Saturday, April 17, 2010

Culture Shock! Trading Indian Chaos for Asian Order

We are in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, and LOVE it!

We are feeling definite culture shock, coming here after almost three months in India. Instead of squat toilets and dirty bathrooms, there are Western toilets and super-clean bathrooms; instead of garbage on the streets, there are garbage cans everywhere; instead of people trying to cut in front of you in a queue for the metro/subway, there are people waiting patiently in lines; instead of incessant honking, there is... lots of traffic, yet quiet. We are missing our India food and some of the hustle and bustle, but in a way, Malaysia is a good change. This city is probably cleaner than Toronto, and very modern and Westernized.

Today we went and visited the Petronas Towers, home of a Malaysian oil and gas company, the tallest twin towers in the world at 88 floors and 451.9 m tall. They have free tours to the double-decker skybridge that links the 41st and 42nd floors. Looking down at the city from 170 m high was pretty neat.


























The street food here in great - lots of soups and noodle and rice dishes, and meat, yes meat. Although we did not miss meat in India, turns out neither of us are destined to become vegetarians any time soon!

And now, for a Small World Moment: randomly we ran into Erin, the Canadian girl we met in Goa, at the street markets yesterday. Since she's also bouncing around South East Asia until September, I am sure we will run into her again.

Tomorrow we board a bus for the town of Mersing, where we will catch a ferry for Pulau Tioman (Tioman Island). We are in the need of some relaxing beach time to detox from the hustle and bustle of India!


2 comments:

  1. report onjamescoren54thbirthday,heldat collosusin portcreditont.thosein attendance were the following davidcorenbro of jim&dr.leeanne coren,and best friendf.psay, cnstk.grant,and last butnot least the partyboy j coren,the bill came to $200.00, and was paid by mr.frank say,and no dishes were broken!!, all in attendance had a great time.thank-you all jimc

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  2. may15,10.hi,there.are you sure what your eating?do you notice any dogs running around?craig the hockey finals are on and itis between montreal&philly on sun.i hope philly wins.the food you are holding in your hands looks quite yummy but i will take a steak from costco any day.thx.love jimc,unclefrank is going in the mississauga marathon on sun.he is only doing half.he is not in top shape,breathing problems.love jimc.i went to the show and saw iron man ii,and i fell asleep.too tired xxxooooxxx

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