One day in Kuala Lumpur - Mosques, Malls, Buddhist Temples and Street Brawls

I just spent twenty six hours in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia.

Before I arrived I was a little apprehensive about visiting Malaysia. In case you don't know, Malaysia counts itself among the nations of the world that choose to not recognize that Israel has existed for sixty one years now. This means that a full half of my extended family would be denied entry to the country with their Israeli passport. This means that if I took out the wrong passport, I would be denied entry to the country. Understandably, I wasn't sure I wanted to give this country any money.

In the end, I decided I was curious to see the society, and that it would be a good educational experience. Besides, its not like one night in a hotel will really make a dent in their economy.

I arrived early afternoon, and as in every other place I've been, the first thing I see in the airport is a McDonalds and a KFC. Here however, a big sign informed me that the meat in the restaurants was all Halal. Not quite Kosher, but at least there is no pork in the cheese burgers. There was also a Muslim prayer room, and a big compass pointing towards Mecca.

I took a bus into town, and then a subway ride brought me to the famous Petronas towers. When they were finished in 2004 they were considered by many to be the tallest buildings in the world. I found a place to stay near the towers, and once I was settled in I returned to the towers to explore the area a bit.

The bottom seven floors of the towers form a massive mall. Every luxury brand in the world seemed to be there, though the huge iPhone stand in the middle certainly dominated the scene. In the food court I was greeted with many familiar names; however, everything seemed just a little different. Famous Amos here was basically a souvenir shop that sold cookies as an afterthought. Auntie Anne's selection of specialty pretzels included Seaweed, Green Tea and other equally appealing options. When I made my way to the supermarket to see what I would find, I noticed a bid box of Matzohs lining a shelf. On the box, a notice from the Rabbinate of London explained that while kosher, these were not to be eaten on Passover. Now I know what happens to all the matzos that are accidentally allowed to leaven.

Later, on my way back to the Hotel I witnessed a very weird situation. Everything happened pretty quickly, so I'm not exactly sure what went down. I was slowly walking to my room when I heard someone yell behind me. I look back to see one guy, looked to be a local Malay teenager, attack another group of locals. The group responded in kind, and hit him back. Truth is, they may have started things, I didn't see. Suddenly, twenty people appeared behind the lone guy, and a genuine street brawl ensued. No one in the fight looked older than twenty. I notice to police officers walk right by and not do anything. Realizing that the last thing I needed was to end up hurt and alone in Malaysia, I made the decision that if the cops could ignore the fight, so could I. As I turned around to walk away, a group of Chinese tourists headed in that direction noticed the action as well, and decided it would be best to make a wide detour around the fight. Seeing that I was not Chinese, they somewhat condescendingly pointed to the brawl and said "no good." When I concurred in Chinese, they all giggled with excitement and we had a very nice chat.

I woke up early the next morning and visited the Guan Yin Sagely Monastery. The monastery is in the middle of the city, and with the communal kitchen and shared roles, it felt more like a kibbutz than anything else. The main difference is that in kubbitzim that I've been to, if there is a temple on the premises, it usually doesn't have large golden idols of buddhist gods in the middle of the room.

On the way to the airport, I noticed many large mosques adorning the city. The mosques are all very beautiful and quite larger than any I've seen. At the checkout counter I was informed that I would not be allowed on the plane, as they do not have me registered with a visa. One of my friends currently in Australia told me that I would not need a visa for short the trip. Not true. Luckily, Australia has an instant visa approval system online, and I just opened my laptop and applied for the visa. Twenty minutes later I was able to check in no problem.

I'm now on the plane nearing melbourne. The virtual map on screen shows the direction to two cities, Melbourne and Mecca. All in all, Kuala Lumpur was a fun and interesting city. Everyone was very friendly, and I think most of my apprehension was shown to be unfounded. Granted, they didn't know I am Israeli, but even if they had, I'm pretty sure most wouldn't have cared. Then again, I was only here for one night, and already I witnessed a full on street brawl. It was probably best that I didn't get involved.

Yoni

Some School and Pesach in Israel

Hey everyone,

So I've been out of contact for a while. Didn't have much exciting to report I guess. Eventually I had to settle in for some school, and since I got back from Shanghai through early April when I left for Pesach (Passover for any non-hebrew speakers) I've mostly been focused on passing my classes. All is good on that front. Overall my classes are not quite as interesting as I believe their Brandeis equivalents would be, mostly because students never speak up here, so lectures tend to basically be monotonous extended monologues. I do really like my Chinese philosophy class, as well as learning to write Chinese. I'm getting pretty good, and can write 230 characters, and read even more. I can also speak a fair amount. Surprisingly, another favorite class is American Cinema. I have never taken the time to watch Charlie Chaplin, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and other great classic movies, so the opportunity has been welcome.

I've also spent time playing rugby and Judo, which have both been fun. Since I mostly hang out with fellow exchange students or my roommate, rugby has given me an opportunity to get to know the permanent ex-pat crowd, while Judo has helped me meet local students native to Hong Kong.

As usual, I flew to Israel to celebrate Pesach with the family. It was great to see everyone. Everyone, cousins and grandparents included, went down to Eilat for four days. Joe and Ari took their Advanced Open Water Diver course, which I had done in Thailand, and I tagged along practicing some of the skills I learned in the course. Even though one of the days was the second holiday, we managed to get in seven dives in just three days. The dives included two deep dives (about 100 feet deep), a wreck dive, a cave dive and a dive with dolphins, who all loved Joe. I brought a camera down for most of the dives, and had a lot of fun photographing Joseph and Ari during their course.

Unlike at Brandeis, most of my professors had no idea what Pesach is. Still, they were all really cool about me missing school for two week. Not everyone was so lucky. One person actually had to get a letter signed by a rabbi, and take a temporary leave of absence before the professor agreed not to penalize her for missing two classes and an exam.

When I got back Sunday night, I had to immediately switch into super finals mode. Monday I had an essay due, Tuesday a test, Wednesday two tests, Thursday a make-up test and a presentation, and Friday a make-up session including three quizzes and an exam. That's what I get for disappearing for the two weeks before finals. Somehow, with about fifteen hours sleep total for the week, I managed to survive until Friday. Now, other than a few simple papers, I'm done until May 14th, for my Logic final.

Given the nearly three week break between my first finals and my last one, I decided to head down to Australia to see how my friends are living down under. I'm heading first to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where I will explore the city for one day, before continuing to Melbourne. Sam, as well as Judah and Elie (who both visited me in February) agreed to take off school so we could explore the continent for a bit. We'll spend Shabbat in Melbourne, and Sunday we're off to New Zealand, where I will be turning 21. Then Sydney for an extended weekend, and back to Melbourne.

I'll be sure to update with more pictures soon.

Yoni

PS If you remember, when I first arrived in Hong Kong from Beijing, I commented that the air was clean and fresh compared to China's capital. While this is certainly the truth, Beijing is really not much of a measuring stick. Coming back from Israel, I felt almost choked by the air in Hong Kong. Looking back, it is hard to believe I didn't feel it before.