I arrived in Malaysia for FURUM, the second iteration of the local furry convention, just after lunchtime on Friday 9th after an exhaustingly early flight out of Vietnam. The queue for immigration didn't help, KLIA being its usual disorganized self, but after around half an hour I was let into the country, where I found my bag waiting for me at the carousel. Then it was just a quick scan at customs - thankfully I decided not to risk taking the second bottle of coconut wine from Vietnam, opting to leave it behind as it would take me over the limit - before heading out into the main concourse to pick up the express train to KL Sentral station. This was easy enough to find, although I did toy with going to Wendy's on the way, and soon I was speeding towards the city centre. On the train, I spoke with Canis Enigmas, who told me that he could pick me up at the railway station and drive me to the hotel instead of me having to take the MRT so after a disappointing McDonald's, I waited at the taxi drop off point for him to arrive. Apparently he had already done one circuit, with me being ten minutes ahead of our prescribed meeting time, but I didn't have to wait long for him to arrive and soon I was speeding towards the hotel venue. On the way we chatted about a range of things and it was great seeing him again for the first time in three and a half years. There were also some other Malaysians in the car and chatting with them set the tone for what would be a very social weekend.
We arrived at the hotel about twenty minutes later after initially unsuccessfully navigating the one-way system. Upon arrival, we were greeted to a sumptuous lobby area bedecked in dark wood, with a few traditional Malay furnishings. This lead to a charming courtyard area which contained a small swimming pool. Some of the con team were already setting up in the room that was to be the Main Event space, and I stuck my head in to say hello before depositing my luggage in my room. It was upstairs, on the second floor, and when I arrived I was disheartened to smell the unmistakable odour of tobacco emanating from my room. The door had been left open, as is often the case here, so I shut it, only for an attendant to knock some five minutes later to tell me the toilet was leaking and it needed fixing. Great start. In the end, it wasn't the toilet but the douche, an item I never use, but to be fair they fixed it quickly and headed off. The room was quite tired, with a few cracked tiles and the like, but it kinda grew on me. I relaxed for about twenty minutes before heading to the nearby Amcorp Mall to pick up supplies - some food as breakfast wasn't included, beer and some chemicals to make the room smell nicer. I then headed back to the hotel room and had a shower, before turning on the huge CRT TV from circa 1992 that was perched on a chair opposite the bed. I flicked around and noticed that "Inside Out" was just about to start - a film I had always wanted to see but had never got around to doing. Consequently I watched it and thought it fantastic, although I did cry in a number of places. Considering it's a kids film, it does have a number of powerful messages and I thought the whole film was rather poignant. Plus it had loads of pretty colours, which is always a positive.
As it was ending, Canis dropped me a message on Telegram saying that a number of furs were going for food and asked whether I wanted to join. About ten minutes later I was down in the lobby and about twenty after that we were in the Sunway Pyramid shopping centre enjoying Ramen at their ground floor Japanese place. I got pork noodles, which was rather tasty, particularly with the perfectly cooked hard boiled egg at the top. I amazed people, as I have done throughout this trip, with my ability to use chopsticks while I also got to try Suntory beer for the first time, having researched the brand for my presentation on beer for my Japanese class a few years ago. It was pleasant enough but not really worth the wait. Primarily though it was great to be back around old friends, and I definitely was welcomed back into the group, feeling very at home around everyone. After the meal, we all went out separate ways, back to our respective cars for the trip back to the hotel. On the way, we saw some charming pale face rabbit posters in Indian headgear urging Mall goers about various aspects of safety while upon reversing out of the car park, an illogically placed cone meant Canis pranged another car with his. Fortunately there was no damage and we could continue on our way, back to the hotel where everyone opted for an early night, tired after their travels to get to the con. My hand was somewhat forced by the fact there was no bar on the premises, with the hotel being run by a Muslim family and thus completely dry. With the cafe shut at 11pm too, there was little else to do but go to bed considering there were no room parties slated.
