World Flavor

Revisiting destinations is always interesting. The first time I did that was going to Costa Rica 5 years later. Given that I had been in high school during the initial trip and had graduated from college the second time around, it wasn't surprising that I felt different, and that I saw Costa Rica differently.

But I wasn't sure what it would be like to visit Kuala Lumpur after a year had gone by. It was only a year, could I really have changed that much? Could KL?

The Petronas Towers? Still around.

The answer, it turned out, was that I personally felt very different. Seeing KL again was like reuniting with a much-loved friend. KL hadn't really changed, but I, on the other hand, had.

In the last year, I've gone from being a beginner at this whole traveling thing to a much more seasoned adventurer. I've experienced wondrous places and food. I've said goodbye to friends in South Korea and moved on to a new chapter in my life. I was broken down by theft and slowly healed to become stronger.

So from the very beginning, I felt like a new person stepping through customs. The first time, I was nervous. It was a new country, and even though I'd done my research, that seemed overwhelming. But this time, I powered to the passport control with confidence. I knew Malaysia and besides, a new country was not all that big a deal anymore.

It was thoroughly refreshing to be in a city where I didn't need to look up how to get somewhere. I wasn't hesitant before getting on the public transportation. I didn't need to worry before going into a restaurant that I couldn't decipher the menu. It made me feel like a pro, like I had come so far.

Happily, my memories of Malaysia and especially of the food were accurate and there was no disappointment there. Roti canai was still freaking delicious.

Also delicious: this garlic cheese naan.

Soon I will be seeing Italy again with new eyes – 9 years later. That should be rather interesting.

For me, revisiting KL was a happy occasion that showed me all the ways I've grown in the past year. I found that I really liked my new travel confidence and I really hope I can continue to carry it forward with me in the future.

Have you ever been back to a place you visited before?

We are now in Istanbul after a long flight from KL (11 hours). Luckily we were both able to sleep for most of it. Our time in KL was really nice. We feel like such different people from the ones who visited a year ago.

Days spent in KL: 5

Tourist attractions we saw: Islamic Art Museum, Merdeka Square, KL City Gallery, National Textile Museum

Bloggers we randomly ran into: 2, Sam (Nomadic Samuel) and Audrey (That Backpacker) in KLCC. I'm beginning to suspect I have some sort of running-into-people magic powers.

Movies seen in theaters: 1, Oz the Great and Powerful. Review: meh.

Meals of roti canai: 5, mostly breakfast

Malaysia is definitely one of our favorite countries, and probably our top choice for Southeast Asia. Jeff has summarized it nicely by saying that because it's a Muslim country, the focus is on food and not alcohol, meaning both that the food is good and that the main activity that people like to do is get together and eat. This suits us rather nicely since we don't really drink but we love eating. It's also nice to be somewhere familiar, and somewhere that almost everyone speaks English. KL is really an easy place to travel.

Because we spent so little money, we have decided to do a bit of a different price roundup than usual. Here's a rundown of all the things we spent.

What we spent in KL (a budget for two):

• Total: $203.52
• Total per day: $40.70
• Accommodation: $64.62 (this was for one night at the LCCT Tune Hotel, since our flight arrived so late)
• Food: $59.48
• Transportation: $48.76 (includes bus from airport, LRT, and train to airport)
• Activities: $17.33 (Islamic Art Museum and movie tickets)
• Other: $13.33 (SIM card and top-up)

How did we spend so little? Well, except for the first night, when our flight arrived at midnight, we stayed with a Couchsurfing host. Also, we hung out a couple of times with our friend Soraya who is very generous and refuses to let us pay for food. These factors meant we spent very little, which was good as it allowed us to stay within our $70 per day ideal budget for the course of our time in southern Thailand and Malaysia!

Have you been to KL? Do you prefer this spending roundup style, or our previous one of sharing some random prices?

Kuala Lumpur recently implemented a new type of ticket for their light rail system. If you buy a single trip ticket, you get a little blue token that you swipe on the card reader to enter and deposit in a coin slot to exit.

