Untitled

sweet and
Feet-nibbling fish, cocktails with a view, and
unbridled religious festivities are all part of Malaysia’s
multi-ethnic capital, Andrew Harris discovers.
A businessman flails his arms and
mobile phone at a deal gone awry. A
durian dealer kicks back with a laugh
and a cigarette. A middle-aged
magazine peddler disappears into her
favourite title. Three generations of
one family sit around a table, piled
with food.
I’ve been in Kuala Lumpur just a
couple of hours and already, I’m
swept up in a jangle of coloured
lights and so many delicious dishes,
it’s hard to know where to begin. The
seething thoroughfare of Jalan Alor
showcases al fresco dining, Malaysian
style, with eateries spanning the
spectrum of Indian, Chinese and
Malay cuisine.
Out the back of the Indian-Muslim
mamak joint I end up in, a waitercum-cook
is pouring a teh tarik or
“pulled tea”. It’s as if he’s pulling a
creamy, caramel-coloured rope
between pot and cup, cup and pot.
Once it’s suitably frothy, he holds the
apparatus out with an encouraging
smile, urging me to have a go.
Visions of a tea-coated kitchen flash
Main: Lights and blue water
at Skybar in Traders Hotel
Right: Blue rice at the
Old China Café
before my eyes and I politely decline.
Moments later, a teh tarik arrives,
steaming, at my table. Condensedmilk
sweet, it’s the perfect antidote
to the fiery-hot, tangy fish on my
plate. Between the steamy weather
and the mamak fare, I’m sweatsoaked,
a condition that afflicts me
within 10 minutes, anytime I step
outside in this town.
Although Malaysian urbanites have
progressive after-dark entertainment
down to a fine art, low-key options
remain popular. One relaxed evening,
we head to Dataran Merdeka, or
Independence Square. Clusters of
young men hang around their
motorbikes while young families
watch their toddlers play on the lush
grass, all under the glow of thousands
of fairy lights, strung up around the
square and over KL’s ornate Moorish
administrative complex, the Sultan
Abdul Samad building.
Another night, batteries fully
charged, we start with pre-dinner
drinks at the Shangri-La, its classy
lounge bar complete with warbling
Filipino singers, swaying to Kylie
Minogue hits. We move on to dinner
at the chic, hawker-inspired Gobo
Chit Chat, within the Traders Hotel. A
southeast Asian buffet of Chinese,
Japanese, Malay and Indian dishes is
prepared and served in front of us,
and we dine in rarified airconditioned
environs, projections
illuminating the curved ceiling above.
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Stomachs well lined, we take the
lift up to SkyBar, a top-floor den of
cool with an unobstructed view of
the Petronas Twin Towers, glowing
pale blue like giant, soaring bugzappers.
Bass-heavy chillout, straight
from the DJ, streams through the
illuminated space cleverly lit by
reflections off the water running
through its midst – by day, this is
the hotel’s pool. Here, you can sip a
signature Lychee Rose Martini
(Belvedere vodka and lychee liqueur
stirred slowly over ice, with a hint of
rose syrup), mix with the city’s
beautiful people (it’s worth dressing
up in KL), and gaze out over the
glittering metropolis.
I’m careful not to fall into the
water features outside as we wend
our way towards one last stop: QBA
at The Westin, a vibey Cuban-run
place with a live band and a lot of
cigar smoke. Here, sweaty expats and
spendthrift locals unite for the kind
of intoxicated revelry you might
actually want to remember, salsaing
well into the morning hours.
The morning after our big night
out, I tuck into a mammoth Shangri-
La breakfast before taking a trip up
the Petronas Twin Towers to check
out that ubiquitous yet stunning Sky
Bridge view, then do some retail
reconnaissance at the luxe Suria KLCC
centre, cocooned in the Towers’ base.
Lunch is at the cosy Old China Café,
where the table is laden with laksa,
beef rendang, spring rolls and
“...the table is laden... and I’m introduced to the
chicken curry and I’m introduced to
the delights of blue coconut rice.
As you might expect, one of KL’s
brace of Old China Cafés is located in
Chinatown: on the area’s main
commercial artery and market
bargains mecca, Petaling Street.
