K.O.'d In K.L.

Well, there they are, the Petronis towers, formerly the tallest towers in the world and now ?th?.
I was actually expecting to be underwhelmed, but they are impressive. This photo in no way does them justice cause it doesn't allow for the multicoloured facade that glints and winks in the sunlight.Close up, they are quite beautiful.










But for me, the real icon of Kuala Lumpur is....Laksa....Mmmmmmm. Chicken, prawns, tofu, egg, veg, nuts in a coconut and tamarind gravy; and at $4 a bowl, you can't go wrong.

The residents of K.L. appear so far to be a generally happy and friendly lot. The three obvious racial distinctions are Malay, Chinese and Indian. This is reflected everywhere in the different ethnic shops, areas and facilities....sari shops, Chinese massage, Malay curry etc. So far everyone appears to get on swimmingly. People smile at each other and move out of each other's way. On the monorail, I saw a young Chinese youth give up his seat for an old malay lady. you don't see that kind of thing very often in Sydney! I'm not sure how far that goes. Descending the crowded and very steep monorail steps behind a Muslim lady in a kebaya (long dress worn under the hijab/scarf) I nearly stood on her hem. What would have happened if I had torn the dress off?! - Death by beheading, I suspect, lol! The Malays are beautiful. Better looking than the Javanese (imho). They have thick black wavy hair, high cheekbones and the women move gracefully in their trad dress.






Went shopping yesterday in Bukit Bintang, which is the mall and restaurant precinct of K.L. It's also where you can get a massage, have a drink, take in a movie or go clubbing. A kind of one stop entertainment hub. Slightly sleazy feel to it (or what may pass for sleazy in pious K.L.) K.O.'d by the heat, I paused for lunch at a corner Halal (not hard to find here) chicken shack, where I tucked into Nasi Lemak, which is: coconut rice, with chicken in a chilli tomato gravy, with the ubiquitous hard boiled egg on the side, and also Bombay duck (deep fried tiny fishes ?whitebait), peanuts, sweet chilli sauce and sliced cucumber. Very good.