Entries about chinatown

Okay, I am waaay behind on the blog, as we are actually back from the trip now and were further slowed down by unpacking our shipment from the UK, job hunting and sleep training baby. But I really want to record all the fun we had before the details escape me! So back to our next stop, magnificent Malaysia!

Naim had been to Malaysia a few times before, but it was completely new to me (and Z, of course!). It is such and interesting place, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, and it is reflected in every aspect of the country, especially eating! We arrived in Kuala Lumpur on 21 August. After figuring out the confusing way to take a taxi from the airport, we were on our way to KL, passing the F1 racecourse along the way. Some pics entering KL via cab:

We stayed at the Prince Hotel KL. A typical city hotel, it was very nice, but not very much character. Our plan was to decide where else we wanted to go in Malaysia once we arrived and decided how we felt, and therefore had booked only 4 nights in advance. We were in the Bukit Bintang area, a very popular section known for its shopping centres, al-fresco cafés, swanky bars, night markets, as well as hawker-type eateries. On our first night we explored the Jalan Alor street, which is stall after stall of mostly chinese cuisine. Although we couldn't read much of what was on the menus, there are plenty of pictures and everything is cheap and amazing anyway! The street was busy and had a great buzz and atmosphere.

Our hotel room

Bukit Bintang & Jalan Alor

The next day, we explored the area near the KL Convention center and did some indoor shopping to escape the heat.

We kept asking people where we could find the Jalon Alor equivalent area of Malaysian food. Chinese food is plentiful here, as is Indian and Middle Eastern food, but we were dying for some real Malay stuff and oddly we couldn't find it. We later learned that we had arrived during a very unique period in Malaysia, Idil Fitri, or the festivity after completing the fasting month of Ramadan. So, as the Malays, many of which are Muslim, are fasting, all their fantasic street stalls are closed until it is time to break the fast, between 4-7 PM only. We were usually out or it was nap time, so often missed the stalls by the time we headed out for dinner, hence we never saw them. Once we learned this, we made sure to be around when the stalls opened. But for that evening, we had to go for non-Malay, so we hopped a cab to Chinatown.

Chinatown, or Petaling Street, was another haven for fake goods, and we spent a little time debating whether or not to pick up any more fakes! We didn't but instead enjoyed another fantastic meal al fresco and Zavian amused himself watching people selling weird but interesting stuff, like fake tomatoes that you can smash on the ground and reconstruct themselves a few seconds later. Thrilling!

Dancing in the streets

Carefully inspecting some (not very good) Longchamps