Malaysia - the land of refreshing diversity.
After a fun time in Macao including some Macanese fusion food, we took the red-eye down to Kuala Lumpur. KL as a city is like an orchestra filled with great musicians but without a conductor. It has all the right ingredients but it does not actually work well together. Case in point was that we arrived first thing in the morning to a very nice, modern airport. It even had an express train leaving for the city centre from right under the terminal. The only problem was that the airport was about 70 km away from town and the train tickets were RM35 each which, although cheap in the grand scheme of things, were much more than we wanted to pay. So, as is often the case in this part of the world, we took an illegal cab.
KL is much as I remember it- messy, hot, diverse, and ever so close to being first world. The roads are winding and complicated often changing direction several times per kilometer, if they go that far. There are plenty of tall buildings, but it is hard to pinpoint a place that could be considered downtown in the same way that Hong Kong, or even Vancouver has. There are office towers next to shophouses next to unpaved parking lots. Despite these apparant problems, the whole place has a much more developed and relaxed feel than nearly anywhere in China. The other interesting feature of KL and Malaysia in General is that it is so diverse. With the mixing of Chinese, Malay and Indian people there is always something interesting to look at.
Back to the story... We eventually arrived in the city and met my very good friend Vincent. We went for breakfast in Chinatown where Rae got to drink her beloved milk tea and I got to catch up a bit on what was happening in Vincent's life. After spending most of the day with Vincent talking about our futures and our girlfriends we picked Vincent's girlfriend up at the French embassy where she works. She was friendly and pleasant and we went out for dinner to - at her insistance - a place that served wine. A nice meal and RM120 later, Rae and I strolled home through the malls and back streets of KL.
The next day we packed up our stuff and went off to Lumuk a ferry terminal city on the way to Pengkor Island. During some point on the bus, Vincent said something to me in French which I understood to be an insult to my girlfriend. When we arrived we had a tense dinner in which I was very upset with Vincent but in which Rae did not know because I had not yet told her. After dinner I told her and she was naturally upset. When I confronted Vincent about this, he denied it and told me that he had infact said something different, which I had misunderstood. His girlfriend repeated the same story which convinced me somewhat so I brough them to explain the situation to Rae. Neither Rae nor myself were completely convinced (especially because Vincent has a long history of terrible rudeness) but we decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and continue with the trip.
The next day we got on the ferry and then rented some scooters on the island to go find a bungalow. That afternoon we all went for a swim and then went to get alcohol for Vincent's birthday dinner that night. Unfortunately the whole experience was clouded by the residual effects of the misunderstanding. That night we went to the nicest restaurant on the cheap beach we were staying on and we got drunk on toasts to Vincent's 22nd birthday and to the misunderstanding that had made life tense to that point. We all went to bed drunk and happy.
The next day we decided to take our scooters around the other side of the island to get back to the ferry terminal. Unknown to us was that there was a rather large hill on that side of the island. While we were climbing the hill, I downgeared to get more power, but I got too much power and Rae and I were thrown off the bike getting bad scrapes on our legs and feet. After this we did not dare to ride and we caught a ride in a taxi to the local Chinese clinic where we got cleaned and bandaged up. When we finally got on the ferry we were walking wounded. Back on the mainland, we were dissapointed to find that we had to wait three hours for the next ferry. Luckily, Rae and I stumbled upon a Hokkien (Rae's local dialaect) puppet show at a Chinese temple that we watched (and Rae translated for me) until the bus came. By the time we got back to KL it was very very late indeed.
Today I went to see Vincent and we talked about more of the same before we finally said goodbye. I wished him luck in New York just as he wished me luck in Beijing. Hopefully we will be able to meet again soon, I am sure I will see him again eventually. As we are still injured, Rae and I have not ventured far today with our main outing at the internet cafe. Tomorrow we will go to Singapore to see some friends of mine and see my former sort of home.
