· The glorious pilgrimage to Batu Caves for the Hindus to celebrate the Deepavali holiday; it's quite a site to see so many people walking to their holy place
Every Malay man in the country wearing their traditional garb (black hat, single color silk-ish long sleeve shirt-pants set, and sarong skirt) heading to their local mosque every Friday to pry from lunch time until about 3 pm. This takes precedent over work or other responsibilities.
One quarter mile strip of road featuring a mosque, a Buddhist temple, a Kongsi temple (Chinese who pray to their ancestors), a church, and a cathedral; each was between 100 and 220 years old. Very old Hindu temple was not far away either.
A very diverse population (three different ethnicities each forming at least 20-25% of the population) that does not mix virtually at all. I have personally met only one person who was mixed between two of the races the entire time I've been here.
The Soft Contact Lens Question
o Person 1: “I didn’t know you wore glasses”
o Me: “Well that’s because most of the time I just wear my contacts”
o Person 1: “Contacts? You mean the soft kind?”
§ I’ve been asked this question at least 5 times in Malaysia, are people still rocking the hard kind somewhere in 2011? I have no idea, but it doesn’t stop people from asking.
· The ‘Where Are You Really From’ Question
o Person 1: “Where are you from?”
o Me: “America”
o Person 1: “Where? South Africa?”
o Me: “No, America. The USA”
o Person 1: “No, can’t be. I meant where are you really from? Like your family?”
o Me: **shakes head**
· Parallel parking into an illegal double (or even triple parked spot). I was borderline astounded the first time I witnessed this in person.
· A car making a right hand U-turn from the left lane around my car which was in the right hand lane. It’s ridiculous any way you slice it.
A wedding reception full of people in full formal wear eating curry-covered rice and meat with their bare hands; much different ideas of what is proper/formal for such an occasion I’d say. I give them credit though, it takes skill to execute without getting your clothes dirty, I feel I would make a mess.
· Official work documents - authored by people seen as authorities of their profession – written in terribly broken and grammatically incorrect English. I know, I’m a native English speaker. Also, I know I’m American and this is a British colony but “I no satisfy with current working” is not a proper sentence. One person went to far as to try to get me to change my wording in our progress report to more Malaysia friendly slightly broken English. SMH
· Fast food restaurants covered in trays. Is it that hard to throw your food away; it’s already on a tray and the trash can (with swinging door designed for quick tray disposal) is located right beside the exit?
Also, fast food (McDonald's, KFC, etc) treated as a delicacy. When a McDonald's combo costs almost 3 times as much as the local food from Malay restaurants, why are Malays excited to go to McDonald's? It defeats the point.
· A toddler standing up in the car with her head out the sunroof as the car drives down the street. What if there’s a sudden stop? She could be beheaded; after all, Malaysians drive crazy. Although I’ve only seen the sunroof incident once, children standing up in cars in general are very prevalent here. Standing up to eat too.
· Corn and beans commonly used in dessert dishes. Why is the ice cream or cake dish covered in syrup, jello, red beans and corn kernels? Just doesn’t yell “Eat your heart out” to me.
· Half-boiled eggs (just cooked enough to not be different from raw eggs, just uncooked enough to still be disgusting) dowsed in soy sauce. It turned my stomach everytime I saw someone eating that foolishness.
· The insignificant “Lah” at the end of every sentence. It is used just as “Yo” might be used in slang for emphasis at the end of a sentence in parts of the US.
· Women in head scarves, meant to conceal the hair which would attract extra male attention, wearing skin-tight jeans on leggings. It’s more important to cover that hair that the lady curves?? Seems to defeat the point to me. LOL
A man walking with this two wives, both approximately the same height and weight, who are both in the full burqka (covering everything except the eyes). How do you tell them apart?
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