Saturday was a lie-in morning, what with the opening ceremony not being scheduled until 3pm. I had heard rumours of lunch arrangements at the adjacent A&W and this was confirmed to me when I went downstairs to the Main Event hall. There I met up with Hollud, along with a sixteen year old from Johor in southern Malaysia who said he liked British people and that my presence was the only reason why he had travelled four hours to be here. This was a bit odd but I guess I was flattered, while being the only westerner at the convention meant I barely struggled to make acquaintances as I found many people wanting to come and talk to me. This was particularly the case after the Sunday afternoon, when I had put an array of British confectionary and food stuffs out on the tables next to the Fursuit lounge. They were demolished inside ten minutes, making me wish I had brought more. Anyway I digress. Before I went to A&W I also took the opportunity to register for the con, where I was asked whether I wanted to participate in the Fursuit Games later in the day. Taken aback somewhat, I assumed they were struggling for people, so I consented and then spent fair chunks of the afternoon worrying about it. By the by, the con pack I received upon registration contained a T-shirt, small conbook
and a manual fan, which was to become most useful as the con progressed. I took all this to my room before reconvening with Hollud downstairs, and then around five of us joined around forty others at the fast food outlet. Famous for their root beer, I had never been to an A&W before, but apparently they are quite beloved in Malaysia, so much so that there was one either side of our hotel. The furs had rented out a private party area and apparently this was an order in advance affair, which is something I didn't particularly know. This wasn't a problem though as I just ordered there and then, with the root beer indeed being the best thing about the place by far and away. The food was alright - I had a beef hotdog coated in the middle with thick bland chili sauce and some insubstantial curly fries - but the root beer served with two scoops of vanilla ice cream was smooth and sweet and sumptuous. I also liked the big bear mascot they have but hey I am a furry. I chatted more in the bar, particularly to Hollud and some of the Singaporean furs who had made the short journey north. As before, it felt like I had never been away (I still am an honorary Singapore Fur) and the lunch meet was a nice relaxing way into the con.
We were back in time for the opening ceremony, which took place in the modestly sized conference hall. It was also succinct, hosted by chairman CT and only twenty minutes in length, covering all of the key points, a situation from which I think other cons could seriously learn. The Fursuit lounge was just adjacent to the main hall, useful for the dance later, and I was surprised by the sheer number of people who were in suit already. Indeed I was surprised overall by the number of suits - 44 in a con of 130 - and there were some truly fantastic ones on show. After the ceremony, I popped over to the Dealers' Den where I fell in love with a beautiful lion partial Fursuit, made out of fantastic light purple, pink and blue fur. The follow-around eyes had stars and the expression was charming. It's very rare I fall in love with a suit but this was different, and I just wish I could have fit him in my suitcase so I could take him home. In the end, despite discussing the possibility of posting him, I came to the conclusion that it was becoming too expensive, particularly when you factor in customs charges too. Furthermore, it was just for the head and tail, no arms or feet, making the price seem less good. I do really want him though, and still I am yearning for him, so I'll keep an eye on the maker and see if I can get a commission of my own in the future. There were a number of other good dealers too and I got a few things for Wolfie, particularly a pink plastic Pawpsicle and an anime comic about some wolves. I also got an anime style headshot for my character as I hadn't had Lupe done in this form before.
With time ticking on until the start of the Fursuit Games, and with me receiving numerous queries about where my suit was, I thought it was time to go and suit up. Draken had made me a partial for this trip, with the Malaysian heat and a lack of baggage space meaning I felt the full suit wouldn't be particularly appropriate. The shade of pink was slightly different but apart from this, it worked rather well and I was very pleased with how cool it was, in both senses of the word. With the nerves building, I made my way down to the Main Event area as the minutes counted down to the start of the Games. There were twelve of us competing and we were divided into three teams of four - gold, silver and green denoted by a ribbon tied around the wrist. I was in team gold and once we had found our teammates, the first game was prepared. This was essentially an exercise in constructing a hula hoop which we then had to throw over an inflatable cactus. I was quite apprehensive by this point but we had a good team strategy which saw us assemble our hoop first. Alas our aim wasn't great and in the end we finished second, picking up three points in the process. The second game was a form of charades, where we had to perform simple words in front of the audience to guess. We had two minutes and had a target of fifteen. We could signal an X if we did not know how to portray them. I feared the worst but in the end the words were quite simple such as "point" or "gun" so I didn't need to pass. The audience got my actions pretty quickly and in the end we scored thirteen, putting us in second place for this round too, giving us a score of three more points. As circumstance would have it, the other two teams traded places, with the winners of round one finishing bottom here and vice versa, meaning heading into the final round we were all tied on six points each. The winner-takes-all round three was a form of musical chairs but with squares of paper laid on the ground, which we had to dance around before jumping on when the music stopped. The bottom six suiters got one point each, with the fifth place getting two up to the winner getting ten. I felt a little apprehensive starting off but as the suiters fell, I developed a strategy which meant I was almost always next to one of the squares. This paid dividends as the suiters continued to fall, with the last four being two from team gold (including me) and one each from the other teams. It was at this point that I knew we had won but we forged ahead, with the final two ending up being the two gold competitors. Consequently we won the Fursuit Games by 10 clear points (27-17-15) while ultimately I ended up winning the musical squares game. This was exceptionally unexpected, particularly as this was my first ever Fursuit games, but I was delighted to contribute so much to the winning team. I had had fears of letting everyone down but we were a fantastic quartet. Upon receiving our prizes - a nice polar bear mug - we were asked to do the pineapple pen dance, which was something I didn't know. After being briefed by my teammates I just about managed to pull it off but I did have to glance over continuously to see what they were doing. In front of an audience it was all a little embarrassing but I was still quite high from winning the event. After this, we were also asked to participate in one of the very many mannequin challenges we did during the weekend, with this one involving us lording our prizes as the vanquished looked on in agony. It was all a bit of fun.