When I waddle, full-stomached, down
a thoroughfare usually thick with
shoppers, it proves eerily easy to
move around. A hushed but excited
crowd has assembled around one
hapless movie pirate’s stall – it’s a
police raid. This comes as no
surprise: counterfeit brand-name t-
shirts, handbags and other imitation
designer goods line the footpath
here, along with thousands of rippedoff
DVDs.
The raid has killed the atmosphere,
so I sidestep the street-side stalls,
taking instead a narrow, damp alley
that separates shaded ground-floor
shopfronts from the street. Between
two funky clothes stores sits a
Below: A row of deities in
a local Hindu temple
Right: Gobo Chit Chat
restaurant at Traders Hotel
delights of blue coconut rice.“
Chinese medicine emporium, stocked
with all that’s dried, shrivelled and
preserved, including octopus, abalone
and oily-looking duck legs. I must
say, I prefer my meat with moisture
intact, but each to their own.
KL’s Chinatown, despite the label, is
a multi-ethnic precinct. Malaysia hosts
sizeable ethnic Chinese and Indian
populations and in Chinatown, you’ll
find houses of Tao and Hindu worship.
At the Taoist Guandi temple, an
old man kneels, rocking, before an
altar, in a cloud of incense. Hundreds
of sticks burn simultaneously around
the elaborately adorned, red, green
and gold complex. Nearby, at the
Hindu Sri Mahamariamman Temple,
smooth tiles feel wet under my bare
feet (my sandals await at the
entrance). Men and sari-clad women
make quiet offerings to brightly
painted gods, an untold many of
whom are carved into the peaks and
towers atop the building.
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We’re in town for the Hindu
festival of Thaipusam, celebrated by
the Tamil community on the full
moon of Tamil month Thai (in
January-February). Thaipusam
celebrations in Kuala Lumpur are
among the largest in the world, with
smaller festivities taking place
around the country.
To get a real taste of Thaipusam,
head for Batu Caves on the outskirts
of town, where you can witness
participants’ elaborate preparations
and processions. For 41 days prior to
Thaipusam, devotees must ritually
bathe early in the morning, fast
during the day, eat a night-time meal
of milk and fruit, and observe total
chastity. During the festival, they
enter into trance-like states, in which
Left : Peering through the elaborate
decorations at the Sze Ya Taoist Temple
Bottom: Petronas Towers and downtown
Kuala Lumpur at night
each of them will carry a kavadi, or
“burden”, up 272 steps and into the
caves. The kavadi might be a pot of
milk or honey or, not infrequently, a
massive multi-level structure
festooned with peacock feathers.
We arrive at the Batu Caves in predawn
blackness and already, there’s a
busy throng. Makeshift tents are
everywhere: in one, men are having
their heads shaved; a few steps away,
tiny pots are being hooked into one
devotee’s flesh, limes into another’s.
Soon, they are entranced, swaying to
the din made by frenzied musicians.
We follow a procession from the
riverbank, where there are showers
for ritual purification, up the steps
and into the cave, an enormous, hot
space, reeking of the fruit offerings
laid at shrines inside, and of milk
and honey spoiling in the rising sun.
After the madness of Thaipusam, my
beleaguered feet need attention. And
though I normally prefer my day spas
wildlife-free, I make a scaly exception.
Kenko Fish Spa, in KL’s Pavilion
shopping centre, never needs to buy
fish food. In fact, you pay to feed
hundreds of peckish Garra Rufa or
“doctor fish” housed in a long tank
sunk into the spa’s floor, purposebuilt
for dangling legs. It’s a feeling
akin to a mild electric current, as the
fish contingent’s tiny mouths remove
dry, dead skin, flake by flake. I can’t
help but giggle like a little boy.
At the Ritz-Carlton, where we’re
staying after an island and highland
sojourn, it’s relaxation of an entirely
different nature. The “Sensory
Exploration” at the hotel’s Spa Village
takes place in a darkened room, on
carefully arranged, cushioned floor
mats. As the lights dim, deep bass
sounds well up from the floor, the
ceiling twinkles vaguely and a
scripted therapist speaks about the
benefits of being in touch with your
senses. I sit up to sample four tastes:
sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Finally,
a gong is struck and a masseuse
enters to deliver head, neck, foot and
*
KL’s best hotels
Berjaya Times Square Hotel, phone
+60 3 2117 8000 or visit
www.berjayaresorts.com
Carcosa Seri Negara, phone 1800 667
731 or 03 9360 0600 or visit
www.ghmhotels.com
Hilton Kuala Lumpur Hotel, phone +60
3 2264 2264 or visit www.hilton.com
Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur, phone
+60 3 2380 8888 or visit
www.mandarinoriental.com
Novotel Hydro Majestic Kuala Lumpur,
phone +60 3 2147 0888 or visit
www.novotel.com
Parkroyal Kuala Lumpur, phone
+60 3 2147 0088 or visit
www.parkroyalhotels.com
Prince Hotel & Residence KL, phone
+603 2170 8888 or visit
www.princehotelkl.com
The Shangri- La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur,
phone +60 3 2032 2388 or visit
www.shangri-la.com
The Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur.
