Prelude to the Exposition
January 24th, 2010
i was looking at pictures from Tali Tenang, which is the latest Random Alphabets project. so many people were wearing the I <3 KL t-shirt (i have one too!). i spotted a handful of familiar faces in the gallery, i.e. the usual ones who attend Random Alphabets events, folks i bump into at shows in KLPac, writers, poets, student leaders, entrepreneurs, greenies... and at the same time the crowd was so huge and so full of unknown people that i couldnt help but wonder what each of them stood for, or enjoyed doing, or spent their saturdays. the thing about KL is that it's such a new city and so bogged down with social problems, but KLites, and Malaysians, are just so cool. we do so much stuff. i was talking to Joe about how working in Hanoi would be so good for his soul, and that if he had free time during the weekends he could sit by the sidewalk and paint, just like the Hanoian artisans do in the afternoons. but i wonder if people from other countries tell their friends the same thing– that working in KL would be good for the soul. if a KLite could dissociate herself from her entire history and background with the city, and live anew like a stranger to KL, how exciting that would be. it’s quite like how people always talk about being just a face in Tokyo, being completely immersed in the neon lights, the moving streets, the hidden ramen shops underground– living the silently adventurous life.
i worry about a lot of things surrounding KL. i fear that my favorite marmite chicken haunt wont be in Pudu the next time i go back there. i fear that Brickfields will morph into an unrecognizable gentrified park of glitter. i’m scared that i’m growing up too fast and that by the time i graduate, there will be no more old people in KL left to talk to. and i’m scared that i may one day not want to go back to malaysia. right now i feel so strongly about needing to go home, but maybe by 2030 people will live on the moon, and i’d want to be there too, because all of my friends are there. maybe by the time i find my footing, everything will have changed, and we will need to find our zion.
the city has always been such a big part of me. whenever i return home from NYC, i look forward to reuniting with KL more than anything else- even friends and family. its streets, its doors, its windows, its parrots, its coffee shop uncles, its clubs, its pasar malams… how can these things be replaceable. what if people just keep getting younger and younger and we’d want to eradicate all of the ashes that we were born from? there’s this place, on jalan loke yew, that sells only bolts and nuts and it is the most wonderful and awe-inspiring place in the world. and there’s a nearby cemetery shrouded in wispy flowing trees that i promise you is the best place to sit with your favorite person in the wee hours of sunday morning, to just talk. also, a shop, on the shores of bukit bintang that deals in ‘bamboo chicks’, whatever those may be, that has beautiful chipping turquoise-painted window frames, on which the lady boss always idly leans, while she smokes her cigarette. then there are the infamous motels with the dingy pink corridors. i was lucky enough to once get a tour of such a motel from the owner’s son. he told me stories of the KL sex trade — where to go, who to find, how much to expect. and the clubs… i felt such pain when i heard about the jalan p ramlee clubs. everything will be quiet when i go home next. my family and i moved out, and i miss my old crime-laden suburb. that den of vice. i lived dangerously when i was there; now i’m just another grown-up in just another peaceful, clean, flowery gated community.
Entry Filed under: General
26 Comments Add your own
1. Patricia | January 24th, 2010 at 5:19 am
aww~ a really nice post this is… as always!
2. bjk | January 24th, 2010 at 7:00 am
looking fwd to your post on your new house(and room!)
3. caffy | January 24th, 2010 at 7:51 am
I went to Tali Tenang, and somehow came back with renewed faith in Malaysia. I waved at absolute strangers driving/on the streets! I smiled at them and said hello! And the amazing thing is that they smile and wave back! – foreign construction workers, old aunties, foreigners, cute uncles, people walking their dogs, people with kids, youngsters. People honked out their support in their cars! Hell there was a schoolboy in uniform who joined in just because he saw us on the way home. There was an uncle who stopped his car in a middle of a bump after we said hello, and said he know we’re doing this for peace, and said he supported us! :D
After the event, I realised that i actually needed it. I’ve been losing faith in Malaysia – the politics, the inefficiency, the corruption, the government, the stupid ktm. i needed a reminder that those don’t make Malaysia, the people do. The smiles and nice words even from strangers were starting to mean less and the growing frustrations were starting to mount up. After the church arson incident, I was wondering what the hell was I doing asking friends planning to leave to stay, and why I wouldn’t pack up and leave myself.
