Along the way: Experience Kuala Lumpur

Having never worked abroad, alone and lacking in equipment, I was still excited to set off for the opportunity I had been waiting for for 10 years, Vietnam had just entered the AFF final. Moreover, the team had a series of players from Nghe An such as Trong Hoang, Van Duc, Ngoc Hai, Cong Phuong; they were all discovered at the Youth-Individual Football Tournament Cup of Nghe An Newspaper.

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From the international airport to the center of Kuala Lumpur city is about 60 km, we traveled by Grab Taxi for 150 ringgit (about 840,000 VND). My first impression when arriving in Kuala Lumpur was that it is a quite modern and civilized city. The facilities and traffic infrastructure in the capital of Malaysia are very massive. And of course, there are no local traffic jams, the roads are wide and open. During rush hour, vehicles still patiently drive slowly, not encroaching on lanes.

Nghe An Newspaper reporter and people lining up to buy tickets. Photo: PV

Many people when coming to Malaysia will be somewhat disappointed because not everywhere is allowed to smoke. “No Smoking” symbols appear everywhere, including cafes, any indoor location, even hotels. Only luxury hotels have rooms for smoking guests. When I arrived at the hotel, I was completely surprised because the service quality was excellent, attentive and truly up to international star standards. However, surprisingly, they did not prepare toothbrushes and toothpaste for guests, forcing me to go a day without brushing my teeth. It was not until the next day, when I requested, that the service staff brought them.

At the end of the working day, we Vietnamese sports reporters went to eat together at a cheap restaurant quite far from the city center. A normal meal with a little beer, rice and fish but the price was not cheap. The total amount we had to pay was nearly 300 ringgit for 5 people, each person spent about 330,000 VND for a full dinner. The next day we looked for bread, instant noodles and cheaper foods.

At night, we went to Bukit Zalil Stadium to report on an unprecedented scene. Tens of thousands of Malaysian fans lined up from 10:00 pm until the next afternoon to buy tickets. I could not imagine how passionate they were, the fans who stayed up all night were mostly young people who truly loved football. There were about 10,000 people lining up at the gates, but throughout the night and until noon the next day, there was no jostling or pushing. Everything was very orderly and they lined up voluntarily, without any security personnel, guards or policemen standing guard in the middle of the crowd...

Inside Bukit Zalil Stadium. Photo: PV

In Kuala Lumpur, traveling by Grab Taxi is very popular and it was not until I was about to leave Vietnam that I learned that if a local person books a trip, it will be half the price compared to foreign visitors coming here. In addition, there are many free bus routes around the city, subways and high-speed trains. Of course, in Malaysia, there are no motorbike taxis as rampant as in Vietnam. 2-wheeled vehicles can freely speed on the road because there are no obstacles, there is never a red light, traffic is truly a beautiful thing.

In particular, I realized that there are many female bus and taxi drivers. This is normal in Malaysia. In conversations with drivers, they shared with me that it is just their side job, doing it “part-time” to earn extra income. In Malaysia, there are also not many grocery stores, restaurants, and cafes like in Vietnam.

And the biggest difficulty when I came here was the Internet. In Malaysia, there are not many free Wifi Cafe locations like in Vietnam. According to my research, the whole city only has 4-5 free Internet Cafe locations with average quality. They are located in supermarket centers and large buildings. And the Internet in Malaysia is also slow, 4G SIM or Wifi are both slower than 3G in Vietnam. In order to send news and articles in time, I had to buy high-speed 4G SIMs, and had to travel to the Internet center dozens of kilometers away or return to the hotel. All of these took about 30 minutes to 1 hour to travel.

Malaysian police are very friendly and kind. Photo: PV

On the second day of working at the training ground, I was stuck because I didn't see any Wifi Cafes, and the 4G SIM card was not guaranteed. I talked to the police here and they were willing to use a motorbike to take me to the nearest Internet center after I couldn't book a Grab ride. The enthusiasm and friendliness of the police here really impressed me. The next day, on the way to Bukit Zalil Stadium, I discovered something very interesting. Those were the wild birds in Malaysia. Many rare birds freely roamed anywhere, on the road, on empty land, on tree branches. The number was huge and very easy to see. It's understandable because in Malaysia, they absolutely do not allow hunting wild birds.

As I gradually got used to my days in Malaysia, I still had enough energy and inspiration to work on match day. I really craved home-cooked food and a comfortable space. Luckily, a kind compatriot living here prepared Vietnamese food for me including spring rolls, banh muot… during my last days here.

Back to the match, the professionalism of Malaysian fans comes from the organization and high awareness of the fans. Bukit Zalil Stadium has separate stands with the requirement to wear shoes, wear the home team shirt, absolutely no smoking during the match, and must stand and sing throughout the match. The atmosphere during the match was very passionate, they sang for an hour to the point that I had difficulty breathing. Partly because Bukit Zalil Stadium is built underground, the humidity is high. And after the rain, my phone, computer and camera had to be wiped constantly because the water vapor made them blurry.

Reporter Trung Kien at Malaysia National Stadium. Photo: PV

Once again the Internet nightmare came. The 4G network between 90,000 spectators could not work, the Wifi provided by the Organizing Committee did not cover the stadium. And so every time I needed to send photos and articles, I had to run up to the press area on the 3rd floor. That day alone, I moved up and down the field at least 10 times to be able to send photos back. Tired, hungry and in the middle of the match, we only had time to eat fast food prepared by the Organizing Committee, raw instant noodles. Because after the match there would be a press conference. Everything had to be very urgent and ready to work at any time.

It was so hard, overcoming difficulties in working conditions, without colleagues but I still dispelled the fatigue. Firstly, because of the passion, responsibility and trust that the leaders had given me. And also, that day, the Vietnam team played a great match, scoring 2 goals first and twice I was able to celebrate the victory in my own way./.

AFF Cup 2018: Fox News interviews Nghe An Newspaper reporter about the atmosphere before the final match

(Baonghean.vn) - Faced with the reality of tens of thousands of people waiting all night to buy tickets, Fox Sports (part of Fox News) - a famous Asian sports newspaper interviewed a reporter from Nghe An Newspaper who was working at the AFF Cup 2018.