Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)

Malaysia is, once again, cracking down on the so called touts at the airport. Touts, for those of you who are not from Malaysia, are those people at the airport that hit on arriving passengers and offer transport services - they are illegal, and sometimes dangerous. Bad things happened - from overcharging passengers to raping them. The Malaysian authorities tried a couple of times to crack down on them - well, it helped for a day or two, and than, those guys were back. Often operating under the "eye of the law".

So when I was "called for duty", to pick up wife and child at the airport last Friday, when they came back from their holidays, I thought that this is a great chance to check the effect of the latest crack-down.

So I parked my car at the arrival hall and went into the arrival hall. At the arrival hall, there are now barriers and some flower pots. Two or three guards standing around, visibly to check on the touts. Of course, they observed me - I amthe foreigner, I am the one, the "bad guys" hit on. I wasn't disturbed this time - but I know the touts are still there. Much fewer in number - laying low. But if you know how to look, and where to look, you see them.

That was my observation - but it was a bad mistake to go to the hall, leaving my car alone outside.

I saw that got a ticket as well, for obstructing the traffic. Hey - I actually obstructed less than others. I was even parked in - there were cars that parked second lane aside of my car. And they didn't get a ticket because their owners were in the car, leaned against it, or just looked cool. Nevermind, only my wife got mad - anyone knows how much it is, to get a ticket for traffic obstruction?