First arrival in kuala lumpur

The mornings in Kuala Lumpur are a bit slow.

I came out of my school dormitory, walked through the green vine lined corridor, and then took the escalator to the MRT station.

Unlike in China, where public transportation is widely available, it is rare to find a bus that you can take to get around. When I first arrived in Kuala Lumpur, there was a bus 817 that went directly to Mid-valley, a Chinese student led me to take it once, but then I realized how unreliable the buses were. It takes half an hour or more to wait for a bus, and the bus is right there, but it doesn't leave, and the drivers are talking and laughing, treating the people waiting for the bus like air. Sometimes I have to take a book and sit down at the bus stop to read it, even though it doesn't fit in with the surroundings and looks a bit pretentious, yet I still read it hard, otherwise it feels like too much of a waste of life.

Compared to the unreliable buses, the MRT (LRT and MRT in KL) is particularly popular because there are many trains, so you don't have to wait too long, and most importantly, you never have to worry about traffic jams. So, even though I've been here for less than three months, I already love to travel by MRT. I even got a student transportation card so that the cost of the ride would be cut in half.

But today was the first time I took the subway so early in the morning, because there is usually a school bus to class. When I first came from China, I felt that the pace here was very slow. The people from the school took me to the medical examination, and oh my God, it was so slow. So I also waited so obediently to be called by the nurse. No wonder China is developing so fast, because Chinese people are very busy and eager to seize every minute and every second. I believe it!

I'm going to look at a house today because I have the option of renting an apartment outside after I've lived at school for 3 months. I saw young people in white shirts hurrying to get off the train and then walking without looking at them - suddenly I felt like I was back in China. Immediately after entering the carriage, I felt a cool air covering my whole body. We Chinese have a strange feeling when we enter a tropical country, that is, we somehow feel a little cold, whether on the bus, or in the mall, or in the office, the air conditioning is fully turned on and the temperature is very, very low. Sometimes in the classroom all day, many girls will take a thick blanket to cover their bodies, as if it were winter - but here it is summer all year round, and outside the window it is 30 degrees Celsius! I often wonder if it's because of the abundance of resources here that they don't care about this little waste. But Malaysia is now a developing country, with an economy that ranks behind China's, yet the escalators in their stations go on forever (some stations don't have many passengers getting on and off the train a day), and each subway station has a helicopter elevator at the same time, so it feels like the power resources are inexhaustible.

I could have stayed in the school dormitory, which was much more spacious, with free water and electricity, refrigeration and air conditioning in each dorm (although I never used it), and where young kids greeted each other with vigor. But I decided to move out anyway, because to get to know a city, just staying at school is never enough, I'm afraid.

Lindda, a Chinese girl from Ningxia, was in my class, and we were the only two Chinese in the class. She is more familiar with Kuala Lumpur because she finished her undergraduate and master degree here, and now she is working on a work visa while doing her PhD. Linda worked in China for a while after her master's degree, but she felt very uncomfortable, saying that the competition in China was too strong, everyone was working so hard and people were working overtime for no reason. Although she didn't earn much in Kuala Lumpur, she was able to make a normal living. And this time she bought a car, so she can travel freely around the city of Kuala Lumpur.

We had an appointment to meet at the MRT station at 9:15, I arrived half an hour early and then wandered around the two sides of the station to have a look. There should be a lot of Chinese people around here, and there are occasional Chinese advertisements on the walls of dense neighborhoods.

Chinese people have been making a living around the world for a long time, and nowadays you will see Chinese people with local roots in any country you visit. In Malaysia, formerly known as the South Seas, there are many Chinese, most of whom still have an affectionate homesickness for China, but there are some who don't even speak Chinese anymore. There was an old teacher who gave us a class that was very annoying. He was a descendant of Chinese, but he always showed a hint of contempt for China during the lecture, saying that China was a country without religion. When I asked him after class if he had been to China and if he spoke Chinese, he said that he was the fifth generation of Chinese in Malaysia and did not speak a word of Chinese. He had seen too many Chinese students and couldn't figure out why the Chinese were so smart, so he was a little disconcerted! So that's how it is.

In fact, I wanted to tell him that Chinese people are not just smart, but more importantly, hardworking. So, when the whole world economy is in the doldrums, the Chinese economy is still growing at a high speed, and Chinese goods are spreading to every corner of the world. But he is obviously influenced by the Western media's propaganda on the threat of China, and believes that China is gradually dominating the world, so he silently suppresses China in his heart. It's a bit sad.

But most Chinese still love China in their hearts, China is their roots after all. And when I talked to students from other countries, they also expressed their respect and envy for the rapid rise of China, and I really felt the pride of being a Chinese.

