Malaysia, 15 Sep 2006 --

As I write this, I am in an internet cafe geared towards online gamers (they seem to have faster connections and computers).  I’m surrounded by a bunch of 10 year old boys playing some first person shooter with the volume turned all the way up, and the lights down low for visibility.  It sounds like a freaking war zone in here.

We’ve only been in Georgetown, Malaysia for a few days…but thus far I love it.  Malaysia, and Georgetown in particular is a mix of Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Arabic populations.  This, among other things, makes for some fantastic eating.  Any town where you can eat breakfast in a dim sum joint packed with Chinese, have an Indian lunch served to you on a palm leaf, and eat dinner at a Malay hawker stall on the street has to be doing something right.

It’s definitely refreshing to be in such a heterogeneous, peaceful society after all the bullshit that’s been going on between Israel and Lebanon of late, and the wide gulf of political polarization back in our own country.  I mean, some Malay guy we talked to yesterday told us that Malaysia elected it’s current Prime Minister by a 2%+ majority in its last multi-party election…and we can’t even do the same in our two-party, much more homogeneous country.  I believe I quote Jon Stewart when I say: whaaa?

Categories Malaysia