My First Day

Today was my first full day in KL. Because it was a Saturday and the King's Birthday (Daulat Tuanku), there was little chance of getting any serious work done. Instead I explored KL a bit and bought a phone.

I Deserve Points For Trying

Last night was my first in KL. My hotel is located a very short walk from a fancy mall with a huge food court in the basement. Although the mall contains such American favorites as Tony Roma's Ribs and KFC, I told myself that I should be bold and try something new and local for my first dinner. After wondering around the food court several time examining food from Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Middle East I chose my place to eat. The signs outside the restaraunt talked about choosing your meat, veggies, and sauces and cooking it up. To me, that sounded like Mongolian Barbeque something that I am familiar with and I like so I went inside and gave it a try. When I asked the girl at the counter what I should do she pointed to a menu with the photo of about 20 dishes. When I pointed to "pepper chicken" she told me to sit down and they would bring the food to me. A bit later they brought a pile of rice, chicken, and veggies (mostly corn- the edible vegetable) on a big hot plate (think of a fajita plate, only much much hotter). When the girl that brought me the food asked me if I knew how to cook it, I am sure that I gave her a funny look (isn't having them cook the food the reason you go to a resaraunt?). She told me that she would show me how to cook the food and madly started spreading the food around on the steaming plate cooking it on the still hot plate (I am sure that the liability lawyers would be licking their chops over this plan in the US). After she cooked everything up good she said "put that sauce on it and eat it". I did and it was great. I was a little embarassed by having a not yet out of high school girl helping me deal with my food and I started to wish that I had chosen a more familiar location such as Pizza Hut. However, later on today I saw a picture of a pizza with fish sticks on it in a Pizza Hut windows, so maybe seemingly familiar things are not as familiar as they seem.

Tonight's Dinner

There appear to be three broad types of food service establishments in KL. The first are normal restaraunts that we would recognize form the States. The second are store-front restaraunts where they serve the food on tables placed on the sidewalk and into the street. The third are literally food stalls that are rolled out onto the street. The food in these stalls are supposed to be very cheap and good, I thought that I would slowly adjust to my new surroundings by trying option number two tonight. I ate a a Chinese restaraunt that was one of about a dozen lined up on a street that was about a ten minute walk from my hotel. The food was great (Mongolian chicken and rice) and after another sunny humid day, I was ready for a Tiger beer or two. When I paid the bill, I discovered that I paid twice as much for beer as I did for food (note- the last statement was intended to emphasize how cheap food is and how expensive drinks are and not to suggest that I was drinking too much).

The view from my dinner table tonight.

3M- Malls, Malaysia, and Minnesota

Anyone that I have ever talked to from Malaysia has spoken about how fond Malaysians are of their malls. The only other place that I have ever lived where malls were so beloved was Minnesota (home of the Mall of America). After spending only a couple of days here it is clear while the malls are so popular- air conditioning!! The only time that I have ever chosen visiting the mall as a fun activity was when I was doing research in Minnesota. A couple of hours in an air-conditioned mall was welcome relief from the sweltering heat, flies, and mosquitos. It is clear that the Malaysians also enjoy the relief from the equatorial heat while shopping.

Fun Times at the Mall on the King's Birthday.

Because it was a national holiday, today was an especially busy day at the malls. This afternoon I bought a cell phone and cellular service at a mall that I call Hotel California (you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave). This mall is a maze of small shops and stalls (it made the enchanted maze in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire seem easy to navigate). After trying to find an exit from the mall for what seemed like an hour ("haven't I walked past here at least six times before?"), I decided that I should just pick someone and follow them until they eventually decided to go home. Luckily, I stumbled upon an exit to the outside world (great- time to sweat again).

Today was World Environment Day

June 5th has been declared World Environment Day to commemorate the initial United Nations Conference on Human Environment that was held in 1972. World Environment Day received major coverage in the Malaysian newspapers (I am sure that it was all over the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal). Because the main purpose of my visit to Malaysia is to learn and write about environmental issues in Malaysia, it is encouraging to see such widespread interest in conservation. Remember- 2010 has been declared the International Year of Biodiversity.