I realised what I’m staying for after the event. :D And I’m studying in Brickfields, and it is becoming all metal high-rise. More and more tall, foreign buildings are coming up. It feels odd.
4. yapthomas | January 24th, 2010 at 8:19 am
and to be sure that our next generation still enjoys the same nice roadside mamak stalls, the beautiful landscape and the typical jalan belakang where they serve the best yong tau foo, WE must make sure THEY don’t rob us all from these things…
5. Michelle Chin | January 24th, 2010 at 9:07 am
I’m worried that the next time I come back to KL, the uncle who sells good soy milk in tai zi yuen market will pass away and will never be able to make good soy milk anymore. :(((((
6. Artificially Tamtim | January 24th, 2010 at 9:35 am
you moved from one !!! to the other wtf…
and is that kenny gan holding the big camera which is pointed at you?
7. TC | January 24th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
after uni, you can go back to KL to work but then why go back to KL when the world is your oyster.
When you have kids in Malaysia you will worry if your kids will have a decent education (NOT!!) or will be treated fairly in the future.
Enjoy yourself in the most exciting city in the world. You are still so young. Have fun while you can.
8. Voon | January 24th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
haha is that your brother (in the go-kart picture)?
9. ShaolinTiger | January 25th, 2010 at 3:54 am
KL rocks, so many things to do, see, eat and experience.
10. kei | January 25th, 2010 at 3:55 am
heheheheheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee i want an i <3 KL teeshirt too. u know, no matter where i go or how fun it is in another city. or how many more opportunities i can get in another city, i always find my heart stuck in KL! haha.. duno la its like this sense of belonging, that KL is and will always be my home.
11. haze Long | January 25th, 2010 at 5:23 am
i recognize the group picture :D Familiar faces from SSG
12. chriso | January 25th, 2010 at 7:15 am
where’s the love? It’s right here :)
13. sieutheng | January 25th, 2010 at 7:58 am
there’s no place like KL! <3<3<3<3 KL
14. F | January 25th, 2010 at 9:30 am
mmm it makes me sad that i barely know KL
15. Gin | January 25th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
eh P ramlee back in business babe. lol
16. bs | January 25th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
ditto F…
pinkpau i love + envy your ability to see wonders in the smallest of things
17. dav | January 25th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
“Jagung” one please? ^^ Totally show the diversity and unique of Malaysianism…..
18. eleanorng | January 25th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
what i like most about you is actually your love for kl. everyone just wants to leave and maim its name with their pretentious calling for “better things” and it hurts the rest of us that sincerely love kl… thats why it makes me happy every time you write about kl. because you’ve been around the world, and still you’re strong enough to miss home.
19. Simon Seow | January 26th, 2010 at 12:56 am
It’s quite sad now that we can’t live safely in an open community like it used too. But KL still rawks!
20. ront | January 26th, 2010 at 9:29 am
sounds like you’re getting old…..hehe….
21. aimee | January 26th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
simplest and best description of KL anyone can ask for :D
22. choco | January 26th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Stores selling “bamboo chicks”! Totally know that place, I too have often wondered what those are. According to my mom, its those bamboo blinds. :D
23. Cheska | January 26th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Go Xi Fa Cai everybody!
Just wanna greet Happy Chinese New Year to everybody here at
quaintly.net :)
By the way you can send free gifts to your friends and love ones at facebook in this link :
http://apps.facebook.com/happchinesen_eqguoe/
Kung hei fat choi! :)
24. amy | January 27th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
son’s owner? im guessing you mean owner’s son. lol.
btw the shadows of the both of you in the picture of the duck combine to look like a wonky heart ;)
25. Matthew | January 29th, 2010 at 2:51 am
Isn’t the 1st pic taken in Imbi, the mamak beside Star Hill and that shady Sky River ‘health center’?
26. Artie | February 5th, 2010 at 4:54 am
There’s a crime-laden suburb not far from ur new place, if you ever need to feel at home again. Just come over to my place….
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