HUMIDITY, HEAT AND SMOG
FIRST DAY IN SOUTH EAST ASIA
Arriving in Kuala Lumpur and the first thing I remember was the smell. Not in a bad way, those smells were more confined to particular areas or streets the same as you would get in any big city. But the smell of Asia, a mix of heat and humidity, something I would be getting used to over the next year or so. The train from the airport to the city is one of the strangest commutes I have ever had. The airport is surrounded by a rainforest, which made for a stunning train ride until we got to the city and from then it was all about the food.
ASIAN CITIES = STREET FOOD & ROOFTOP BARS
WHERE IS KUALA LUMPAR?
MY FIRST DAY IN SOUTH EAST ASIA
Arrived in the hostel (Backhome Hostel) at 10a.m. after getting no sleep during my ridiculous flight (story link) I was straight back out to do a food tour. I didn’t even have time to change my wine stained clothes! It was arranged purely to make sure I didn’t go to sleep and to give me time to adjust to the new timezone. Sounded like a good idea at the time!
FOOD TOUR
I will hand it to the street food here in KL it was great, just a shame the guide seemed more interested in talking. Little India and China Town were the main visits and both good experiences. , it wasn’t until Peter, the tour guide taught me how the Asians use their hands to eat their food that I looked around and realised there wasn’t a knife or fork to be seen! It’s so common that almost every restaurant have sinks beside the tables. Its something that I will end up taking for granted as my travels takes me across Asia.
Chicken feet
In the evening we went to a helipad bar on top of one of the skyscrapers with 3 others from the hostel. It all sounds real nice but it was a terrible cocktail bar which only allowed you 5 minutes on the helipad before you had to go back down. The haze was sooo bad we couldn’t make much out, another thing I would have to get used to during my time in Asia. After it was then out to Chinatown to have a look at the food stalls where I was truly amazed at what they sell!! I went for the claypot chicken over the frog, one of the girls had fried broccoli.
PETRONAS TOWERS
The next day was spent at the Petronas Towers, previously the worlds tallest buildings and connected by a sky bridge on the 41st floor. I always find it amusing people going up these iconic buildings when the city is best viewed with them in it, unless of course the there is an observatory, but with the current haze situation there is no chance.
The Petronas Towers through the smog
CURRY DONUTS
After we decided we wanted involved in KL bizarre cuisine again and headed to an area called Buckit Bintang for a curry donut which was a bit sickening but surprisingly tasty! The it was off to central market which is full of cookie stalls so we decided to play a game and see how many free samples we could eat before getting told to leave. Malaysians are surprisingly generous! Then as you tend to do in most Asian cities, we headed to another rooftop bar which was part of another hostel, nothing exciting but the girls were a bit disappointed as they were showing the football.
KUALA LUMPUR’S SECRET INGREDIENT
The next day we found a breakfast market to try out before I had to catch my flight. It was in the middle of no where so it was all locals. This is the type of place I enjoy as you usually get to experience something completely unique but I wasn’t expecting what was to come.
One of the vendors recommended a traditional coffee as there is a secret ingredient in it so the lot of us decided we wanted in on it and I was still fighting jetlag so was keen to see if it would help. She picks up a pot of tea and pours some in, then a pot of coffee and then she goes into a cabinet and says “secret ingredient”. Out she pulls a jar of Nescafé, “secret, don’t tell” she says, we’ve been had here!
This humour is something I’ll grow to love about Asia and their people. She was then kind enough to offer some traditional toast – butter and sugar! Not what I had expected but a good choice as my first destination in Asia and blended me in nicely to begin my Asia travels. KL doesn’t have the chaos like Bangkok or Manila does but has some of the most incredible street food I have experienced. Hostel was great, good crowd in it.
My first day in South East Asia
NEXT UP
I head to Chiang Mai where my love affair for Thailand begins! Click to read!
SAFE TRAVELS, DS x
19/229
This episode is part of The South East Asia Series, click to see episode 1.
