Halfway Around the World

Photo by Idrees Syed / VOX Staff

By Idrees Syed / VOX Staff

“Selamat Datang.” I awoke to these words from the pilot over the airplane intercom, as my 22-hour flight finally came to an end. I yawned as I looked outside my
window. Lush green palm trees and bright warm sunlight greeted my eyes as far as they could see. I blinked to see if I was still dreaming, but everything remained when I opened my eyes again. I asked the man sitting next to me what the words selamat datang meant. “They mean ‘welcome’,” he said, smiling. He told me I would love it here, in his homeland of Malaysia. He was right. Not only did I quickly fall in love with this country,  but also my brief visit there completely changed my outlook on life.

Malaysia is a relatively young, growing Southeast Asian nation with a population of nearly 26 million people that occupies the tip of the Malay Peninsula and part of the island of Borneo. It is a small country, about the size of New Mexico, that shares borders with Thailand in the north and is partially surrounded by the islands of Indonesia.

Many of my friends had never heard of this country before, but I traveled there last summer to learn more about Islam. More than 50 percent of the Malaysian population is Muslim. My trip was sponsored by a study-abroad program to attend the International Islamic University of Malaysia for a month, where I would study my religion, as well as the Arabic language. But even more important, I took this trip to have an adventure and see how other people live.

Not counting trips to Canada and Mexico, it was the first time I had traveled outside of the United States. And it was the first time I had traveled anywhere without my parents. I was nervous, yet also excited about what awaited me.

Unexpected Discoveries
As the plane doors unlocked, everyone started to file out. I got up out of my seat and took a nice long stretch, but my nerves caught up with me. Would Malaysia really be as cool as I thought it would be? Could I stay in this place for a whole month without my parents?

I swallowed my fear and took my first step off the plane onto the tarmac. My first breath tasted so clean and pure. The air had a natural, sweet, fruity scent to it that was unlike anything I had ever smelled. The passengers were ushered into customs, and as I got my passport stamped, I noticed that the airport staff was smiling and welcoming, even to tourists. There was no stress here as there had been back in America, where travelers lived in fear or annoyance of airport security. Malays just seemed more laid back. Instead of hustling and bustling down the terminal halls, they walked, talked and laughed with each other. This place is different, I thought. In a good way.

Soon my study-abroad leader came to pick me up, and then I was off to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital city. As we drove away from the airport to the university, I couldn’t help but stare out the window. I had thought Malaysia would be primarily an unpaved jungle. I was wrong. Driving into the metropolis of Kuala Lumpur, I could see the tall minarets of the many Mosques jutting out among the skyscrapers. But still there was an element of the exotic. Intermingled with signs of civilization were dense thickets of trees and greenery, and I even saw amazing, tropical birds perched on branches as we passed by.

At the university I discovered a huge campus centered on the  tall pillars that grew up from its Mosque. The group leader took me to my dorm room and told me to settle in for about an hour before I was to meet the other Americans who, like my sister, had started their study-abroad experience about a month earlier. I decided to take a shower because I was already sweating from the tropical heat. I learned the hard way that the campus, even amidst a modern city, had no hot water.  The ice-cold water splashed all over me, and I nearly shrieked out in pain. I wound up taking my shower one limb at a time, but at the end I felt cool and relaxed, ready to return to the heat and humidity of the tropics.

I went to go eat lunch with the other Americans on the trip. I was nervous I would be treated like a new kid. However, both the Malaysian and American students welcomed me warmly. We all headed over to this small restaurant on campus and ate what is called naci gori ayam — the Malaysian version of chicken-fried rice. My first meal cost me three ringits — which was less than one U.S. dollar. It was amazingly inexpensive for such good food. At lunch I got to know all the other teens a little better. Some came from New York City, Washington D.C., Georgia and even Texas. All together there were about 20 of us and I quickly bonded with them through the course of that first day in Malaysia.

A Deep Connection
The next morning I awoke in my dorm bed not even remembering when I had gone to sleep. I was experiencing some serious jet lag, since it was an exact 12-hour difference in time from Atlanta. But the beautiful Muslim call to prayer called the Adhan reminded me where I was. I walked to the Mosque with my roommates, washed up — we Muslims must cleanse ourselves before praying — and prayed one of our five daily prayers just before dawn. The campus Mosque was enormous, with the center dome above me looking like half a globe and the carpets beneath my feet a lush red. As I left the Mosque, I beheld a beautiful sun rise, with the sun glowing red and orange and seemingly bigger than how I remembered it back in America.

I went back to my dorm to catch a few more hours of sleep before my classes were to begin. My first day studying abroad was amazing. My professors were kind, enthusiastic and overall great teachers. I took Arabic (the language) and Islamic Studies. It reminded me of school in America. I’ve been learning Spanish at Northview High, and my Arabic teacher used the same language learning methods — acting out skits in front of the class, playing games and taking those occasional quizzes to make sure we were learning the basics.

The highlight of my stay in Malaysia was a field trip where our group toured all the major Mosques in the country. They were extraordinary feats of faith, architecture and artistry. I felt blessed by God to have seen them. They were all different colors, shapes and sizes. One was even surrounded by water with exotic fish gliding through the pools, and it featured fountains that spouted water twice as high as the highest jet at Centennial Olympic Park. There were kids playing tag on the marble floors, chandeliers so beautiful I can’t even describe them. It wasn’t just these physical attributes that put me in awe; it was also that I felt closer to God in these magnificent places of prayer and peace.

But I also had simple teenage fun going shopping at the Kuala Lumpur’s famous Petronas Towers, twin skyscrapers topped by spires which rise up to nearly 1,500 feet. The shops sold some  American brands, and there were familiar restaurants such as McDonald’s, KFC and Cinnabon. The malls also boasted plenty of small vendors, kind of like the kiosks you see in U.S. malls, but these sold produce.

My friends encouraged me to eat a durian, a rough and bad-smelling fruit. However, it tasted incredibly good and sweet. I think of the durian when I think of my brief time spent in Malaysia. I was a little afraid of what the country would be like, that it wouldn’t be nearly as good as America. However, when I got there and saw this exotic land first hand, I found it to be such a sweet experience.

I came home from Malaysia a completely new person. My advice to you, if you ever get an opportunity to travel abroad, is to jump at the chance. Seeing just one small part of the world different than the one I had grown up in has changed me forever.

Idrees is a sophomore at Northview High.