Mangosteen from a street vendor in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Genovese basil pesto with arugula at Sassorosso, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

A view of Suria KLCC mall next to the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malls are abundant and popular in Malaysia, and a great place to beat the heat or get out of the rain (if it’s monsoon season).

I don’t claim that this is a definitive guide to food in KL, or anything close to that. Instead it is just a list of the places that we ate and whether they’re tasty, and what we ate.

Restoran SS2 Murni

Before we headed to Malaysia, we met up with a couple Malaysian girls who go to Inha University, Bilqis and Shermaine (I met Bilqis through a CouchSurfing friend. Yay for CouchSurfing!). They were kind enough to make us an amazing and comprehensive list of things and places to eat in KL, Melaka, and Penang (Bilqis is from Penang; Shermaine is from Melaka). Bilqis recommended a couple of specific places, and one of them was SS2 Murni. We were very lucky in that when we got to KL, we were able to meet up with someone who lives there. Soraya took us around our first evening – she drove us to SS2 Murni and then around the city! It was very excellent to have a local perspective as well as be able to go non-walking-friendly places.

SS2 Murni is a well-known and very popular Mamak (Tamil Muslim) restaurant in Petaling Jaya, just west of KL. It was pretty crowded when we went at around 7 pm and apparently only gets more so as the night  goes on. We got all the dishes recommended to us, which are some of the more popular ones. Roti Hawaii is like a murtabak (Indian pancake stuffed with stuff) but covered in mayonnaise. We got ours with beef and it was really nice. Mee Raja or King’s Noodles is a big (really big) plate of dry fried noodles with chicken and veggies, and it’s tasty. Loh Shu Fun, or Rat’s Tail Noodles, is fat noodles, ground meat, and some seafood served in a clay pot. It was my least favorite thing there. To drink I got the Ribena Special with was a blended juice drink. Overall the place was really good and rather cheap. However, it’s not easy to get to without a car. You can probably get a cab from Taman Bahagia LRT station. The address is 53 Jalan SS 2/75, 47300 Petaling Jaya.

Jalan Alor

Jalan Alor is a bustling street full of hawker stalls in Bukit Bintang. These are mostly Chinese places. I’m not sure of the name of the stall we ate from, but you should probably just pick one that looks good to you. We got lemon chicken, char kway teow, and some satay. The lemon chicken was fried and lemony and very greasy. Char kway teow is stir-fried flat rice noodles with lots of stuff in it and is quite tasty. Finally satay is some meat on a stick (in this case, chicken) which tastes delicious. Jalan Alor is a great place to grab a bite to eat. It’s an easy walk from Bukit Bintang Monorail Station.

Madam Kwan’s

Madam Kwan’s was the other restaurant in KL that our friend Bilqis recommended by name. We decided to head over and try out the Nasi Lemak (a dish with coconut rice, peanuts, small fish, and sambal, a spicy sauce; it also often includes fried chicken or chicken curry). We also got the Beef Rendang (beef stewed in coconut milk and spices). The food came out super fast. The Nasi Lemak came with Acar or pickled vegetables. It was quite good. The beef rendang, though, was amazing. Jeff thinks it would be great to substitute in something like a pulled pork sandwich; I agree. Madam Kwan’s was easily the best nasi lemak I ate on the trip. And it’s not terribly expensive either – despite being a little fancier than a hawker stall it was still only about $5 each. However there was one major problem we had there. The service was terrible. Sure, the food came out right away. But they didn’t bring the water we ordered. So we waved someone over, asked for water. Ten minutes pass – nothing. This happened about 5 times. The same thing happened with the bill. No one around us seemed to have the same problem though. I don’t know what was going on. If you want to go to Madam Kwan’s, it’s on the top floor of Suria KLCC mall right above the KLCC light rail station (and next to the Petronas Towers).

Uptown Hawkers, Damansara Utama

Uptown Hawkers is a Hawker Center in Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya. What’s a Hawker Center, you ask? It’s a group of more permanent/nicer-looking hawker stalls where you get a table first and then order and tell them where you’re sitting. There are lots of stalls, the most popular of which was a Chinese place from which we got the tofu dish pictured above. Our friend Soraya drove us there on our second night in KL. I got nasi goreng (fried rice) and orange juice. It was pretty good, but I wasn’t amazed by anything. It’s also quite far from any public transportation, and I would recommend sticking to easier-to-get-to hawker places if you don’t have a car.

