Malaysia

I just got back from Malaysia - i was visiting with 3 of my coworkers for 5 days. i've never been before - i can now check that one off the list! (very cool to travel for work!) Malaysia is an up and coming metropolitian city and everyone can pretty much speak English! wish was nice for a change! It is also made up of 35% Chinese and 10% Indians throughout the various cities (good food!) also, 5% are Orang Asli, or "orignal people" - tribal peoples. it was neat to be in culture that was so diverse,although, i found it to be not so friendly. plus, it depends on who you are with - i found that the Malays tend to be more "thai" and nonconfrontative, the Malay-Chinese are quiet but more friendly, and Malay-Indians tended to seem more direct and controversial in thought and action! (i like a little of each mix in a person!)

Obviously religions are different too - Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, and Muslims...it is also been described as "a secular country but muslim in practice", but i also found it complete with many different christian churches. i attended one that had thousands of members and happened to be baptizing 33 youth that day!

We were there meeting with local orgs and contacts to see what the situation is there for women and children in abusive situations, etc...it seemed similar to thailand in that 'sex and religion' was not that far apart from each other...meaning, there were mosques near red light districts...like temples near brothels...it's a surreal site. it was a long few days, but good. I was able to meet with some great orgs and even attend an opening ceremony for a new shelter that will now serve 200 children and elderly!

This is a picture of the Central Market area - cheap trinkets and good food (i loved the food here - it's more Indian!) i gotta tell ya, i am not that big of a thai food fan...i know, shocking, but it's not the same as Thai food in America!

just a cool shot at the end of the day.
This is the ceremony where the new shelter was dedicated! The kids were adorable and even sang 'We Are The World'!! (my favorite!!) :)
The Twin Towers - humongeous shopping plaza (even has dunkin donuts, famous amos cookies, and auntie annies pretzels!!) it's quite remarkable at night.
some funny observations:

*when you order 'orange juice' - it's really an orange soda of sorts, not the juice of a breakfast nature! the same goes for 'banana bread' - here it means banana roti (like a crepe with heated bananas and sweetened condensed milk...delicious but not what you expect!

*on Fridays, everyone gets out of work from 12:15-2:15pm to go pray at the Mosques. AND, every night at 5pm there is a "Call to Prayer" music that is sent through the airwaves around the city.

*there was also a TON of Christmas decorations and the malls and restaurants were filled with Christmas songs and decorations - giant trees in every hotel and office...so weird and comforting at the same time!?

*not many motorcycs! this is good. a funny note is that they tend to wear their jackets on backwards to ward off the wind!! :)

I'm supposed to go back in January - i'll let you know if anything interesting happens! :)