Oh I don’t feel good about this…
“Don’t worry.” Johan reassured me. “KL airport is tiny. One hour is more than enough!”
I bit my tongue. I knew he was right. Under normal conditions, one hour was plenty of time to transfer between connecting flights. Since he did most of the planning, I also didn’t want to be an ungrateful nag. So I decided to ignore my paranoia for once, the inner voice that always had me arrive at least 3 hours before a flight (even domestic!). Sure, let’s book it. I nodded and gave the thumbs up for the return flight. I had a tendency to be overly cautious anyway, and plus…
He just sounded so confident!
—-
We were finally on our way to Malaysia! Our flights were booked and Johan took care of the accommodations. He also said that there was a surprise in stored for me. I enjoyed surprises so did not ask too many questions. Plus, I ran out of ideas after about 30 guesses.
Our flight there was as smooth as a peach. So smooth that I have zero memory of it. Most likely I ate and slept for most of it. The first night in Kuala Lumpur was also unremarkable. I think I ate and slept for most of it as well.
When I was more lucid the next morning, we decided to spend the day exploring the capital city of Malaysia.
KL is a colorful city. From its fashion to its people. While waiting at a street light in KL, you could see easily count 5-10 different cultures and ethnicities. There was no gawking at people of different races like they do in China. Everybody was just chilling and getting on with their day. The only person gawking was me…And I was just marveling at how diverse the city was. It was like a live version of the UN; a glimpse into our future, the way it should be.
Architecture too, were a mixture of influences. From the ultra chic, ultra modern Petronas Tower, to the old styled colonial buildings; I felt like I was in one many different places at once.
Overall it was a very fruitful day.
Sorry, did I say fruitful? I meant food-ful!
I’ve had Malaysian food before. I lived in Toronto, food capital of the world. However, after this trip I don’t think I could ever go back to eating fake North Americanized Malaysian food.
Maybe it’s the fact that we were served real Malaysian food made by Real Malaysian chefs. Maybe it’s the fact that we were so close to the sea, that giant prawns could nose dive their way directly into our pinapple shaped bowls. Whatever it was, the food was damn good.
And it wasn’t because we ate at Michelin starred restaurants. In fact, we mostly just ate at malls and food-stalls.
Johan also went on and on about something called a “Rotiboy”. Which I thought was the name of a drag show, but turned out to be a Malaysian donut. I didn’t see what the big deal was until I made the mistake of taking a bite.
“Holy shit…What the hell is in this thing???” My pupils widen from the sugar rush.
Then I smacked him on the arm.
“Why did you tell me to eat this??? I could have lived a perfectly content life without knowing what this tasted like!”
Great…I’m gonna get SO fat in Malaysia.
I wish I took pictures of the food, but clearly I was lacked the foresight to document it in case one day I start a blog. Plus, food was more of Johan’s thing. When he travels, he likes to seek out the local cuisine and experience flavours of the world.
When I travel, I seek out alcohol.
You see, there’s a lot one can learn about the people and tradition of a place through the drinking culture. The distillation method alone is a million tales from history just waiting to be told. So really, I drink to learn.
Because we had to get up early the next day, there was no time to seek out the local drinking hole. So instead we bought a bottle of locally brewed rum, some pineapple juice, two starbucks cups and went to the beach. Well, it wasn’t really a beach since there was no sand. But it was definitely some kind of sea/lake/a body of water. It was also full of children screaming playing, so we decided to sit next to a homeless guy taking a nap.
While sipping on our improvised Pina coladas, we spoke of everything. From the mundane (Wanna have More seafood curry tomorrow? Yes.) to our hopes and dreams for the future (More seafood curries to come hopefully). As the alcohol warmed my belly and day gave way to night, I leaned my head on Johan’s shoulder. He wrapped his arms around my shoulder and we sat quietly while enjoying the sunset against the sea/lake/body of water.
Despite sitting on cold concrete surrounded by crowds of people, I couldn’t think of a more romantic way to spend an evening.
As the sun finally disappeared beyond the horizon, I knew that I would one day look back on this moment and think about the magical time I had in Malaysia. I hoped to myself that the rest of the vacation could be just as dreamy as this.
Well, two more cities to go. Tomorrow: Onto Kuching.
Toronto - Shanghai - Vancouver 