Petaling Street Eateries

The four nights we stayed in KL (on three separate occasions) were all spent in Chinatown, close to Pasar Seni LRT station. Right in Chinatown you can find Petaling Street, a long row of stalls mostly selling touristy souvenirs and knockoff handbags, shoes, and watches. At the end of the street there’s a smaller street full of places to eat, including a food court. During our second time in KL, we walked over there and picked a place. I definitely took a picture of the name of it but seem to have deleted it (it was blurry) without writing down the name (bad blogger). Anyway, I got chicken curry noodles and an orange soda. I really enjoyed the noodles, they were flavorful and quite spicy. Jeff’s frog porridge, however, was not that good. This street of eateries is not a bad choice for food in KL’s Chinatown.

Sassorosso

On our last night in Malaysia, we decided to go to a fancy restaurant. We had found a Time Out KL magazine with 2011′s best restaurants and looked into them. Fancy dining in KL is really affordable by Western standards. So we decided, why not, let’s go to a really nice Italian place. We chose Sassorosso which was one of the runner-ups for Best Italian (the location was good and price range was not out of our budget). We went with our friend Soraya. I got a Gorgonzola Pizza which also had arugula and truffle oil on it, Jeff got pesto, and Soraya got duck ravioli. I was able to try a little of everything and I have to say it was quite good! My pizza was so delicious. We also got dessert – I got mango and lemon sorbet which was good but not amazing. For about $20 a person, it seemed like a bargain (though not a bargain for Malaysia!). If you have a little extra padding in your budget and you like fine dining, I’d give somewhere in KL a try, as your money stretches further than it would in the US or other places! Sassorosso is at 9 Lorong Yap Kwan Seng, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, about a ten minute walk from KLCC LRT station.

This is just an idea of the variety available in the KL food scene.  If you’re looking for places to eat in KL, I would highly recommend checking out the blog Cumi & Ciki.

Got anywhere to suggest in KL?

Before traveling to Kuala Lumpur, I had heard of the Petronas Twin Towers, of course. They held the title for world’s tallest building for six years, when in 2004 Taipei 101 topped them. They are 1483 feet tall (that’s 451.9 meters). The world’s current tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, is almost twice as high. However the Petronas Towers remain the tallest twin towers and remain rather impressive.

Despite having seen plenty of pictures of the towers, I was not ready for how much they would impress me in real life. It might be because they’re the tallest buildings I’ve seen in person. Maybe it’s the really cool architecture, based in Islāmic art. Having said that, I’m going to show you pictures anyway, because they look cool. Still I bet you’ll find them cooler in person.

The towers were finished in 1998. Tower One, the west tower, is used by Petronas (short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad), a government-owned oil and gas company.

Tower 2, the east tower, has office space for lease by other companies and is used by many companies such as Reuters, Al Jazeera English, Boeing, IBM, and Microsoft.

At the bottom of the buildings lies Suria KLCC, a big fancy shopping mall. It’s connected to the KLCC Light Rail (LRT) stop.

There’s also a 17 acre park around the towers, with a great fountain and a kid’s playground, as well as walking paths.

There’s a skybridge between the two towers at the 41st and 42nd floors. You can go up on the skybridge if you are willing to stand in line for tickets really early in the morning – something like 7 AM (I’m not sure what the best time is, but the office opens at 8:30 so it’ll need to be before then). They only let about 1000 visitors up a day. Tickets used to be free but are now RM 10 ($3.30) [NOTE: Can someone confirm this? Most internet resources still say it's free but some are saying it isn't anymore - apparently very recent].

You can also buy a ticket for the observation deck on the 86th floor, which costs RM 40 ($13).

I didn’t go up the towers, but I did go look at them multiple times. We ate at Suria KLCC on our second day in KL and marveled at the towers. We also came back to buy a book and then eat at a nearby restaurant on our last night, so I got to see them both during the day and at night.

