It seems that we hadn't had enough of people and crowds in Thailand, so we decided to make our way to Malaysia and the metropolis of Kuala Lumpur (KL), 1.6 million people spread out over a city of 243 kms (94 sq miles for our American friends). Of course, we decided to stay in the most populated area, Chinatown, which was gearing up for Chinese New Year. The lovely Five Elements Hotel was right in the center of everything.
We dropped our luggage and immediately headed across the street to the Fat Brother's food stall where they displayed a variety of meat, vegetables, fish, and dumplings on skewers. They happily grilled the meat for us while we settled at a table in the street with our own "hot pot" to boil the veggies and dumplings. After we ate our fill, they simply added up the number of skewers we had consumed. Dinner for two with a large Tiger beer - around $25 - more expensive than Thailand but still manageable.
After satisfying our hunger and thirst we decided to explore the streets of Chinatown. A fascinating place full of people and vendors all crammed in to narrow streets full of noise and commotion. During the day you could walk among the stalls and keep away from vendors trying to haul you in to buy their wares. There were various meat vendors, roasting chesnuts, clothing vendors, fruit and veggie vendors, electronics carts (Ken stopped at every one) and various and sundry restaurants of every type imaginable.
At night the previously manageable streets became almost impassible as they added an extra row of merchant stalls down the middle, forcing people to walk single file. Ken being bigger than pretty much every other person in KL just strolled along like he was at a garden party, while I had to keep stepping into stalls to avoid the crush of people coming from the opposite direction. Once you're in, the merchants have you and it's all bets off. For him the noise, people, sights and smells were heaven - for me, claustrophobic, hating shopping and being touched by strangers - it was like descending to the seventh level of hell.
Bargaining with the street vendors in KL is a must. Ken bought a good quality leather belt - although the vendor started at 110 Malaysian Ringits, after some hard bargaining Ken got it for 30, or about $10 Cdn. In addition, I now own four scarf/blouses that can be worn in multiple ways. We had seen these in old-town St. Augustine, Florida for around $90. I'm not really sure how much I like them, but he had so much fun bargaining them down to about $10 each, so they're coming home with me anyway.
On a different note, we decided we wanted some "home cooking" once night and spotted a Kentucky Fried Chicken down the street. Just so you know, the 11 herbs and spices used for KFC in Malaysia are not 11 kinds of salt. I could discern chile, cumen, coriander, turmeric, among other things. Interesting and sightly tongue tingling, but yummy.
We dropped our luggage and immediately headed across the street to the Fat Brother's food stall where they displayed a variety of meat, vegetables, fish, and dumplings on skewers. They happily grilled the meat for us while we settled at a table in the street with our own "hot pot" to boil the veggies and dumplings. After we ate our fill, they simply added up the number of skewers we had consumed. Dinner for two with a large Tiger beer - around $25 - more expensive than Thailand but still manageable.
After satisfying our hunger and thirst we decided to explore the streets of Chinatown. A fascinating place full of people and vendors all crammed in to narrow streets full of noise and commotion. During the day you could walk among the stalls and keep away from vendors trying to haul you in to buy their wares. There were various meat vendors, roasting chesnuts, clothing vendors, fruit and veggie vendors, electronics carts (Ken stopped at every one) and various and sundry restaurants of every type imaginable.
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| Roasted duck for take out. |
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| The original "meat wagon" |
At night the previously manageable streets became almost impassible as they added an extra row of merchant stalls down the middle, forcing people to walk single file. Ken being bigger than pretty much every other person in KL just strolled along like he was at a garden party, while I had to keep stepping into stalls to avoid the crush of people coming from the opposite direction. Once you're in, the merchants have you and it's all bets off. For him the noise, people, sights and smells were heaven - for me, claustrophobic, hating shopping and being touched by strangers - it was like descending to the seventh level of hell.
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| The manageable daytime streets |
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| Nighttime on the same street - aargh! |
Bargaining with the street vendors in KL is a must. Ken bought a good quality leather belt - although the vendor started at 110 Malaysian Ringits, after some hard bargaining Ken got it for 30, or about $10 Cdn. In addition, I now own four scarf/blouses that can be worn in multiple ways. We had seen these in old-town St. Augustine, Florida for around $90. I'm not really sure how much I like them, but he had so much fun bargaining them down to about $10 each, so they're coming home with me anyway.
On a different note, we decided we wanted some "home cooking" once night and spotted a Kentucky Fried Chicken down the street. Just so you know, the 11 herbs and spices used for KFC in Malaysia are not 11 kinds of salt. I could discern chile, cumen, coriander, turmeric, among other things. Interesting and sightly tongue tingling, but yummy.
Wow! The food! The Sights! The People! Kuala Lumpur looks to be a city of sensory overload and maybe a location that we might want to ease into slowly. Luckily we'll have you two to ask our many questions of and find out your recommendations... But what fun!
ReplyDeleteWow! The food! The Sights! The People! Kuala Lumpur looks to be a city of sensory overload and maybe a location that we might want to ease into slowly. Luckily we'll have you two to ask our many questions of and find out your recommendations... But what fun!
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