Couchsurfing with a French girl in Kuala Lumpur and hanging out with her group of Malaysian friends has taught me…

by brokenrecordbaby

…how to eat curry-covered, messy rice with my hands, that Malaysians make better burgers than Westerners, that Muslims pray 5 times a day, to say “potong steam” when something you are excited about gets shut down, that the spikey fruit Durian increases your body temperature and when consumed in copious amounts you get a fever, that unripe mangos are healthier than ripe mangos (don’t Western parents teach you that unripe fruits give you a bad tummy?), that Asian ghosts and spirits are way more aggressive than Western ones (never acknowledge a ghost’s presence or else he will follow you)

It has also taught me how to order Indian tea with ice and no milk, that I have love for Bollywood movies, that some markets open in the evening and stay open all night and that this is apparently a good place for toddlers to hang out, that putting “lah” at the end of a sentence gives it emphasis, that not wearing a helmet when you are mopeding is illegal unless you wear a turban, that there is an “acid thrower” on the loose in KL – he drives by on his moped, targets skin-exposing women, and throws skin scorching acid on them, that kids in their 20s can have fun though their religion forbids them to drink, that banana leafs are used as plates and the way you fold the leaf after you finish eating is all revealing – if you enjoyed your food fold the leaf towards you, if you never want to come back to the restaurant fold the leaf away from you, that I’ve got the stamina to climb a mountain for 3 hours at 7 in the morning.

I climbed thiiiiis high at a time of day usually spent at bars