First night in KL
July 3, 2008 by rockportrait
On arrival at KL I was met by a couple of journalist acquaintances. One works locally as a researcher, and the other is a photojournalist working out of Singapore. They were both quite focussed on the Anwar issue amongst other things, so I didn’t really get to spend much time with them, but we did get dinner.
KL is a city of neon and traffic jams. It also has the busiest and most chaotic bus terminal I’ve ever seen. In fact, Jalan Pudu, the road on which my hotel resides, seems to be the one road that all buses and taxis in Asia use. Therefore if I want to get anywhere in a hurry I walk to another, better flowing road first before calling a cab. I don’t understand why so many people want to travel to other parts of Asia by bus every night, at all hours, but I guess the TV isn’t good enough to keep them home. The Indians seem to do it more than most.
It’s also an intriguing mix of modern architecture with run-down or old dwellings. At nights, think Bangkok meets Sydney.
Another Asian city, another Scorpions reference – this time on the busiest road in KL, outside my hotel’s bus stop.
Dinner was at a curbside, open Chinese restaurant. But not the type we have at home. I couldn’t read the menu, understand the staff, or recognise anything in the pictures, so I left my fate in the hands of my local guide and dinner partner. I did OK with some well-cooked, white fish, some watery soup that seemed to be just there to use up table space, and some fried frog legs that tasted like spicy chicken. I had no idea that the Chinese ate frogs, but I didn’t care as I was starving and it was the only substantial food on offer. I ate all of them!
Whilst savoring roasted ribbits, I noticed some fairly significant movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see what I initially thought was a squirrel scurrying from one piece of vegetation to another. It wasn’t a squirrel. Apparently it’s also quite common in KL and nothing to make a fuss about, even if it is running around the outsides of a restaurant.
A respected photojournalist hard at work in a dark hotel room at 11pm. Our news-bringers never sleep. I know that first hand now. All I’ll say about that is that they should. The results are rarely appreciated as much as the effort that is invested.
Neon neon neon. Oh, and Canon. Not a single Nikon sign anywhere so far. KL is also Coca Cola city, as opposed to Bangkok’s obsession with the sickly sweet and relatively flat beverage that is Pepsi. I also discovered that the reason Asia serves terrible hot coffee is that they do very good iced coffee.
The highlight of supper was exploring the wine list. Chilean and Spanish wines are big here. There are some Aussie wines, but surprisingly few. I think the Asian taste bud prefers the more tangy or unusual South American grape varieties. Shiraz is rare here.
