Restaurant Cats of Malaysia

Sojerd I never new that the cats tail were intentionally broken. All the time I thought it was natural The cats owner here are just not resposible and if nothing is done they might become a nuisance.... Yes both the cats and their owners.

When I was in Kuala Lumpur, once I stayed in a place that had plenty of stray cats. Sleeping was difficult during mating season and territorial fights were common. Our cars were also not spared with plenty of scratch marks on the hoods. I stayed 2 weeks and left.

 

KK must know about this although I believe that his ethnic background is Chinese and not Malay. I am not sure though.
Naturally there are come cultural things that are similar, but as I understand it, Malays and Chinese have different customs and beliefs to put it extremely superficially and overly simplified.
Yes, I had a VERY enjoyable and memorable time in Malaysia and always found it an underrated destination for travellers and vacationers alike. If one just takes the time to delve into the history and culture it is a wonderful place to experience...however if you add the "nature factor"with all its plants, animals and geography it just becomes "super". When I was there I was travelling (and not on vacation)and thus made all the travel, accommodation, eating and sightseeing arrangements myself.
This involved learning a tiny bit of the language, and making a serious effort in attempting to understand the various culture groups as well as a bit of the historical background that I could.
Interpreting body language and recognizing the "loss of face" thing were the two biggest things that made things easier. Understanding and recognizing these things and developing a sense for it was proper as a guest in that country.
It was my experience that the foreigners that I encountered there that had the most difficulties were those who tried to apply their western norms and values in a society that functions with a different set.

I reckon that I'm waffling now...so I shall stop.
I shall be interested in hearing what KK thinks about the cat tail thing.

 

You are right Sojerd, I am Chinese. You really do have a good understanding of the locals here and I am sure you fit in really well :-D

The cat tail thingy, well like I said earlier I thought it was natural :-? until you mentioned that it was done intentionally. Yes I do agree that it is a cruel thing to do. Especially among the Malays superstitous believe is very strong among them. It is very rare for Chinese to rear cats as pets and I have no idea why. What I know is that they would never rear a black cat because it is bad luck. I think cats are still being eaten in China. Anyway in short the Chinese look at the cat either as food or a way to control the mice

Yes Frank you fit in great too!! :-D Do enjoy the country, it is beautiful naturally!!

 

Hi KK--It was interesting to read your comments concerning cats there and in China.
I think that the Malay people and the Indonesians are some of the most superstitious people that I have had contact with.
Well, I believe that superstition exists to some degree in most societies, but Indonesian and Malay stand out the most in my mind.
Superstition is something that I have payed attention to in the countries that I have visited and found that it plays quite a strong role in some cases.

Thanks for saying that I have a good understanding of the locals there. That is a nice thing to say...however I do not think that as a westerner, I would or could ever be accepted enough by the locals to be referred to as "fitting in". hahaha.
So, anything that I have learned there is primarily down to my skills as an observer. I can be a very focused observer sometimes.
I was observant enough to recognize the boundries of openess in conversations and normal interactions.
In a way it is a pity for me (because I am always keen to learn things that I do not know about), but I guess that limiting contact and information is cultural and deeply ingrained.
At any rate, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, seeing the sights, speaking with folks and walking through nature and kampungs. It was all quite interesting and enjoyable.