Story and photos by Dr. Michael Lim The Travelling Gourmet TM
Copyright all rights reserved
The irreverent and respectful Travelling Gourmet TM tells you about a brouhaha caused by…
MORONIC arrogant western tourists with NO respect for local customs and laws despite being warned and advised by their mountain guide…As my dear loyal and intelligent readers know, I rarely write about politics or news of tourists behaving badly, BUT I felt compelled to write about this because it is like Black Comedy, or as the Germans call it…,,Galgenhumor” or gallows humour.
To cut a long story short, 1o foreign tourists from the Netherlands, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom went to climb Mt. Kinabalu, Asia’s 3rd highest mountain recently. When they reached the top they removed all their clothes despite the cold, took photos (auto-photos or selfies) and posted them on the internet for all and sundry to see. What the hell were they thinking??? It shows that they are all mentally sick or very, very moronic or both. It appears that this is a new fad where tourists, mainly Europeans and Americans, go to UNESCO World heritage sites like Angkor Wat and Macchu Picu…and yes, you guessed it! They take photos of themselves in their birthday suits and post it on the internet, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and so on, thinking in their gross stupidity and extreme ignorance that they are very clever. Of course, and I am sure you will agree, unless you are one of THEM, that this is very imbecilic and offensive to the local people. Everywhere in the world, unless you happen to be on Swanbourne Nudist Beach in Perth, Western Australia, if you disrobe and frolic about, I can guarantee that your friendly neighbourhood Police will come on you like a ton of bricks and arrest you! Try that in front of Buckingham Palace or St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, or in the many Mosques in Istanbul and see what happens….It is simply a matter of public decency. Anyway, the Penal Code and the Laws of Malaysia come from British Law, because Malaysia was a British colony. Therefore it is illogical and asinine to blame Malaysia when such miscreants and crackpots are prosecuted. Frankly, any right minded person that is not mentally sick would agree on this point.
The plot thickens…
Comments by Sabah’s Deputy Chief Minister following a tragic earthquake that sadly killed 19 people, mainly 12 year old children and their teachers from Singapore, and mountain guides, added fuel to the fire! I feel great sympathy for the earthquake victims and their families.
Of course, we all know that most probably, abhorrent crackpots taking photos of themselves in the nude, while highly disrespectful and offensive, do not cause earthquakes per se… Nevertheless, in the eyes of the local natives, the Mountain Spirits have been greatly angered, and thus have retaliated for this insult with the aforementioned earthquake. Yes, you can say these local people are stupid, and that in the 21st Century, this is utter nonsense. Be that as it may, right minded people must have proper respect for the customs and culture of the countries they visit, if they do not want to land in jail or worse…Below is an except from the Straits Times article on the subject.
On May 30, pictures of five naked men on the mountain surfaced on social media, followed by a picture of the 10 tourists – including four women – undressing near the south peak of Mount Kinabalu, The Star reported. Sabahans railed against the images, as they consider the mountain sacred. Sabah Parks director Datuk Jamili Nais said the four women and six men had split from their group and gone on to the south peak. The tourist ignored the warnings from their mountain guide, calling him “stupid” and telling him to “go to hell”, when he pleaded with them to stop as they took off all their clothes and posed for pictures. A show-cause letter has been issued to the guide over the incident. All guides have also been told to ensure they clearly state that going naked on the mountain was strictly prohibited during their briefings to climbers in the future. Nine more bodies were found on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 11, with eight people still unaccounted for, Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said. –
To make things worse, the ringleader of this motley crew of 10 mentally sick and ignorant imbeciles, one Emil Kaminski from Canada, but believed to live in Hong Kong, carried on an uncalled for campaign of harassment and insults and vulgar tirades full of four letter swear words against Malaysians, and even against my friend, the Minister of Tourism, Culture & Environment, Masidi Manjun. This can only be described as unwarranted and unjustified targeted harassment and cultural terrorism on the part of Emil Kaminski. Research showed that Kaminski suffers from Type 2 Diabetes (in his own words: Allah hates me) and was fired from being a PADI SCUBA Diving Instructor in Krabi, Thailand. This sorry excuse of a human being makes a habit of travelling around as what he calls himself (a perpetual backpacker) insulting, offending, mocking and generally making a total nuisance of his pathetic and sorry self all over Asia, in countries like India, Brunei and now, Sabah. All these countries should make him persona non grata, and the Canadian government should withdraw his passport so he cannot travel. He is a total disgrace and embarrassment, not only to Canada but also to the human race. He exhibits attention seeking narcissistic behavior, arrogance, an inferiority complex, and is obviously mentally very sick.
Mr. Masidi Manjun, Tourism Minister
The latest news is that the Sabah authorities have been very kind to 4 arrested tourists who have been charged and tried for public indecency. The gutter Press in the UK love this story for obvious reasons…it sells a lot of newspapers when you have headlines screaming:
“British girl’s Boobs cause earthquake in Sabah!” This is where the black comedy comes in…
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/eleanor-hawkins-brit-who-posed-5868749
Eleanor Hawkins, 23, the ex-Head Girl of a British Public School from Derby, was only sentenced to 3 days jail and a fine of 900 Pounds Sterling! She will be deported. Good riddance to bad rubbish I say.
And so, to conclude, kindly do not behave badly when you are in foreign climes…no one is above the law and if you want to look for trouble, there is a good likelihood that you may find it…
Life is short, live it well or suffer the consequences… 🙂
The Travelling Gourmet 