Malaysia, Short and Sweet

It was only a two day layover, but we managed a lot in that short time. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur around midnight and spent the first night in a really cheap, but nice hotel, in what some might consider a bad part of town, surrounded by scantily dressed women trying to make a living and alleyways filled with car-sized piles of rubbish. The next morning, Siri and I ventured out to see the city. On the way to the Petronas Towers we stumbled across a display of extremely powerful photos at the 2011 Photo Competition. They really illustrated how ‘real’ this world can be. The photos were extremely graphic and eye-opening. There were photos of the Mexican drug wars, Haiti earthquakes, recent volcanic eruptions, poverty, and drug abuse—photos that represented everything from death and despair to beauty, love and compassion. When I left that building I had such a penetrating feeling of being human. I felt so close, but so far from those people separated only by a camera’s lens. There was a feeling of deep sorrow and I wondered if it was human nature to do this to each other or if there were some other forces at play here. After Siri and I gathered our thoughts we got up and walked away with a newfound appreciation for how blessed we really are.

Ironically our next stop was the Petronas Towers, which are owned by the Malaysian National Oil Companyand symbolize their vast wealth. We paid our entrance fee and followed the tour guide and the armed guards to the top of the towers. We looked down at the photo gallery and I thought to myself, I have physically separated myself up here from what is down there, but yet I’m still emotionally attached… and here I am, another paying tourist supporting what many consider the primary source of the wealth gap, and possibly the chief cause of the despair I just witnessed in the eyes of so many people in those photos.

As we turned in our security cards and began the trek back to the hotel, we made sure not to speak too openly about our day’s experiences, becausethe police would often walk up and blatantly listen in on our conversations.The punishment associated with this kind of talk can result in jail time. When we returned to the hotel we ate some dinner and had Tim Tams for dessert. After dinner we made our way up to our room and lay down. We reminisced the past day and anticipated the next day’s adventure to Thailand as our conscious minds slowly transitioned to dreams.