Jonathan and I just returned from a visit/conference in Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur, or KL, is the capital of Malaysia. It is a very sparkling, modern city famous for the Petronas Towers. During our time there we stayed in the KLCC, or KL City Center. It was pretty fascinating spending time in a city with ultra-modern shopping. As the plane landed, one of the first things I noticed, aside from all of the palm oil plantations, was that the traffic was on the left side of the road. Although I have flown through London, this was really the first time I had ever spent any time walking around with the traffic flow being opposite of what I am used to! How strange and fun! In Vietnam I am now used to negotiating the traffic: it is literally EVERYWHERE! I am in more danger of getting run over by a motorbike while walking ON the sidewalk than I am crossing the street. I am so comfortable with the traffic, I have taken to doing my runs along the roads! After my visit to Phnom Penh in February I really got into the obstacle course nature of running in traffic. It's actually kind of fun, unless you are looking for a situation where you want to really open it up and get into a groove...In KL, though, I had to constantly look to see where the cars were coming from. They were not on the sidewalk, but I am trained to look left, right, and left again..and I had to look RIGHT more often than not. (I just had to talk myself through that..because I couldn't actually remember what traffic in the US looks like! HaHa.)
Kuala Lumpur is absolutely fascinating for so many reasons. Maybe my intrigue is heightened because I have been in Vietnam for 7 months now and am very used to this situation and while the population is not homogenous, it is definitely not as diverse as the United States. After our time in China, one of the most amazing experiences was flying into LAX, the international airport in Los Angeles. Before this moment, I really didn't like LAX, but I gained a whole new appreciation for the airport, and for the US after this experience. As we walked through the concourse, I was amazed and intrigued by the diversity of people around me. In Mianyang, China everyone mostly looks the same: black hair, my height or shorter, slim. In LAX there were people of all shapes, sizes, and skin color. It was beautiful! I remember feeling very happy and proud as I noticed this. I am an American and we are a diverse population, a population of immigrants, of an attitude and dream not a "look".
KL had a similar diversity, but again, something I had never really witnessed. The population of KL is composed of 3 major groups of people: Chinese, Muslim, and Hindu. In the city there are neighborhoods where these three groups congregated and moved in together. One of the best things to do in KL is to walk through these neighborhoods. Chinatown, Little India, and Kampong Baru are interesting in their cultural influence and variation from one other. Outside of Chinatown I wandered around an old cemetery in search of a temple. I never found the temple but had a wonderful time looking out over the rolling hills of graves as the city rose up in the background. One day we visited Kampong Baru, where there is a strong Muslim influence. The market was fascinating as people yelled out the prices of fruits to passersby. Many women wore hijabs, or scarves, on their heads. In all honesty I had never been around so many Muslims. It was wonderful to see the women exercising in their hijabs, hearing the call to prayer, and seeing the beautiful mosques. I am curious to learn more about the Muslim culture from Muslims. All we hear about is what is told to us in our own culture of fear. I imagine that the message and concept of the muslim culture is very different from what we hear about in the news..In the same way that American culture is not really anything like what people see and hear about in soap operas like Dynasty or in the news. Little India was also fun: different smells, different things being sold, different clothing. How incredible that in some parts of the world groups cannot live together, but in Malaysia there is harmony.
Why is it that we hold so strongly to our beliefs that we become intolerant, to the point of violence, towards others who believe something different? Religion is a funny one. We do not really KNOW how our world was created or what happens when we die. We have been told something, read about it, various people have shared what they believe with others, but in reality no one knows for sure. We just have ideas. How can one idea be wrong? I guess if it is not based in any kind of scientific evidence then perhaps it could be considered "wrong". But then again, isn't that just my "idea" speaking? My understanding of the world and how it works is based on my 5 senses: what I can see, feel, taste, smell, and hear. People talk about ghosts, for example. For some, these are very real. Because I have never seen, smelled, tasted, heard, or felt a ghost, does that mean that it does not exist? Maybe I am such a product of my world that I have trained my body to NOT "see" something that someone else can..like a ghost. Other people could be very attuned to something that my body cannot fathom, cannot even register. What about light that I cannot see? or a sound that is outside the range of my ears? Dog whistles are a perfect example: I cannot hear it, so does that mean that it doesn't make a sound? Someone else, some THING else (like a dog) can hear it. Should I start fighting with someone who hears a whistle when I don't?
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