The Muddy Confluence
4th December, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Considering the time that we have spent (and would be spending) in Malaysia, we've done a lot of socialising and meeting up with people. Before getting here, I would never have said that I knew many - or any - people in the country that I'd be able to call in on. However, with Manda's university friends and relatives and the group that we met in Vietnam that's all changed. Instead of breezing through Malaysia, we've had to plan when we can slot people in to our hectic schedule ("Let me see if I have a window on Saturday ... yes, we can make it.")
With Malacca and Singapore still on our list of places to see, we might be forgiven for heading off today. It's Saturday in KL, and we are due to fly from Singapore on Wednesday. But then Ching Yee and Siew Ling had offered to meet up, show us a few places around the city and introduce us to some more Malaysian dishes, so how could we not stay around an extra day?
We began by meeting up at Ikano Power Centre, the shopping centre that Gary has dropped us off at before, either to use the free Internet access or the free shuttle bus to the light rail network. It seemed like a good place to start from - there was no way, or very little chance, that Ching Yee would be able to find Gary and Anita's house without some guidance. From there we headed into the centre of KL, parking up near Merdeka Square, also known as Independence Square. It is so named because this is the spot where Malaysia officially severed its ties with its colonial rulers (that being the British) in 1957. It really was a little slice of England - a nice green lawn, some tudor style buildings lining it and across the road, an attractive arrangement of bricks that is the Sultan Abdul Samed Building. The building is part Victorian and part Moorish in design and serves as the country's supreme court.
Ian and Manda standing in front of Sultan Abdul Samed Building.
We continued walking around the building to the side that backs on to the river, just up from the two rivers - Sungai Gombok and Sungai Klang - that join to give KL its name. Literally, Kuala Lumpur means 'muddy confluence' and even today the confluence of these two rivers is looking brown and dirty. Over the bridge, we had a brief look around the central market, then sat down for an early snack - some 'teh tarik' (translation: pull tea; the tea is poured from an ever-increasing height which makes the tea quite frothy) and a plate of rojak, another local dish sold by Indian vendors.
It was nice to take a break from the heat and humidity outside for a while but soon enough we were up on our feet and making our way to our next destination, Masjid Jamek. This is one of the most important mosques in KL, if not the most attractive, because it sits right at the join of the two rivers where the first tin miners set foot in KL and established the community there. To take a look around, Manda, Ching Yee and Siew Ling all had to cover up using the provided robes and head scarves.
Siew Ling, Ching Yee and Manda don cloaks and hair scarves to enter the
Masjid Jamek Mosque.
Everyone is smiling in the photos, but believe me when I tell you that this was just too hot a day for adding layers, so we did a quick circuit of the mosque and then the girls handed back the robes as quickly as possible.
We had lunch at a place called The Coliseum (sic) that, according to the guide books, has been serving food and drink since the 1920s. According to me, they haven't used a paintbrush or bottle of spray cleaner since that time, either. The place certainly 'had character' and was reknowned for its steaks. They were obviously making a good living off their reputation, clean walls or otherwise, as the steaks were just too pricy for me. Instead I opted for a rice dish that was the size of a small mountain and tried some chicken satay, another local speciality.
Our next stop on the Ching Yee and Siew Ling touring experience was the national museum. We hadn't been to any museums in Malaysia yet, and I was interested to see what would be inside, partly because Malaysia is so multicultural that there is no single nation identity's history to speak of. As I always do in such places, I breezed through the exhibits, occasionally stopping to take a closer at something behind the glass only to forget it moments later. Really, I do like some museums but I find that I don't ever really take it all in, what with skipping every other display.
We finished the day with a visit to the Bangsar district of KL, an area that is known as an ex-pat hang-out, and an expensive one too. We weren't staying for long though, just enough time to try out an iced kacang (pronounced 'kachang'). This is something like ice cream - shaved ice with sweet sauces and condensed milk at the top, and at the base, some jelly and sweetcorn. Hang on, corn? Since when did an ice cream-like dessert have vegetables in it? Oh, and there were beans in the bottom, too. Ching Yee and Siew Ling thought it was a perfectly normal thing to have ("I like the corn," said Siew Ling), so I tried to explain that, to me, it was as strange a concept as having an ice cream with mushy peas at the base (assuming that they knew what mushy peas were, of course)! I really liked the kacang, but noticably slowed down when I started reaching that suspiciously yellow portion in the dessert bowl.
Having spent an enjoyable afternoon with Ching Yee and Siew Ling, we were dropped, once more, at the Power Centre for our now traditional meeting point. We said our goodbyes and promised to stay in touch and to visit each other if we happened to be in each other's respective countries again.
In the evening we had one final meal with Gary and Anita, again at the Indian place we had eaten at two days. Anita had evidently noticed how I had so readily devoured the tandoori and decided that it was a good option. And she was right. When it came to payment time, I had an awkward moment because I wanted to pay for the meal as a thank you for them puting us up, but as I stood up to go and settle it, Gary grabbed hold of my arm with a vice-like grip and fixed me with a stare that said 'don't even think about it'; I actually wondered if my arm might have a bruise the next day, he was that insistent! Unlike our experience with the generous people in Penang (who wouldn't accept any money for petrol), we weren't in a position to thrust the money in his pocket and do a runner. Because Gary was driving.
We had one last trip out around KL, heading out from the area to Shah Alam, a different state entirely from KL's (Selangor) for one reason - to see the Blue Mosque. We had seen postcards with the image of this impressive building on, but had no idea where it was. Given the drive it took to get there, we would not have found it by accident, nor would we have had the persistence to get there by bus, so it was very good of Gary to take us out there.
The Blue Mosque at Shah Alam.
To finish the evening, we watched a Hong Kong action film accompanied with a few beers and made promises to be up at a decent time in the morning so that we could get to Malacca in good time. Once again, having got a little settled somewhere - even if it was only a short while - I was feeling a little sad to think that this would be our last night here. Tomorrow we'd be back to our other routine of carrying our oversized baggage from car to bus, bus to taxi, from taxi to hotel, up several flights of stairs (probably) to the room at which point the contents would be spread out over the floor as is our fashion. Living out of a suitcase, eh? But not for much longer.