Like FT, Penang is an island of strangers, and I met two of them today. It was a discovery to share what they actually saw that therefore captured their heart so much. I don’t believe much to what the tourists were saying sometimes, as they often said the sweetest things out of courtesy, but these two gentlemen were different. Mr Anthony looked like a Pinoy to me, but actually he was from Holland with Javanese blood. The humble, soft spoken 65-yr old would spend a week in Bandung, and later to Malaysia for 14-20 days a year. It has been a life routine for him. We shared many things, eg. development between continents, the reality of being Asian - off Amsterdam, Utrecht and the new regime of immigration in Europe. He said he likes Penang, and has been to KL many times. “It is safe in KL and Malaysia,“ on why he like it here. And why not KL? “Well Langkawi is too sunyi, and KL is too modern - so I choose the in between,“ he clarified. Point no 1: Older tourists prefer the laid-back atmosphere.
Later, my sis asked me to join her for a dinner at Ferenghi Seafood accompanied by a fren from Baghdad. The charming lad - post grad student in USM - was happy to share many things about Malaysia and his war-torn country. Mr Ali looked forward to settle down in Malaysia, but he reserved his comment about Penang. “This island sleeps too early. I prefer KL!” Point no 2: Not necessarily you are a clubbing guy, but a metro mustn’t sleep!
Now I knew the meaning of generation-gap very well, and how different age saw my KL in different ways. The point is both agreed that KL embraces the ideas of good-living and good-people, and with the hard life that they have been enduring back-home, it was a honest comment to say that KL - and Malaysia - is one of the wonderful places to live in the world!
Labels: KL life |