It had been a looooong day by the time we made it into Kuala Lumpur. I was nervous we would experience another late night Delhi fiasco but KL is a totally different kettle o' fish!
We got a train, cheap, clean and fast, then a taxi also cheap, clean and fast. We drove around for a while trying to find our hotel. The taxi driver was having a bit of trouble but was so lovely and felt really bad because he couldn't find it. Then we found it. Wow what a story! I can see why I kept this one for the opening blog. Are you hooked?
Anywho, first day involved plenty of strolling around like a couple of love birds. We started the day with a cup of frothy ginger tea from an Indian food hall up the road. Tasted like the real Indian deal! Our hotel is right next to Chinatown so we ventured around tasting some delectable and some not so delectable treats.
Then we changed things up a bit and went to Little India where we became celebrities! Just after we had finished eating our thali and pooris a couple of young girls came over to our table lugging filming gear with them. They were from the local journalist school and were making video interviews of people around the area. We modestly agreed to the filming. This was it! Our 10 minutes of fame coming up!! We had to talk about why we chose to eat at that Indian restaurant and why we visited Brickfields. We had to lie to them because the lunch we had just eaten was pretty crap but we told them it was delicious!
With fame swelling our heads we decided we deserved a massage. After getting lost a bit (get used to that) we finally found what we were looking for, Shujin Massage! This place was run by those who cannot see but can feel with the best of them. Yep, you guessed it...they were deaf! And by deaf I mean blind. Although Frosty's audiologist senses were tingling and he could sense that someone there possibly had at one point in their life suffered with slight hearing loss. Needless to say the massages were awesome! Frosty got to keep his kit on while I was a nudey rudey. What were they going to see? I had a lady though, which was good! Frosty's guy sounded like he had had an awesome lunch coz he kept ripping the biggest.....burps! (You wish Nick!)
Relaxed and rested we got lost juuuuust a little bit longer trying to find this restaurant that was famous for a delicious delight called Ikan Bakar. We never found it but lord how we tried. That night we found awesome street food just up the road from our hotel (which was called the Explorer's Guesthouse and was pretty nice). We gorged on BBQ'd delights like chicken, corn, prawn, octopus and mystery meat!
Batu caves are some caves at the top of lots of stairs guarded by monkeys who steal peoples drink bottles. See below.
We then walked up the stairs and were lucky enough to witness a Hindu ceremony. They had a guy playing some sort of drum and another dude playing an Indian instrument that sort of looked like a clarinet but sounded nothing like it! It was really cool and sounded kinda Jazzy (Frosty probably disagrees. I don't know stuff)
We slept in a room with no windows!
Just kidding! So we went for a looong walk trying to find the Skybar that is on level 33 of a hotel and overlooks the Petronas. Success!! We found it and without getting too lost! There was even a window seat available in the Skybar. Say whaaat? It was a super swank looking bar with a lap pool smack bang in the middle of it.
It was closed though so we had to be content with sipping cocktails, eating deliciously expensive snacks and admiring the million dollar view. Easier said than done. Actually no, it was pretty easy. It refueled us as we mentally prepared for the looong walk back to the train station.
Getting our tickets at the station Frosty gives me one of those 'Oh shit' looks. You know, the kind when you realise you've left your wallet at the top of a massive building about 50,000 kms away. 'What is it?' I was almost too scared to ask. 'We just walked out without paying the bill!' Hayooooooooooooooooooooo. High fives all round!
The final day we decided to dedicate to eating really good food. We hadn't had the best of luck finding the awesome eateries we had read about but that was all about to change. Or was it? well, you'll just have to keep reading.
This was it, our day to shine and bask in our own glory!!! We caught the train (which we are profesh at catching) to Kampang Baru and hopped off at an empty station. 'Ooh what way should we go? Left or right?' We pondered. We decided on left, or as we called it, lucky left!
So left we turned and after turning left we continued to walk in the direction of left. On we walked. On and on and also on. We came to a busy street. Crossed it like a couple of chickens to what we thought was some food stalls which was in fact a moto repair place. So on we walked! After a good 45 minutes we stumbled across a Gloria Jeans! No kidding! So we basked in its air conditioned glory while we checked our maps. Ah, I see we need to keep walking for ages more! Got it! On we walked for another 45 minutes until finally, finally we see the yellow market stands that indicate a party in your mouth is about to happen!!
Can you feel it? I said, can you feel it?!!!! Nasi lemak, dumplings, noodles, grilled meat, ikan bakar, things that start with 'm', samosas! ohhh deliciousness how i will devour thee!! I'm reminded of a lotus flower in full bloom with its heady aroma and soft petals opening up to reveal all its beauty and the way they...
"They're shut." Frosty
"What?"
"Yeh, they're shut its Ramadan"
What the f###!?!?
So on we walked. We spotted a sign for the train station. It took us abut 2 minutes to walk back and upon our arrival at the station I noticed that at this very moment in time we were approaching the station from the right. Our lucky left had been oh so wrong. About 2 hours wrong. How you betrayed us lucky left.
So back on the train back to China town! We found a lady cooking a big pot of laksa (not even Chinese) and dug in!! Satisfaction guaranteed! Then we gorged on mangosteens before heading off to the airport for our flight to Beijing.
Stay tuned for more episodes of 'Kat and Frosty walk around aimlessly and achieve very little'
Crunch n Sip - food we've eaten (get it? get it?)
-Samosas with chicken, egg and veg straight from the fryer mmmm
-Ice blocks; jackfruit, dragon fruit, mango and our fav soursop ( sort of like a giant custard apple)
-Fruit; dragon fruit, mangosteens and normal stuff
-Rotis, the real crispy, fluffy kind from Malaysia that are really cool to see being made
-Thali with an assortment of veg curries. The daahl has been off tap!
-Crispy dosa filled with potato curry
-Rice noodle with spring onion and chili. Served Luke warm...risky but yummy. Tasted like handmade noodles.
-Self serve BBQ where you pick your own skewers. We had octopus, chicken,fish balls, prawns, mystery meat (looked like salami but I read later that it was chicken coins or something? It was daaaaayummm good!), and vegies of course.
-Nasi lemak. A well famous Malaysian dish with coconut rice, toasted peanuts, dried fish (tiny, possibly anchovy), boiled egg, fried chicken, fresh cucumber and a sambal or sauce that was packed with anchovies!