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[RC] Malaysia, made it! - Steph Teeter36 hours in transit, Idaho to Kuala Lumpur (KL). From temperate spring
weather to the tropics. Malaysia is around 4 degrees latitude... that's
pretty close to the
equator. The warm humid air envelopes one here. Green, lush.
Dr. Nik met me at the airport, driving his son's 1986 Mercedes because he
needed a trunk big enough for all my stuff, saddle, etc. A few electrical
problems with the car convinced him that he didn't want to chance the drive
into the city, so we took a little detour (all the car windows open to the
hot steamy tropical air, since the AC seemed to reap havoc with the delicate
electrical system) to his home where he could swap it for his wife's car
(also an old Mercedes but a little more predictable). Nice older
neighborhood, stucco houses, red tile roofs, high ceilings (no AC but big
ceiling fans), tropical trees, vines, jungly yards, different from any other
place I've been. I haven't seen enough of the country, or the city yet to
form an impression - it seems a little modern, a little jungle, a little
rich, a lot poor (but less so than neighboring Indonesia), a little funky,
seems very friendly so far.
Malaysia - roughly the size of New Mexico - made up of penisular Malaysia
(south of Thailand) and the northern half of the island of Borneo - was a
British Colony for over a century, a melting pot of cultures and religions,
with a large population of Indian and Chinese people (the primary commerce
channels). Malaysia was occupied by Japan during WWII, and became a
Federated nation in 1957. A conglomeration of 11 Sultanates and two
non-sultanate states, with an elected Prime Minister and parliamentary
government. (Singapore was originally part of the new nation, but eventually
withdrew as a soveriegn state). Malaysia is still a fairly new country. A
focus on technology export gave rapid growth to the young nation, but also
left it reeling from the IT (information technology) bust that hit the rest
of the world at the turn of the century. They lost momentum, but are making
a comeback. Host to the tallest building in the world (Dr. Nik says this is
thanks to an ambitious Prime Minister with grandiose ideas).
There is still a ruling monarchy here (though primarily figure head)-
composed of the 11 Sultans (Chieftans). They take turns at leadership
though, rotating through each Sultanate in 5 year cycles. I'm getting the
impression that the Malaysians are a very peaceful civilized people, w/o the
attitudes of aggression and possessiveness that seem to dominate the Western
world. The native language is Malay, though English is common, as are
Chinese dialects and Indian. Malay is a fairly obscure languange on the
global scale, spoken only in this tropical land of Indonesia and Malaysia.
And in the typical, crazy way of this most unusual Equestrian sport, one of
the Sultans has decided that he likes it, and so Endurance in Malaysia is
now off and running. Dr. Nik said there probably aren't more than 30
purebred Arabians in the entire country (they'll all be here for this
event!) - so they have a ways to go. With the heat, the smaller horses are
preferred, ruling out the thoroughbreds and criollos (many horses imported
from Argentina here).
So logically, people need to start looking towards breeding Arabians here
now. As Dr. Nik was driving me to his house to swap cars, he was filling me
in on the status of the sport here, telling me about the Sultan and his new
interest, about the need for more Arabians. As the hot humid air was
blasting through the car from the open windows, he said 'by the way, last
night we formed the Arabian Horse Society of Malaysia. We had our first
meeting.'
Malaysia, Endurance, Arabians... (rain forest, orangutans, tigers, and
orchids) - why not? Actually the burning question in my mind has been
'Why'?? Dr. Nik was one of the first here to discover the sport. An article
on Patrick Swayze, Arabian horses, and Endurance inspired him. He bought a
horse, started learning to ride. A quirk of timing, 6 months later the tiny
Nation of Malaysia was invited by UAE - Dubai- to field a team of Endurance
Riders to the 1998 World Endurance Championship (a fluke of having the right
Malaysian (wealthy businessman involved in developing Malaysia) in the right
place (Dubai)at the right time (riding the wave of Dubai's goal of making
Endurance a global, Olympic, sport).
Six months into his riding career Dr. Nik set the 1998 WEC as his goal and
started training his ex-race track thoroughbred. He read books on marathon
runners for information. Five other equestrians joined in the goal (I don't
know their stories yet). They had to qualify for the WEC, Dr. Jim Bryant
came over from UAE to help them learn and prepare the horses, they converted
a thoughbred race track into a 120km CEI** course to qualify their horses
(120 times around the track?) and joined the rest of the world in Dubai. Dr.
Nik made it through the first loop ("I was pretty excited, went a little
fast"). One of the horses, an Argentine Criollo actually finished the 160 km
course. No looking back for Malaysia.
We're off to a press conference for the ride in a few hours, the big news is
that Abu Dhabi is sending over a contigent of riders and support. Short
notice decision, no time to bring their own horses so they'll be riding
local Arabians. I think Sh Hazza is riding the 160km, the others will ride
the 80km event.
So - here we go! This is going to be interesting. I'm a little worried about
personally being able to tolerate the heat. (not to mention the horses!) I
spent the last few days in Idaho dressed in extra layers of clothing trying
to acclimate :) But a new culture, a new land, new things to see and
experience - from horseback nonetheless! I love it.
And I love the food :) I've always had a weakness for Indonsian food and
here it is!! Yesterday afternoon Neena, from Edaran (the IT firm sponoring
the ride) came to the hotel to welcome me. She took Dinah and I (Dinah Rojek
is here, on a crazy impulse, to serve as an FEI official - Ground Jury - for
the organizing committee) out for something to eat. The top floor of the old
original mall (huge old building) in KL was converted to a food court, and a
few little shops. Huge room, open ceilings, table and chairs bunched around,
dark, smoky and spicy air, menus on sprawling hand-painted boards over the
counters - dozens of little shops selling Indonesian(Malaysian) food
specialties - words that I can't pronounce, flavors I can't forget ! Neena
picked some of her favorite dishes. Dinah and I ordered tea to drink (this
half of the court was catered to the Muslims - no pork, no alchohol, the
other side of the huge room had Indian food - including pork and various
beers). The tea was very different - thick rust colored, sweet - the same
stuff that Madiya ordered in Dubai - Chai? I liked it, Dinah wasn't too
sure.
Up since 3am local time, woke up the attendant in the internet room at the
hotel at 5am (24 hour service, no reason not to nap under the counter
though). I noticed a Starbucks outside the mall last night, maybe a little
coffee is in order.
later -
Steph
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