So the Petronas towers do it for some, but for me it's the breakfast. Call me whatever you like but I have honestly not tasted peanut butter better than this anywhere. Smooth and creamy and peanutty and gah, delicious. It would light up any table, particularly the one next to me where the couple spent half an hour in complete silence nibbling away at bits of divine peanutty toast. Non. Generally the breakfast was delicious though - I may have had three courses...
Anyway, back to the culture, the sites, the city. Today we packed ourselves off to the Museum of Islamic Art. The glass building offered impressive views of the neighbouring mosque's bright blue tiled roof and houses some stunning Islamic historical artefacts. Rifles, wedding headdresses, 13th century Qu'rans, tapestries, furniture, all intricately decorated with beautiful gold leaf and hand painted to the tiniest detail with a huge blue painted dome overlooking them all. There was also a modern art exhibition with varying examples of Arabic calligraphy used in painting. My favourite was a simple piece depicting a single Arabic character but done in a way that made the lines come together as a dancing figure, just through beautiful placed strokes. Very clever and very beautiful, as we're so many of the paintings - alas this particular gallery was so cold I was forced to flee...
Up next were the botanical gardens. One of the best things about the tropics for me is that with the heat comes also a LOT of rain, and while I'm not planning on doing any rain dances during my stay, with the water comes abundant greenery. And KL does not disappoint. Banana trees squeeze out amongst the taller trees that tower above, oozing with botanical parasites and draped in long weeping branches. In the middle of it all was the orchid and hibiscus garden. The flowers did not disappoint but the highlight was the al fresco fan system that some genius had set up along the pergolas... The almond magnum didn't go amiss either...
After casually hanging out with some monkeys... Yup, just chillin with the I kale baby monkeys in the forest eeee(!) we headed for Central Market. After Christmas in Marrakech, the market didn't quite have the wow factor but it was fun to browse the pottery, the pashminas and handycrafts, and the many printed hareem trousers seen billowing around the legs of many a young traveller... Not yet mine I might add.. I wonder if three months is long enough for me to become completely transformed, be it aesthetically or otherwise.
Next stop? Collapsing at the hotel pool I'm afraid with trusty George Orwell and Burmese Days to keep me company.
With our energy back, we decided to take a stroll down some backstreets for dinner... At first, things didn't look so good. We waded through the thick stench of rotting fruit and left over food from the backs of Bhukit Bintang's restaurants, and suddenly a wall of sound hit us. People started to emerge and then the unlikely sound of Johnny Cash's voice booming out into the street with honking cars negotiating Chinese lanterns, a huge dragon manned by a team of school children and the other throngs of people busying themselves with the menus of restaurant after restaurant and stall after stall that lined the streets. Then I shit myself. Not literally... But an eruption of deafening bang disturbingly close went off as so,Rome thought it would be hilarious to set off Chinese firecrackers in the middle of the street followed by rockets into the sky. As I'm sat here typing I can hear more fireworks booming in the distance. New Year isn't over it seems.
The night was finished off at Restaurant Muar and it was simply divine. The food wasn't just cheap and cheerful, it was full of flavour, spice and freshness. We went for sambal (a Malay chilli) with squid and prawns, French beans with chilli, and Thai style chicken with cucumber pickle. We then decided to try the one pudding on the menu - cendol. Cendol is a South Asian desert made from coconut milk, sugar palm, green jelly and shaved ice. I was a bit suspicious when the white and brown mush arrived with pale green strips of jelly on top... But it was actually quite nice. I probably won't order it again but it refreshing and sweet and I finished the lot!
All in all, a good first day.
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