Malaysia Journal: Monday, April 16th(?) Flight to Kuching

Now on board a smaller plane to Kuching . . . didn’t sleep at the hotel in KL, instead I took the best of strong hot showers and let my stomach take it easy—the wasabi from last flight’s meal didn’t want to agree with me. It has been daylight in Malaysia for just a few hours today—I haven’t been able to see much yet. But it seems rather safe and KL looks like a clean city. KLIA has to be the most beautiful airport I’ve ever seen. When we disembarked the plane we all walked out into this tall, long hallway completely glassed in on both sides. There were track lights set irregularly in the ceiling, and they reflected off the glass and crossed white supports and polished floor to form this galaxy around you. There was also what looked like a rainforest in the center of the airport—amazing fantastical stuff.

What little we saw of KL was very westernized or consumerized I should say. There was this commercial of people in business suits skipping through a jungle, their hands full of shopping bags. “Get the real jungle shopping experience!” the commercial said . . . I found it pretty amusing. The woman in a commercial for our hotel wore a very short skirt and high-heeled shoes—Western dress. It just struck me, in comparison, to all the women completely covered, how different and almost unnerving the sight was . . . it’s kinda interesting to see how the hemlines can be drawn between Western business and religious tradition.

People do most certainly stare here, to varying degrees. I’m working to stop “pointing” which is surprisingly difficult. I hope I don’t royally screw up and insult someone.

A group of Aussies were seated at the front of the plane. I wished I could have sat near them, to listen to them talk, ask them where they’ve been. They strike me as the adventuring sort . . . I bet they’ve got cool stories.

3 Questions
1) How does religion, race, and situation affect the dress of Malaysia’s women?
2) Do reptiles play any role in Malay mythology? If so, then why? If not, then why not?
3) What’s the nature and extent of commercialization / consumerism in Malaysia?

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//It is worth noting that the handwriting of entries after arrival to Kuching take on a weak, wavering quality, and some words cut out or are misspelled more than usual . . . was the heat already getting to me that much?//

Kuching is a cat city. I’ve seen many of the stub tail cats wandering the city. Dogs too. Our tour guide is a funny guy. I wish more people would get his jokes, he is one of the indigenous peoples of Borneo, which was unexpected.

Kuching is a bit scary at first, with this profusion of small shops with undetermined goods—I may just have been very tired, because I was becoming overwhelmed by all of this. Too much Culture Shock.

In our first taste of the sweltering heat, we went to the culture center. It was really encouraging to get out of the chaos of the city, to just wander and explore. The people were very friendly—does this go naturally or just with being in a tourist spot? I finally began saying “Tarimah kasi” instead of “Thank You,” and was rewarded with “sama sama” (you’re welcome) which was the best reward I could have desired.

Back at the hotel, the odyssey for dinner began down to the waterfront. Even though I was deliriously tired (so much so that the ground seemed to rise and fall beneath me) I thought it was quiet lovely, luminous and quiet. I had a chicken kebab and a satay . . . for some reason they heated my kebabs, unlike everyone else’s. I must have made an error in communication, somehow. Once I made it back to the hotel . . . I passed out. Sleep, finally.