Kuala Besut
As I get ready to depart Malysia's beautiful shores, I would like to share with you some of the linguistic discoveries I made here. A small Malay primer, if you will, should you ever find yourself in Kuala Lumpur without a phrasebook.
Selamat datang is the first thing you need to know- it's their greeting,their welcome phrase, so it's very common and useful to know. Easy to remember too, since selamat is tamales spelled backwards. And datang is gnatad spelled backwards.
Terimah Kasih means thank you. When I say it it seems to mean "Everyone laugh at the foreigner who says terimah kasih wrong!"
Tutup is closed, as in "America is tutup", as Tom Hanks learned to his dismay in The Terminal.
When we were up in the KL Tower I noticed the viewing telescopes had some Malay writing on it, and one of the words was matahari. I have no idea what it means but it's cool that the legendary spy was actually a Malay.
Finally, the most important word you need to know: Beruang Kutub. That means polar bear.