Day 7.

Meeting the Team went really well.  There are 5 of us in learning analytics, with 2 more joining next week.  My role will be pretty analytical, and I definitely need to brush up on my Excel skills before I start in September! 3 of us went for lunch. I ordered a soup that was SO hot, still such a menu novice! But they seem very nice, and very kind.  They have taught me some simple, but critical, Malay… Makanan (pronounced makan) means EAT. From my observations quite possibly the most frequently used word in Malaysia.

The food here is Cheap, delicious, everywhere, mulch-cultural, & SPICY!! Tonight Sepideh and I went to China Town for food, joining tables of Chinese & Malaysians eating with their hands, because they believe this provides additional nutrients to the meal. I think I just left with sticky fingers.

We ate from a stall packed with kebab sticks, spearing all number of fresh seafood, meat and vegetables.  The sticks are colour coded, which determined the price of your stick. Meats were about 4 Ringgit (80 pence) and vegetables around 3RM (60p).  All sticks on the left are the stand are for the BBQ, which the stall owner mans, whilst sticks on the right are for steaming – the customers job. Central to every table is some boiling water, which can be seen in the bottom left of my photo above, and this is where you boil your food.  It was so much fun, and so tasty.  In the photo I am tackling a BBQ’d squid. For desert we had Lychees and Watermelon from a fruit stand.

Yesterday I sampled a Taiwanese desert,  with Sepideh, and a Malaysian friend I know from University, Ben.  It seemed to be coconut milk poured over crushed ice, topped with jelly balls that clogged my mouth up and a sweet potato. I realise I am not exactly the lady in M&S advert in my description of the dish, but it was yummy.

We have spent a couple of days exploring the city.  I absolutely love the Petronas twin towers here, in KLCC area.

Obtaining this photo involved being yelled at by a Malaysian park tender, whilst his park tender mate aggressively blew his whistle at me… A telling off a which I took to mean I was not allowed to stand around the lake with my shoes on.

One thing I have really observed in Kuala Lumpur is that they have a lot of people working on what in the UK would be considered one job.  For example, 2 park tenders; 1 for yelling, 1 for sounding the siren.  Similarly 2 check out assistants in supermarkets; 1 for scanning, 1 for packing. 

Another is that I have barely seen any elderly people, even on the buses!!  Worlds different from the 177 to Newton Abbot where you can’t move for the oldies.  Perhaps it is the heat which keeps people indoors.

On Saturday I leave for Kho Phi Phi, an island in Thailand where ‘The Beach’ was filmed.  I am going with a friend called Laura.  The next Wednesday I will travel on my own to the Perhentian Islands in North East Malaysia, where Scarlett and I got our PADIs last year.  I will hopefully squeeze a couple of dives in amongst the sunbathing, snorkling, night time reggae at the island bar and, most excitingly, celebrations for the Malay New Year.  It is on Sunday 19th August – the end of Ramadhan.  The islanders will open up their homes, and a friend from last summer has invited me to join his family for feasting and festival.  I am to wear a Baju Kurung, a traditional Malay dress. I’m so excited about it all.

Photos and tales will ensue.