appreciate culture.

In reality, I pointed out to him, Penang was a bit of a drag because it took us four hours to get there in his Landrover for a two the day trip that was cut in half, and the weather was atrocious. It was worse than England, grim and cloudy with almost constant rain the whole while that we were there. A good portion of the visit was spent on the porch of the Islamic History museum watching a tropical rainstorm that just wouldn't seem to end. Add to the story the fact that we were fasting so we couldn't try any of the fusion cuisines of Malay, Chinese, Indian and Baba Nonya food and there was little left for us to do. If it hadn't been for Ihsan's friend Anisa rescuing us, we would have had very little to remember.

Contrast this with the beautifully pristine surroundings of Tian Chi, the fantastic people, charming settlements and complete tranquillity and the comparison hardly seems fair.

Effectively we are both the same. We both love getting out there and exploring, we both cherish and respect new and interesting cultures, we both enjoy meeting new people and we are both low maintenance easy going travellers. We had three amazing months doing things that we'll remember for a very long time.

So what is the conclusion to the question of Activities vs. Culture?

I guess it proves that Ihsan is dumb...