I love traveling. I love the good feeling you get experiencing walks along unfamiliar streets, talking to people from different cultures, seeing how they live in their big cities, noticing how safe it is for a foreigner over there and of course my obsession the food. For the past 2 months I was fortunate enough to have been to 2 countries. Netherlands and Egypt. The visit to the former was a long deserved holiday that was planned for quite sometime and the latter was the work assignment trip that got postponed a few times.
Amsterdam is a wonderful city, with well maintained buildings. I love the classic facades with new modern interiors, something which malaysia would never ever do since Malaysia enjoys tearing down the old and building new ones. Cairo and Egypt also has many nice old buildings but not as well preserved. Buildings should be preserved as a reminder to future generations of our civilisation. What has Malaysia got at the present to remind us of the so called Zaman Kegemilangan Melaka? Nothing. Nevertheless Europe has done well in preserving their buildings and these buildings have become a part of the lives of generations of their great peoples.
In Egypt I learned about how proud arabs are of their culture. Cultural preservation at their finest. One thing that catches my attention is how belly dancing is regarded over there. Egypt is an Islamic country however they are secure enough of their Islamic faith to preserve the belly dancing tradition. From my few conversations with some interesting Egyptians, they clearly practise Islam which is more sophisticated that what we have in malaysia. Not only they abide by the ritualistic obligations of Islam they also practise the universal values of islam as a way of life. Egyptians are humble, worldly and they are very tolerant to new cultures coming to their country. They have loads of western fast food restaurants but the standing of the local goods/restaurants are never compromised egyptians are proud of their native produces and services. The young people there really appreciate their rich history and are able to promote their history by heart with full of pride. Egyptians are a much more mature and definitely more sophisticated than your average joe here in malaysia.
Of course apart from the spiritual and social lessons i learnt from my travels, I also enjoy the food. Probably i'll write more about that in my next posting.
With the lessons I learned some questions comes into my mind with regards to malaysia. Why aren't we proud of our heritage? Why do we so easily tear down historical buildings/relics to make way for new buildings? Why do we erase our makyongs, dikir barats, zapins, bangras from our memories? Why do we think that by wearing a tudung/serban, praying 5 times a day, talking with an arab accent would make us better muslims when we severely neglect wholesome good values? Why arent we proud of our culture and history which differentiates us from the rest of the world? Why the fuck do malays wanna be arabs?
Amsterdam is a wonderful city, with well maintained buildings. I love the classic facades with new modern interiors, something which malaysia would never ever do since Malaysia enjoys tearing down the old and building new ones. Cairo and Egypt also has many nice old buildings but not as well preserved. Buildings should be preserved as a reminder to future generations of our civilisation. What has Malaysia got at the present to remind us of the so called Zaman Kegemilangan Melaka? Nothing. Nevertheless Europe has done well in preserving their buildings and these buildings have become a part of the lives of generations of their great peoples.
In Egypt I learned about how proud arabs are of their culture. Cultural preservation at their finest. One thing that catches my attention is how belly dancing is regarded over there. Egypt is an Islamic country however they are secure enough of their Islamic faith to preserve the belly dancing tradition. From my few conversations with some interesting Egyptians, they clearly practise Islam which is more sophisticated that what we have in malaysia. Not only they abide by the ritualistic obligations of Islam they also practise the universal values of islam as a way of life. Egyptians are humble, worldly and they are very tolerant to new cultures coming to their country. They have loads of western fast food restaurants but the standing of the local goods/restaurants are never compromised egyptians are proud of their native produces and services. The young people there really appreciate their rich history and are able to promote their history by heart with full of pride. Egyptians are a much more mature and definitely more sophisticated than your average joe here in malaysia.
Of course apart from the spiritual and social lessons i learnt from my travels, I also enjoy the food. Probably i'll write more about that in my next posting.
With the lessons I learned some questions comes into my mind with regards to malaysia. Why aren't we proud of our heritage? Why do we so easily tear down historical buildings/relics to make way for new buildings? Why do we erase our makyongs, dikir barats, zapins, bangras from our memories? Why do we think that by wearing a tudung/serban, praying 5 times a day, talking with an arab accent would make us better muslims when we severely neglect wholesome good values? Why arent we proud of our culture and history which differentiates us from the rest of the world? Why the fuck do malays wanna be arabs?
posted by Lan at 3:46 AM
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