Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Daily Routine
Performance of religious rites - lighting incense sticks or a ghee candle for an altar, or
kneeling in the direction of Mecca to pray - may be the individual response to the dawn of
the day. Such differences aside, there are similarities that can be observed in the daily
routines of all KLites.
Our average Mr or Ms KL, engaged in an office job, may leave their home (most likely
in PJ or elsewhere in the Klang Valley) early - say around 7am - to avoid the worst of the
morning rush hour of traffic into the city. Until public transport improves, they are wedded
to their car as their primary means of transport.
Having reached the city, they will drop by a street stall to pick up a triangular packet of
nasi lemak
rice for breakfast along with a plastic bag filled with
teh tarik,
the milky, sweet
tea of choice. This can be consumed in the office but, should they prefer not to have
crumbs on their desk, there's always a nearby
kopitiam
serving a zingy
kopi-o
and
kaya
toast as a breakfast alternative or mid-morning snack.
While they may well flick through a daily newspaper such as the
Star,
most KLites ap-
proach the old-school, government-linked media with scepticism, preferring to get their
news from trusted online sources such as Malaysiakini (
www.malaysiakini.com
). They
love their blogs, too - both reading and writing them - so don't be surprised to find your
neighbour at the
kopitiam
Instagramming their meal and adding a review for the online
community.
If you're beginning to get the idea that eating drives the daily routine, then you'd be ab-
solutely right. Every snacking opportunity is taken right up to late-night supper with your
mates at the local
mamak
(Indian Muslim food stall). And, if your average KLite is savvy,
they'll hang on in the city until well after rush hour before attempting the commute home -
especially if the heavens have opened, bringing traffic on the federal highways to a frustrat-
ingly slow crawl.
'The Chinese do the work, the Malays take the credit, and the Indians get the blame.' A line from Huzir Su-
laiman's satirical play
Atomic Jaya
sums up a commonly held belief among KLites.
