Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
We flew from Jakarta into Kuala Lumpur, forced to leave Indonesia before our visas expired. Luckily, Sofia's parents have some family friends, Lisa and Jimmy, who live there so we arrived in yet another huge city but this time with free accommodation. Finding our way from the airport to their house was surprisingly easy: public transport in Malaysia is far more advanced than anywhere in Indonesia and much cheaper too. It was so nice once again to be in someone's home, and we spent the evening walking the dogs and helping cook dinner.
Our one day in KL was put to good use. First stop were the Batu Caves, which house brightly coloured temples and are guarded by a giant golden statue of the Hindu deity Murugan. From there we went into the centre of KL and met with Jimmy's intern, Conor, who had been given the afternoon off so that he could show us around the city. Before meeting him all we knew about him was that he was a very tall Canadian, so we're still surprised we did manage to find one another. We went to lunch at a cheap restaurant and somehow managed to rack up an unsually large bill: Martha accidentally got one expensive shrimp and Sofia found herself with an entire bird on her plate. We walked on, crossing the park under the Petronas twin towers, only for Sofia to realise she'd left her handbag in the restaurant. We quick marched back, and somehow were lucky enough that one of the staff had picked it up and nothing was missing. This probably wasn't the best first impression of us for Conor as we tried to explain that we'd never done anything this careless in our three months of travelling.
Second time lucky, we crossed the park again and headed for Chinatown, stopping for drinks on the way. We also decided to try some of the local fruit to mixed results: mangosteen was a big favourite, while the infamous durian was less than pleasant. It had a custardy texture and left a foul taste in our mouth long after we'd finished eating. We walked through the stalls in Chinatown and bought some green rice and coconut based sweets in an attempt to get rid of the taste of durian. We then explored the Central market, where the owner of an antiques shop showed us a guitar and proceeded to serenade us as we looked through his ecleptic mix of old british artifacts and even a rickety Canadian tricycle. On our way out we also passed a fish foot spa, and on discovering Sofia had never done it before, Conor and Martha encouraged her to give it a try. This did not end well: hoards of fish attacking your feet is not a sensation Sofia enjoyed and her screams attracted a small crowd (unsurprisingly none of whom volunteered to try it for themselves).
We then stopped for roti, which is the Malysian version of naan bread, before going to meet Conor's friend Heather at the Helibar. This is literally a bar on a helicopter pad (with no safety net) and we arrived just after sunset, as the lights of KL were appearing. We'd opted for this, rather than climbing the famous Petronus Towers as it was cheaper, included a drink and you got to see the entire skyline instead of being part of it. The skyline was incredible, and it was definitely an exciting place to sit with a helicopter themed cocktail. After a much cheaper dinner, we were dropped off at Jimmy and Lisa's fairly satisfied with how much of the city we'd seen and especially with all the different foods we'd tried. It makes such a difference when you experience a place with someone who knows it well.
- comments