After 29 hours in transit, and a few days to recuperate, Danae and I have finally begun to settle in to our temporary residence in Apartment Villa Lantana, just off Jalan Kelab Ukai Utama, in the district of Ampang.
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur in the early morning on May 9th, and took a light rail train from the terminal to immigration. After passing through customs, I began to take stock of my new surroundings, and what I noticed, in particular, was the wide array of clothing in the place. Milling about by the baggage claim was a large group of men sporting dishdashas, which are long white robes traditionally worn around the Arab gulf. Next to them, young men adorned in beautifully embroidered billowing wide-sleeved robes from Africa. And then the saris, trimmed with gold and all the colours of the rainbow. Textured pashmina scarves, vibrant sashes with sequins and bobbits and whosits and whatsits, and flowing sarongs, paired, almost exclusively, with a lofty pair of durable brown sandals.
One of my most favorite things about KL thus far is the diversity of the people. Although the city is primarily a mix of Malays, Chinese and Indians, rapid development has led to an influx of workers from other countries like Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Burma, Sri Lanka, Phillipines and Vietnam.When you add religion to the mix, which includes Islam (the majority religion), followed by Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Daoism, this city is a virtual melting pot.
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur in the early morning on May 9th, and took a light rail train from the terminal to immigration. After passing through customs, I began to take stock of my new surroundings, and what I noticed, in particular, was the wide array of clothing in the place. Milling about by the baggage claim was a large group of men sporting dishdashas, which are long white robes traditionally worn around the Arab gulf. Next to them, young men adorned in beautifully embroidered billowing wide-sleeved robes from Africa. And then the saris, trimmed with gold and all the colours of the rainbow. Textured pashmina scarves, vibrant sashes with sequins and bobbits and whosits and whatsits, and flowing sarongs, paired, almost exclusively, with a lofty pair of durable brown sandals.
One of my most favorite things about KL thus far is the diversity of the people. Although the city is primarily a mix of Malays, Chinese and Indians, rapid development has led to an influx of workers from other countries like Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Burma, Sri Lanka, Phillipines and Vietnam.When you add religion to the mix, which includes Islam (the majority religion), followed by Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Daoism, this city is a virtual melting pot.
After taking some time to collect myself, we went to collect our luggage (which arrived in tact!), and emerged from the airport into the sweltering tropical heat, which hit me like a brick wall. The temperature ranges at this time of year between 32 and 35 degrees, but, in the weather forecast there is always a sneaky "feels like" disclosure, which calculates through some kind of Houdini math "the apparent temperature felt on exposed skin", adding about 6 or 7 degrees to the average high. So... it's hot. Like... real hot.
A sweaty man in his mid-40's, who seemed to spot us from an unreasonable distance, trundled over, yelling excitedly in what I assume was Malay. He had one arm up in the air and was shouting "Teksi!" "AK FEK JIARIG HR AG" "Teksi!" "Teksi". Before I knew what was happening, he had herded us into a passenger car, punching our address into Google Maps as we were lurching down the freeway at break neck speeds. "OK" he said, drawing out the letter K in a thick accent, "no working... you know where is?". I did not understand how lucky we were at that time that he spoke any English at all. We drove in circles around Ampang, up one street and down the next, searching for Lantana Villas.
In the end, we did manage to find the address, and paid 30 Ringgits (the equivalent of $10.00) for what seemed like a 10 hour trip.We unloaded all of our bags, excited at the prospect of a cold shower, but quickly discovered that the girl who had arranged our stay had forgotten to send an e-mail indicating our arrival time and date.
We ended up sitting outside, sweating profusely and talking an inordinate amount about how good water tastes, until finally the upstairs neighbor, Cindy, arrived home 5 hours later. She found us, hungry and dehydrated, and overcome by fits of hysterical laughter because her dog, Cooper, had pirouhetted past us on the stairs and had peed on Danae's bag. Cindy, wondering at the state of our mental health, decided to take us to dinner at a local Indian restaurant, called Ali Maju,
When we walked in to the restaurant, there was a palpable shift in the room, as dark eyes turned to stare in our direction. There are very few white people in Ampang, and I am getting used to drawing unwanted attention. That being said, the people are also some of the friendliest I've ever come across, once you shoot them a big beaming smile. The server, who was not very nice however, approached us and began speaking in an aggressive dialect that I could not, for the life of me, begin to process in my condition. Cindy, fluent in Malay, took the reins and ordered Tandoori Chicken and Garlic Na'an and fresh squeezed orange juice. It is one of the best meals I have ever had in my life, and it only cost 10 Ringgits, which is about $3.25 Canadian.
