Craving for more culture

I'm home and complaining about the heat and still recovering from the horrible jet lag. Meeting friends is always an interesting highlight of my day, most of the time filled with countless vain picture taking and necessary gossiping.

Met up with Steph, Carol, and Judy during lunch yesterday and spent the hot afternoon "roaming" around town. For dinner, met up with Steph and Deborah for the long-awaited (literally) dinner at one the many new "hip" cafes popping up in Kuching. This one was called Flavourz at Travillion. The setting and mood seemed nice at first glance, but after almost 2 hours of waiting for food, we were HUNGRY. And not to mention the waiter wore open-toed sandles, had his cap turned the other way round, spoke absolutely pukable Engrrrrrlishhhee.

Speaking of the sudden cafe culture in Kuching, I'd like to comment on a few things. Firstly, they're only ripping off our money (our referring to those under 30). A typical "Baked rice with bla bla seafood" will cost you around RM20 or more, and I guarantee that the basic ingredients needed to make it is under RM5. I'd say that 80% of their profit goes into making the environment "hip and relaxed". That includes contemporary art, a few IKEA decor furniture, and cheap interior designing. Heck, as long as the cafe has a "cool, original name", you're bound to have visitors.

Secondly, I feel bad for those working in these so-called cafes. A friend worked in one of those cafes and earned a modest RM2 per hour. I almost choked when I heard that. And I'm not only talking about the food industry only, but all jobs in general. Another friend working as an account auditor from 9 to 6pm every day earns about RM300 monthly. How can you possibly survive with that? And whatever happened to minimum salary?

I'm not here to brag, but this is just for the sake of comparing. An average earning for an undergraduate (translation: no degree yet or no degree, period) working full time is RM500 per month. I started working 2 part time jobs in Dunedin since mid December (until 7 January when I came back), and earned a total of RM2000+ excluding tax payments.

I think it's about time the Department of Labour or somebody do something about the minimum wage offered to workers, be it part-time or full-timers. The lack of enforcement is just sad, really. One more reason why I'm not keen on working here once I graduate.