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With all the negative press about Malaysia especially stories about extreme Islamists activities, the high price of alcohol and political turmoil, it’s hardly surprising that tourists numbers have dived since last year. To be fair however, this is a great place for good and reasonably-priced food at all hours of the day.  Despite endless concrete skyscrapers and characterless shoe box residential houses in KL city, there are pockets of redeeming activities taking place. Check out some of them below:

Akasha, an all-girl band from Canada grooving and pumping up the heat at Zeta bar, KL Hilton. Zeta is widely regarded as the top bar in KL, where well-heeled locals and foreigners hang out. I had fun on the 2 or 3 occasions that I was there. I especially like their rendition of some of the popular old songs, in particular songs like YMCA (think it was by Village People) which practically caused the whole floor to burst into an energetic jumping and hands-up routine. That was fun.

The left pix above is not a giant Christmas cake with figurines in colourful costumes. These are live dancers performing some Christmas story on top of a set made to look like the cake. The shopping malls become alive during festival periods. Not to be outdone, Chinese New Year sees some serious drumming by some semi-naked drummers from the local acting/music school. Multiracial and multi-religious Malaysians are so exposed to different cultures that having these indigenous-looking fellows doing the drums during CNY is no big deal. After all, tolerance is something all Malaysians strive for.  

Seriously, we are so tolerant that we have come to accept the that a bunch of girls dancing around the pole in  a club is as common as mum eschewing the outdoor wet market nowadays for the huge hypermarkets.

We are also thrilled when men, or rather boys, display their pole-dancing skills. A recent club party had the crowds going into hysteria when men were asked to belly dance topless in a glass cage in the middle of the bar.

And then, we also have the strange spectre of a former PM becoming an overnight blogger celebrity. Pix on the left below shows Dr Mahathir giving an autograph to a smitten fan. On the right, a Spanish flamenco dance giving Malaysians a taste of Espanyol in the heart of KL. Yes, we are that open and tolerant. In the middle of the strife, we are still capable of enjoying ourselves among Malaysians of other races. Our sense of humour remains very much intact too as demonstrated by our acceptance of all things strange in Malaysia. This includes prosecuting a former Deputy PM for sodomy ie. forcible anal penetration between two men. But this is another story better covered in a political and current affairs blog than this one.

Technorati Tags: Akasha, anwar, Canadian girl-band, celebrity blogger, Chinese New Year drum, Christmas cake, Dr Mahathir, flamenco KL, KL, KL Hilton, Malaysia, male pole dancer, sodomy, Zeta Bar