Malaysian Driving

Surprisingly, it only took me a day or two to adjust to driving a stick with the other hand, on the other side of the car, on the other side of the street. But with the newfound freedom comes consequences. I knew from Day 1 that they drove differently here in Malaysia, even from the passenger seat. But only in the last week since I've started driving did I learn the full magnitude of what really goes on on the roads and in the parking lots of Malaysia. Due to the very very small cars, everyone is used to driving in ridiculously close proximity to one another already. I am from the US - where it's not unusual to see a bigger car - and I'm driving a pick-up truck (making me one of the longest cars on the road here), I'm not so used to it. I've never felt the need to be 10 inches from the back bumper of the car in front of me while we're waiting at the red light. Furthermore, I'm quickly becoming convinced that the concept we know as the "Right of Way" doesn't exist here. It's the only valid explanation for the number of times cars have cut me off, merged in on me, or turned out in front of me in situations where I clearly had the 'right of way.' How do they know I'm going to allow them in, or slow down when u've lazily turned out in front of me, or when I'm already driving straight at full speed. At one point, I almost felt like I should keep my speed make an example out of one car to affirm my seriousness to the rest; like the first guy you beat up in jail so let the rest know not to mess with you. But I declined. And all this is without mentioning that even Asian men keep telling me that the stereotype about Asian women being the world's worst drivers is true; they say they have tunnel vision, always focused forward never checking mirrors, using turn signals, or anything concerned with the sides. When I'm in a car and a nearby car does something erratic, they often say "Must be a woman driving." As for parking, they do things here that would NEVER be acceptable in the US. Here, in one particular parking lot I frequent which is always full seemingly, a Honda City (smaller than a Honda Civic) was parked diagonally taking up 3 spaces (pictured below). I felt like smashing the car like Kathy Bates on "Fried Green Tomatoes." And everywhere you go, if the parking lot fills, cars will simply park perpendicular and block cars in; random cars, driven by people they don't know. So then eventually you will have the blocked in driver (who is correctly parked), come out to his car and have to sit their honking his horn until the driver of the car blocking him shows up to move it. This process takes 30 mins or more sometime. I can only imagine the fights this practice would cause back Stateside. And double, even triple parking, on roads that may not even be big is not uncommon either. At times, it feels like a state of anarchy honestly. Do Better...