Dave's Photo & Travelblogue

Solid Apartments

One thing I’ve noticed while traveling in Asia is that the nicer houses and apartments are very well built. My friends living there (businesspeople, expats, etc) live in solid concrete buildings with nice floors, high-grade appliances, security guards, and swimming pools:

On July 12th I headed from KL to Singapore via bus, so I didn’t take a lot of photos. I’ll leave you with a beautiful view over city buildings, framed by distant mountains.

Tomorrow, the bustling center of Singapore!

Yes, it’s all about FOOD

I’m sure there are more things to do in Penang, but we had our eyes on the local delicacies! Before heading back to Kuala Lumpur on July 11th, we stopped at a food fair and feasted on what the vendors had to offer. Laksa, Hokkien noodles (very spicy), satay sticks…

Here’s the spread at our table. On the far right you can see (if I remember correctly) chrysanthemum juice.

On the way out of town we stopped at Ghee Hiang, a gourmet shop that sells buns, cakes, white coffee, sesame oil, that kind of thing. The buns are awesome, but the signage is even better. I couldn’t resist…

I’m not kidding when I say all we did was eat. Here was our delicious pork-soup-stew dinner, called Bah Kut Teh (thanks, JK!).

Alright, I promise, no pictures of food tomorrow – haha!

Penang – Culinary Paradise

On the morning of July 10th, we took in this great view of Penang from the lighthouse at Fort Cornwallis (an old British fort).

Here’s a taste of the local cuisine. Laksa is a noodle dish mixed with some greens and fish paste, with a dose of chilis on top. This small outdoor restaurant is renowned as the best place in Penang to eat this regional specialty! Man, was it good. If you’re a chilihead, ask for it extra spicy.

After lunch we headed to Kek Lok Si – the Temple of Supreme Bliss! This is crowned by the majestic Ban Po Thar, or Ten Thousand Buddhas Tower.

There’s a great view of the temple complex (and the city of Penang) from the top of the tower, if you don’t mind six or seven flights of winding stairs.

Definitely a lot of Buddhas (and their related statuary) in this place!

For dinner, we went to a nice seafood market restaurant in Penang. My hosts chose some interesting dishes. The barbecued stingray was really tasty:

And the female horseshoe crab, well, let’s just say it’s an acquired taste. Definitely worth trying once, for those with a sense of culinary adventure!

What’s the strangest seafood you’ve ever eaten? Leave a comment and share your crazy food stories!

Weekend in Kuala Lumpur

While on my business travels to Malaysia, I occasionally had a chance to get to Kuala Lumpur, or just “KL” as the locals say.  My last trip there was short, but I did get to see quite a bit.  Here are a few select photos of some attractions in Kuala Lumpur (from the days before I got my D90…).

One place you have to see is the Petronas Twin Towers, once the tallest buildings in the world (surpassed by Taipei 101).  There’s a huge mall on the bottom floors called KLCC, which I suppose is great if you want (ahem) non-fake goods.  I must admit, I’ve actually never been up it!  The Renaissance Hotel has a good view of the towers from its upper levels.  As I remember I got a free upgrade to club level…

The Petronas Twin Towers from the Renaissance Hotel

For cheap wallets, handbags, clothes, etc… check out Petaling Street, another must-see attraction.  Be sure to haggle with the sellers to get the best price.  My advice is to walk away at least once or twice during any transaction.  If they call you back to give you a lower price, keep going.  If they don’t call you back, then chances are you’ve come close to their real “best price.”  Come back 10 minutes later and say you’ve changed your mind.  Of course, if you can take a local with you (as I did) you’ll get better prices than what any Caucasian tourist could achieve.

The KL Tower is a famous monument with a great view.  I believe its peak is actually above that of the Twin Towers because it starts on a hill (although the structure itself is shorter).  The rotating restaurant at the top runs about €30, rather pricey considering the average-quality buffet food.  But the view is fantastic, so I recommend trying it if the weather’s clear and you have cash to spare (I was lucky to be invited).  Just don’t get your hopes up about the food quality; I thought it was decent but have seen some really BAD reviews.

The tower is also the annual home of legal B.A.S.E. jumps as part of an organized series around Malaysia!

KL Tower at night, home of a rotating restaurant

Batu Caves is a limestone formation with multiple large caves.  One holds several Hindu shrines, while others contain statues, art, and animals in a small zoo.

Statue of Murugan next to the 272 steps to Temple Cave

The interior of Temple Cave is impressive, if you can handle 272 steps to get there.  One area of Temple Cave is open to the sky.

Inside the Temple Cave: the far chamber is open to the sky

There are also lots of monkeys.  This young one liked to play with visitors, and also drank soda through a straw… nice!  Just be careful not to get bitten, as the monkeys are protective of their territory.

Macaque monkey at Batu Caves

There’s a lot more to see in KL.  But I’ll let you search out a few more Kuala Lumpur destinations on Wikipedia or at the Malaysian government’s tourism site.

