From Singapore, I took a quick side trip to Kuala Lumpur, where I wandered for a day and a half with no map and no real intention, just hopping on and off the subway/elevated train and going up and down streets that looked interesting. It was pleasantly disorienting, although it was hard to get too lost with the Petronas Twin Towers always looming as a landmark. I eventually made my way to the Towers and spent way too long taking photos and ogling them from different angles. They’re really impressive up close, they have this kind of this sci-fi Islam quality that I found almost unimaginably appealing.
I also made my way to a place called the Colisuem Café & Hotel. It’s a colonial relic with a green bartop and stained wood furniture, fans rotating slowly among naked hanging bulbs. The walls have long turned yellow, and framed articles advise what to do “When Your Servant Has Malaria.” The menu is all old-fashioned cocktails and steaks and chicken cordon bleu, with the Malaysian food tucked into a section called “local specialties.”
I have to give this an incomplete grade, a tease of a city and a country that I’m eager to return to. Like Singapore, it’s a mix of Malay, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, and more . . . all these different sounds and flavors . . . eating nasi goreng on the street while the muezzin’s call to prayer pierces the night, thinking there’s never enough time.
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