I’ve used the Confucian saying before to introduce a topic, and I’m going to do so again: the Old Sage remarked, “It is a pleasure to welcome guests who come from afar.”
The person who demonstrated the truth of the saying was the alum I mentioned in my last blog, Johnny C.H. Lai, an IWU alum who is a Malay Chinese living here in Kuala Lumpur.
I’d been in touch with Mr. Lai on and off since he graduated, and in fact tried to connect with him when we were here four years ago. At that time, he was on holiday, but this trip, he was here. Having him as host, as you’ll see, also shows the difference between going with a packaged tour and having a real experience.
He picked me and colleague Carrie Trimble up last night, with the intention of showing us Kuala Lumpur. The city is full of malls, and interesting ones at that, but he took us to one that really creates “buzz.” I knew that when we drove up to the entrance, and looming over us at the entrance was a three story high sphinx, with an entrance framed with columns as though we were at ancient Thebes. I’ve been to Harrod’s in London which has somewhat the same approach, but on a scale of one with the Sunway Mall (where we went) around a 20.
That was our introduction. As we walked past the elephants and elegance, we came to one of the atriums, and there was a crowd gathered. When we looked down, we saw it was a book launching, a Chinese translation of the letters of Dr. Mahathir Mohammed to world leaders. Dr. Mahathir was supposed to speak—and the talk was supposed to start in five minutes. I know not everyone would be as impressed as I was, but having followed the former prime minister’s career, I knew he was the man who, as I said yesterday, put Malaysia on the map. And I had a chance to see him in person! About two minutes later, he walked out with his bodyguard, bounding as few other 84-year-olds can do, to the accompaniment of great applause. He was shorter than I realized, but that’s in his favor too. I confess to being star struck. Who would have predicted it (though I thanked Mr. Lai for his courtesy in arranging the visit!)
The daze continued afterwards, as we continued to walk through the mall. We came to the ”ice atrium” which had a full-sized hockey rink (Hockey? When it’s 95 degrees out? Well, there is a professional team in Phoenix.)
But the complex was more than just an over-the-top mall. It included an elegant hotel (pictured elsewhere), two theme parks (one water based, one with roller coasters and other non-liquid treats)—AND a university. Now that’s buzz.
Mr. Lai and his girlfriend took us to another KL activity—a hawker food court, where we tried a variety of interesting local dishes—jellyfish, for example (which is Chinese, but served in a Malay peanut sauce).
We agreed to meet again today after our trip.
I had arranged a choice of two bus trips, one in the afternoon to Petrajaya, the new administrative capital near KL, and the other to a nearby Forest Research institute, which has a rainforest/jungle with a canopy walk. Most of the students opted for the jungle, which is hard to duplicate in central Illinois.
When we got to the van at 8 a.m., the guide told us the jungle walk, which was the feature we were most interested in, was under construction, but the company would try to find something suitable to replace it if we went to the Batu Caves, a Hindu temple within a cave near here. We agreed to go and see what happened. Well, the Caves were really south Indian, who constitute the majority of the Indians in Malaysia. We climbed 272 steps to get into the cave, which was a nice morning exercise.
The driver then told me that we could kill an hour and then be taken to the only rainforest in a major city (KL) and go on a scheduled nature walk. Since that was close to our hotel, I said, “Let’s go back and let our students do what they want to do.”
Which meant Carrie and I would be able to visit with Johnny (whose girlfriend said he counted down the days until the IWU group and his former teacher arrived). Since he had offered to take us to the Scout office, I asked one of the other students, an Eagle Scout from St. Louis and former Philmont staffer, to join us.
We did get to the BP House, which is the headquarters, but there was no Scout shop there (the store was in the Central Market, which we would visit before dinner), which gave us just enough time for Mr. Lai to suggest we go the Genting Highlands. Built by a Malay-Chinese gentleman, the highland’s name in Chinese in “the head of the clouds.” He took us to an Indian restaurant for roti canai, martaback, and other delicacies, then drove to the funicular for the longest cable car ride in southeast Asia—nearly two miles—that took us to the gambling and hotel and shopping complex (complete with a statue of liberty!) that, at 6,000 feet, left me lightheaded but, for the first time on this trip, cool.
We came back, joined the group for dinner, and a visit to a mall (that had the Scout store) and the local Chinatown before Mr. Lai told us he had to get home and get ready to go back to work tomorrow as an independent graphic designer.
As I said, it was a pleasure to be welcomed as a guest who comes from afar. We leave KL tomorrow morning so I better get packed.
Selamat datang.