Linda asked me on WeChat if I had arrived, and then told me which exit to take off the subway. She works for a big local Malaysian company and had just gotten off the night shift, so she had time to show me the house. She had been there once before and her Malay roommate said she would have family over during winter break and suggested she move out early, so she was also thinking about whether she should move to a different house. The key is that the landlord was very kind and gave her a good impression.

The house she wanted to see was next door to Linda's current apartment, but she had to go a long way around to get there. When I arrived at the entrance of the neighborhood, the Indian security guards did not allow me to enter, so it seems that the security work is still in place. After calling the landlord and explaining to the security guard, the Indian security guard gave me my entry card and took my student ID card and let me in. The area was very big and I was excited to see the big open air swimming pool with exceptionally clean and clear water, so I was imagining myself swimming in my head, because swimming in China is not only expensive but also very crowded, and health conscious Chinese people now want to go to the pool hoping to make themselves slimmer. When I asked Linda if she swam a lot, she said occasionally, because almost every neighborhood here has a pool anyway.

The landlord was already waiting for us downstairs, he was really a very kind old man, but unfortunately he didn't speak a word of Chinese, his name was Phillips, he told me he had been to some places in China, actually he had only been to Macau, Beijing and Shanghai. When I told him I was from Shandong, he said he had heard his parents talk about it, and that it was a province in the north. In their eyes, China is too big. One of his friends planned to use his annual vacation to travel to every region in China, but after ten years, he has not even visited half of the places.

Is it possible that in their hearts, China is still a heart to rely on, otherwise how can they still try to go to China to see it?

There are some old people in the elevator, Phillips and they should be more familiar, greeting cordially, but all in English, but those people look like Chinese, they do not even speak a word of Cantonese. After several generations of putting down roots here, the native language is still slowly being lost. I felt a twinge of pity in my heart.

It was my first time to see a Malaysian family's house and of course I had to take my shoes off when I entered the door. The spacious and large living room, what attracted me most were the floor-to-ceiling curtains, the traditional Chinese composition and color scheme, light and warm, which immediately made me think of home. The kitchen was also very spacious and there were three bedrooms, two of which were already occupied. I looked at the smallest room, the windows were a little small, but the rest of the furniture was fine, and although I thought the price was a little high, I was generally satisfied with the room. I told Phillips that I wouldn't be able to move until the end of the month because my school rent was due at the end of the month and if someone else liked the house in the meantime, he could rent it out first without waiting for me.

Phillips seemed particularly keen for me to rent because he preferred students, plus I liked the quiet and didn't smoke, both of which met his criteria for choosing a tenant. When I got downstairs, there were two kids playing by the pool and he told me there was a bigger pool on the other side and a gym on the first floor. Eventually left my phone number and I politely thanked him for taking the time to show us the property.

I was a little unsure if I would move in here. Because I also wanted to find a part-time job that would give me a fuller picture of the city's camping scene, but there are far fewer job opportunities over here than in China.

On the day I went on a trip to Cloud Malacca when I first arrived in Malaysia, I was standing on that hillside of the fire-damaged St. Paul's Church, just gazing intently at the big ship moored on the beach that Zheng He used to sail to the West, when an old man asked me, "Are you from mainland China?" I said yes. He then asked me about my occupation and salary, and then lamented that the mainland is so rich now that many Chinese come here to visit almost every day. When I asked him where he was from, he said he was the fourth generation of Malay Chinese, and that his ancestors had not thought of staying here when they went to the South Seas to do business, but later on, in order to make a living, they joined the local nationality and gradually integrated into the local life, but the family had never lost their Chinese. He is now living in Malacca, and his living conditions are not good. He is particularly happy about the rapid prosperity of the mainland in recent years, and hopes to visit China in his lifetime, and he also hopes that his children will settle in China in the future. But his current income is not enough to pay for the travel expenses to China, after all, China now is not the China of the time when his ancestors first came to the South Seas to make a living. So this amiable old man often came out to say a few words to visitors from the mainland, which made him feel as if he had been to the motherland for a trip. Looking at this thin old man, through the vicissitudes of the face has a pair of gentle eyes, my heart a sigh!

When we left the gate, the Indian security guard opened the door for us and gave me back my student card. The people here are very polite and courteous, which left me with something to look forward to.

Looking back at the room on the 18th floor, the plain curtains floated out, and even from high up on the 18th floor I could still feel the Chinese style drenched in the curtains.

Will I live here in the future? Like many other Chinese, I had no intention to stay in the beginning, but I unknowingly integrated into the local life and gradually lost the chance to return to my country. Who knows.