Mr O'C in Malaysian

I will try to put some updates about my trip to Malaysia whenever I get the chance.

3 July – Saturday
The trip started badly with the loading computers at Wellington Airport going down meaning they had to do a manual check before we could take off. The flight was delayed an hour meaning when we go to Auckland we had to rush from the Domestic Terminal to the International one. We ended up being one of the last to get on the Malaysian Airlines flight. Now I what know what those people who hold up flights feel like when they do the walk of shame to their seats, all the while being angrily stared at by the waiting passengers.
Eleven hours later, after a pleasant but uneventful flight, we arrived at Kuala Lumpur. The airport is massive and we had to walk for bit plus catch a train just to get to luggage retrieval. Customs etc was quick and efficient and we were met in the terminal by Kohan from AFS.
As soon as we walked out of the air conditioned terminal the heat hit us. It was still 28 degrees and I was pleased to get into the taxi for the one hour trip into KL where we were staying. The taxi ride was a great introduction to Malaysian driving. It appears staying in one’s lane is optional and you need to be watching out for motor bike / scooter riders who can suddenly appear from anywhere, including coming the opposite direction on the motor way.
We stayed the first night in Tasman Keramat at Fauziah. She was a wonderful host, greeting us with iced drinks and a freshly baked cake. A nice supper before we going to bed at about 10.30pm local time, or 2.30 in the morning New Zealand time. I was lucky enough to get an air conditioned room to myself. Fiona, who is the teacher travelling in Malaysia with me, also got an air conditioned room but had to share the room with our host and two girls who were german AFS students staying overnight in the house. There were also two lads, one German and one Argentinean, and Fauziah’s AFS son from Costa Rica. So it was a full house.

4th July – Sunday
At 5.45am I was woken by a megaphone voice nearby calling the local Muslims to prayer. It was a very surreal experience and made it clear for me I was in a very different country.
We went to AFS for our orientation briefing from a woman called Chandrika. Her and Kohan then took us to lunch. Food is a big part of Malaysian culture, and with the base Malaysian cuisine mixed with the Chinese and Indian influences there is a massive range of flavours and tastes.
We then went out to the Batu Caves. This is an holy Hindu sight where you climb up 272 steep steps to get to the massive lime stone caves. In the Malaysian heat this was no easy task. There is also a 42.7m (132 feet high) high statue of Lord Muruga. This was unveiled in January 2006, having taken 3 years to construct. It is the tallest Lord Muruga statue in the world.
In the evening we were driven around the centre of Kuala Lumpur which included taking photos of the very impressive Petronas Towers.