When we returned home, our roommate, Dave, was waiting for us. Dave is a man in his mid 50's who came to Kuala Lumpur 8 years ago, after a prolonged stint in the Oil and Gas industry. He's a nice guy - drives a Harley Davidson and smokes like a chimney. I went to bed pretty early that evening, and was surprised to wake up to shouting in the kitchen, around 9 a.m. the next morning. Apparently, Dave's former maid/ex-girlfriend had broken into the house "to talk". All I heard, upon removing my bright pink earplugs, was, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE", followed by some scuffling, a shrill voice yelling, "LIAR!" and a violent expulsion of sorts. The woman lingered on the premises, banging erratically on the door for half an hour, until Dave threatened to call the police.
So... overall, we've been having a pretty weird time, but there plenty of excitement on this end! I will try to keep these short, as I'm sure you all have busy lives back home and can't spend hours reading my blog posts. But, I will keep them up. There is so much going on here at any given time, that there is no shortage of material.
A sweaty man in his mid-40's, who seemed to spot us from an unreasonable distance, trundled over, yelling excitedly in what I assume was Malay. He had one arm up in the air and was shouting "Teksi!" "AK FEK JIARIG HR AG" "Teksi!" "Teksi". Before I knew what was happening, he had herded us into a passenger car, punching our address into Google Maps as we were lurching down the freeway at break neck speeds. "OK" he said, drawing out the letter K in a thick accent, "no working... you know where is?". I did not understand how lucky we were at that time that he spoke any English at all. We drove in circles around Ampang, up one street and down the next, searching for Lantana Villas.
In the end, we did manage to find the address, and paid 30 Ringgits (the equivalent of $10.00) for what seemed like a 10 hour trip.We unloaded all of our bags, excited at the prospect of a cold shower, but quickly discovered that the girl who had arranged our stay had forgotten to send an e-mail indicating our arrival time and date.
Me, after receiving the bad news
When we walked in to the restaurant, there was a palpable shift in the room, as dark eyes turned to stare in our direction. There are very few white people in Ampang, and I am getting used to drawing unwanted attention. That being said, the people are also some of the friendliest I've ever come across, once you shoot them a big beaming smile. The server, who was not very nice however, approached us and began speaking in an aggressive dialect that I could not, for the life of me, begin to process in my condition. Cindy, fluent in Malay, took the reins and ordered Tandoori Chicken and Garlic Na'an and fresh squeezed orange juice. It is one of the best meals I have ever had in my life, and it only cost 10 Ringgits, which is about $3.25 Canadian.
Ali Maju Restaurant
When we returned home, our roommate, Dave, was waiting for us. Dave is a man in his mid 50's who came to Kuala Lumpur 8 years ago, after a prolonged stint in the Oil and Gas industry. He's a nice guy - drives a Harley Davidson and smokes like a chimney. I went to bed pretty early that evening, and was surprised to wake up to shouting in the kitchen, around 9 a.m. the next morning. Apparently, Dave's former maid/ex-girlfriend had broken into the house "to talk". All I heard, upon removing my bright pink earplugs, was, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE", followed by some scuffling, a shrill voice yelling, "LIAR!" and a violent expulsion of sorts. The woman lingered on the premises, banging erratically on the door for half an hour, until Dave threatened to call the police.
So... overall, we've been having a pretty weird time, but there plenty of excitement on this end! I will try to keep these short, as I'm sure you all have busy lives back home and can't spend hours reading my blog posts. But, I will keep them up. There is so much going on here at any given time, that there is no shortage of material.
Travel is always full of interesting surprises- You are going to have the most amazing stories to tell. Great post Ms Claire!
ReplyDeleteHear hear. Keep those cards & letters coming.
ReplyDeleteClaire, we all cracked up here at your owl. Sooo funny!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat an exciting start to your trip. I'm glad things have improved on the home front. It could only get better after 5 hours on the doorstep! xoxo