We’ve just spent a few days in KL, which is an interesting mixture of cultures that is reflected in the city’s architecture. I had some enlightening interactions with three different people while I was “foraging” for food and other items unavailable in Ipoh. A young man in a mobile phone store very competently helped me sort out my phone, which had had a hissy fit probably because of some daft thing I did. We talked about the Malaysian state of the nation and his opinion was that there is nothing the ordinary person can do to bring about change. And he concluded by saying that the people in power were cleverer than him. If they are, I’d be very surprised! A woman ahead of me in a bookshop queue smartly told a young man who was casually pushing in to go to the back of the queue. Then she told me that it was our duty to educate people about the polite way to behave. I am so inured to being pushed out and shoved in the back while queuing that I was greatly impressed. Another woman in another queue, this time in the ladies’ room, disputed whose turn was next and pointed to a sign saying “the queue starts here”. I smiled and commented that signs like that meant very little in Malaysia and she retorted “if you don’t obey them then they’ll never mean anything” as I let a young woman go ahead of me. She’s right of course. Maybe I should stop being such a wuss!