One thing I find interesting about the towers is that Tower 1 was built by a Japanese company, and Tower 2 was built by two South Korean companies (one of which was Samsung’s construction arm). I wonder if they raced or if one tower is considered better than the other here in Korea.

I definitely recommend going to look at them. They are super cool, and great photography subjects. They are lit up really nicely at night as well.

These pictures of me and Jeff in front of the towers kind of look like we’re in front of a green screen. I couldn’t figure out how to make it look more like we were really there, but I kind of like it.

Finally I love to do interesting or funny perspective shots, and I didn’t neglect to do them here.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this overload of Petronas tower photos. I enjoyed taking them!

What’s the coolest building you’ve seen?

While on the trip, Jeff thought of a fantastic idea, and that is to have trip awards for my recent two-week trip to Malaysia and Singapore. I went to four cities – KL, Melaka, Singapore, and George Town, Penang (hereafter referred to simply as Penang because, while the city is actually George Town, people recognize and use the name of the island more often). Here is how they measured up in various categories.

Best Food – Melaka. I have to admit this one may be biased. We hit Melaka on our third day and therefore the food we were trying was all stuff we were very interested in trying. By the time we got to Penang we were on the bottom of our list, trying stuff just because we were told to. However, there’s no denying that food in Melaka is outstanding. There’s plenty of Indian, Chinese, Malay, and Nyonya food, as well as a small Portuguese settlement which I didn’t make it to but I hear has great Malay-Portuguese fusion cuisine and seafood. I had the best mango lassi of my life here.

Best Fruit – Hard to say. Everywhere except Melaka had abundant and easily findable fruit (not that you can’t find it in Melaka, it’s just not as ubiquitous). Jeff thinks, and I have to agree, that the best individual kind of fruit available was the honey mango. If you haven’t had a really sweet and juicy honey mango, you’re missing out.

Best Hotel/Hostel - Conrad Centennial, Singapore. There’s really no contest here; thanks to HHonors points we got to stay in an incredibly fancy place. It was the nicest hotel I’ve ever seen. I only wish I had had more time to enjoy it (and to use the pool).

Best Weather – Singapore. We went in monsoon season so of course it rained just about every day of the trip. Somehow we were never caught outside in it. However Singapore, while still rainy, was the coolest and least humid of the places we visited. Penang, on the other hand, was nearly unbearably scorching.

Most Vibrant – Kuala Lumpur. Maybe it’s just a result of its size, but Kuala Lumpur is absolutely bustling. It’s bursting with colors and smells and textures. The people are diverse and interesting. The city, to me, feels more vibrant and alive than many places, and I really enjoyed it because of that.

Best Museum – Royal Malaysian Customs Museum, Melaka. It was a hot day and the Customs Museum was in front of us, air-conditioned, and free. Upon entering we discovered this museum which covers more mundane aspects of Malaysian history is way more interesting than it should seemingly have a right to be. All I know is I was totally fascinated.

Best Zoo – Singapore Zoo, Singapore. This was the only zoo we visited on the trip, but I think it deserves a mention as it is regularly ranked among the top zoos in the world. I can see why. With a “cage-less” design and in its rainforest setting, it’s beautiful. You feel like you’re getting much closer to the animals and it’s a much better view. Best of all, all the animals we saw looked very happy.

Best Building – Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur. While the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore is a very close contender, I just couldn’t get enough of the Petronas Twin Towers. There’s something almost magnetic about them. Go there and I think you’ll get it.

Best Skyline – Singapore. Just look at this picture of the CBD at night if you need convincing.

Place I’d Most Want to Live – Penang or Singapore. Honestly I would love to live in Singapore. It’s clean and in many ways very much like a Western city except it happens to be in Southeast Asia. The food can still be pretty cheap. I imagine though that housing comes at a premium (though a quick Craigslist search found a one bedroom for SGD900 a month including utilities, so maybe I’m wrong!). Anyway I told Jeff we should live there if we’re rich. Penang also seems quite livable and almost certainly more affordable. At first I liked it less than other Malaysian cities but I think that it’s just a city that’s a little slower to love. Which is just fine by me – there’s a lot to discover there.

This concludes my trip awards. Can you think of important categories I missed? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment of any of these places?