Days 56-58
We have arrived safe and well in Malaysia,
where the weather is sticky and wet, the prices more expensive but the food
fantastic. We have spent the last two days sightseeing the old and new of KL
and unleashing ourselves on a relief fuelled spending spree.
Kuala Lumpur or KL as it is more popularly
known is a modern city with high rises, freeways, monorails and shopping malls
and an ever expanding population in the surrounding area of over 7 million.
Amazingly enough except for a small mining village there was no one here only
just over a hundred years ago. But cue a tin mining boom that along with its central position
in Malaysia and the city was soon expanding into the international commercial
power house that it is today.
The gleaming towers and economic success
story aside, Malaysia has underlying social problems involving tension between
the three main ethnic groups of indigenous Malays, Chinese, and Indians. The
latter two were colonial migrants to the country brought for their skills in various
industries. These skills fuelled the economy of British Malaya at the time and
after Malaysian independence their skills allowed them to reap the rewards of
this success for themselves. The traditional Malay industries were not as
profitable and they soon felt they were being left behind in their own country.
In 1969 this erupted into racial riots that resulted in the death of 196 people,
although the real number is believed to be as high as 2000, mostly ethnic
Chinese. As a result the government introduced laws that would favour the
ethnic Malays allowing them to gain an equal footing in society. In effect the
laws are a form of ethnic discrimination, in other countries it was called apartheid,
but they look set to continue here in Malaysia. The government frequently uses
the "relieving ethnic tension" card to justify their existence. The Malays are almost all Muslim and it is a
very conservative society, which has also spilled over into Islamic laws being
introduced and enforced on the minorities whose faiths include Tao, Buddist and
Hindu. Despite 40 years of this open discrimination the Chinese and Indian
minorities continue to be highly successful in the business world in Malaysia.
Our flight from Kochi was only four hours
long, which along with the time change meant that we touched down at 6 o’clock
on Thursday (18th) morning. The coach ride into the city took an
hour, compared to the two hours it took to Kochi airport and was considerably
smoother, things were looking better. This is my fourth visit to KL and I had
previously mentioned to my wife about the efficient public transport system
here and now we had the opportunity to ride it to get to our destination in
Chinatown from the bus stop. We hit the LRT at 8:30am and the queues and delays
were catastrophic due to technical difficulties. As I gruffed and moaned about
our situation, my wife kindly reminded me about my earlier praise for this
system, which we were suffering at the hands off. It was 9:45am before we reached Chinatown
which was actually only one stop away, we clearly should have walked! The
hotels here aren't great value in comparison to India, but still not bad
compared to European standards we told ourselves as we nestled into our tight
cuboid.
Malaysia is awash with Western Brands and
as we were crossing the street my wife let out a shriek, I turned around to see
what the matter was and she was exclaiming “Kenny Rogers Roasters”. I had never
heard of this establishment before but it turns out it was a long since
extinguished food outlet in America and in its heyday my wife’s favourite
haunt. In her younger days she was always dragging her family there to an
infinitely empty restaurant for an average and overpriced meal. Perhaps it was
the name that was the real attraction though.
We waited until Friday before we sampled
Kenny’s wares and we went off to the old centre of KL, Merdekh Square, where a
cricket pitch lies amongst the colonial buildings making it look like a strange combination
of Sion Mills, LA and Mumbai. We then headed to Little India (yes, you would
have thought we had enough!) for one of my favourite snacks in Malaysia: Roti
Canai and Iced Lemon (which is actually lime) Tea. It was delicious, but I will
talk more about food at our next destination, Penang.
On Friday our spending spree began in
earnest. It started with a trip to a market in Little India for a much needed
new small backpack. We then took the LRT, which redeemed its reputation by
swiftly transporting us to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre). A shiny commercial area
and home to the Petronas twin towers, former holders of the title of world’s
tallest building. Beneath the towers is a glittering shopping mall, 6 stories
of every brand name you would expect plus a few more.
Malaysia is a manufacturer
of electronic equipment and to increase demand, does not charge tax on these
products. Throughout our trip and even beforehand we have debated the pros and
cons of buying a netbook or tablet. India prices were higher than at home, but
now we were in Malaysia and most likely the cheapest place we could buy one so
it was decision time. Since we had managed this far without one it was always
looking like we would make do. But the writing of the blog consumes nearly all
of my time in internet cafes. Plus our pending move and job hunt is going to
consume even more time on computer. So with numerous establishments offering
free wifi, a computer would mean this could all be done free of charge and in our
own time. Long term need and cost were the main cons, but the computer
marketers won in the end and we went for it! I am now writing this post from a
brand new Toshiba NB520. Hopefully for you it will mean that my posts are
better without the pressure of an imaginary stop watch constantly ticking
behind me.
Rain and a movie meant that we spent five
hours wandering the mall before making our way to KL tower. This tower sits
atop a hill meaning that you can actually view the Petronas towers from above.
After forking out 47 Ringgit (£9.60/$15.40) each to ascend, we were treated to
a dazzling night view of the city and the towers. Realities of travelling
beckoned though and we had laundry to do so we headed back to Chinatown. But
this didn’t involve our usual slog in a bucket with soap and subsequent peeling
hands and chaffed knuckles. No! Malaysia has washing machines and dryers! This
means proper dry clean clothes, Alleluia!
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