KP in KL

To satisfy our craving for vegetables last night, we found one of the few restaurants that served salad was Chili's. Of course their salads aren't even that nutritious, but even the thought of lettuce was enough for us to give in and skip the local food for one night. We noticed the local ketchup, while still Hines 57, was favored at every table over the US ketchup.



Stephanie verified today that there aren't any salad or vegetable restaurants because Maylays like meat and rice. So, the countdown has begun to June 1 when we will move into the apartment complete with a refrigerator so I can at least keep a head of lettuce or Chinese spinach. The apartment we've chosen is a good size and had the most well equipped kitchen of any that I saw. I'm wondering if most people here eat out though because the oven is about the same size of a microwave and only has one rack inside. I will have to learn to cook for only 2 instead of 10. Some upsides to the new place, called Ampang 183, is it happens to be right across the street from Paul's office and has a patio large enough to sit on if we ever get used to the heat. The private medical center is within walking distance, as is the grocery store, Hok Choon. We were lucky that this unit has a dishwasher, which is outside with the washer and dryer by the maid's quarters. This is the usual location for those appliances here in KL as many people are able to have live in maids. The unit is not fully furnished however, meaning it lacks a cutlery set, dishes, and bed sheets. And the bed sheet topic is something new as well. Standard size beds here are smaller than US beds. I'm not sure if that's because the people here are smaller or because we're so accustomed to bigger and better things. I've included a link to the show unit in the building we're moving in to give you a better idea of where all of you could be vacationing! Hopefully it will entice you to come visit and not turn you away. I'd recommend turning off your volume and trying to ignore the large writing they placed smack dab in the middle of every picture.
Click here for the video.

For lunch today, I went with Stephanie, Paul, and another project manager from the office to a little restaurant where they serve American food and Maylay food. Since we've only eaten Chinese since our arrival with the exception of Chilis and CPK, I decided to give my taste buds the 'ole switcheroo and have a traditional Malay meal. Stephanie chose it for me since I couldn't read the menu, and her decision turned out to be a good one. She asked them to 86 the seafood so the server brought me a mountain of noodles and chicken covered with a thick, dark, gravy like liquid. It happened to be quite good with no spicy heat attached. Paul on the other hand, ordered Chicken curry which looked just as spicy as it smelled. Of course that was also served with a mountain of rice. No vegetables to be seen on that table.

Something else I've noticed that seems strange to me is that in all the eating out we've done this week, the servers usually do not refill your very very small glasses of boiled then chilled water, and they almost always expect you to order the minute you sit down. The usual, "Can we have a few more minutes?" question would not fly with these speedy servers. And, while they do not expect tips and rarely ever receive them, the customer service and attitude is still top notch. My food stories will probably be never ending for the next few weeks as Paul and I will probably have the chance to try every restaurant in Malaysia. The one box of Quaker Chewy bars in the room probably won't last us very long.

The remainder of my afternoon was spent scouring the internet for any signs of what might be an opportunity to volunteer my time. I've decided it's best if I get out of the hotel and interact with some people and do something useful with my time. Therefore, today I did just the opposite. The internet here is extremely slow, and happens to be that way in the entire country. I've also concluded that very few companies and organizations have websites unless they are large franchises. So, after 4 hours of searching I was lucky to find the YWCA and the UNHCR which asked for volunteers on the website. I've contacted both, so I'll wait for a little while to see what happens. The YWCA here provides a service to underprivileged young women where they teach the women a vocational skill like sewing, baking, hairdressing, etc. so they can be productive in society without having a formal education. The UNHCR stands for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In Malaysia there are about 12,000 refuges who come to KL to flee persecution in their home country due to religion or race. They are looking for volunteers to teach English or creative skills like photography, art, and craft skills. I guess we wait and see if they need me.

