Blog's Not Dead! [Malaysia]

Things just took place faster than I'd expected. For some weird, holographic-universe reason, I'm suddenly moved to Malaysia from where I will now be reporting. Cool? Cool. 

Here are things I did in the weekend. But first, a little background. I live about 15 minutes away from Kuala Lumpur (which is properly vague, because everywhere is 15 minutes away from KL! I think so, anyway, for now).

Damansara Perdana is one of many small towns in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. I call them towns because they have that distinct everyone-knows-everyone feel about them, which makes it mostly cosy and safe. I've been told to be weary of pickpockets and muggers when I walk the streets, but compared to Manila where I could never, ever take out my phone or wear any kind of jewelry, Perdana is a piece of cake. I don't wave my bag around like a doofus asking to be mugged, but I can chill and not be super paranoid when I'm out and about. 

There are many Damansaras, like the one next to us which is Damansara Utama. Ours has its own mall and Ikea, both just a 15-minute walk away from where I live. It reminds me of a university town, except instead of universities and students, there are a lot of companies and yuppies living here, in the many condominium towers all over the place. 

Look, ma, I'm a pedestrian now! Offices and restaurants to the right, condominium towers to the left.

A view of Damansara Perdana from my balcony. 

A (halal) Thai restaurant closed during the day because Ramadan. 

On top of not being used to being a pedestrian, I'm also not used to the right-side driving system that is the norm here. It rattles me because I expect cars to come at me from my left when I'm crossing the street, and then OMG NO, THEY'RE ALL COMING FROM THE RIGHT. I give myself another week to get this part down. I've managed to almost get myself killed a few times this past week, but yesterday, I owned the streets. I was all, COME AT ME, BRO and then crossed the street safely like a BAWSS LADY.

The thing I enjoy most about Malaysia is the fact that it reminds me so much of Jeddah at a much muted, smaller scale. This means I don't feel too homesick. It's a Muslim country, so Ramadan is normal here, hearing the call to prayer from the mosques everywhere is normal, ordering halal food is normal, but Jeddah's got nothing on Malaysia because for one thing, FOR ONE THING, shops don't close during prayer, nobody forces you to do Muslim things (especially if you're not Muslim!), and everyone pretty much leaves you alone. AS IT SHOULD BE. 

It's like I'm in Jeddah but AS JEDDAH SHOULD BE. Just chill. The other thing is that there are so many cultures here, just like the melting-pot J-Town. I feel more comfortable having friends from different countries and cultures, just like I did back home. There are many different languages spoken aside from the main Malay, and that's exactly my comfort zone. In Jeddah, I constantly hear Urdu, Danish, Afrikaans, and 100 different kinds of Arabic when I hang out with my friends, and here, it's not much different. Plus points, Malaysia. 

Food is fantastic, but I can't be sure if it's REALLY fantastic, or if it's because I'm ALWAYS HUNGRY. All this walking around and being independent is hard work, and then there's also working all day and forgetting to eat. Whenever I have free time, I think of feeding myself. The great thing about it is that it's REAL FOOD. I haven't had junk food in weeks, can you believe this shit, you guys? 

Udang Tepung, Nasi Lemuk, Nasi Goreng. In English, that's "food", "food" and "food". 

I have to learn the names of food, because most things here are in Malay. I just point at pictures on the menu (I eat at restaurants because I'm useless in the kitchen, one of my biggest accomplishments in life). Food is cheap - many times, cheaper than Jeddah. The picture above cost about less than 20 riyals.  It's also good to note that 1 ringgit is 1 riyal and 70 halalas. Malaysia pwns Saudi.

In the weekends, my new friends and I make our way to Kuala Lumpur, a city just like any other Asian capital city, if I'm honest. It's tourist-friendly, it has all the familiar malls, shops and designer boutiques, and the night life. I met up with Jeddawi mover & shaker Hasan Hatrash and we had good, old Saudi fun (i.e. we hung out at the mall).

I love meeting Jeddawis abroad. We become (so much more) close-knit we almost upgrade to family. I never knew how Saudi I was until I left. Seeing Hasan was like coming home - here is someone who can say my name properly, who can understand me completely, with whom I have inside jokes. It doesn't matter that Hasan and I didn't (couldn't!!) hang out as much as we'd like back home in Jeddah. We're in a different country, and we come from the same place, so we are family and we take care of each other.

I have never thought I'd feel so comforted by the words "Ya bent!!" as I did when I heard a fellow Jeddawi yell it to me across a street.

So3oodeen in the city! Iftar at a Japanese place in a Malaysian city. 

I learned how to eat rice and vegetables using chopsticks. It was the hardest I've ever worked to feed myself.

Street food! This place is CRAZY!

THIS is street food. You see all kinds of tourists and locals loitering here, making their way to and from hotels, or just grabbing a cheap bite to eat. It's amazing the amount of ignoring-hygiene you can muster when you roll up your sleeves and eat at one of the stalls. Don't ask questions here. Just... fucking eat.

Bread, fruit, meat, seafood, key chains, amulets, I DUNNO, BUT EVERYTHING IS AVAILABLE!!

I have that whiney Saudi trait where I'm all "OMG I NEED COFFEE" and I go straight for a franchise cafe. That's what I was doing here, apart from taking a selfie.

Back home on weekends, I chill by the pool with my friends. It's something I look forward to every Sunday: recapturing that Jeddah feeling of staying in one spot for hours on end without worrying whether or not I'm warranting attention from the religious police. It's not such a normal thing to do here (or really, anywhere else in the world), the hanging-out-with-friends thing, and my non-Saudi friends are still not getting why I make a huge deal out of just spending time with them.

Home away from home.

Family meeting.

I'm lucky I have these three people. They hold my hand, metaphorically mostly, and we spend all day (no, seriously) with each other. Most of the time, we just spend all hours and manners of the day just making up more and more inside jokes that nobody else understands.

I don't know where I'll be in another month, if I'll still be here, if I'll have new people around me. I've stopped thinking about it, because judging from the last 2 months, things don't go as I plan them, even though I am the President of all 13 Colonies and Master of the Multiverses.

For now, this is where my feet and my Marks & Spencer's performance dance pants took me.

I'll take it, thanks.