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Published: April 9th 2008
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Killing 3 Birds with 1 Stone
The magnificent KL skyline and all of its famous towers in one. The first thing to hit me when I arrived in Malaysia was the smell. It smelt like a giant pot of freshly cooked rice and the steamy fragrant air quickly enveloped me. It was a welcome relief after a seemingly non-ending winter in Japan. It seemed to melt off all of my stress and worries that I had accumulated over those long winter months and let me know that I was finally on vacation.
I had known little about Malaysia before I went there this spring. I had picked up a book on the country by Anthony Burgess but it was more of a narrative on the countries colorful past under British rule. It was an interesting read and caught me up on a bit of the countries history but it did little to teach me about the current state of things. It surprised me to see how modern Kuala Lumpur is. I had traveled there expecting it to be more along the lines of a developing country but this didn’t seem to be the case. Fresh apartment high-rises stretched up into the sky, expensive designer shops and malls lined the streets, a great transport system spider-webbed throughout the expanse
Malaysian Glory
The Petronas Towers stretching into the night sky. of the city and the magnificent Petronas Towers stood proud in the middle of it all.
The minimal points that I have managed to accumulate on my credit card decided that I would be shacking up in KL’s Chinatown. It turned out to be the perfect place to stay and I wouldn’t stay anywhere else if I ever have the chance to go back. It is almost worth it to stay there just for the street food. I spent most of my time hopping from stall to stall eating everything from sticks of spicy chicken satays to chunks of stinky durian fruit. It’s a food lovers paradise and I didn’t find anywhere else in the city that compared. It’s also a good place to stock up on pirated dvds, fake designer clothes, bags, watches, cologne, you name it…they seem to have it all. And due to the countries heavy “sin tax” on alcohol because of Islamic law I didn’t do a lot of drinking, which meant that I left with a newly purchased duffle bag stuffed to its limit with pimped goods.
One of the things that interested me the most about Malaysia were the people. If someone
KL China Town
It has it all. The best eats, the cheapest shopping and a good place to lay your head down at the end of the day. were to ask what people in Malaysia are like it would be a difficult question to answer. The three main ethnic groups, the Chinese, Malay and Indians that call the country their home are so different in both culture and appearance that it would be hard to classify all of them into one. The interesting thing is that all of them still staunchly hold on to their individual customs and religions. The Malaysian woman bundle their heads in chic headscarves and wander about with groups of their girlfriends gossiping away in Malay, the Indian woman, men and children are adorned with a colorful tikka mark on their brow and communicate with each other in Tamil or English and the Chinese youth walk around with styled-out hair as they shout amongst each other in lightning fast Hokkien Chinese. It is such a complex and diverse mix of cultures but they all seem to get along and respect each other. It’s true that I rarely saw the different groups intermingling, no help from the overwhelming presence of vernacular schools, but regardless of that they all seemed to co-exist in peace. Even with these stark cultural contrasts.
It also amazed me how
Islam Initiation
The Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque or simply the "Blue Mosque" in Shah Alam. The biggest in Malaysia and one of the largest in Asia. My first of many mosques and the beginning of many lectures on the finer points of Islam. many different languages the people of Malaysia can speak, and fluently. They could switch from one to the other with a smoothness that left my mouth agape. The Chinese could speak Hokkien Chinese, Malay and English, the Indians could speak Tamil, Malay and English and the Malaysians could speak in Malay and English and could probably understand a fair share of the other languages as well. Over the course of the two weeks that I was there I used all of the languages I have to get by; Chinese, Japanese and English. It was interesting to be in a country where I could switch between the three and still be understood. It was good practice as well but I constantly found myself putting Chinese words into my Japanese and Japanese words into my Chinese.
I have met some Malaysians who have told me that under the peaceful surface of things the water is dark and troubled but I neither know nor understand much about this. The one thing I have heard is that the Chinese students aren’t allowed to receive the same scholarships as the Malay students and there is anger behind that. I am also sure that the
A Tale of Two Towers
I went a little overboard on pictures of the Petronas Towers. It's hard not to. fact that the Chinese seem to completely and utterly dominate all forms of business in Malaysia must cause a lot of jealousy amongst the other ethnic groups there. However, I was only there for a very short period of time and I know close to nothing about the state of things in Malaysia.
What I do know though is that It was an amazing country to travel through and I hope that I have the chance to go back. I still want to hack my way through the jungles in Borneo, trek to the craggy peak of Mount Kinabalu, relax on the beautiful islands on the peninsular coast of eastern Malaysia and understand a little more about this complex and diverse country.
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Jennie T
Jennie Terman
diversity
I totally know what you mean about the ethnic diversity in Malaysia. I couldn't believe it either! It makes for a very colorful country, but I also don't know much about the darker side of it.