Getting There:

• Petronas Twin Towers .gov.my site: they are visible from almost anywhere in the city.  There is a limited quantity of passes for visiting the bridge; you have to wake up early in the morning to get one.
• Batu Caves (Wikipedia): Admission was not expensive (though I can’t recall exactly; 5-10 euro I believe).  Here’s a Google map to Batu Caves.
• KL Tower .gov.my site: also visible from almost anywhere in the city.  Go during the day for the best view of KL, and at night for a lit-up view and buffet food.
• Petaling Street (Google maps): Also known as the “night market.”  Please, do be careful of pickpockets; they are everywhere.  Have some fresh fruit (lychees or the infamous, smelly durian) or Chinese food while you browse and haggle.
• Advice to avoid pickpockets: Keep your wallet in a zipped pocket (or better yet, leave it in the hotel safe).  Hold any cash you plan to spend in a separate zipped pocket so you never have to take out your wallet.  Be watchful of any purses or backpacks (thieves slice the straps, then grab & run).  Especially true on Petaling street!  I usually keep my wallet in a front pocket in KL, or zipped in my front vest pocket, and never had a problem.
• If you need a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, I can recommend the Renaissance, though any good hotels website could probably find a cheap deal for you.

Seven Course Meal in Malacca, Malaysia

In my travels for work, I met a lot of fantastic people in Malaysia.  The city of Malacca (Melaka, in Malay) has a small but interesting historical downtown.  Since I’ve eaten in a LOT of restaurants in Malacca, I’ll focus this post on food! Mmm.  I’ve actually had a seven-course meal in Malacca including shark fin soup (thanks to a vendor), but these seven courses are from various experiences I had on a later trip there.  Once on my own, I avoided the shark fin soup, as harvesting its main ingredient is devastating to shark populations.

Drinks

Tiger is the national beer of Malaysia.  It’s everywhere, and is pretty tasty.  Not as watery as the mass-market American beers, but not heavy either.  Trust me, it’s easy to drink a lot of it.

Tiger - the Beer of Malaysia!

Appetizer

Nyonya Top Hats, in a restaurant right near the Rennaisance Melaka hotel.  Nyonya is a local cuisine mixed between Chinese and Malay cooking, and is quite spicy.  See the chilies on each top hat, and the bowl of chili sauce?  Mu-hahaha.

Nyonya Top Hats

Soup

My friend Chris ordered a soup.  It came in a teapot and had no bowl or spoon.  We were so busy laughing about this photo that I forget what, err, utensils/china eventually came to use for eating it.

Tea or soup?

Entertainment

I just had to throw this in here.  Now, the people I worked with spoke very good English… but some of the other locals did not.  Or, it was some kind of mixture that I just could not understand.  If anyone can figure out what this shirt is trying to say, please make a guess in the comments section.  Is she complaining that her unrequited lover has just been fired from his job!?

Consumate Love - the unp souniy staro of to me. You Fire The Man J m Hailing For

First Course

I highly recommend sushi in Malacca.  It’s not that the quality is amazing; it’s just average.  But the price is amazing.  Compared to what you would pay for sushi in the US or in Europe, it’s very cheap.  For 8 to 10 euro you get a tasty sushi meal which would cost you 30-40 euro in Munich.

Sushi-sashimi pie

Main Course

I can highly recommend eating at the Portuguese Settlement. Very interesting history here: the Portuguese controlled Malaysia for some time in the 16th-17th centuries, and a small mixed-Portuguese culture still exists there today.  At the restaurant: there’s a huge variety of dishes, the outdoor atmosphere is great, the Tiger beer is cold, and the seafood is excellent.  (Yes, it’s a rare candid appearance of the author himself…)

Dinner at the Portuguese Settlement

Returning home

If you are lucky, it won’t rain like this.  Apparently such a hard rain is not uncommon in Malaysia.  I guess the drainage can’t handle it, so the streets quickly fill up with road soup.  Actually, this photo is on the way home from a very tasty Indian dinner.

Typical Malaysian rainstorm

The food all over Malaysia is excellent and very cheap.  Indian, Chinese, Nyonya, Japanese… I recommend any of the Asian varieties.  All the seafood, and especially Chili Crab, is very good.  You can also find frogs in the Temple restaurant near the Renaissance Hotel.  For dessert you can often find shaved ice with various sweet beans, jellies, and syrups.  Beware of chicken, as it’s almost never boneless (just be prepared to eat around chunks of bone).  Get used to spoon and fork as your utensils, or try chopsticks.

There’s so much more I could say about Malaysian cuisine… but I’ll just let you visit and find out for yourself!  I’ll have a few more articles about Singapore and Malaysia coming up soon, so sign up by email or RSS (orange links on the left sidebar) to be notified about those.

Getting there

• Okay, there’s not much here specific to any particular restaurant.  But I do have the stats for the Portuguese Settlement.  Wikipedia article is here and Google maps link is here (see “Portuguese Square” area with parking lot next to it).  You can also see it in Wikimapia.
• Driving in Malaysia is normally not recommended for foreigners who are just visiting for a short stay, unless you’re an expert driving in some high-recklessness society already (China, anyone?).  I’d take a taxi, as they are anyway quite cheap compared to the west.  Most likely there’s also a bus line, though I’m not familiar with the buses.