One of the funniest ironies I ever endured was (or is?) whenever foreign friends (not residing in Indonesia or Malaysia) asked me/told me, “hey! I went to this so-and-so place in your country!” while me, an Indonesian and an Indonesian-in-Malaysia-since-2014, is actually never been to that place.
“Hey, Retno! I’m in Indonesia right now! I’m in Lombok!”
Me. Never been to Lombok despite the island being one of the top tourist destinations after Bali and Yogyakarta AND LOCATED IN MY OWN COUNTRY: “Cool!”
“Hey, Retno! I’m in Malaysia! I’m hiking in Mount Kinabalu!”
Me. Only heard the stories of Sabah and Sarawak from my husband as his work requires him to do occasional trip to Miri, Sarawak: “Nice!”
Somehow, even my friends from the other countries know my country better than I do 🥲
Also, I’ve been living here in Kuala Lumpur for 8 years. Guess what? I never been to KL Tower and crossing the Twin Towers’ bridge.
coriander in pho 
Leave a Reply