Sunway Life

Day: 72

Location: Monash University Sunway Campus, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Two weeks on from my last post and three weeks into semester time seems to be flying by. This is something that is said at the beginning, middle and end of all semesters though, so in some ways it is to be expected. The difference of course is what you distract yourself with in between class. In general the rhythm is the same but perhaps a bit more relaxed and I find myself cruising between the campus and my apartment/room.

The Room

The Fridge

There is definitely a sense of ‘home’ in my room where I write to you from. The damp smell has more or less been fixed with time, air and a little incense. Against the rules of the residence I moved my desk so that it faces the window rather than a plain white wall.

The Sunway area is a strange place. I recently learned that it started with a mining company by the same name owning a tin mine which is now a lake, this is surrounded by roads leading to highways, backstreets full of car workshops, another university, a gigantic mall including a hotel and of course a theme park. The mining must have stopped years ago to allow the more recent development but the Sunway name has stuck. In the opposite direction to the theme park and shopping mall there are Buddhist and Hindu temples, another, smaller mall and a shopping centre with a hawker centre and a hypermarket (a creation somewhere between Coles, Costco and a regular South East Asian market). As you can tell it’s a happening place in an interesting way.

Freeway on-ramp

Monash-Sunway Pyramid 'Canopy Walk'

There are some options within the described surrounds for food. The first one I experienced was Rock Café, a hawker centre with various Chinese, Indian, Korean and faux ‘Western’ options. There is a similar set-up at Asia Café although getting to it requires a taxi that is usually too much trouble (more on that later). During the week for breakfast and lunch there are stores on campus that offer similar things to Rock at comparable prices – two to four Aussie Dollars per meal. Finally there is Pyramid Mall that is linked to Monash by a long above-ground walkway, this is home to bakeries, supermarkets, fast food chains and other up-market restaurants that I try to avoid for the most part. Because of the supermarket here and similar places nearby it is possible to self-cater although any equipment past a microwave and kettle has to be bought.
Despite this, some of us did hunger for some grease-free food during the week and manage to put together a great batch of steamed rice and vegetables.

Food Court at Uni

I promised to expand on a point about cab drivers earlier. Kuala Lumpur has earned itself the accolade of third worst place to get a taxi in the world. The reason for this as far as I can see is that collusion is rife among all of the drivers. They are supposed to use a meter system and this is stated on the outside of the cab however most requests to have the driver use the meter are rejected, alternatively you can work out what the journey would cost and attempt to haggle to that price although in almost all cases this is going to be unsuccessful. A common scenario would involve approaching a group of cab drivers who are playing a game of cards, they all know how much they want to charge to certain destinations and nothing less than this will encourage any of them to leave their game. It is a frustrating situation when they choose not to operate at the market price so they don’t make any money and you have to waste time finding someone that will take you for an honest ride.

Back onto Uni – my first assignment is due on Wednesday, a strenuous 1000 words before the unusually early mid-semester break starts at the end of the week. This is for International Relations. The other subjects I’m doing are titled Mobile Worlds: Migrants, Refugees and the Politics of Belonging and Making A Difference: Bringing about Social and Political Change. Monash does enjoy an unnecessarily wordy subject title.

Also The Room

The Campus (view from my window)

Last of all I am pushing the department that works with immigration on our student passes to return our passports as soon as possible with the hope that we will be able to get them back before the break and therefore be able to go to Burma for the 9 days we have off uni. I will keep you posted about these plans and I imagine won’t be able to be in contact while in Burma. There will of course be a post to follow whatever goes on during the break whether it be in Malaysia or (hopefully) not.

Ben x

Aus