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So ~20 years ago I went to Kuala Lumpur. For those not knowing where or what that is, it's the capital city of Malaysia with a population of ~1.8 million people
by jmyeet 2y ago
So ~20 years ago I went to Kuala Lumpur. For those not knowing where or what that is, it's the capital city of Malaysia with a population of ~1.8 million people. It once held the title for the world's tallent building (ie the Petronas Towers). So this is a modern city not that far from Singapore.
I happened to catch a train to one of the shopping centers while I was there so this was the mass transit system in a relatively modern city. This boy of 7 or so kept gawking at me. He was with his father. I looked up at him, curious, and his father said in passable English that his son has never seen a white person before.
That was quite a surreal experience for me, particularly given the environment.
I can't imagine what it must be like in rural China with few Western visitors.
- grecy 2y ago> his son has never seen a white person before I drove a 4x4 right around Africa from mid 2016 to mid 2019. It was quite common in West Africa to drive into a village where the kids would run away terrified and the adults would explain the kids had never seen a white person before, and they thought I was a ghost. I drove across an international border where the border guard had been working for 3 years and had never seen a foreigner. It's fun getting off the map.
- unethical_ban 2y agoHey, the jeep guy! There was a guy who rode a motorcycle from San Francisco to Barrow AL about 2014. His and your blogging were the source of some fun what-if dreams of mine back then.