While I was reading up on the UNHCR, they mentioned that many of the male refugees live in small apartments with 20-30 other men very close to the construction site in the city where many of them work. So this got me curious and wondering about the lives of the construction workers right outside my window. There is a whole site set up with a tall fence, large crane, re bar, and the whole nine-yards. After taking a further look and a much nosier and longer watch, I realized that our conveniences in the US are not always as prevalent here. The construction zone is completely fenced in by corrugated metal, tall enough that the only person who could possibly see anything going on inside the construction fence is the nosey girl from the adjacent building peering through the window from 11 stories above. So, I'm pretty sure I violated some people's privacy with the help of my trusty Canon zoom lens. What I saw was a little disturbing and pulled at my heart strings a bit for these men who spend 15+ hours/day working in these conditions and then going home to,... well maybe not even going home. They have built a very simple version of a set of three porta-potties out of ply wood and slapped a piece of corrugated metal, just like the fence, on top for a roof. While I watched the doors swung open while not in use to show only a 5 gallon plastic bucket in each one, presumably their makeshift toilet. The workers would go in and shut the door, and come out like it was normal. Next to these bathrooms is a large well-like structure again with a piece of the fence for the roof. I'm not sure that the water in the well or trough is even fresh or running. But as I watched there was a man using a bowl to dump water all over his body while standing in nothing but his underwear. He grabbed a bar of soap and washed his hair and body and then wrapped himself in a towel and washed his clothes with the same water and bar of soap. A few other men did the same after him. I'm wondering if these men have a place to sleep tonight.



I'm also wondering if maybe these conditions are common in the US and I'm just naively unaware. If so, I guess I'm giving you a few laughs and learning at the same time.

I feel now is a good time to mention a few things I've forgotten to share. While most people here speak Malay and/or Chinese, we have not run into a single person who doesn't speak English. Some speak it better than others, but for me it's almost always a battle to understand any English they are speaking as I have to sift through the sentences to find the words I know and use context clues to piece together the phrase. As you can probably imagine, any communication that goes on with me and anyone else, taxi drivers, servers, concierge, Stephanie, and Paul's English speaking coworkers from the UK included, happens very very slowly with lots of "huhs, what was thats, and say it agains" from my side. Paul, on the other hand, is able to understand and communicate even with the people of the thickest accents just as well as my mom can talk life stories with her friend who only speaks Spanish, Lupe. It's a mystery to me how that works. I'm just hoping one day before we move back I will catch on.

The language is supposed to be fairly easy to learn. I recognize lots of words on signs and the entire language is spelled just like it sounds. A few words I've caught onto are Lif, meaning lift or elevator, Teksi, meaning Taxi, and Tren or Train. Other words like Keluar I've still got to figure out. That either means Exit or Stairs. Not sure which one since that sign is always by a door and stairs with a picture of a person walking.

As for all this food... I really have no idea what I'm eating. I've only ever ordered chicken or beef, but who's to say it's not something else like a foreign animal I'm not even aware of its existence. For all I know they could be throwing in the big fat tree worms. But, so far my stomach has handled everything like a steel cage so I'm not too worried. If Anthony Bourdain can eat guinea pig and iguana, I think I can handle a small amount of the unknown as long as it tastes good.

I've mentioned the traffic before, but never experience rush hour in the rain until yesterday. Never have I heard so many pointless horns in one night as the traffic literally filled the intersection to the point where no one could move in any direction. Not sure what it is about the rain, but here it makes traffic so congested that rush hour lasts a good 4 or 5 hours as we witnessed last night from the window.


We ended the night tonight with a trip to Cold Storage, the "supermarket" here. Compared to HEB and any other grocery store in Katy, you could barely call Cold Storage a supermarket. I would compare it more to the Midway grocery store in old town Katy. The isles are just small enough for the miniature carts to go through, but they do have a lot of the same brand foods as Katy, just with a smaller selection. I was very excited to find Kashi brand cereal, but not so excited to find that it costs 34 ringit per small box, which is about $10. So, I'll be doing without my Kashi and probably a lot of other things once I actually start buying groceries. Nevertheless, a trip to the store was fun, and I'm saying goodnight from my blogging chair. I'm devising a plan in my head to very quietly and inconspicuously transport this chair down the elevator to my new apartment. I don't think the hotel will miss it as much as me.