[Note: Finally beginning to upload entries from one year ago, when we first arrived. Hopefully, I will catch up at some point]
Southeast Asia 3.0
Here we go again . . .
As a kid, I used to collect airline timetables and, in fact, to Liz’s
consternation, still have a large collection in storage. I would call up airlines and ask them to send
their latest to our house and I would dutifully run to the mailbox every day to
see which ones arrived. Back in the
1970s, I remember looking at the old Northwest Airlines (at that point the more
exotic sounding “Northwest Orient Airlines”) and studying its Asian routes. As I recall, Northwest had a flight from
Tokyo to a city called Kuala Lumpur.
Looking at the timetable, I saw that from our home in suburban New
Jersey, I could get there in 2 days, with additional stops/plane changes in
Minneapolis, Seattle and Anchorage. At
that point, silly child, I thought the idea of transiting several airports on a
days-long journey sounded exciting.
After 13 years of excruciating trans-Pacific flights, I know better,
though the stops are fewer and the travel time, while still over 24 hours, is a
bit (just a bit) less onerous.
Anyway, I would sound out the name of the city, wondering what it would
be like to visit, never really imagining it might someday become my home. Over the years, I traveled to Malaysia
twice; once as a stop on my post bar exam Southeast Asia backpacking excursion
and more recently with Liz and our friends Bird and Don on a more upscale
vacation from Hanoi. Now, 35 years or so
after I first pored over the timetable imagining life in Malaysia, Liz and I
were headed across the Pacific for our third tour in Southeast Asia. Instead of several days, our journey took a
“mere” 27 hours (special thank you to State Department travel regs for forcing
an additional stop in Detroit on the way – nothing says global adventure like
the Detroit airport).
As we took off from DC on a somewhat sub-climactic preliminary jaunt to
Detroit, I looked out the window as we passed over northern Virginia suburban
sprawl, with subdivisions spreading and curving in figures reminiscent (in my
head, at least) of a Keith Haring print.
We’d used miles to upgrade to business class and I hoped that might ease
our transition. The Delta flight from
Detroit to Seoul came with flat bed seating, which allowed Liz to immediately
zonk out. This being the middle of the
day, I tried fruitlessly to rest, instead focusing on the endless movie
selection. Of course, once we
transferred to our coach seats on the Seoul-KL flight I was exhausted, but
unable to sleep in the fetal position necessary to fit into my seat.
Just as our previous arrivals in Bangkok, Kampala and Hanoi, we landed
in KL in the middle of the night, making it impossible to get a good first
impression of the city, though its modern airport certainly was an upgrade over
Hanoi’s overmatched and outdated facility.
We got to our apartment around midnight, quickly took in its spacious
three-bedrooms and view over the city and went to sleep. Five hours later, I was up, showered, and
be-suited, ready to be picked up for my first day of work. Our life in KL had begun.
First Impressions
I do not re-read my old posts very often for fear of embarrassment at
impressions, conclusions or opinions that later, based upon more informed
consideration, seem naïve or ignorant.
However, we all have first impressions when we move into a new
environment and our first weeks in KL have been no exception.
What I first noticed was the modernity of the city. Certainly compared with Hanoi and Kampala and
even when contrasted with Bangkok, KL has more modern and effective infrastructure. Better roads and (any) sidewalks, more
extensive public transportation, and more convenient shopping. We think our location is ideal, an apartment
in a new building about 100 meters from KLCC park. From my dining room window as I am typing
this, I look out over the KL convention center, which is linked directly to the
extensive and modern KLCC mall and via a short underground passage, a metro
stop. In the other direction lie two
even higher-end malls, with over 100 dining options. And seemingly as many super high-end watch
stores (or as they call them “timepieces”).
Right behind us is the 4 star Traders Hotel, where we can catch a cab at
any time and where Liz has a gym membership.
As we walk past the Traders, looking up, we can see the giant Petronas
Towers, looming over the 1.3 kilometer jogging trail that we use a little less
frequently than we should. If its
reasonably cool in the morning, I can walk to work in about 20 minutes, just as
I begin to move from perspiration to full-blown sweating. Given the heavy traffic, I always walk home
in the evenings.
The second thing I noticed was English.
At least in KL, almost everyone speaks enough to converse with a
confused foreigner. A very large portion
speak it quite well, easing shopping, direction-finding, work conversations,
and general interactions. Though
Malaysian schools switched the primary language of instruction away from
English during the Mahathir years, most still study in school and it at times
serves as the language of communication between the various ethnic groups. Just walking along the street, I am also
frequently surprised by the number of times I will hear locals, primarily
ethnic Chinese, using English in conversations among themselves. Much advertising, store signage and road
signs are in English, making it quite easy to navigate the city. This has been a bit of a relief as, unlike my
tours in Thailand and Vietnam, I did not have the opportunity to study Malay
(or Chinese or Tamil) before arriving for my posting. I have made myself flashcards and try to
learn 2 new words each day to practice on my Malaysian colleagues in the office
and am quite proud of my ability to provide basic instructions to cabbies (who
generally speak adequate English anyway) and sort-of navigate Malay
dishes. Many expats find little need to
pick up Malay and few locals in KL seem to expect foreigners to speak their
language. Nevertheless, its fun to try.
As to the weather, I know that I am jinxing us for saying this, but so
far it has been a bit cooler than Bangkok.
Not exactly sure why, given that we are much closer to the equator and
not at much elevation, but I suspect the air moves a bit more, not exactly a
breeze, but at least a temperate rustling.
Plus, its often cloudy, blocking the powerful, tropical sun. We’ve been reasonably comfortable running as
late as 8 am and last week I walked around an outdoor market for 3 minutes
without sweating through my shirt, a great accomplishment. Despite this being the fringe of the dry season,
it does rain almost every day, usually in the late afternoon or overnight, but
occasionally just as I am leaving the embassy.
This worries me somewhat, because my new Malaysian acquaintances and
older embassy-hands keep telling me that this is nothing and that the rainy
season won’t kick in in earnest for a little bit. I keep picturing an ark floating below our
apartment window one morning, but we’ll see.
Traffic is bad. Not quite as
sclerotic as Jakarta or as hazardous as the motorbike madness of Hanoi, but
still often unmoving. Even on
weekends. At the same time, it can be
unpredictable, and we have arrived 20 minutes early for appointments when
expected back ups do not materialize.
Still, Tun Razak, which passes in front of the embassy and is one of the
primary connectors into the south of the city and rest of the Klang valley
typically turns into a parking lot during the evening rush hour.
No comments:
Post a Comment