Day Seven: Kuala Lumpur is a sleeper hit

Day Seven

Today I'm in: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Well, I was in Kuala Lumpur.  Yesterday was a little bit of a whirlwind tour of KL, and by the time I got back to my hotel it was 11pm and I was exhausted.  So I'm actually writing yesterday's entry on Kuala Lumpur today, in Langkawi.  Details, details.  

When I decided to visit KL, I immediately knew I had to get in touch with my former coworker and friend Mien Dee, whom I helped hire from Indiana University back in 2008 during my days as a Diamond campus recruiter.  Mien Dee's originally from Malaysia, and after going to college and working in the States for a few years, she moved back to KL last year.  We used to talk about travel all the time and she issued a standing invitation to show me around if I was ever in Malaysia, so I took her up on it.  

I'm glad I had a local to show me around, because it turns out that Kuala Lumpur is actually pretty awesome.  After a few days in Singapore I was ready for a city with a little more chaos on the streets, and KL delivers that in spades - but it's still a clean, modern and above all, green city.  The metro area rolls across a bunch of hills and valleys and the city planners have done a great job preserving a lot of the woodlands and working them into the city.  I came in from the airport on the 'Airport Ekspres' train that whisks you downtown in less than half an hour.  The view as we came in was of palm oil plantations, modern high-rise apartments, big, wide landscaped parkways and lots of office towers and tightly packed neighborhoods.  

Mien Dee picked me up at my hotel and we set off on an eight-hour tour of as much of the city as possible.  First up was lunch - I hadn't gotten to try nasi lemak, a signature Malay dish, in Singapore, and so we headed to a restaurant that served it right up.  Nasi lemak consists of chicken cooked in coconut milk and curry, sticky rice, and sambal, a flavorful condiment made from vegetables and anchovies.  The sambal was a little bit too fishy for me (I had a few tastes of it, though) but the rest of it was great. 

After lunch we made a quick stop at the Petronas Towers, the erstwhile tallest buildings in the world (they got beaten out by the Burj Dubai a few years ago).  The towers were designed by Cesar Pelli and take the shape of an Islamic star.  At the base of the tower there's a massive shopping hall, philharmonic orchestra, and a vast park with a lake and view across the rest of downtown KL.  The famous bridge that connects the two towers halfway up is the only observation platform (amazingly, there's nothing at the top for visitors) and they only issue a limited number of tickets each day.  Per Mien Dee, on a busy Sunday we didn't have a prayer of getting tickets, so we settled for a view from the bottom. 

From the towers we headed to the Bangsar district, which is popular with expats and well-to-do Malaysians (so there are lots of Western restaurants, coffee bars, and malls) but is also home to a bustling Sunday night market.  According to Mien Dee, some markets specialize in Malay items, others in Chinese items (Malaysia is about a quarter Chinese), and others are mixed.  This one was mostly Malay, although there were some Chinese vendors there as well.  I tried some of the produce (they had just about fruit you can think of there), and a stick of freshly-cooked chicken satay.  I also discovered sirap bandung, which is a cold drink made from milk and rose cordial syrup that I am going to need to drink every day for the rest of my time here.  

After seeing all that food, we were ready to eat again, so we went to Rebung, a buffet restaurant run by Malaysian celebrity chef Ismail.  One of the staff gave me a tour of the entire buffet and basically insisted I try everything.  I can't even remember all the stuff I ate - on the right are fruits tossed in peanut sauce, and one the left are banana fritters, green mango and papaya salad, curried chicken, bitter peas and several different kinds of sambal, including one made with fermented durian fruit.  For dessert I got to make my own ice kachang (they have it in Malaysia, too!) 

After dinner we were both stuffed (lunch had only been a few hours before) but we moved on to Sky Bar, on the 33rd floor of the Traders Hotel, where we got to have a few drinks and admire the view of the KL skyline at night (that's where we took the picture at the beginning of this entry).  

All in all I was bummed out that I only had one day and night in Kuala Lumpur.  It's a really fascinating city with much more to see and do than I was expecting.  It helps to know a local (thanks, Mien Dee!) but even without that, I'd recommend a visit very highly.  Today I moved to Langkawi, where I'm just getting settled and will hopefully be back with an entry tonight.  

Finally, just for Michelle, here is a picture of the koi pond at Changi Airport in Singapore.