While watching television last evening, the visual of a funfair triggered a realization on my part. I told D that I have never been to any of the annual funfairs in my hometown. Friends and family (usually Chinese Malaysians) cautioned that these local fairs are best avoided if one does not want to be robbed or harmed. Supposedly, these not-so-fun fairs are crawling with petty criminals, gang members and sexual predators.

I have been to many funfairs in the US and Belgium, and have enjoyed most of them, but do not ask me about the ones in Lahad Datu. Never been and never will…

Certain places are simply off limits. That is a learned thing, programmed in my mind, never to be forgotten. Most first world citizens cannot comprehend that.