Hot in the City

On my last day in Melaka I did some touristy things. The Melaka River Cruise does a 9km run up the river and was quite underwhelming. The local government has spent huge amounts of money (including 3.5 million - I'm not sure if that's ringit or dollars - on an amusement park that wasn't running) beautifying the riverside but honestly from the boat there is not much to
see. I checked out the Stadhuys museum where the history of Melaka was told in paintings (with the odd mini diorama and object thrown in) - the building itself is beautiful. Had popiah (a sort of fresh spring roll) for lunch at a traditional Nonya house and discovered egg roti. I'm now seriously addicted to its eggy bread-y goodness! I did enjoy my time in Melaka. The Riverside Guesthouse is wonderful and I met lots of lovely people there. But Melaka only needs a couple of days so it was time to move on to the big city - Kuala Lumpur.

A 2 hour bus ride in Club Class (essentially 3 seats across where there are normally 4 - so much leg room I couldn't reach the foot rest!) which despite my concerns about New Year traffic left and arrived on time. The main bus station is KL is currently being renovated so we were unceremoniously dropped at the temporary bus station out in the suburbs. But I managed to navigate my way to my guesthouse in Bukit Bintang. As the title suggests, KL is hot and humid but I'm coping OK, even with my insistence of walking everywhere. If it all gets too much I can always escape into the nearest mall. It took me a few days to get to grips with navigating this sprawling metropolis. The public transport is good but none of the lines connect particularly well, especially the monorail, my closest form of transport. Not to mention the freeways and flyovers that bisect the city. Outside of the gleaming malls KL is a crowded, dirty place with lots of construction adding to the madness. Chinatown is not very inviting and the famous Petaling Street is just another run of stalls selling knock off Gucci handbags and dodgy DVDs. However the Petronis Towers are pretty awe inspiring and before you ask, no I didn't go up to the Skybridge. I'm not a big fan of heights - certainly not just for the sake of it!

The bits I have enjoyed:

Islamic Arts Museum - one of the most beautiful museums I have ever seen and really informative especially about the Qur'an, the Holy Stone at Mecca and mosque architecture.

The Planetarium - the building from the outside is amazing (left) and they have a full dome set at an angle. I watched Passport to the Universe, a American Natural History Museum production narrated by Tom Hanks. Not sure what system they use as I couldn't find anyone to ask. (Yep, I'm a nerd on holidays too!)

The Batu Caves - 200+ steps past a massive statue into caves containing a number of Hindu temples and lots of monkeys. A bit empty but considering they get a million pilgrims at the end of January for Thaipusam they need the room! Around the corner near the train station is the relatively new Ramayana Caves - kitch concrete dioramas of scenes from the myths. Its even
easier to get to caves as the train line has been extended and drops you at the door. So new its not in the guidebook.

Klang - one of my day trips from KL. To be honest I just liked the name but I spent a lovely couple if hours there wandering around, drinking coffee in a proper kopitiam and checking out the old Sutan of Selangor's palace (from the outside) and the museum dedicated to the most recent but one Abdul Aziz. It was a really well developed museum but sadly empty of visitors - the guard had to power on the AV's as I went through. I think I may have been the only tourist in Klang that day - a shame as its a nice respite from the concrete jungle of KL.

And the food. Lord, the food. My guesthouse includes a very generous breakfast and I've been having egg roti every day. I love nasi lemak (coconut rice with sambal (hot!), egg, fried anchovies and usually chicken curry. Teppanyaki, char kuey teow, lots of chicken rice. There is so much more to try but the heat is suppressing my appetite to 2 meals a day. Not necessarily a bad thing!

I've met lots of great people at the guesthouse and have been getting into conversations with local women in the women only carriages on the trains. The owner of the guesthouse invited a group of us to celebrate Chinese New Year with her family. Yes, New Year is still going and families from different regions of China have their main celebrations on different days. I celebrated Hokkien new year with firecrackers, fireworks (all in the front yard!) and witnessed a lion dance. We then feasted on roast pig and duck underneath 5ft tall joss sticks. An incredible experience!

All this an its only day 12! Until next time....