As part of the prize for winning the musical squares game, I was invited to the Guest of Honour dinner, which had been for Supersponsors only. I had wanted to attend but the Supersponsor tickets had sold out quickly so after a quick shower and change of clothes, I ambled over there. I got the impression that there were more spaces than attendees but many of my friends on staff were there, including Marvin Raptor with whom I was sat opposite. A couple of the female furs from the Dealers' Den were also there and after sampling a tasty albeit moderately warm soup, I hungrily got stuck into the four platters they had placed in the middle of the table to share. The grey mushroom and lamb was arguably the best, but the vegetable stir fry was also tasty. The lurid yellow pineapple curry was my least favourite, not only because it contained pineapple but also because it was too hot for my liking. After the main course, we were given a platter of fresh fruit - papaya, mango and watermelon - along with a creamy dessert which was exceptionally good. This fruit combination is particularly common across SE Asia and it is one of my favourites although I'm not a particular fan of watermelon in all honesty.
The Fursuit Dance had been slated to start at 9pm but there was talk of bringing it forward. In the end, it was extended from an hour slot to two, meaning it stretched to 11pm. After excusing myself from dinner shortly after 8:30pm, I left the rather drab surroundings of the hotel restaurant and donned my Fursuit yet again for some dancing. It was around this time that I spoke to Defago in-depth for the first time, which was just as well considering we had been planning to tour his home country of Laos following the con. We talked while taking a break from the dance in the Fursuit lounge and we plotted the five days I was to spend in the country, meaning I could get on with making arrangements. I also met a fur from Bahrain during the same conversation as he too is a friend of Defago's. In the middle of all this there was the Fursuit dance, an eclectic mix of dance tunes and some slower numbers too, some of which worked and some of which didn't. Aerosmith's "Livin' On A Prayer" was a particularly highlight, particularly as everyone knew the lyrics and was thus singing along. Earlier in the day I had been sold some pink glow sticks but the designs were weird, meaning I couldn't work out how the wrist ones worked. I did don one around my neck though and during the dance I was handed a large polystyrene truncheon which glowed red, blue and green. The dance was fun but at times it felt a little isolating, with friendship groups dancing with each other and me having to force my way in on occasion but largely I had a good time. We also had another mannequin challenge as part of the dance, which was one of about four I ended up being involved in.
As the dance overran, the Motorfurs meet did too, but I had been invited to a room party in Hollud's suite so I couldn't really attend. It was a shame as I wanted to take a photo of Lupe in his brother's Japanese sports car for Wolfie. Hollud's suite was far more impressive than my basic room but still suffered from the same issues of cracked tiles and tiredness, while his dusty four-poster bed was somewhat flimsy. There were about fifteen furs at the party, to which I brought M Wolf's Vietnamese coconut wine, which went down quite well. The Grand Tour in which sycophants indulged Jeremy Clarkson and then Avatar were on the TV while we spent a good few hours chatting and sharing snacks, including some incredibly succulent Singaporean pork jerky which was greasy but full of flavour. It was a great evening but as it progressed, Benji ended up drinking too much toquilla, experiencing being drunk for the very first time. He was okay until he started standing, very much like my first time, but then he wanted to be sick. He spent a while jumping up and down, trying to convince himself of his sobriety until we guided him to the bathroom and let him expunge the toxins. He was there for two hours, with a few furs helping him, turning to me for guidance as to what to do. I'm not an expert but after half an hour of unproductive wretching I thought it best to guide him to his room, which the remaining three of us did. We put him to bed, informed his roommate of the situation and headed to bed ourselves, having stayed up to nearly 4am and far far later than we had intended.