I don't know about the US, but in Taiwan we have these commercials for Malaysian tourism that end with the slogan "Malaysia: Truly Asia". I never had any doubts about the Asianness of Malaysia (it's in the name, after all), so this struck me as a particularly silly slogan. However, any time something particularly special happened in Malaysia, the little song popped into my head: Malaysia, truly Asiaaaaaa.
Arriving in Malaysia was pretty special in itself. Apparently our flight was the inaugural flight of the Taipei-Kuala Lumpur route, so to celebrate this special occasion, the flight attendants had a little quiz show mid-flight, with free Air Asia vouchers to people who could answer questions correctly. Upon arrival, we were shunted into a press conference room, where we received "goody bags" that turned out to be full of Malaysian tourism information. Malaysia, truly Asiaaaa! I had my picture taken shaking hands with somebody importantish, and we headed off to find lodging.
Our lodging strategy in Kuala Lumpur was as follows: go to an area with a number of hostels and poke around. We successfully obtained a room for the low price of about $6. Cool.
In the morning, we headed off to see the Islamic Art Museum, which we heard was one of the only things actually worth going to in Kuala Lumpur. We arrived early, so we went for a walk and stopped to sit under a rain shelter. I felt it was quite thoughtful of Malaysia to provide such shelters in case of a sudden downpour, and in fact, we had only been seated for a short while when there was a downpour...of monkeys! A giant pack of monkeys streamed out of the bushes and pitter-patted all over the top of our (transparent) rain shelter. Malaysia, truly Asiaaaa!
The excitement of surprise monkeys put us in just the kind of excellent mood that is perfect for viewing a large amount of impressive Islamic art. The Islamic Art Museum had small scale models of the world's famous mosques, and all kinds of relics from different Muslim cultures. It was pretty awesome, but we had to be quick, because it was off to the airport to catch our flight to Phnom Penh! Don't worry, Malaysia, we'll be back in a week.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
More Adventures!
Teacher Rebekah has been a busy lady recently, cleaning up her stuff and saying goodbye and trying to prepare for what's next. I had many farewell lunches and late nights of hanging out with other Fulbrighters before they left, plus several days of going to school just to hang out with my students (I played a lot of dodgeball during this time). My teacher's dance class performed twice at large school events, and the students got to see me dance with about a pound of blue glitter in my hair. Pictures will have to come later, because I am posting this from a public computer at the airport! (public computers with free internet: the second best thing about Taoyuan International Airport, after the giant pink Hello Kitty-themed gate)
In about an hour I'll be on a plane to Kuala Lumpur, where fellow Fulbrighter Vicky and I will have one night before we zip off to Cambodia! We wanted to see Angkor Wat, and the cheapest flights to Cambodia were through Kuala Lumpur, so we'll have a week in Cambodia and then stop and check out Malaysia for a couple days on the way back. It should be fun, and I'm sure I'll have some ridiculous stories when we get back. I'll be back in the U.S. on July 15th!
I shall leave you with a story: Tuesday night, I was in the night market getting some last-minute stuff for our trip, when a lady came up and started talking to me. "Gina!" she said, "I know you! Do you remember me?" "My name's not Gina," I told her, but I did remember her, unfortunately. I had met this lady before while getting tea near home; she had asked me where I was from and then insisted that I was lying when I said I was American. I braced myself for another similar experience. "Gina!" she brayed. "You hair is curly!" I confirmed that this was true. "It's very yoogly!" she told me with a cackle. I processed this statement in disbelief. "Did you just tell me my hair is yoogly?" She repeated it. Fortunately, it's kind of hard to feel insulted by someone who is obviously more than a little crazy and can't even pronounce her insults correctly. After that, I just turned back to shopping intently and tried to ignore her until she went away...goodbye crazy lady, you will never hassle me a third time because I am leaving the country!
In about an hour I'll be on a plane to Kuala Lumpur, where fellow Fulbrighter Vicky and I will have one night before we zip off to Cambodia! We wanted to see Angkor Wat, and the cheapest flights to Cambodia were through Kuala Lumpur, so we'll have a week in Cambodia and then stop and check out Malaysia for a couple days on the way back. It should be fun, and I'm sure I'll have some ridiculous stories when we get back. I'll be back in the U.S. on July 15th!
I shall leave you with a story: Tuesday night, I was in the night market getting some last-minute stuff for our trip, when a lady came up and started talking to me. "Gina!" she said, "I know you! Do you remember me?" "My name's not Gina," I told her, but I did remember her, unfortunately. I had met this lady before while getting tea near home; she had asked me where I was from and then insisted that I was lying when I said I was American. I braced myself for another similar experience. "Gina!" she brayed. "You hair is curly!" I confirmed that this was true. "It's very yoogly!" she told me with a cackle. I processed this statement in disbelief. "Did you just tell me my hair is yoogly?" She repeated it. Fortunately, it's kind of hard to feel insulted by someone who is obviously more than a little crazy and can't even pronounce her insults correctly. After that, I just turned back to shopping intently and tried to ignore her until she went away...goodbye crazy lady, you will never hassle me a third time because I am leaving the country!
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