Travelogue: Postcards from Malaysia

On the Street of Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur

When ever I travel around India, I am always with my resident permit...because I don't like any embarrassment...I carry it with me some nights when we go to the club...so you can imagine, how dumb and stupid I felt, when I got to the Chennai airport on my way to Malaysia and realized I left my resident permit in Hyderabad...I did not expect it to be a big deal, till the immigration people refuse to stamp my passport stating how  are they sure I registered with the FRRO as my visa stated. It was not a funny matter at all...my flight was due to take off in the next 30mins and they refused to let me go...na so begging start, the lady was using me to parambulate all in the name of looking for her superior...I had to call my office to send me a scanned copy which I was lucky to have scanned back for some reason I can't remember. Of which, when Oga came, he was not even interested in my matter...rather he was interested in the Indian dude who had 2passports...the Indian and US passport...thing is Indians are not allowed dual citizenship, you have to surrendered one...dude came in on his Indian passport and wanted to leave on his newly acquired Green Card...
We arrived Malaysia at 12: 20am (Malaysian Time), and to my surprise, my friend's sister sent her husband and one Nigerian who moved there for an internship and absorbed in the company. She told me about it, but i told her not to worry that we would take care of ourselves. The people where waiting there, for us because we spent another 30minutes, changing money and looking for where to get sim card since our numbers failed to roam...The men drove us all from the airport to Kuala Lumpur which was about 50mins drive from the airport, found us an hotel, took us to the club and ensured our stay was beautiful.

I did not realize I had so many pictures till Facebook told me I had gotten to the album limit...I will just share the few I can upload.

   

The Petronas Towers

Pineapple rice

Lunch in a Thai restaurant.

♥ Lara  from Incredible India

Footsteps: 6 Months in India

I have never had people in and out of my life as much as I have experienced in the last 6months...I have met pretty awesome people, I have met the crazy ones and the ones who are just too dumb to know the world does not revolve around them alone.

The Brazilian moved out of the flat in the beginning of the month, he moved in with his friends...dude gave us only 3days notice which I found really stupid, we just had to let things go.

The Colombian is moving to Hungary as soon as he gets his visa, we have less than a month with him...even though I rant about the dude alot, he is one lovely person...at least I will miss his crazy laughter.

From the excitement, to shock, the joys, the beautiful moments, the sadness and some stupid moments. Living in India is a dream come true, but I must confess the culture shock was really huge. There was those days, I just wanted to go change my flight date and run out of India.

Indian never for a day stops to amaze me...She laughs at you, smiles with you, is never gentle and most importantly is real...what you see is what you get, there is no pretense to her.

The last 6 months has been filled with ups and downs, crazy moments, I have explored and exploited the woman in me... I have grown and I see the world better...the challenges has been pretty awesome and they have enabled me grow and understand not just my personal life but also the professional one...and I must say, living in India has been one of my best life decisions ever asides from joining AIESEC. 

♥ Lara  from Incredible India

Traveloque: Hyderabad-Chennai-Malaysia-Chennai-Hyderabad

The Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur

For those who do not follow my rant on twitter, your truly was in Malaysia for 3days last week...came back yesterday. This trip which was almost aborted was planned with my fellow TCS-Nigerian family, out of 5, only 2 of us finally made it to Malaysia...my boss would only grant 3days leave instead of the 5days I asked for...

Left Hyderabad on Tuesday for Chennai by bus, I am getting too addicted to the night travels by bus, don't blame  me but it is so safe and cheaper...don't mind me, that is the Ijebu blood in me talking.

I have heard the gist of how rude and nasty Chennai auto-rickshaw drivers (aka Keke Marwa abi na Napep we dey call am) are from some of the acers living there, but I never imagined how stupidly rude they really are.  Trouble started with the auto driver, when I told him our actual destination was Kottivakkam instead of Thiruvanmiyur...the guy abused us in Tamil and said he will increase the fare, I no just get him time and I did not reply. He kept turning back, and abusing us at some point, guy parked and said he was not going again, later he said he will carry us to the Police Station...my friend and I started laughing and this got him mad, I don't know what Chalo means in Tamil, but in Hindi, it means go ahead....but the word Chalo, sparked some plug from the guy's head and he wanted to hit my friend for saying the word. At some point, I got tired of the whole show and we decided to get down as the guy could not locate our actual destination.

Malaysia to me is "Truly the World", the Country is the a melting point of all race and cultures...the country that give freedom and allows you to be what you are and who you want to be. So happy to finally be in a place where I could walk on the street and no one was turning, staring and pointing at me because I am different...no one gave a second glance.

Malaysia is said to be an Islamic Nation and so I was expecting to see people all covered up and living according to Islamic laws...I saw transgenders, ladies in bum shorts,  ladies in hijabs, guys with crazy hairstyles...no one raised an eyebrow, no one gave a second look, everyone was themselves the best way they could be.

Joy in my heart to finally walk on the street and see a lot of blacks like myself and particularly Nigerians. I saw some man in Agbada with his boy-boy carrying his bag for him, Igbo, Yoruba and Pidgin flowed on the street..ate Poundo yam and soup made with palm oil with ponmo, shaki and beef. I finally got to enter a club at the time, I am used to...from 12am....

Long Bar said to be owned by an Indian, with a Nigerian DJ, Nigerian Bodyguards patronized by Nigerians and their African chicks...I actually thought the girls in the club were Nigerians, then my new friend explained to us how the Nigerian girls avoid the boys and go out with the whiteys and only go to resorts and other high-class places. The guys on the other hands stick to girls of other African countries with few dating the Malaysians and other race....A Nigerian girl is hardly found in the clubs, except she is there with her Nigerian boyfriend.

I have never lived in or visited any organized country, so those of you in the UK, US and every other organized country can relate to Malaysia...India has a long way to go to meet up with this country...my beloved country Nigeria has got a very long way to go.

Pictures in next post...

♥ Lara  from Incredible India