A little about my home country

I have an urge to post about my home country, Malaysia. Maybe I am homesick, or maybe because I often receive blank looks when I tell people that I am from Malaysia. They usually ask... Is it in China? or Indonesia? India?

Answer : Neither.
Malaysia consists of two geographical regions divided by the South China Sea.
West Malaysia (or Peninsular Malaysia) shares a land border on the north with Thailand and is connected by the Johor-Singapore Causeway on the South with Singapore. Peninsular Malaysia consists of 11 States.

East Malaysia occupies the northern part of the island of Borneo and consists of the federal territory of Labuan islands and the states of Sabah and Sarawak.


Perhaps, there may be people who still think Malaysians live on trees.
Here are some photos of the "trees" we live on :

The KL City skyline. Traffic is chaotic. It is advisable not to drive into the city. Much easier and safer to hop onto a LRT (Light Rail Transit) or Monorail.
If you decide to drive, plan to give yourself an hour or two hours of buffer time. Malaysians have a bad habit of blaming the traffic when they are late for appointments. I have had to wait for someone for an hour, and I know it has nothing to do with traffic. He lives 15 minutes down the road.

This is the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, Kuala Lumpur's signature landmark. It was built in 1897 to house the various administrative departments of the British Government at that time.

Kuala Lumpur Petronas Twin Tower, no longer the tallest skyscraper in the world, probably 2nd by now. This is where they shot the movie "Entrapment". Me and a bunch of coworkers tried for an audition for extras. But we didn't get it. They did pick my ex-boss and she had to sit for hours eating a bowl of noodles in a market scene. She told us Sean Connery looks really good for his age.

If you get tired of the city, just drive a few hours to the beach or hop on to some of the islands on the East Coast. If you visit during the right season, you may chance upon turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. The numbers are slowly depleting.

This gold plated reclining Buddha, sits calmly in Wat Chayamagkalaram (a Thai Buddhist temple) in Penang Island.

And this is Malacca, the little historical city which the Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese and English played their roles in shaping its history. The place where I spent 13 years of my childhood. Nothing much has changed except the traffic .