Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Travel Diary: KL and Klang
Reading Sophia's blog reminded me of my trip last week to KL. Enjoyed it quite a lot...I have always been fond of Malaysia. We stayed at my cousin's rented house at Klang, 50 km away from KL. The house having only the bare (I emphasize on this word), I had a good time helping make it more habitable.
Caught a glimpse of life in Malaysia through him. Unlike Singapore, where the transportation is so convenient that it makes it unnecessary for everyone to own a car, one literally cannot live without a car in Klang. There are cases of each member of a family owning a car each so as to be able to function in their daily tasks. It is also hard to mask the fact that you are not Malaysian when you don't speak either Cantonese or Malay. Good thing my Bahasa still came in handy.
How can a trip to Malaysia be complete without good food? Cousin brought us to a roadside stall lit only by 2 fluorescent lamps at the cooking area and none where the tables were. It was not much of a culture shock for me, having seen and dined at one of those in Jakarta (there, they are sometimes lit only by kerosene lamps), but it was to my younger cousin. We also had Bahkut Teh for breakfast on 2 consecutive mornings. The portions were small and the soup resembled gravy more than anything, being thick. They also tend to use pork knuckles instead of ribs. And they gave you fork and spoon instead of chopsticks to eat the bahkut teh, which struck as us being a bit unconventional. But of course "unconventional" is subjective, isn't it? Heehee it's only a matter of cultural differences.
I recommended Jalan Alor to them at KL and tried to get the wonderful duck and charsiew rice we had for grad trip last year, but they din serve at night, sadly. Still, duck rice and wantan mee at other stalls were good as well. I also liked the lotus root soup. But the winner had got to be this cha jiang mee at the Pasar Rakyat bus terminal. The noodles was a bit greenish and it was accompanied by this great yong tau foo-like soup with a most delicious (I think) tau foo. Think the tau foo-like thingie was fried with egg, giving it the most fragrant and unforgettable taste. Utterly yummy! We were disappointed at the satay we place we tried, but hopefully we find nicer ones if we ever go back for another visit.
Shopped a bit at KLCC while the men went to watch "Battle of Wits". Darn. Neva jio me! Anyway, I had been to KLCC before but I neva realised that it has a performance hall. Saw that they are performing The Nutcracker. Hmm...maybe next year's X'mas.
We went on the 18-seater coach by Konsortium. It has personal entertainment set, where you can choose to listen to music or watch a movie. I watched "Fearless" again and found myself still enjoying it as much as the first time. Watched a bit of "The Constant Gardener" too. Very thought-provoking movie. The seats were very cool...you can adjust the 2 separate foot-rests and also the back with the buttons on the seat. Money well-spent.
Caught a glimpse of life in Malaysia through him. Unlike Singapore, where the transportation is so convenient that it makes it unnecessary for everyone to own a car, one literally cannot live without a car in Klang. There are cases of each member of a family owning a car each so as to be able to function in their daily tasks. It is also hard to mask the fact that you are not Malaysian when you don't speak either Cantonese or Malay. Good thing my Bahasa still came in handy.
How can a trip to Malaysia be complete without good food? Cousin brought us to a roadside stall lit only by 2 fluorescent lamps at the cooking area and none where the tables were. It was not much of a culture shock for me, having seen and dined at one of those in Jakarta (there, they are sometimes lit only by kerosene lamps), but it was to my younger cousin. We also had Bahkut Teh for breakfast on 2 consecutive mornings. The portions were small and the soup resembled gravy more than anything, being thick. They also tend to use pork knuckles instead of ribs. And they gave you fork and spoon instead of chopsticks to eat the bahkut teh, which struck as us being a bit unconventional. But of course "unconventional" is subjective, isn't it? Heehee it's only a matter of cultural differences.
I recommended Jalan Alor to them at KL and tried to get the wonderful duck and charsiew rice we had for grad trip last year, but they din serve at night, sadly. Still, duck rice and wantan mee at other stalls were good as well. I also liked the lotus root soup. But the winner had got to be this cha jiang mee at the Pasar Rakyat bus terminal. The noodles was a bit greenish and it was accompanied by this great yong tau foo-like soup with a most delicious (I think) tau foo. Think the tau foo-like thingie was fried with egg, giving it the most fragrant and unforgettable taste. Utterly yummy! We were disappointed at the satay we place we tried, but hopefully we find nicer ones if we ever go back for another visit.
Shopped a bit at KLCC while the men went to watch "Battle of Wits". Darn. Neva jio me! Anyway, I had been to KLCC before but I neva realised that it has a performance hall. Saw that they are performing The Nutcracker. Hmm...maybe next year's X'mas.
We went on the 18-seater coach by Konsortium. It has personal entertainment set, where you can choose to listen to music or watch a movie. I watched "Fearless" again and found myself still enjoying it as much as the first time. Watched a bit of "The Constant Gardener" too. Very thought-provoking movie. The seats were very cool...you can adjust the 2 separate foot-rests and also the back with the buttons on the seat. Money well-spent.
Labels: Travel Diary
// posted by Jenn @ 2:39 PM 
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