Here in Kuala Lumpur my thoughts about liberty are turning in a different direction….

But first, my impressions of the city so far:

KL airport is huge — but you don’t feel it. Everthing feels leisurely and spacious, no where as full as it really is. But that’s only because it’s laid out intelligently. KLIA is said to be rapidly overtaking Singapore as the best airport round here and a major hub for Asia.

The girls at the desk…sorry, young women…are dressed in a charming Muslim way – heads covered, long skirts and blouses — not in depressing black, but in pastel colors and soft textures. I can see potential for a Islamic high style — fitted, with graceful lines, not bulky and shapeless ..more definition. With droves of rich Saudis moving here, I imagine there will be a market. A Malay shop girl laughed scornfully and told me they were dumb and easy to fleece, and then returned to pouring contempt on the Chinese for taking advantage of the Bumiputra.

The train into town is first class (I wanted to say first world, but I don’t like the term. It says more than I want to say – turning economic development into a high school report, complete with A, B and C students). The landscape is green with palms, lots of thick green foliage, well-paved roads wetted down with a faint drizzle. The roads are narrower than I remember in Buenos Aires, but there’s a faint resemblance to the Argentine city because of the vegetation and the tiled roofs of the houses. In both cities even the modern houses have a charm entirely missing from one of those prefab McHouses that blight the suburbs in the US.

A light drizzle on and off, but the air is muggy and hot. It’s December and it feels like a late summer day in Baltimore. According to the papers, we didn’t go above 30 C, but to me it feels much higher. We’re near the equator after all. Maybe the number and size of the buildings contributes. The Petronas Towers, which is close to where I am staying in Bukit Bintang, are the world’s tallest twin towers.

I’m living above an Indian restaurant and round the corner from restaurants from every Asian country. There’s also that ubiquitous sign of expats – Starbucks (who would want Starbucks in Asia, home to the most interesting concoctions of tea and coffee around?) and a McDonalds. But what really got me was the hotel that I used as a landmark to find my way round to my place — Agora. Quite odd to see a Greek name that’s also the name of the company of my co-author Bill Bonner, who by the way, is in India right now, working on opening an office there. He’s very India positive, unlike investors like Jim Rogers. More on that at another time.