One Year Away

Joe and Penny

Kuala Lumpur, or KL as those on the travelers circuit call it, was not a place we intended to visit.  But it is a hub for discount airline AirAsia so we made our way there to catch a cheap flight to Indonesia.  We were in Hat Yai in south Thailand so it was easy to catch an overnight bus to KL.  We coughed up the extra few dollars to go on a “Super VIP Bus”, which for once was actually as advertised.  It had only 24 seats and each one reclined almost to horizontal.  You really learn to appreciate the difference in buses when you travel on them as much as we do.

We were groggy when we got off the bus at 5 AM but we were immediately approached by taxi drivers offering to drive us to our guesthouse.  The first offer was 30 ringgit ($10 CAD).  Penny, armed with our guidebook, did some quick calculations and told the man that the maximum we would pay was 10 ringgit, which, she added, was double the going rate.  The man was clearly embarrassed to have been caught in his attempt to grossly overcharge us, and by a sleepy foreign woman at that!  He walked off and ordered all the other taxi drivers not to take us.  So we had to go down the street a bit until we found someone who gladly took us for 10 ringgit. 

We had 48 hours to spend in Kuala Lumpur before we had to catch our flight to Jakarta, Indonesia.  So we made a plan to hit the top sights in the city; Petronas Towers – the tallest buildings in the world, some beautiful old colonial style buildings, the national mosque, Chinatown and a trendy ex-pat neighborhood.  Of course our plan included eating well too.  We wanted to sample authentic Malaysian food but also wanted to dose-up on some western favorites before hitting the wilds of Indonesia.

Our first culinary stop was on our way to visit the Petronas Towers when we spotted a street side restaurant that was packed with local office workers.  We took a seat and a kind waiter took the time to explain to us the house specialties in English.  We ordered a curry set that was served on a banana leaf and a Malaysian noodle dish.  We topped that with two freshly squeezed apple juices.  Most of the patrons ate their meal using their right hand; we opted for a fork and spoon.  It was delicious and cheap.

We spent the day visiting the Petronas towers and the Suria KLCC which is a huge mall attached to the towers.  Just when we wanted to continue with our city tour, it began to rain.  That was the perfect excuse to enjoy a movie at the Suria movie theater.   We don’t think that A Night at the Museum will win any Academy Awards but it was the first movie that we have watched in a theater in the past 4 months and we enjoyed it.

Ready for dinner, we took advantage of being in a cosmopolitan city and headed to a Spanish tapas restaurant.  The Bangsar neighborhood is full of trendy western places where ex-pats and wealthy locals hang out and spend their cash.  The meal at La Bodega was one of the best we’ve had since we started the trip and it was a nice change from Asian food.  Sangria, fried goat cheese, croquettas, garlic shrimp and crema catalana…mmmm, delicious!

Malaysia is predominantly Muslim and this makes it somewhat different from the parts of Asia we have already visited.  Most women wore head scarves, the call to prayer rang through the streets throughout the day and pork was found only in Chinese restaurants.  There are significant Chinese and Indian minorities too and they seem to get along with each other and the Malays.  We saw groups of people from all backgrounds eating together or hanging out in the mall.  This was a little surprising given the racism we sometimes saw in other parts of Asia.

Dinner on our second night was in the busy Chinatown neighborhood close to our guesthouse.  We ate a filling and inexpensive meal and went to see the dried meat shop next door.  The Chinese-run shop specialized in dried pork. They offered us a taste of their cooked bacon which was in a large pile behind a glass counter.  It was the best bacon I’ve (Joseph) ever tasted, and I’ve had my share of bacon!  How funny, we thought, to be having such excellent bacon in a Muslim country. 

The next day we left after a too short stay in Kuala Lumpur.  We landed in Jakarta, Indonesia…a very, very different place.    

All the pictures for this post except the one disappeared in a mysterious technical glitch…I’ll try to put them up next time.