4/7/07
01° 10.48N
103° 42.62E

I wanted to begin this entry with a contribution from a guest author - my great friend, college roommate and fellow SAS student Logan Koffler. Logan wrote this moving piece on his life changing experience in India and the thoughts, feelings, and emotions he experienced during his travels. Logan writes:

“India is both inhumane and so deeply human. It contorts all my pre-conceptions of humanity. The human element is exploding with vibrancy, from deep within one’s spirit and dancing on the shoulders of the people passing by. It embraces you like a childhood blanket - a moment of comfort when you can’t even say the word. It is also a place of endless sorrow, where the sun beads rays of darkness and the wind passes through people like halo trees. Yet somehow, by the magic that unfolds on the tip of your fingers, the world revolves, the long night brings a hot summer day, and the man on the street with wrinkles layering his face is right where you left him the day before.
I have seen the worst - life-ending diseases, distorting disabilities and crippling poverty. But I have also seen reasons for hope – the relentless pursuit to live in happiness. It is obvious that the desire for happiness trumps the pain of misfortune. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
I asked a man suffering from elephantitis in his feet if he lived in continuous pain. He responded by saying “my feet are a gift from god.” Outcast by society and living on the floor of the train station, he was able to find good in what I could only see as misfortune and illness. India is both an illness and a curing drug. It is sick with poverty and pollution but rich in culture and human spirit. It is the willingness to accept the drug that will determine how you perceive India.”

What amazed me most about India was what it took for me to realize what I saw and experienced during my visit. It truly was not until I reached Malaysia that I realized how unique India really is. Before our arrival in Malaysia, we were told that Malaysia would be the most uncomfortable and unlike the United States of any stop on our itinerary. I found this hard to believe because, after all, we had just left India. What could be more eye opening than that? The answer is…certainly not Malaysia. They were absolutely wrong. Malaysia, or at least Kuala Lumpur, felt like home after India. Skyscrapers, nicely paved roads, shopping malls, white sand beaches and first-world demeanor filled the country. Kuala Lumpur at night more closely resembled a U.S. city than any place we have been thus far. The world never ceases to amaze me.

Anyway, selamat tengah hari! I am now back on the ship after an amazing stay in Malaysia. For a country represented by 60% Muslims, Malaysia was surprisingly western. After disembarking the ship, Frank and I caught a flight from our port in Penang to Kuala Lumpur for $40 USD round trip. We spent the next several days cruising Kuala Lumpur and crashing on a friends couch in her Ritz Carlton suite. Other than the flight, Kuala Lumpur was quite expensive. Meals ran $10-$20, taxis were $5-$10, and most of the shops were well above my price range in the city. Indoor malls had stores such as Gucci, Armani, Coach, and other luxury brands. I wonder who buys stuff from these stores? With a per capita GDP of $9000, it certainly isn’t the average citizen of Malaysia. Malaysia has a great cultural mix of Chinese, Indian, and the indigenous Malays, which makes for a fun variety of food, language, dress and cultural norms. There really was a never-ending supply of interesting things to do and people to talk with in Malaysia.

One of the most interesting experiences I had in Malaysia occurred one afternoon at a Starbucks in Kuala Lumpur. While enjoying an Americanized coffee, I got into a conversation with a man originally from New York who was in Malaysia doing work for the computer manufacturer Dell. Apparently, Dell manufactures between 90%-95% of all their computers in Malaysia. Within four hours of clicking the “order” button on the Dell website, your computer is built, packaged, and loaded on a Reno or Nashville bound airplane. Here I am half way around the world, talking to a New Yorker who works for a Texas company about computers probably shipped by either UPS or FedEx (both U.S. companies), while sitting at a coffee chain based in Seattle. Now that’s globalization!

Ok well, I’m going to cut this one off here as I only have two days to prepare for Vietnam. Thanks for checking in.

Selamat tinggal (good bye in Malay),

-Mike