Monday, February 22, 2010

Culture Moment #1: Bathing Burkas

On our last day in Kuala Lumpur, we went to the Sunway Lagoon water park. It was one of the more interesting cultural moments of the trip, and here's why:

U.S. water park: Look hot and get tan. People are laying out (and falling out) everywhere.

Malaysia water park: Modest is hottest. People are going down the slides in everything from bikinis (but just the Europeans) to full-out head scarves, long-sleeved T-shirts, and track pants. The only attire not allowed on the water rides was underwear or burkas, although there were several ladies walking around in burkas. One of the strangest moments was watching a group of girls in head scarves getting down in the wave pool to "Shorty got low, low, low, low, low, low."

To be honest, I think I liked the Muslim-influenced water park better. It was way more family-friendly and (bonus!) less likely to cause skin cancer. (But that still doesn't make me want to swim in my track pants.)

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