7 foreigners, Kuala Lumpur and a hazy Saturday

I was given a 11-seater van, a driver and the whole Saturday to bring my friends from Papua New Guinea to places of interest around Kuala Lumpur. I never had any experience being a tour guide but had to make an exception on that day. One of them had to stay back thought. So out of the 8, I only brought 7 of them.

 So first stop of the day was Malaysia's National Zoo!

Locals - RM20 /person, Non-Malaysians - RM30 /person. A RM10 difference.

These lovely guys requested to visit the zoo to compare the animals found here in Malaysia to that in Papua New Guinea. I happily obliged to their requests and brought them there with the condition that they pay the tickets themselves. Hehe.

The happy lot of Papua New Guinea friends with another Malaysian, Amri. Hope you know which one is Amri. LOL>

I couldn't help but take the picture below. It symbolizes excitement and unity. =)

All for 1, and 1 for ALL! Into the ZOO we go!

We tried to cover as much ground as possible in the zoo. All by foot. I was amazed that they were such an energetic lot, almost like touring with a group of kids. They never seem to tire out! They must love animals a lot. Hehe.

From above pic: One of them feeding an elephant andanother two watching a group of monkeys.

We went to the amphibian and reptilian sector to see pythons and cobras. I found out that Max (one of the Papua New Guineans) was most afraid of the snakes and the other guys were always trying to scare him off. Haha.

Seloka on the other hand, refused to take pictures of the snakes because he once did and the snake mystically didn't show on ANY of his pictures. That was damn scary! He also told me that some tribes of the Papua New Guinea performed black magic where occasionally by just staring at a targeted person can immediately kill him/her. Erk!

Clockwise from upper left: A snake with its peeled skin, the Aquarium, the guys, fishes, and the  amphitheater showcasing a trained, jumping Seal.

We were in the zoo for 4 hours and started to get hungry. Thus had to skip the zebras. Sigh.

Clockwise from upper left: A standing bear, the guys munching, a pacing lion, me sandwiched between Max and Seloka, and Maz filming some flamingos.

It was almost three o'clock when we finally exited the zoo. Before our next stop, we decided to show them the location of the Papua New Guinea embassy at Jalan Lingkungan U-Thant.

It was closed of course, on a Saturday. But that didn't stop them from taking a picture in front of it. =)

In front of the Papua New Guinea embassy. The flag has the paradise bird as it's symbol. 

Lunch that day was at KLCC. See how excited of them to finally visit KLCC, the tallest (or is it the second tallest?) building in the world!

I said jump, and they really did JUMP! HAHAHA!

I guess I'll stop my post here. The journey didn't end here though. We visited the Malaysia's Craft Center, Merdeka field and Kuchai Lama after that. 

But that will be in another post. Until then, thank you for reading! =)

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#soMalaysian - Football and Mamak Stalls

One thing I learnt about Papua New Guinea is...




.... they don't have McDonald's there. And so far, I've noticed that the delegates are very keen to dine at fast-food restaurants around KL especially McDonald's. It was time that we brought them to somewhere different.

A place that is set up especially to fit Malaysian culture.

A place where they get to eat almost anything that they can think of - roti canai, nasi lemak, tandoori chicken, western food, fried rice, basically ANYTHING! (Pizza? Maybe not. LOL)

And so they were brought to the #soMalaysian Mamak Stall somewhere at Sunway.

Discussing the menus.

Too bad that the menus were in Bahasa. It took a while to place orders because we had to translate the menu to English for them. Alas, they ended up ordering western food. AGAIN! LOL.

Mamak stalls in Malaysia are well-known as a hangout place to watch LIVE football with friends and mostly owned by Indian Muslims. Due to that convenience and also staying open from morning (to... ermm... next morning?) it eventually becomes the only place to hangout for LIVE football in the wee mornings of 2 or 4 am. 

The thing is... these guys from Papua New Guinea prefers Rugby.

Rugby what?

=)

If you happen to visit Kuala Lumpur, you should notice that mamak stalls or restaurants are found at every corner! The menus and interior are basically similar and I don't have a particular favorite. Be sure to try one and you'll know why we Malaysians always revisit.

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Papua New Guinea has landed!

My office has been making preparations since last year on hosting an international program to cater the professionals flown from Papua New Guinea. I'm being discrete on this so no names or organizations shall be named on this blogpost. =)

So far, what have I learnt of Papua New Guinea in my research to better my knowledge on these international guests? Well for one, I've learnt that before 1950's, headhunting and cannibalism was among their favorite past time joys. Scary much? And currently, among the 5 millions of people who live there, only 18% lives in the urban areas while one third of them still lives in the rugged highlands.

I'm pretty amazed with the facts and only god knows how I imagined these delegates would look and act like when we finally met. LOL.Somehow scenes from the movie "The Gods Must be Crazy" came into my mind.

Guess I was completely disillusioned. Here are the concurring events that lead to our first meetup with the Papua New Guinea delegates last Saturday night.

9:00 pm - Head to KLIA to pick them up. They'll be flying from Papua New Guinea with transit at Singapore.

From top: A funny way in "carrying" your child around and my office-mate who helped hold the banner.

10:00 pm - My office-mates and I had small banners with our organization's name on it. We stood near the exit of the international arrival hall waiting for a glimpse of any person who were dark-skinned. There weren't that many.

11:00 pm - We got anxious and started taking breaks. Some even squatted down right there and then!

They looked like rappers! Haha!

11:30 pm - And finally they came out all suited up in their sleek casual wear. So they're urbanites after-all! No resemblances of the half naked men from the jungle at all. He he he. Everyone were shaking hands and exchanging welcomes. It was a splendid evening to witness this exchange of cultural hospitality.

1:00 am the next day - Everyone has finally settled in their respectful rooms while even-though I was also offered a room, I kindly declined. No bed is better than my bed at home. Its all the reasoning they need from me. =)

We'll be seeing more of these delegates for weeks to come. Do keep posted on how they come to know (possibly love?) Malaysia in my next blogposts! Thank you for reading!
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