Newley Purnell

That’s right: I’ve acquired a new addition to my metro card collection. You’re looking at the Kuala Lumpur Monorail single-use card.

The system gets high marks in my book (and I am a strict grader): it’s cheap; if offers powerful air con; trains run frequently; and the system (in conjuntion with KL’s other LRT networks) covers a wide swath of the city.

Malaysia is renowned for its ethnic and religious diversity. Indeed, the monorail car in which I rode yesterday contained the following:

1. a Muslim woman wearing a head scarf;
2. an ethnic Chinese teenage girl wearing a skimpy outfit;
3. an Indian man sporting formal business attire;
4. a Malay Buddhist monk; and
5. me.