The Islamic Museum of Art

A quick little re-cap of dinner at the Coliseum Cafe in the Colonial District with Prof Heng's friends:
We met three Malaysian men - Jack, Michael, and Bruno - and one Brit named Terry. The three young guys were members of Malaysian Young Professionals, an ethnically diverse club. They were all very nice and had lots of things to tell us about the NEP (New Economic Policy - basically allows intense affirmative action for Malays and against non-Malays) and the general thoughts and viewpoints of the younger Malaysian generation. All in all, it was an enjoyable experience.

The coolest thing for me was meeting Terry. We were sitting right next to each other so we fell into conversation. Turns out he is a professor from University of Leeds in England in the SE Asia Dept! What a small world, huh? We soon started talking about all the best pubs in the area (Brian and Brett - the Dry Dock remains in business!). It was hilarious. They've actually changed their logo (looks like the Parkinson Building) which is interesting. I have his card and he was adamant that if I ever found myself back in Leeds, I should give him a call. I know I was supposed to be consistently discussing Malaysian issues, but I managed to sneak in some conversations about Gordon Brown, immigration in England, and British sentiment concerning what to do in Iraq (at least with Terry). :-) What can I say? I'll always be an Anglophile!

Now on to yesterday's events:

Thursday was suprisingly chill in comparison to most of our days here which are usually jam-packed with events, dinners, and guest speakers. We had a normal class (10-1) mainly focusing on globalization and how it affects Malaysia. We also reviewed theoretical perspectives of globalization which was a little dull for me because I've done it before. Despite that, Prof Heng is an excellent lecturer.

After class, the guys and I met up with Kuljit and went to the Islamic Museum of Art, one of the most impressive museums in Malaysia. There was so many amazing collections from all over Asia focusing on everything from photographs to textiles to ancient calligraphy of the Quran. So cool. We were only there for about 2 hours, so I think that I'm going to have to go back and see some more stuff when I get a chance.

After the museum closed at 6, we took the light rail train to KL Sentral and just wandered around to find a restaurant for dinner. We ended up at the Hilton and ate at one of their buffet restaurants which was incredible. For about $30 you get a crazy appetizer buffet, a main course, and a dessert buffet. We ate ourselves silly. The theme of the buffet was "Asian fusion" so there was quite a variety.

I've decided that I like balancing street vendor and local restaurant food with nicer sit-down places to eat. The previous evening we had a meal at Restoran Putra by our condo which was also very good - lots of Malay dishes. I especially enjoyed the Mee noodles. When we are at HELP for class we mostly go to Ali Maju, Malaysia's version of fast food. My favorite thing there is the Roti Kaya which is basically a cross between a crepe and a tortilla fried up with coconut custard in the middle. Soooo good. The fruit juices here are also beyond description. American juice will never tempt me again. They literally fresh-squeeze everything right in front of you. I had no idea how much I liked watermelon juice!

I'm going to have to go to Starbucks to post on today and this weekend's activities, but stay tuned!