Kuala Lumpur-a city on prozac

I met a backpacking couple last night and they were just starting their Asian journey. They plan to spend about 6 months backpacking throughout Asia. What a great place to ease your way in to Asia, I thought. There really are sidewalks, the downtown is perfectly safe, it is absolutely clean, everyone and I mean everyone speaks English and the stores, clinics, hospitals, restaurants are modern. You can also get any food you want. The Philippines boasts it is the second largest English speaking country in the world after the United States, but frankly, compared to KL they do not speak English as well.

I am at an EARCOS administrators’ conference which started yesterday and we had the day off from the conference today so the principal, Simon, and I hired a great cab driver and saw all the major tourist sites. Since we started off at the Batu caves I learned a lot about the Hindu culture. If I came in three weeks, he said, the roads on the way to the caves would be crowded with Hindus performing self flagellation to atone for their sins. Apparently they take this quite seriously and insert sharp objects into their bodies. In Singapore, Simon told me the same thing happens. The Batu cave is a huge limestone structure and the inside is one giant Hindu Temple. You can see the pictures if you care to look.

Our driver was a Moslem, and he said he was rebellious as a child. When I asked him what appealed to him about Islam, he said it provided him with answers to all his questions. Hinduism, on the other hand, had idols which he said were not meaningful to him and even though his grandparents were Chinese Buddhists, he said the philosophy was too ambiguous for him. I know Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world and perhaps the providing confortable answers is the key to its growth.

Interestingly enough, he said the Malays were very tolerant of each other and absolutely respected and befriended each other. When I asked him, as I had to, why Malaysia refused to recognize the state of Israel, he said that was politics, but certainly Jews from the United States or Canada would be welcomed and everyone lived in harmony.

I am inclined to believe him. Certainly I see women with Hijabs as well as modern dress. I see ladyboys, Indian men with turbans with wives in Saris and a dot on their forehead. All seem to intermingle with each other in every part of the city.

There is an Indian section where they sell a lot of carpets and tailor shops yet I saw Chinese here and Indians in China town. There does seem to be a mix everywhere you go including our hotel that employs different ethnic groups. Perhaps it is harmonious and a great introduction to Asia.

Tomorrow the conference starts in earnest and I am quite anxious to see if administrators behave like teachers at conferences. I certainly know university professors have a different notion of what a conference should be like. I will let you know.