Much of my time on the journey, so far, was spent engaging the locals. Usually the conversations can get quite interesting and long. Some will even invite me into their homes or to a coffee shop for a drink.
As for shopkeepers, I try to keep the conversations shorter as I know they need to tend to business and customers. But there is one businessman who can (and have the skills to) hold a long conversation.
The guy whose career began at the top; the barber.
The ideal place and time to join in a conversation is at where a conversation is already going on. I stepped into the Hibiscus Indian Barbershop in Tanjung Malim town.
Kumar the cheerful barber was originally from Tamil Nadu in India. He has been here for eight years and can speak fluent Malay. His customer, Deen from Kelantan, works in Tanjung Malim.
Apart from the two seen here, he has six other kids and that prompted a good-natured chat about traditional aphrodisiacs and birth control (or lack of). Heh.
Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 500, f4, 1/60 sec.