Blog
Goodbye Malaysia
Dear Friends and family,
First of all thank you for the many birthday wishes!!
After 5 months it’s finally time to pack my stuff and to leave KL behind. I will give you some information “good to know” first and at the end of this story you will find my evaluation of Malaysia. Because I’m not taking my laptop with me it is not possible to update my Internet page. A pity but don’t worry I will temporary place my story’s at http://kleingeltink.waarbenjij.nu until I’m back in the Netherlands.
What’s the plan?
This Friday I will give together with Herman a party. For me a late birthday party and a goodbye party for Herman it’s his equally birthday. The location will be Herman’s condo, for those that don’t know a condo:
Condo:
They pop up out of the ground in KL like mushrooms after rain. They are toll flat’s with apartments and shared facility’s like security, pool, fitness room, restaurant, bar etc. All high class and very convenient so there is no need to leave the property. Most of the time you don’t even want this because condo’s are often built on cheap ground in a low or undeveloped area. Which means when you want to go somewhere you need to have transport.
A perfect location to say goodbye to all my friends in KL. While the BBQ is smoking, music is playing on the background, the pyramid card game is laid out on the table and people are chilling in the pool, I’m sure that I will have a short difficult moment saying goodbye to my good life here.
Thailand
They next day we (Daan and me) will take the bus to Thailand and hope to arrive after a 20 hour journey at Kho Pagnang. First we are planning to get our PADI (diving license) and as a present for our hard work we are going to check out the full moon party!! A world famous party on the beach with up to 10.000 people, something you can’t miss when you are in Asia. Bangkok will come after this, than Chiang Mai, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
On the 20th of August I will fly back to KL to spend my last night at my friends place, get my suitcase and take off the next day back to the Netherlands. Something I don’t want to think about yet….
Evaluation of Malaysia
It’s hard to compare Malaysia with other countries at the moment, so this one you will get from me after my holiday. Now I will highlight the good and bad things of Malaysia.
Good
People: the 3 cultures groups, Malay (Muslim, about 57%), Chinese (Mostly Christian, about 30%) and as last the Indians (Hindu, about 10%) are all very friendly. They want to show you their country which they are proud of, and they should. Most of them speak English and every group has it’s on habits and sometimes funny differences. Living in KL gives you the opportunity to experience all these cultures without leaving the city!
Food: because of the 3 different cultures and a rich western cousin you can eat till you drop for only a few bucks. It’s all very tasteful, sometimes a bit spicy and I have already a lot of new favorite dishes to add to my list.
Weather: temperatures are always somewhere between 27 and 35 degrees, day and night. Do you understand that I’m not wearing anything more than a shirt or t-shirt irrelevant what time it is? During the day it can be cloudy and a short but hard rain is possible, but this has a positive effect on the hot temperature.
International: not the country site but KL is very international orientated. You can see the English influence everywhere, they drive at the left side of the road and everyone is fan of Manchester or Chelsea. Almost everything we have at home is here available only sometimes a bit costly.
Neutral
Multicultural: Malaysia isn’t a melt pot of different cultures. Every culture lives separately, jobs are divided and cultures prefer in business and private to work and hang around with their own culture. As a foreigner it was easy to check out all the different cultures but locals know only little about the other cultures and have their preconceived opinions. Why I placed this under neutral is because I compared it with my own culture. Where we have an ongoing discussion about a multi culture society. Is that the right thing? Here they except that every culture is different and live together in one country but in their own culture group. Of course there are some disadvantages as well. Like the Muslims are ruling the country and maintain a lot of advantages for their own culture by law. Now I’m going to think out load what our future queen Maxima sad “a Dutchman doesn’t exist”. There are many culture groups in the Dutch society, with all their own habits, is melting this to one the right way? Is it even possible? Maybe we need to accept that we are different and leave the culture groups separate, maybe not….
Bad
Alcohol: I can’t wait to be in another Asian county or just in a student pub in my town Groningen to grab a beer. Muslims are not allowed to drink alcohol but do know how to make money. Taxes on alcoholic drinks are unbelievable high. It doesn’t matter what you drink, in a restaurant often half the bill consist of the few beers you had. I can truly say that this is my biggest expense.
Gap rich – poor: the gap is huge. A lot of people are struggling to have a “normal” life, young and old, all work hard to be able to pay their bills. Over the last 7 years inflation had been high and the wages have stayed almost the same, what results in less money to spend, year after year. If you want to be rich in this country you need to have important friends or a lot of money. Without this you will fail.
Government: the government is Muslim and has been in power for the last 50 years. There have been some good ministers in the past, but the trouble is when a government is too long in power they forget what they should do. I experienced the last election, which was a great opportunity to see how things are going in Malaysia. After 10 years in the same positions ministers are still promising the same thing and people still fall for it! But not everyone, so even Muslims who receive major benefits over other culture groups voted on the opposition. Still the same government is in power, but the society gave a strong signal, will they listen?
Conclusion
It has been a great time in Malaysia. All the different people I met and places I have visited like Malacca, Langkawi, Perhentian, Labuan, Singapore and the Philippines. A good working experience and an even better balance between work and private.
Goodbye Malaysia, you have been good to me!
Groeten Bas