As far as things are going currently, there is much to write about. First off, driving on the left side of the road is taking some adjusting in my mind before I’ll even attempt it. Another thing, rules of the road have no meaning to these drivers. I have never once seen anyone consider something called a speed limit. And those dashed white lines on the road? Well, that is apparently considered a general guideline for when you are driving in very heavy traffic to know which person to yell at. Eating is a very large part of everyone’s social lives. Our first day, we ate roti canai, a staple Malay food. I would describe it as a doughy flatbread that is filled with egg and onions, then dipped in curry. It is wonderfully delicious!

     After eating to our fill, all under $12, we relaxed back at the condominium while we finished packing away our things. The following day, we did our best to rid ourselves of jetlag. I got to eat the fascinating, different fruits I had never tried before. Starfruit is strangely enough a little more like a vegetable than a fruit. Rambutan is a sweet fruit, but nearly translucent and hard to peel away from the almond-like pit.

     That night we also went to the youth group at their church here. It was interesting being bombarded with questions that were hard to understand under the thick accents, but also a fun time learning about everyone else’s cultural background. The main groups of people here seem to be, of course, Malay, but also Chinese, Indian, and Japanese. A few rare white people stick out in the crowd—people such as me.

    Saturday, we went to a place where usually only the locals would be: the town called Chow Kit. It was my first time getting to ride on the LRT and the monorail. I have never had to experience so little personal space before in my life as I did when we came home on those same trains. People would crowd in as much as they could shove you into the mass of sweaty bodies. It was a funny experience since we went with our Japanese neighbor, Minako. She was very familiar with the push-and-shove, despite being a very small and petite woman. I hope that I can get pictures again next time we go, because we forgot the cameras at home.

     Once we arrived in Chow Kit, the heat and humidity blasted us in full force. I was more than thankful we would never decide to drive downtown. I have never seen so much traffic jam in my life! People, including us, would just walk right through the conglomeration of cars and natives in the streets. No one took notice of the honking horns (or even buses coming right at them at full speed!). We got through the streets and walking and arrived in the midst of Chow Kit. An assault of scents greeted us: the smell of sweat, sweet food, spices, pollution, and sewers. The tents of vendors that lined the maze of streets puzzled me entirely as we maneuvered through the crowd, trying our hardest not to be trampled by the buyers and sellers on their missions. Every type of merchandise you can think of was sold there. Pushing through crowds for several hours in the heat of the day was exhausting, to say the least. After Chow Kit, we headed for Low Yat Plaza, a gigantic mall filled with many floors of stores of electronics. Then we went to the Pavilion Mall, the largest mall I have ever been in. Following that adventure, we headed to the “Times Square” Mall, which was filled with more clothes and accessories, and less techie gear. Once we finished all of our shopping, we finally headed back to Subang Jaya to eat dinner at DoReMi. We had chicken satay, sweet-and-sour pork, Chinese garlic greens, fried rice, and several other dishes that filled the table. Minako and her husband Takashi joined us for the meal, and we had a great time as Minako taught us a few things in Japanese.

I will hopefully stick all the other recent adventures in another blog since it took me longer than expected to get this one out.