Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia
We were invited to Kuala Lumpur (KL) by Jona, Nico and Joel, who spent their semester abroad there. We met the three of them when we spent a few nights in the "sister city" Singapore at the beginning of the trip. We spent a total of 3 weeks in KL, where we had time to relax and work, even though Lovis was sick in bed for almost a week.
Kuala Lumpur, which means "muddy/grassy delta", is only a few hours away from the business metropolis Singapore and yet somehow very different. While Singapore is very westernised, here you have the feeling of really being in Asia - the first time for us on this trip.
Jona and Nico hosted us in their flat for half of the time, thank you again for that. We were able to immerse ourselves in international student life together with them. We also had two very interesting interviews with organisations for people with disabilities, which made us realise how differently the topics of inclusion and disability are perceived around the world.
We got to know Kuala Lumpur from two different perspectives. On the one hand, there is the modern face, with the malls, premium residences or public buildings. This face of Kuala Lumpur is mostly barrier-free, both for us and wheelchair users. Among other things, we were allowed to visit the large university in Kuala Lumpur, which has a gigantic facility and seemed very accessible from our perspective. On the other hand, there is the somewhat older, more traditional face of the city with its temples, stores and sights. These presented us with problems a time or two. For example, we visited the largest Chinese temple outside of China. This is also nice to look at from the outside, but if you want to enjoy the view from the top, there is no way around countless steps. As for the helpfulness of the people, it behaves here as in most other Asian stations where we were. People treat you with a great respect and are also very helpful. The behavior of the people towards Alex was very pleasant. We would describe it as courteous and not overbearing. So, for example, different from Istanbul, where people also approach you very helpful and friendly, but in a more offensive way. Compared to the rural regions in Vietnam, we also clearly noticed that Kuala Lumpur is a diverse cosmopolitan city, where the topic of disability is simply much more integrated into everyday life.
Write us your opinion and your experiences.
How did you experience Kuala Lumpur?
Here we have created a small gallery for you,
with pictures from our Kuala Lumpur trip.
