Sunday (?), April 15th, 9:23PM Towards Kuala Lumpur

Turbulence keeps me seat-bound for the moment. Today has been the longest day of travel I can remember. I’m going to try to break up these hours into Airports and/or Airplanes.

LAX
Even in our own country we seem to grab a bit of attention . . . 20 some people en masse can be formidable, or at least interesting. LAX abounded with strange and interesting sights. For good or for bad, on this flight you can certainly feel a great sense of being the “other.” I have barely heard a word out of our fellow passengers, while we chatter on throughout the flight. I was surprised to see that many of the passengers were dressed in vivid colors—Alice and I spotted an Asian girl wearing British-flag pants. Here we are, trying to “blend in” with our subdued colors. . . when perhaps it only makes us stick out more?

The L.A. to Japan flight was long but not wholly unpleasant. The women flight attendants have these beautiful batik uniforms—Mom was always right: flight attendants are different all over the world. They all speak English, although some in an interesting syntax. I feel like a big American jerk for not having my please and thank-you’s in Malay memorized.

Japan (Narita)
So Quiet! Some how, I was hoping for lots of excitement, loud action. Perhaps Japanimation (anime) has led me astray. I really have grown to love anime, and its slowly spread into an interest in the actual culture. But all of this is another story. Everything was so clean and bright and cheerful and quiet. It was a little overwhelming seeing all of those Japanese people, partly because I knew I must stand out, and because I’ve never seen the faces of this culture in person. I’m friends with some exchange students, but saying that lets me know what their culture is like is like saying looking at one tree can tell you what a forest is like. The cumulative effect was very similar . . . amazing and a little overwhelming.

I’m still begrudging the loudness of our group. . . or at least of certain individuals. In a way, I get really annoyed because they just don’t seem to notice how much more they talk compared to the local people. I know much of this initial annoyance is shadows from my last trip out of the country to Europe—imagine traveling with 70 middle-to-high school students plus chaperones through the streets of Salzburg. Most of the kids, I thought, were just a bit too young (immature) to actually appreciate the trip; they couldn’t get over the fact that Europe isn’t just an older America. God, what a big screeching spectacle we were, and I hated knowing that we were perpetuating the Ugly American Stereotype. I am quite sure this group is much more mature. . . and I just need to adjust my attitude . . . but it still bothers me, and needed to be written.

It’s hard to nail down specific questions about my trip to Malaysia, so forgive any generalizations.

1) How does a Malaysian woman’s dress affect/exhibit her lifestyle/heritage/carriage?

There are a lot of smaller questions here. How do women walk down the street? Do our clothes (women’s) give us more freedom, or less? How do Malaysian women view American women? Why?

2. How do reptiles fit in to the cultures of Malaysia? (specifically Borneo, but who knows?)