Flying to Malaysia

This semester, in addition to Australian History & Politics and Sustainable Enterprise (think green business initiatives of the future), I decided to sign up for an International Management Field Study: essentially a 10-day trip to Kuala Lumpur and Penang, Malaysia, where I'd experience living in a Muslim culture firsthand and tour various business facilities in order to gain a broader understanding about how business is conducted in Southeast Asia.

Thirty-nine students - most of whom had never met before the info meetings leading up to the trip - and two advisers embarked on this journey on Thursday, 9 April. Jo, a sweet, well-traveled gal I'd met at the second meeting, picked me up on her way to the airport, where we met up with Courtney (another well-traveled soul who became the token photographer on the trip), Jeremy (who was looking forward to scuba diving in Malaysia. Who'd have thought?), Alecia (a quick-witted girl I soon became good friends with) and James (who was flying to Singapore straight after the trip. Jealous!)

Soon after boarding the Malaysia Airlines plane, the stewardesses walked around with the usual cups of water and orange juice...and beer. Apparently on long journeys, according to Jo, it's normal for an airline to provide free beer and wine, but nevertheless, I was pretty stoked on this information. I grabbed a beer (which turned out to be Tiger, a tasty light beer that's brewed throughout SE Asia. Apparently it's also available in San Francisco. Hmm...) to start, then Jo and I happily sipped small cups of red wine with our lamb-and-potato airplane dinners while we discussed traveling (she's curently planning a four month trip to South America) and Australian music festivals (she's been to several of those too.) Since we all had our own TVs, my magazine lay forgotten as I sat back to watch Revolutionary Road (a sad yet heartfelt movie starring Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet - I highly recommend it) and Adam Sandler's latest Bedtime Stories (yes, I'm a kid, but don't see this movie. Terrible.)

Upon arriving in KL, the lot of us boarded our charter bus and met Billy, our fabulous, funny tour guide for the next week. Feeling sleepy after the 8-hour flight, we were pretty subdued on the bus as we made our way towards the Ancasa Hotel.

Since the hotel was conveniently located next to Chinatown, those of us who still had a little energy left headed out for a quick bite on Petaling Street (aka "the street of fakes" - might as well have been New York's Canal Street). The group dispersed to shop while I followed Jo (whose mother is Malaysian and thus has a fair bit of knowledge about the cuisine) to a small noodle stand to share a plate of noodles and chicken covered in a dark sauce (will include the name once I remember...)