The shops near the hospital

After finishing at the hospital I decided to take a walk down the road to explore a bit. It was still raining (although the storm had died down a lot from earlier) and generally there was quite a dreary atmosphere.

I eventually reached a street with quite a few shops. They all looked quite old, run down and dirty but at the same time they were quite a cool contrast to the brand new, sparklingly clean and modern looking shopping centres. Saying that I didn't find anything that really interested me and I felt quite uncomfortable as lots of people were standing around in large groups waiting for the rain to stop and every time I went past them they'd all turn and stare (i'm sure they must have seen non-malaysians before). Ok people have tended to stare at me here before due to my height and the fact that i'm blatantly foreign but they were never as blatant or intense and they always appeared much more friendly about it (all the Malaysians i've met here have been extremely friendly and kind). Then, when I went into a big shop there (it sold all sorts of things it seemed), I could see all the people working there staring at me and laughing. I carried on walking and ignored them and then a man ran up to me, stopped me and said something about my bag and that I have to leave. I couldn't really understand him but he was pointing at something outside the shop and was saying 'bag' so I walked out with him. He got a woman who also worked there and spoke some english to come over. She told me I couldn't have my bag in the shop so, feeling confused, I just said, 'oh, ok then, sorry' and walked off. I still haven't a clue what that was all about but they must have their reasons.