Greetings from Kuala Lumpur (KL)!
I have arrived safely in Malaysia after
over 30 hours of travelling and I am safely on the 37th floor of my
oldest brother’s flat, close to the heart of KL. Some of the thoughts I had
while travelling here:
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| Family reunion! (left to right) Me, brothers Archer and Arvin, Dad, Ate Paulineand Xyriel in the background |
1) I hate airports so much
2) I’m so glad I bought noise-cancelling
headphones prior to travelling
3) One should NEVER watch Inside Out in
public ever, let alone on a plane that was such a bad idea.
Airplanes are never a great experience. I
don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who feels anything but neutrality or mild to strong dislike
towards flying. However, the overall journey was smooth sailing and I am happy to
be here.
Malaysia is currently 16 hours ahead of BC
and 13 hours ahead of Ontario, so the jetlag was definitely hitting me at 5:20
am today. It’s also maybe more than 25 C hotter than BC was before I left so it’s
pretty terrible right now. I’ve received a lot of mockery from my family for
changing 50 times a day due to the fact that I am sweating profusely through
everything I wear. ): Regardless, I am loving KL so far!
I would say the weirdest thing I’ve experienced is how similar yet different Malay is from Tagalog (national language in the Philippines). Filipino culture has been heavily influenced by Malay culture and it really shows in Tagalog vocabulary. What’s weird is sometimes the letters of a word with meaning shared by both languages is essentially the same… but with like one letter difference. Very strange and has thrown me off a lot, but not enough to distract me from the beautiful culture of KL.
It seems there is a harmonious balance between different cultures that reside in this city, with a large Islam community that has influenced the architecture of the older buildings including a really beautiful mosque, but at the same time a large amount of Chinese and Indian cultural influence is present as well.
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| Merdeka Square |
I would say the weirdest thing I’ve experienced is how similar yet different Malay is from Tagalog (national language in the Philippines). Filipino culture has been heavily influenced by Malay culture and it really shows in Tagalog vocabulary. What’s weird is sometimes the letters of a word with meaning shared by both languages is essentially the same… but with like one letter difference. Very strange and has thrown me off a lot, but not enough to distract me from the beautiful culture of KL.
It seems there is a harmonious balance between different cultures that reside in this city, with a large Islam community that has influenced the architecture of the older buildings including a really beautiful mosque, but at the same time a large amount of Chinese and Indian cultural influence is present as well.
 |
| Newspaper cutouts at the KL Art Gallery describing history of Kuala Lumpur |
Today my oldest brother and I got the
chance to visit a few places in Merdeka Square, including Kuala Lumpur’s Muzium
Muzik (Music Museum) where I got to learn a little bit about the instruments
used in Chinese, Malay and Indian culture.
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| My brother Arvin and I at the I <3 KL Sign in front of KL City Gallery |
Next door was the famous “I Love KL” Sign beside the Arch art gallery, where we
also roamed and I got to learn a bit about the history of British colonialism
and declaration of independence in KL which happened right there at Merdeka. We
then visited a beautiful Chinese temple, then an Indian temple nearby. These
temples were obviously built by very talented and passionate artists and it was
breathtaking, even for an outsider like me.
After all this tourist-y fun, we roamed
around looking for some things I wanted to buy, and this is where the real fun began. We roamed Central Market
and Chinatown, which was adjacent to the market.
Today I experienced the truly strategic art of bargaining. For those of you who haven’t experienced shopping in Asia, there are large designated squares where stands will be set up and people will sell many material goods at seemingly great prices. However, I saw the same bag at probably 7 locations and heard 7 different prices. ‘Tis why it’s important to bargain. It’s actually kind of a fun activity if you don’t consider how much walking and disappointment is involved.
Today I experienced the truly strategic art of bargaining. For those of you who haven’t experienced shopping in Asia, there are large designated squares where stands will be set up and people will sell many material goods at seemingly great prices. However, I saw the same bag at probably 7 locations and heard 7 different prices. ‘Tis why it’s important to bargain. It’s actually kind of a fun activity if you don’t consider how much walking and disappointment is involved.
My favourite part of this bargain hunt was
seeing ‘Beats’ headphones for sale at whopping prices. Amazing.
To conclude this post, I’d like to enthusiastically mention that tomorrow is New Years Eve. I will be partying it up 13-16 hours ahead of any of you and watching fireworks from the 37th floor, so be prepared for the 1000 second snapchat stories....
To conclude this post, I’d like to enthusiastically mention that tomorrow is New Years Eve. I will be partying it up 13-16 hours ahead of any of you and watching fireworks from the 37th floor, so be prepared for the 1000 second snapchat stories....
Cha Gheill!
Arlene
More photos below: Hindu temple close to Merdeka and my niece Xyriel because she's absolutely adorable
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