KL

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

 

Our trip to Kuala Lumper started off with a bang, literally. The bus we were riding from the airport had a mechanical failure and blew oil all over the highway. A minor set back that left us stranded on the side of the highway.  No biggie though…once in KL were greeted by Melor, a friend of Angie’s from high school.   

Melor introduced us to a Jalan Alor, formerly the red light district, it’s now a street known for its seemingly endless amount of food stalls. It’s an open air shopping strip by day and open air dining by night. It’s thick with smoke, people,  and the noisy clatter. All up and down the street are a variety of meats, seafood, fruits and vegetables.

Melissa had her first taste of durian, a fruit known by the phrase “Smells like hell, tastes like heaven”. You eat the rich custardy almond tasting fruit with plastic gloves otherwise a foul rotten onion like scent will haunt you over the next couple of days.  It’s a fruit not allowed on airplanes and hotels simply for its powerful scent.

Some of our favorite things to eat were the simple food placed on skewers that were either grilled or boiled. Melissa was like a kid in a candy store getting to pick out a little of everything to sample.  We drank sour plum juice, a salty yet sweet beverage not like anything we’ve ever drank before.  A few other things we ate were a stir-fry, fried prawn with egg floss, tofu with plum sauce and some unknown white veggie, and a whole baked fish. We were glad to meet our new friend Melor, but this was a quick stop on our way to the Philippines.