Things I just don’t get about Malaysia

No kissing in taxis (see explanatory picture).

The B.U.M. Equipment clothing range. For men, women and children. Er, market research, anyone?

The Petronas towers. Yeah, they’re big man. Ok, they’re real big. And that’s really about it. No cure for cancer or the common cold. They’re. Just. Big. Call me a killjoy, I don’t care.

The fact the population is just 1.6 million (with surrounds, 7 million). "Melbourne looks so small after KL," said the Kiwi in front of me as we flew into Melbourne lat night.

Clearly, her eyes were painted on. Or perhaps that we were flying at the time over the desolate northern suburbs, where the highest point is the VideoEzy store. Or it's just that when we think of Asian cities, we think of megapolises. KL's population is dwarfed by Melbourne, which recently topped four million.

KL's a young city, too, with Chienese settlers dropping in to mine tin in the 1850s, relative to Melbourne's founding in 1835.

However, I notice that we both now have Chinese language directions at both airports, so we're not so dissimilar after all, eh?