FEATURE Mapui is Mizo and he is leaving for the United States. He has lived as a refugee for years in Malaysia. He is departing with this girlfriend who is a Hakha, a closely related but different ethnic group from the border of Myanmar and India.

Though their flight only leaves for Hong Kong - where they will catch the first of several connecting flights before they eventually land in Oklahoma - they have to be at the Kuala Lumpur headquarters of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees at 4am. As refugees, they cannot embark on their own.

They have called a few friends to their home in a dilapidated tenement in Pudu, a place mostly inhabited by Myanmar residents (especially Chins, and in particular Hakha), just a stone throw's away from Jalan Imbi and Bukit Bintang. Their friends will stay up with them until the time for departure comes.

Mapui ( left ) and his girlfriend have shared a relatively large room - at least bigger than would have been the case in Bukit Bintang, where rooms inhabited by Myanmar workers can be small to tiny. It has a balcony overlooking the street.

In fact, when I arrive with a few of Mapui's friends, he is not there but instead sitting just across the road. He is waiting for his nasi goreng from a stall on the street along with some of his other friends. It is his last meal in Malaysia.

I know almost everybody around the table. They are all guys, and they are Mizo like Mapui. There are a few girls too, but these stay upstairs in the apartment. Every now and then, Mapui's girlfriend waves to him from her balcony, and he waves back in response. It is full moon over Pudu and the temperature is quite pleasant...