|
One morning, as I was talking with a student, a fellow post-doc
burst into my office and asked with great urgency, “Sorry, Josh—do you want
to go to I arrived in
bustling Kuala Lumpur and spent a day visiting the main tourist attractions—Petronas Towers, Merdeka
Square, the National Mosque, the large Hindu Sri Mahamariammam
Temple, Old Railroad Station, Chinatown’s Central Market, Masjid
Jamek, and Masjid
Negara. Surprisingly, a tourist can
finish these attractions in a single afternoon unless, of course, you prefer
to spend extra time shopping for fake designer goods or haggling for good
prices on electronics. I picked up a
pair of cheap stylish sunglasses (I think they are Gucci-Versace-Ray
Ban-Adidas all in one). Later, I would
end up haggling down the price of a nice camera for a fellow researcher,
saving her $106 (apparently impressing our Malaysia counterparts who we
brought along to get better deals, but they couldn’t)—of course, everything
is in the Malaysian currency of Ringgit. She saved even more money because our
Malaysian friends took us through a maze of buildings and streets throughout
KL to get to the cheapest camera store in the city—that un-documented guided
tour was exciting and interesting from a city-going perspective, and the |
On
the airplane into KL. You can see the Lord
of the Ringgits: Genevieve
is happy with her new camera. At
the illegal software store. What a
bunch of guilty faces! The
National Mosque. National
Mosque fountains. It’s
all about symmetry. It’s
all about geometry. A
place to pray. Outside
the National Mosque. Dragon
fruit! Genevieve
sinks into some juicy fruit. The
Hindu temple. Nomadic
tribe. A
thing. The
fake-goods Petaling shopping area. MACRES—the
Malaysian remote sensing center. The
MACRES conference room. I
demand more air conditioning! At
another meeting in KUSTEM. Our group. |