Selamat Pagi

I joined AIESEC in September, 2004 to pursue a passion of traveling and learning about different cultures. Although I've always had a deep interest to know other places and experience life through multiple lenses, my infatuation with traveling was truly awakened when I studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

My AIESEC traineeship entailed working as an accountant for a small company in Malaysia. Every morning, my flatmate, Adelle, and I would make the 45 minute commute on the LRT (train) to work in Cheras, a neighborhood outside of K.L.

Here are a few of the scenes on our way to work.

Below, a woman serves breakfast to hungry customers. Her specialty: Nasi Lemak, a local favorite dish of rice cooked in coconut milk with chicken and garnished with peanuts & anchovies. Mmmm.

A breakfast stop just outside the LRT station in Pandan Jaya, Cheras.

Motorbikes, a common form of transportation in K.L.

The group of engineering students who harassed us without fail every morning and evening as we walked to and from work.

Our favorite breakfast spot where our little friend always gave us a warm welcome in his adorably high pitched voice as he served our favorite: teh ais (iced milk tea) and roti cani (deliciously greasy, fried bread served with spicy, flavorful sauces).

. . .pouring our hot tea into an iced-filled plastic bag, sealed with a drinking straw, so we can take it "to go"

Women walking to work with their laptops. In the background, a group of engineering students arrive on their motor bikes.

Another friend who always served us breakfast with a smile.

Welcome to Malaysia, Ashley!

My good friend, Ashley, came to visit me in KL a few weeks back. Ash and I met two years ago in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while studying abroad. Upon returning to the U.S., I visited her at her university in Fort Collins, Colorado, during Fall Break. Rather than come to see me in Ann Arbor, she waited until I moved halfway around the world to pay me a visit. Thanks, Ash! hahaha.

In this first picture, we're at Carnegies, in downtown KL, having cocktails.

Below, Ashley appears to be enjoying her banana leaf and mango lassi at Nirvana, the best banana leaf restaurant in Bangsar, KL.

I really love the spicy food here, especially countered with a mango lassi, a sweet & refreshing yogurt beverage.

Leaving the restaurant, we bumped into a little, furry friend. It's not the first time I've met this monkey. He's energetic, playful, and he even tried to steal my sunglasses one day!

The HAZE

The haze in KL reached dangerous levels during the first weeks in August, when smoke from fires in Sumatra, Indonesia, drifted northward to Malaysia.

Upon returning from Dubai, I was welcomed back with the awful surprise of eye-scorching, throaght-burning HAZE. . .

That same day, my friend, Ashley, arrived from the U.S. to visit me in what she had assumed would be a beautiful, tropical climate. However, this was clearly not the case! After enduring an extremely long flight, she stepped off the plane into a nightmarish, hazey environment.

Welcome to Malaysia, Ash! Sorry, I forgot to remind you to bring your face mask!