More later,
Marc
After a fun time in Macao including some Macanese fusion food, we took the red-eye down to Kuala Lumpur. KL as a city is like an orchestra filled with great musicians but without a conductor. It has all the right ingredients but it does not actually work well together. Case in point was that we arrived first thing in the morning to a very nice, modern airport. It even had an express train leaving for the city centre from right under the terminal. The only problem was that the airport was about 70 km away from town and the train tickets were RM35 each which, although cheap in the grand scheme of things, were much more than we wanted to pay. So, as is often the case in this part of the world, we took an illegal cab.
KL is much as I remember it- messy, hot, diverse, and ever so close to being first world. The roads are winding and complicated often changing direction several times per kilometer, if they go that far. There are plenty of tall buildings, but it is hard to pinpoint a place that could be considered downtown in the same way that Hong Kong, or even Vancouver has. There are office towers next to shophouses next to unpaved parking lots. Despite these apparant problems, the whole place has a much more developed and relaxed feel than nearly anywhere in China. The other interesting feature of KL and Malaysia in General is that it is so diverse. With the mixing of Chinese, Malay and Indian people there is always something interesting to look at.
Back to the story... We eventually arrived in the city and met my very good friend Vincent. We went for breakfast in Chinatown where Rae got to drink her beloved milk tea and I got to catch up a bit on what was happening in Vincent's life. After spending most of the day with Vincent talking about our futures and our girlfriends we picked Vincent's girlfriend up at the French embassy where she works. She was friendly and pleasant and we went out for dinner to - at her insistance - a place that served wine. A nice meal and RM120 later, Rae and I strolled home through the malls and back streets of KL.
The next day we packed up our stuff and went off to Lumuk a ferry terminal city on the way to Pengkor Island. During some point on the bus, Vincent said something to me in French which I understood to be an insult to my girlfriend. When we arrived we had a tense dinner in which I was very upset with Vincent but in which Rae did not know because I had not yet told her. After dinner I told her and she was naturally upset. When I confronted Vincent about this, he denied it and told me that he had infact said something different, which I had misunderstood. His girlfriend repeated the same story which convinced me somewhat so I brough them to explain the situation to Rae. Neither Rae nor myself were completely convinced (especially because Vincent has a long history of terrible rudeness) but we decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and continue with the trip.
The next day we got on the ferry and then rented some scooters on the island to go find a bungalow. That afternoon we all went for a swim and then went to get alcohol for Vincent's birthday dinner that night. Unfortunately the whole experience was clouded by the residual effects of the misunderstanding. That night we went to the nicest restaurant on the cheap beach we were staying on and we got drunk on toasts to Vincent's 22nd birthday and to the misunderstanding that had made life tense to that point. We all went to bed drunk and happy.
The next day we decided to take our scooters around the other side of the island to get back to the ferry terminal. Unknown to us was that there was a rather large hill on that side of the island. While we were climbing the hill, I downgeared to get more power, but I got too much power and Rae and I were thrown off the bike getting bad scrapes on our legs and feet. After this we did not dare to ride and we caught a ride in a taxi to the local Chinese clinic where we got cleaned and bandaged up. When we finally got on the ferry we were walking wounded. Back on the mainland, we were dissapointed to find that we had to wait three hours for the next ferry. Luckily, Rae and I stumbled upon a Hokkien (Rae's local dialaect) puppet show at a Chinese temple that we watched (and Rae translated for me) until the bus came. By the time we got back to KL it was very very late indeed.
Today I went to see Vincent and we talked about more of the same before we finally said goodbye. I wished him luck in New York just as he wished me luck in Beijing. Hopefully we will be able to meet again soon, I am sure I will see him again eventually. As we are still injured, Rae and I have not ventured far today with our main outing at the internet cafe. Tomorrow we will go to Singapore to see some friends of mine and see my former sort of home.
More later,
Marc
2 Comments:
Marc, wo huanying ni lai Taiwan! I can tell by your posts that, compared to Taiwan, mainland must be HUGE, in more ways than just geography. I think you need another drink of the good ol' 42% baijiu. Ganbei my good friend, ganbei!
oops, wrong post, meant to comment on the mainland blogs
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