My second homebase

by Desy Zulfiani (Indonesia)

Making a local connection Malaysia

I'm Indonesian, and i proud to be Indonesia, but i love going abroad Malaysia, the country next door from Indonesia. Especially my town in Medan, Malaysia city such as George Town, Penang, Kuala lumpur and Malacca is only 1-2 hours away from my city, this closeness also has an impact on culture and environment that is almost similar to the city that I live, like food, lifestyle, even I am very comfortable interacting with the locals because their language and communication are similar in Bahasa, there is Malayu. then it's not wrong if I say Malaysia as my second home, along with the frequency of my being there 4 times, I made friends with the locals, even they are willing to be a good host at home and free. even as I write this, they often exchange news with me about anything, especially my planned visit there or those who come to my place. Exchanging cognate cultural knowledge, let us know that Malay is a large land, which was once one with Indonesia, because of historical factors and other things, Indonesia and Malaysia became 2 large neighboring countries, only with different government systems. this also makes me sometimes compare the progress of their country with Indonesia, especially in terms of country development, the sophistication of transportation and education. Traveling makes me not just for the holidays but to find out more local wisdom in their country, so I am comfortable being among them, even so much so that I acted like them, many considered me to be a local person not a tourist. I really enjoyed it. being local is best when you come to other countries, so that you are not considered someone else for local residents.