Malaysian Sun

I recently came back from Malaysia, and I still didn’t even have a moment to make a proper post about it — usually it’s a video, that’s how I do things, but not this time, not yet. Everything there happened fast. First HiveFest, then a little overstay in Kuala Lumpur where, apart from enjoying the heat and not having to occupy my mind with “what jacket should I put on,” I finally had space to be creative. And when I say creative, I mean doing everything from proxy content to random experiments that somehow make sense only when I’m traveling.

Sticking Hive stickers on traffic lights in the so-called Malaysian Shibuya. Exploring ideas with @louis88 @rivalzzz & @starkerz like putting a Hive front end on a random laptop seller’s device on the street.

Jumping between crypto events, meeting creators, doing interviews — simple things, effective, on budget, and absolutely time-consuming.

Blockchain chat

And the funniest part: none of that was even directly related to @hivefest or @chainculture, which were the actual reasons I went there. Those things are still happening quietly in the background — mainly the HF video that’s almost done (just coloring left) and a small campaign I’m preparing with the artists whose work was presented there thanks to @roelandp help. Anyway almost ready to drop.

And then, suddenly, I was flying back to Europe just in time for another event — @hivebeecon. Besides the photowalk I organized, most of it happened at @krolestwo. One of the meetups, made together with @gtg, was The social and practical side of the blockchain. It was a loose, open meet-up for people who arrived for Hive Beecon. We even had a few newcomers: my friend who works with EVMs, a Japanese guy with the cutest Akita I’ve ever seen, and @jojovi, who survived my three-hour Hive talk and still decided to create an account. The whole process — account creation + first post — took about four minutes, confirmed by our witness @gtg.

Hello @jojovi

Hive Beecon itself was fun, as always. Besides the standard @krolestwo traditions like board-game night, we had a bunch of Hive-connected things going on. Chocolate-making from cocoa beans brought earlier this year by @mcsamm straight from Ghana. Painting handmade merch prepared by @hallmann. Everything created during @blind-spot’s two-week visit, it used to be random guy from Dubai who once ran away from the Ukrainian war, ended up in Amsterdam, told me about @krolestwo, and now we’re meeting again as friends while I’m filming him spending HBD in local stores. He even prepared a Hive Quiz. And the whole thing ended with handmade sushi by @akipponn. Writing this makes me feel like I’m typing out a film script — but no, this is just life and Hive connections.

And if that wasn’t surreal enough, picture this: a big metal Raspberry Pi machine validating blocks. Built by @thebeedevs, presented at HF by @itsola. Looking at that device feels like listening to Jingle Bells on repeat — you’re just waiting for something else to happen, but nothing changes. @mipiano, who played a little piano concert, can confirm the vibe.

@engrave

It was honestly great to finally meet people in real life like @asia-pl, someone I’ve been messaging with for months, @jocieprosza, @alessandrawhite who seems to have fallen in love with Krakow, and @ph1102 and @osavi who somehow appear at every Hive event, yet we never managed to talk before.

Writing this simple-but-complicated story feels exactly like trying to explain Hive to someone for the first time — and by the end of it, I feel like I desperately need a photowalk. Preferably with more sun. Not just sun, not secret one. The real one. The Malaysia kind.