(potp: The real Gentlemen of the New Age use their skilled hands merely to use the 'Ipamper' on their beloved. Buy NOW, or you are a total loser! - found in Singapore, billboard)I have the feeling that it is time to voice a few impressions about Kuala Lumpur. As the capital of Malaysia it has about 4.2m inhabitants in its metropolitan area. My friend Georg and me went there for a weekend trip from the 7th-9th of October, 05. I am not going to bore you with a detailed travel report, don’t worry. As usual, I just picked a few things that aroused my interest and needed to be spread out. The rest can be explored on my photo page. (Without the night-life of course..who takes a digicam into a dance club?)
THE TWO TOWERS
I guess, most of you know the depicted building, the so-called ‘Petronas twin towers’, a proud and outstanding symbol for the city’s future ambition. The towers are flashy, modern and clean, but actually embedded in a ‘different surrounding’. I guess the city mayor once thought something like this: “Well guys, let’s build something HUGE and HUMONGOUS in this city. Money is not the limiting factor here. I got to have a decent place to invite my rich friends into. And we need to impress all those folks and tourists who go to Singapore and Japan!” (don’t sue me; freedom of personal opinion :)).
Don’t get me wrong, the Twin Towers are impressive; they look absolutely gorgeous at night with their organic looking skin flooded by light from the inside. The first looks from inside the bus when we approached the city center Friday night were astonishing. However, these skyscrapers stand out like a lighthouse or beacon in a city that is rougher than Singapore in almost every aspect. ‘Misplaced’ is a word that sometimes came up our mind, but it’s negative meaning would be too derogative, regarding the fact that the locals are really proud of this building, which used to be the highest skyscraper until Taipeh 101 in Taiwan came up recently.
CHARACTER OF A CITY
First of all, one realizes the difference in cleanliness. Singapore’s ban of chewing gum is understandable after seeing all those disgusting dark spots on the streets again. Wonderful architecture can be found directly next to lousy infrastructure and often worn down houses even in the city centre. There is less green color around than in Singapore and the general pollution is quite overwhelming.
No way to count the times that I had to hold my breath because of all the exhaust pipes that blew unfiltered cancer-stuff right into my direction. However, all that is quite compensated by the general feeling that this city offers opportunities. Malaysia is not a “Nanny-state” as Singapore, which has its main goal in protecting its citizens by having the severest punishments for comparably small offences (you know already). I got the feeling that people in Kuala Lumpur somehow look more than just a bit envious to all the things Singapore achieved. After all, Singapore was part of Malaysia until it became independent in 1963. It’s GDP per capita nowadays is about 3 times as high as Malaysias (US$27,800 vs. US$9,700 in 2004; for comparison Germany in 2004: US$28,700!!), so this attitude is quite understandable.
HOW MUCH?
The funniest (and most exhausting) experience is the bargaining, especially for more expensive things, like watches or clothes. You HAVE to know how to do this; otherwise everyone is ripping you off all the time (except in the few malls and the restaurants where there are fixed prices). As a rule, one should place the first own offer at about 30-40% of the seller’s first price. Additionally, one should make up a weird or far out explanation, why the told price is justified (“Damnit, ‘50’ is my lucky number! If I pay you 200 bucks for this genuine Rolex watch, I’m not only gonna ruin myself, but also put a spell on my family AND you!”) Here a general rule: The mood, friendliness and patience of the seller are indirectly proportionate to the adequacy of the price. Means: the grumpier the seller, the better. As soon as the last smile has left his face and he’s tired of piling up more and more clothes, you know that you got your price tag. Never leave a store/stall with the seller smiling..it should definitely tell you that something’s wrong. It should always be you smiling…:-)
INSANE CAB DRIVERS
Public means of transportation do exist in KL, especially the Monorail, the rails of which penetrate the city like enormous veins. Nevertheless, the easiest way to get from A to B is still to take one of the countless cabs that swarm the city at all times. Cab meters exist and the drivers are obliged by law to use them. However, most of them try to negotiate a fixed price, which is sometimes ridiculously high for the local price level, e.g. 20 Ringgits (which is 5 Euros) for a short ride, instead of the meter price, which would probably be around 2,50 Ringgit (0,60Euro). That means bargaining again (the same rules apply as before), which works most of the time, because of the overwhelming amount of cabs around (it’s a buyers market, as long as there is daylight and no rain…if it is night and pouring down, it’s just the other way around…)
Besides that part of the business, KL Cab drivers are fantastic sources of information about what is going on in town. Some are entertaining and good conversationalists, some try to lure you to boring faraway places; one was badmouthing and trashing cab drivers of other ethnic groups all the time (“You know..we Chinese decent people. These Indian fu***ers are the ones rip you off all the time. And sometimes do have buttons around feet, speed up the meter”). It was interesting to hear that cab drivers usually don’t stop for locals of Malay heritage, since those usually insist on the meter (since they are the poorest here..), while Chinese heritage people usually know when to insist on meter or when to accept a negotiated price.
Somehow, the general behavior of cab drivers changed as soon as it was after 9pm. Well, many of them seem to have close ties to a certain business that I don’t want to explain any further. We were a bit surprised though, when we got detailed recommendations where to get a ‘boom boom massage’ (no comment) right after entering a cab. One driver even admitted to get a 20 Ringgit commission for every successful arrangement. The craziest Chinese driver was even ‘bold’ enough to stop near every woman who was walking on the pavement and shouting something, accompanied by sounding the horn like a lunatic. That was kind of embarrassing…,but still nothing compared to the way he started to lick his steering wheel later.
I think I have to stop here..all those wonderful memories coming up again at once is too much for me..;-)
Maik
p.s.: for the record: this was just the ‘weird’ excerpt of KL. Go visit it, when you’re there. It’s a beautiful lively city with an exciting nightlife....that ends at 3am by law..:-(
(potp: The real Gentlemen of the New Age use their skilled hands merely to use the 'Ipamper' on their beloved. Buy NOW, or you are a total loser! - found in Singapore, billboard)