Phone +60 3 2142 8000 or visit
www.ritz-carlton.com
The Saujana Kuala Lumpur Hotel, phone
1800 667 731 or 03 9360 0600 or visit
www.ghmhotels.com
The Westin Kuala Lumpur, phone +60 3
2731 8333 or visit www.westin.com
Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur, phone +60 3
2332 9888 or visit www.shangri-la.com
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“Men and sari-clad
women make quiet
offerings to brightly
painted gods... carved
into the... towers
atop the building. “
Right: Brightly painted windows
and shutters in a KL street
Below: Piercing rituals
at the Thaipusam festival
lower-leg massages.
It’s my final half-day in KL: I
squeeze in some last-minute
shopping and buy another suitcase to
fit it all in; hail a cab; and make for
the “confluence of two rivers” from
which KL takes its name. On the site
sits the regal Masjid Jamek, the city’s
oldest mosque – just a couple of
blocks from where a synagogue once
stood. Walk farther up Jalan Tun
Perak to the corner of Jalan Tun HS
Lee and you’ll find the Star of David
plastered into a Seal of Solomon that
commemorates it: these days, the
building functions as a hostel, but
it’s a reminder of Malaysia’s diverse,
complex history.
Back at the Masjid Jamek, in the
city centre, a group of men sit on the
tiles in a columned portico, smiling,
discussing, arguing. Outside the
mosque gates, a bearded hawker sells
richly embroidered skullcaps. Traffic
zips by in fluid clumps and the
monorail rattles above.
My plane leaves in a matter of
hours, so I sprint back across the
road to my cab, my sandaled feet
now soft, fish-feed cushions. •
*
travelfacts
gettingthere
Malaysia Airlines flies from Sydney,
Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth
to KL. Phone 13 2627 or visit
www.malaysiaairlines.com
Singapore Airlines flies to KL via
Singapore. Phone 13 1011 or visit
www.singaporeair.com
Air Asia X flies to KL from Perth and Gold
Coast. Phone 1300 760 330 or visit
www.airasia.com
Jetstar (phone 13 1538 or visit
www.jetstar.com) and Qantas (phone
13 1313 or visit www.qantas.com.au)
have flights from Sydney to Kuala
Lumpur.
wheretoeat
Old China Café is a dimly lit, homely
place with all the flavours of KL's
Chinese heritage. Phone +60 3 2072
5915 or visit www.oldchina.com.my
Gobo Chit Chat offers casual, cool
dining at Traders Hotel, which also
houses the slick SkyBar. Phone +60 3
2332 9888 or visit www.shangri-la.com
QBA at The Westin Kuala Lumpur has a
Cuban ambience and a fully stocked
humidor. Phone +60 3 2731 8333 or
visit www.westin.com
wheretospa
Kenko Reflexology & Fish Spa is just the
place if you prefer carnivorous fish to
inanimate pumice. There are two fish
spas, one right in the middle of KL’s
Pavilion shopping centre; the other in
the Singapore Flyer complex. Phone +60
3 2141 6651 or visit www.kenko.com.sg
Spa Village at The Ritz-Carlton, Kuala
Lumpur offers all manner of specialist
Eastern massage and wellness therapies,
as well as the “Sensory Exploration”.
Phone +60 3 2782 9090 or visit
www.spavillage.com
furtherinformation
Contact Tourism Malaysia on 02 9299
4441 (Sydney), 03 9654 3177
(Melbourne), 08 9481 0400 (Perth) or
visit www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my
To arrange your Malaysia vacation,
phone Golden Holidays on 1300 737 232
or visit www.goldenholidays.com.au
Creative Holidays, visit
www.creativeholidays.com
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