Asia is a great continent if you shoot film

Currently hanging out in Kuala Lumpur, and just yesterday around 4pm, I dropped off two rolls of C41 Kodak film at this local indie film lab. Cost me 17 MYR per roll—that's about 3 Euros each. Got the scans sent to my inbox by 7pm the same night, and yes, that was a Sunday. I've experienced this level of service consistently in Thailand as well.

For a bit of perspective, back in January, I handed a roll of Kodak over to a film lab in Amsterdam, shelled out 12 Euros, and ended up waiting a week just to get it back. I even had to shoot them an email to check in because I wasn’t used to such a delay, only to get a rather snippy response back telling me to be patient.

It's quite fascinating to see the dramatic differences in film processing times around the world. From the swift services I've experienced in Kuala Lumpur and Thailand, which I suspect will be mirrored in places like Japan, Korea, and Singapore, to the more laid-back approach in Europe, screaming "not a care in the world about fast customer service"—it's an odd comparison.

I think it really seems to reflect broader cultural differences in how societies operate.