I am in Malaysia now but since I didn't write anything about Bangkok at the time I thought I would structure my entry this way.

When we left Bangkok on the way to Kanchanaburi we happened to fall into conversation with a couple of mind numbing 18year olds.
Mind-numbing Girl: So you're going like, around the world?
Richard: That's right.
M-n G: Are you going to Bali?
R: No we're not, but we are going to a couple of South Pacific Isla-
M-n G: (interrupting) but I thought round the worlds went to Bali.
R: (puzzled) well I don't think you have to.

It turned out these girls had flown in to Bangkok (on a 12hr flight) and then taken four buses and a train to be somewhere other than Bangkok.
I don't really understand why. I have heard a lot of people slag off Bangkok and in my opinion totally unfairly. It can be a trying place but it is generally an enjoyably hectic mess. The driving is insane, the people pushy but friendly and the sights and smells arresting.

I had never seen a man with no legs hauling himself up and down the pavement asking for change. Previously I stayed away from streetfood and roadside food. In England it is more like roadkill. Here it is delicious and cheap. A plate of tasty chicken and noodles is 40p. Just walking along you can stumble across some totally incongruous sight like a Buddhist shrine in the middle of an intersection.

Kuala Lumpur (KL - the capital of Malaysia) in comparison feels a lot more sterile (and I include the connotations of clean in that).
The Malaysian national attitudeis a very fierce pride and ambition. This desire to improve is very visible. Often it is very endearing. I went to the rather dull national museum in KL and only at the end was it enjoyable.
There was a section on recent Malaysian accomplishments:
There were pictures of Malaysians on UN peacekeeping duty and a picture of the commonwealth games when they were held in KL.

Underneath the pictures were some great captions. Under a picture of the two guys with a flag on a snowy mountian; 'Malaysians climb Mount Everest proving Malaysia can make a history too'. Underneath a picture a victorious sports team. 'Malaysia wins a Badminton Tournament which lets the world know about Malaysia - The victory was possible because of determination and high spirit'. The country is obsessed with progression. In the newspaper the other day there was a report of the Prime Minister was berating the country's athletes for not trying hard enough at the Olympics. He said: 'If you train 3 hours a day you must train 5, if you train 5 it must be more'. It ws all very Mao Zedong-esque - this striving for achievement. I can't imagine Blair doing the same.

This brings me back to KL. It is not a city for the tourist. I went up the KL tower and listened to the commentary as you looked down at the endless skyscrapers and government buildings. At the end it said; 'don't forget to visit the many of the landmarks you've seen'. Visit them and do what I thought? Look up?

I suppose the main problem with KL is that it isn't the definitive anything. For technology and gleaming skycrapers Tokyo or New York would be better. For colonial history Hong Kong beats it. For busy hectic street life go to Bangkok. But still KL does have some stuff going for it. Shopping, prices and the Chinatown market was better than the street markets I went to in Bangkok.
Maybe a good slogan for the KL tourist board should be:
'Kuala Lumpur: A city worth passing through'

Please leave comments below or email me at: buddhamarxandme@yahoo.co.uk

Richard, Melaka, 31st August