Saturday, April 30, 2005

My Forgotten Country


From the Petronas Tower footbridge: somebody else's 41st floor cave.
And then it’s official: I’ve been to another country. D. was happy to tag along, and I love her for that. By this time, I already understood what “Keluar” meant. KLIA was an impressive airport, in terms of its organization and architecture, to think that there were no separate terminal fees, or were probably very minimal.

KLIA was a 45 minute ride to the hotel we’re staying at near the Chow Kit area. We first saw Kuala Lumpur through the window of a right hand drive vehicle. The highway was lined with tall trees, passed through with relatively disciplined drivers who almost (if not never) cut and intersect, and never exceeded the speed limit.

As we neared the city, you’d almost see the silver, twinkling lights from the Petronas Tower from everywhere, and the KL tower was like a jewel in the sky.

The hotel we stayed in was a 3-star with a surprisingly huge room with one queen and a single, even a tub, other standard amenities, breakfast buffet and a view (from our window) of the Petronas and KL tower.
We walked around the hotel area and just looked at what they sell at the restaurants. We had dinner at a nearby restaurant called Yusof. It wasn’t fancy but it was all right. I figured Nasi Goreng in most places in Malaysia would probably be authentic.

There was a troop of young people who were also at the restaurant, a few tables away from ours. They looked like the “varsity” type of kids. But it was 11ish on a Friday night and when I asked the waiter what they were drinking, it was all tea and Nescafe. In the Philippines, a town like this must have a mandatory videoke installed somewhere and there’s booze in every corner. A friend of this varsity troop, a tall and tough-looking guy of Indian ethnicity with thick facial hair, had just arrived. D. and we sort of had the impression that this one’s going to have beer. We asked the waiter what he ordered, and it was Milo, the Olympic Energy Drink. We imagined him ordering in the brusque voice of Filipino alpha males, “Pare, isang Milo nga dito oh, yung mainit”

Since we planned to spend most of the money for night life in Singapore, we decided against a night out. We went to the 7-11 bought a sim card with load, (really, really useful at 16 RM) a few bottles of Tiger that we’d drink in the hotel room.

Tomorrow’s going to be one of the longest we’ve ever lived.





Compared to Manila, the sun comes out around an hour late in this part of the world, just as it won’t set until after 7 pm. We were up at 6am and we watched the KL skyline transform from the hotel windows. We had breakfast at the hotel. In the wide variety of the buffet: croissants to omelets, pancakes to fishcakes, porridge to rice, including a whole tray exclusively for a thick curry chili paste, we found the local mi hon (fried noodles) as the most delicious.

We asked the waiter, the concierge, and someone from the street for directions on which train to take to get to KLCC. Although most of them spoke English that’s graspable, we got three different answers. So we had a long walk along the hotel area’s streets which were all named “Jalan something” and we made it to the Chow Kit train station.



Unfortunately, we weren’t able to figure out how the interchange would go in the train. There were three rail systems: Star, Putra and KTM. Although we were able to try out the subway in Masid Jamek later on, we had to take a cab to KLCC as were already late in meeting D.’s friend, Ge. Although I read about cabs being notorious for not putting the meter on, we didn't have that trouble in Malaysia, and the driver even insisted on giving the change to the last sen from the 4.60RM fare.

We got off at the foot of the Petronas tower. Up close, this structure is even more impressive and intricate than it looks: inspired by the five pillars of Islam, it’s the proud, bejeweled symbol of the nation’s aspirations, as well as its achievement. And a phallic symbol, which you should probably never mention to the no-smiles-serious-tour-guide in the sky bridge who referred to it as the “majestic Petronas tower.” We were there between 8:30 – 9:00 am and were booked for the sky bridge at around 10:15am. At 10:15am, they were booking viewings to as late as 3:30 pm.

So we had over an hour to stroll around the Suria Mall within the Petronas tower. What’s impressive about this tower is that it had the mall, business centers, and even a performance hall for the Malaysian Philharmonic all in one place. We had coffee with Ge, who told his stories about Malaysia and picked up the 25RM bill for a cup of coffee, a glass of cold, blended coffee, and a bottled raspberry drink. The mall was something like the Podium in Ortigas.

The security check before entering the sky bridge was probably at par with airport standards. I was impressed with how they had it all organized: with the ticketed scheduling, the color-coded tags, while collecting absolutely no fees. The “no fees” part is just impossible where I come from. This is probably the most sophisticated structure I’ll ever see, if ever I don’t live to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, or the Pyramids of Egypt.

And then I saw the city from another 41st floor. I thought of the view from my own 41st floor cave. This time, with how the street intersections, buildings, roofs, parks, trees are arranged, balanced and probably placed for maximum efficiency. The no-smiles-serious tour guide volunteered to take a picture of the three of us together. She even initiated a little small talk and asked us where we’re from. The Philippines, which Lonely Planet described as “a little off the fashionable South East Asia route… the forgotten islands of the region.” She asked about the tourist spots we had. “Boracay.” I replied. Her face titled to an angle and gave me a look of non-recognition. So I told her: “It’s a nice beach, like Phuket in Thailand.” The no-smiles-serious-tour-guide acknowledged with a polite nod.

We probably are forgotten.

No comments:

Post a Comment