Bali Time in Malaysia

Some folks might get a chuckle out of knowing that I am going through a bit of post-Bali shock, reentering into the bustling city of Kuala Lumpur. In Malaysia, people are not patient (especially tourists) about getting "there", and hospitality is not paramount at the guest houses. Generally Bali was beautiful, and the accommodations had something special going for them for the same price or less... towels and breakfast, towels, toilet paper, unlimited tea and coffee, and mosquito coils, were always included. My back packer accommodation in KL would be sterile except for the fact that it is remarkably butt ugly and the bathroom showers eye rollingly shoddy. Before I had clean if slippery tile floors or pebbles to stand on while showering... now i have small rooms barely enclosed by plastic accordian fold doors... and some of the showers (cold) are usable while sitting on the toilet. Having the toilet in such close proximity to the shower makes for some unpleasantly wet seats in the middle of the night. Before it was mostly ceiling fans... and now it's a freestanding fan proped on top of a chair aimed at the bottom bunk (good thing there's no one in the top bunk.

Another culture jolt happened as I started my first morning in Malaysia struggling to find something appropriate to wear. I'd packaged up most of my "Bali-wear" (sarongs mostly) for long term storage or to mail home. What was left were about 3 Indian outfits. One TOOOOOOO formal and full on for my first day in Malaysia. I just didn't feel local enough yet to pull off the outfit. Eventually, I found a couple of casual tunics. Unfortunately, they were ripped or otherwise damaged from a hard life on the road. I tossed them aside... and to my shock uttered the common Balinese announcement for everything that isn't working or functioning to one's liking (including oneself) ... "Broken!"

My... new habits die hard...