Thursday, February 19, 2004
I’m racing to get this at least somewhat updated before Erika arrives in 3 hours!
Holidays: The last month has been chalk full of ‘em! First came Chinese New Year (click to go direct to my pictures of this!). I went with a friend to the biggest temple in KL. There was a strong smell of oranges in the air, as they are offered to the gods and given between friends. People came to pray and get blessed by monks. There was even a dog wearing a sweater in the crowd! (What other religious buildings let dogs in!?) There was also a guy wearing a shirt with a swastika on it—only it wasn’t a swastika, but the Buddhism sun symbol that the swastika was taken from. I have seen this symbol shaved into the side of a kid’s head and also as graffiti and each time I hope that it is the Buddhist version.
People lined up to get their forecast for the year by picking up sticks and then dropping them—pulling out the one that remained sticking up above the others. My year: Bumper Harvest! “You are now entering a pleasant period of bounteous harvest, but you have, first of all, to work hard for it, and thereafter it’s all yours for the taking.” Financial pursuit: accumulating wealth. Honor and merit: good chance of topping the success list. Change of abode or travel: good (yea!). It’s now the year of the monkey according to the Chinese version of the horoscope (based on 12 year cycle of animals). I’m a monkey, so that means this is my year!
Chinese New Year actually lasts 15 days. I went to a party the last night at a Chinese community center that was actually an abandoned, unfinished construction site. The building was begun back in the ‘90s, but like many buildings, it was never completed after the financial crisis in 1997. This Chinese community in the heart of Kuala Lumpur gained permission from the owner to use the facility. They’ve got a fish pond, a chicken coop, will be growing a vegetable garden, and a pet monkey (caged). There are plastic tables where people play mah jong or watch satellite TV. This night it was all decked out with a karaoke machine, free food and drinks, and fireworks at midnight. There was a gambling table in back, where they were playing some game not unlike blackjack, but different enough that I couldn’t figure it out (no worries—I didn’t lose any money because I didn’t play!). I went with my friend Jack (ironically, since everyone here always says, “where’s Jack?” when they find out my name is Jill and vice versa for him), who lost some money but said it was his donation for the free food. I had asked who funded it and he’d said the community, but later indicated that it was the result of a community member who was a gambling bookie working for a Chinese triad. I’m not sure if this is true or if he made it up because I kept pressuring him for some sort of illicit information or illegal activity.
Next up: Hari Raya Haji. This is the Muslim festival at the end of the month of Haji—when pilgrims return from performing Haji in Mecca. It’s not as big of a celebration as the first Hari Raya (after Ramadan), but I did go to a few open houses with some friends from the gym.
So, because of public holidays, there was a four day weekend for Chinese New Year, a five day workweek, and then a three day weekend because of Hari Raya!
A few days later (February 4-6), was the Hindu festival of Thaipusam, a time to honor Lord Muruga, also known as Lord Subramaniam. A chariot procession goes from a temple in Chinatown to the Batu Caves 11 kilometers away. In fulfillment for answered prayers, devotees carry milk pots, piece their tongues and cheeks and put hooks into their back (this festival is banned in India!). In Kuala Lumpur, over a million people attend the second day of the event at Batu Caves—so I stayed away! A crowd that big worried me, and it turns out 4 people died (suffocation, I imagine). Bridget was in Penang, where the crowd was more manageable, so check out her account of the festival!
Bridget and I did wait for the chariot to make its way back from the cave on the night of the third day…we waited from 11:30 pm till it finally came at about 2 am. At one point cockroaches came up out of a drain we were sitting near; other tourists stomped on one or two. I couldn’t help but wonder if that was a bad thing to do given the reincarnation beliefs of the Hindus…There was drumming and people who had walked all the way back barefoot. A trailer with a cow and her calf was there and a great big silver chariot with flowers decorating it. One man sitting in the chariot had dreads that were super-long and wrapped around his head in a way that at first I thought he was wearing a turban.
Bridget and I went to the Batu Caves the next day. There was a lot of trash—and a lot of monkeys! I never realized what frightening animals monkeys could be. One snatched a yellow bag from a girl’s hand and was rewarded with a banana inside. Another woman held a bag over her head to keep it from a monkey, which was jumping up her side to try to get it. Fortunately, we had no food, so the monkeys ignored us.
In three weeks time, there were three major holidays for three different religions! Pretty amazing. Malaysia touts itself as being diverse and ethnically harmonious, but I think that is just on the surface. I have an Indian friend who did get into university because his score wasn’t high enough as an Indian, but Malays who scored lower got in because of an affirmative action type system. It seems that most people tend to associate with people from their own ethnicity, though that is not a rule. I am reminded on how at City High, the African American students generally sat together in the lunchroom. I suppose it makes sense to try to be around people like yourself. I guess I have the advantage of being different enough to fit in and blend with any of them. One friend joked that Malaysia is multi-racist.
