Indonesia

Our nearest neighbouring country which I can connect to easily must be Indonesia. It may have to do most Malays came from that country one time of another. I did follow my mom in 1994 going back to the place where our ancestors came from in Sumatra. Being of Negeri Sembilan descendants, we can trace back our heritage to the exact kampung. When they came to Negeri Sembilan, these Indonesian have divided themselves according to the place that they came from. Being under a matrilineal descent system, the womenfolk of my kampung are said to be more dominant than the men that legend has it, there are a lot of men in other part of Malaysia who are afraid of marrying Negeri Sembilan's girls as they may lost their property to them.

As you, my readers, are reading this post, I will be in the middle of a Java town called Bandung. Legendary for it's beautiful women (so I heard), I am on holiday as the town of Kuala Lumpur shuts down for it's Chinese New Year celebration. I have bought a ticket to this town for a short excursion to sightsee at one of the big town of Indonesia. I have been to quite a few towns in Indonesia including Jakarta, Medan, Surabaya, Bali and Bukit Tinggi but I have never been to Bandung. In Malaysia, the word Bandung is used to describe certain food and drink which actually does not have any relevant association with the town of Bandung itself. The joke is to go to Bandung and ask for that particular drink or food and you will receive a scratching head. It shows that in Malaysia branding has been in existence long ago...

Another Malaysian eccentricity when it comes to us being in Indonesia, we always seem to switch to talking to Indonesian language. This also happens when we talk to an Indonesian who works in Malaysia. Although nearly most of our words are the same, they have different meaning for different words so much so that a few of our profanities are actually just an everyday words in Indonesia. These are source of in-joke for Malaysians when we are in Indonesia. I am hoping to have a relaxing time in Bandung. They say the town of Bandung is a bit higher than any other town in Indonesia. That maybe also the reasons their women are so fair. Don't worry, I am here with the wife and high on her to-do list is to shop until she drops which is another of Bandung's speciality.