Back To Civilization!

Tonight is my last night in Palembang before I head back to Malaysia for a 10 day break. I always feel as if I am going back into "civilization" when the plane lands back in Kuala Lumpur's LCCT airport.

Actually, Palembang is not such a bad place to live after being here for 2.5 years. The development of the city is rather slow compared to other cities in Malaysia. Only in the past 5 years, Palembang started to have its first fly-over (road), 4 major shopping malls, 2 so-called international schools (primary level only) and less than a handful of hotels (Novotel, Horison, Royal Asia, Classie - just to name a few).

Internet speed is slow in this region. Telkom's "Speedy" internet does not live up to its name. The slightly better service provider that we had is from MDP (Multi Data Palembang) - they subscribed to Telkom's fixed bandwidth line and re-supplies it to other customers like us.

When my director came for a visit last month, his comment about Palembang was, "Palembang is always busy and messy all the time". I am sure he did not mean that the city is dirty. I believe he did not get the impression that Palembang is orderly in terms of traffic control because there are still lots of motorbikes crowding the roads. In other bigger cities like Jakarta or Surabaya, bikes are less compared to cars. Palembang still has lots of trishaws (becaks) and bicycles sharing the road with bikes and cars.

When you compare the hustle and bustle of Palembang's traffic to the peacefulness of the highways in Malaysia (and the less crowded roads), the thought of "civilization" comes to your mind. It always feels like "home" whenever the plane touches down in Malaysia.

I guess I won't be blogging for the next 10 days when I am back in Malaysia (fully enjoying my time off). Until then, hasta la vista Palembang (until June'09).