New living situation: As Bridget described, it’s pretty luxurious, with white leather couches in the living room and a fantastic pool (that I haven’t actually seen up close, but it looks good from my 30th floor window!). My roommates are a Malay-Venezuelan fitness trainer at Gold’s Gym, her German-Malay model boyfriend, and her brother. Just yesterday I was flipping through the newspaper and stumbled upon an ad with the model in it—turns out it was one of TWO in the paper that day! They’re nice and easy-going…
Holidays: The last month has been chalk full of ‘em! First came Chinese New Year (click to go direct to my pictures of this!). I went with a friend to the biggest temple in KL. There was a strong smell of oranges in the air, as they are offered to the gods and given between friends. People came to pray and get blessed by monks. There was even a dog wearing a sweater in the crowd! (What other religious buildings let dogs in!?) There was also a guy wearing a shirt with a swastika on it—only it wasn’t a swastika, but the Buddhism sun symbol that the swastika was taken from. I have seen this symbol shaved into the side of a kid’s head and also as graffiti and each time I hope that it is the Buddhist version.
People lined up to get their forecast for the year by picking up sticks and then dropping them—pulling out the one that remained sticking up above the others. My year: Bumper Harvest! “You are now entering a pleasant period of bounteous harvest, but you have, first of all, to work hard for it, and thereafter it’s all yours for the taking.” Financial pursuit: accumulating wealth. Honor and merit: good chance of topping the success list. Change of abode or travel: good (yea!). It’s now the year of the monkey according to the Chinese version of the horoscope (based on 12 year cycle of animals). I’m a monkey, so that means this is my year!
Chinese New Year actually lasts 15 days. I went to a party the last night at a Chinese community center that was actually an abandoned, unfinished construction site. The building was begun back in the ‘90s, but like many buildings, it was never completed after the financial crisis in 1997. This Chinese community in the heart of Kuala Lumpur gained permission from the owner to use the facility. They’ve got a fish pond, a chicken coop, will be growing a vegetable garden, and a pet monkey (caged). There are plastic tables where people play mah jong or watch satellite TV. This night it was all decked out with a karaoke machine, free food and drinks, and fireworks at midnight. There was a gambling table in back, where they were playing some game not unlike blackjack, but different enough that I couldn’t figure it out (no worries—I didn’t lose any money because I didn’t play!). I went with my friend Jack (ironically, since everyone here always says, “where’s Jack?” when they find out my name is Jill and vice versa for him), who lost some money but said it was his donation for the free food. I had asked who funded it and he’d said the community, but later indicated that it was the result of a community member who was a gambling bookie working for a Chinese triad. I’m not sure if this is true or if he made it up because I kept pressuring him for some sort of illicit information or illegal activity.
Next up: Hari Raya Haji. This is the Muslim festival at the end of the month of Haji—when pilgrims return from performing Haji in Mecca. It’s not as big of a celebration as the first Hari Raya (after Ramadan), but I did go to a few open houses with some friends from the gym.
So, because of public holidays, there was a four day weekend for Chinese New Year, a five day workweek, and then a three day weekend because of Hari Raya!
A few days later (February 4-6), was the Hindu festival of Thaipusam, a time to honor Lord Muruga, also known as Lord Subramaniam. A chariot procession goes from a temple in Chinatown to the Batu Caves 11 kilometers away. In fulfillment for answered prayers, devotees carry milk pots, piece their tongues and cheeks and put hooks into their back (this festival is banned in India!). In Kuala Lumpur, over a million people attend the second day of the event at Batu Caves—so I stayed away! A crowd that big worried me, and it turns out 4 people died (suffocation, I imagine). Bridget was in Penang, where the crowd was more manageable, so check out her account of the festival!
Bridget and I did wait for the chariot to make its way back from the cave on the night of the third day…we waited from 11:30 pm till it finally came at about 2 am. At one point cockroaches came up out of a drain we were sitting near; other tourists stomped on one or two. I couldn’t help but wonder if that was a bad thing to do given the reincarnation beliefs of the Hindus…There was drumming and people who had walked all the way back barefoot. A trailer with a cow and her calf was there and a great big silver chariot with flowers decorating it. One man sitting in the chariot had dreads that were super-long and wrapped around his head in a way that at first I thought he was wearing a turban.
Bridget and I went to the Batu Caves the next day. There was a lot of trash—and a lot of monkeys! I never realized what frightening animals monkeys could be. One snatched a yellow bag from a girl’s hand and was rewarded with a banana inside. Another woman held a bag over her head to keep it from a monkey, which was jumping up her side to try to get it. Fortunately, we had no food, so the monkeys ignored us.
In three weeks time, there were three major holidays for three different religions! Pretty amazing. Malaysia touts itself as being diverse and ethnically harmonious, but I think that is just on the surface. I have an Indian friend who did get into university because his score wasn’t high enough as an Indian, but Malays who scored lower got in because of an affirmative action type system. It seems that most people tend to associate with people from their own ethnicity, though that is not a rule. I am reminded on how at City High, the African American students generally sat together in the lunchroom. I suppose it makes sense to try to be around people like yourself. I guess I have the advantage of being different enough to fit in and blend with any of them. One friend joked that Malaysia is multi-racist.
New living situation: As Bridget described, it’s pretty luxurious, with white leather couches in the living room and a fantastic pool (that I haven’t actually seen up close, but it looks good from my 30th floor window!). My roommates are a Malay-Venezuelan fitness trainer at Gold’s Gym, her German-Malay model boyfriend, and her brother. Just yesterday I was flipping through the newspaper and stumbled upon an ad with the model in it—turns out it was one of TWO in the paper that day! They’re nice and easy-going…
