My Seven Wonders for 2007: Asia

Pictures by Laura Vaillard

Aisa: Indonesia, China, Malasia

This week I leave you my seven favorite pictures from my trip through Asia in 2007. These are my Seven Wonders. Enjoy!

Bali, Indonesia




Traditional Boat at the Summer Palace, China




The Great Wall of China




Rice fields in Bali, Indonesia




Bangkok, Tailandia




Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia




Sunset at the Fire Fly Park, Malaysia

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Laura Vaillard’s article about Malaysia published in Diario Clarín, Argentina

Sunday, September 17, Dario Clarín, one of Argentina’s most important newspapers published my article about Malaysia.

El viaje del lector: Malasia. The article is in Spanish, but I hope you can enjoy it nevertheless.

Undressed by People’s Look in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

As I walked I felt those men undressed me with their looks. I felt exposed, unprotected, observed by their possessive looks.

That night I felt uncomfortable walking down the streets of Kuala Lumpur, an unusual feeling in a city where you don’t have to worry about safety issues.

In occasions, I had felt disgusted walking through the city since the sewages are located on the sidewalks, and when it rains, the smell of wet excrement is unbearable, but I had never felt unsafe before.

Kuala Lumpur is an interesting place because it is the permanent hostess of three different cultures that interact with each other on a daily basis.

According to the Malaysian Constitution, bumiputras, are the real Malays: a bumiputra is a person who “professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, conforms to Malay customs and is the child of at least one parent who was born within the Federation of Malaysia before independence on the 31st of August 1957".

Even though the constitution does not specify a dress code, bumiputra women cover their bodies with long, long sleeve colorful dressesd, and they hide their hair with handkerchiefs that match the color of their dresses.

On the other hand, people of Chinese descent, a minority omnipresent in the economic, culinary and commercial sectors, communicate with each other using mandarin, they are usually Buddhists, or practice Taoism, and walk around freely wearing the latest style western clothing and extravagant hair styles with excessive hair mousse.

Hindus are the third group that cohabitates in Malaysia, making up about 10 percent of the total population, adding diversity to the country with words in tamil, hindi and malayalam, and decorating the place with the colorful saris that women wear.

The members of each of these groups conserve their traditions, costumes, language and their dress styles. Although there is little interaction between these groups, they all respect each other and speak English to break cultural barriers and ease the communication between them.

During the summer, between June and August, Muslims from Northern Africa and different Middle Eastern countries move to Malaysia to escape the unbearable heat of their home countries, adding more diversity to Kuala Lumpur.

However, this new component alters the local cultural landscape: wherever you look, you find men with rigid features and torrid beards accompanied by numerous family members and women completely covered with black tunics (abaya) and veils (niqab).

When you first take a look at these covered women, they appear to be identical black shadows, but after taking a careful look, you notice many differences that distinct each one of them from the veil’s anonymity: each one has a different cadence when they walk; decorations on their abayas and the veil’s material also help you identify their status and social class.

When I looked at these women through the TV set, I would ask myself why these women wanted and/or accepted to cover themselves. Yet, after feeling explored by these men’s looks, at some point I must admit I wished I was covered so I could walk in peace.

Shopping like Malaysians

Grocery shopping is an inescapable chore that we tend to leave for the weekend, when we have a little more free time. Malaysians cannot escape this routinary errand either. That’s why every Saturday merchants set up their markets is diverse sections of Kuala Lumpur, so Malaysians can shop for their weekly provisions.

The first market we visited was covered. Inside, the zigzagging hallways resembled a labyrinths filled with buckets full of huge fishes, live chicken tied to food stands’ tables, baskets with fresh fruits and vegetables and bags of salty dried fish, which made it hard for you to walk through the market.

The place was chaotic and tranquil at the same time. Each item seemed to have its place in that disorganized place, and the vendors did everything with meticulous precision: they would pick a fish from a bucket with their hands, hit it hard on the table until it went numb, and then they killed it by hitting it with a stick. Afterwards, they would cut its head off with a sharp knife as they held it strongly with the other hand. At that point they would take out the scams, throw the blood to the floor, and place the fish in the front of the table so they could start the process all over again.

In the second market we went to, everything appeared to be dirty, noisy and anarchic. In this open-air market those who sold fruit displyed their merchandise next to the fishermen, and these offered their stinky products next to the ladies that sold embroided underwear (an item not highly demanded in an atmosphere that smelled like fish and still water).

Here, sellers were less careful with the merchandise and they screamed loudly to gain the customers' attention. Considering the large number of people that frequented this place, merchants here did not sell live chicken. Instead they hanged the entire unfeathered chickens over their heads. This image of recently skinned white and black chicken, with bent necks and stiff legs that seemed to be pleading for mercy was so strong, that I was unable to digest the chicken that mom prepared for lunch with love.

Grocery shopping like Malaysians was an unforgettable experience. But I think I am a victim of having been raised in the city, and when we talk about meat I prefer not to meet the live animal beforehand.