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Of course I have to write a food post.
We are in Kuala Lumpur, and the food here is wonderful. We are staying in Chinatown and are a 5 minute walk to Little India. Our last 5 consecutive meals have been Indian food. We’re in food heaven! We look at the menu and order all the things we have never heard of. We found a restaurant that we particularly like (called ABC), since the staff are so friendly and helpful, and the food is divine. We went back for lunch today and are going again for dinner! We are constantly amazed by how complicated the flavors of Indian food are–it is never boring! They have every thickness of bread you could want to accompany your dish too. My favorite bread is the ABC special naan which has a sweet yellow fruit and cheese in it, and it is of course it is richly buttered.
There are a million fruit carts on the street, so we tried one fruit that looks like a cross between an apple and a red bell pepper but that kind of tastes like rhubarb but is a little sweeter and less mouth puckering. We tried another fruit that is the size and shape of a large grape, but has a shell like a nut. When you crack it open it looks like a large passion fruit seed and tastes like a cantaloupe. Suz! Maybe this would be a good cantaloupe substitute that you aren’t allergic to! Too bad I don’t know what it is called We have not been brave enough to try durian yet, but we’ve smelled it, and it is not as bad as they say.
Not only do we like Kuala Lumpur for the food, but it is an amazingly diverse and accepting city. For the past month we have been very conscious of what we are wearing so as to not offend anyone, making sure to cover our shoulders and knees especially if we are going into temples. Here though, anything is acceptable. On the same street, you will see women wearing beautiful saris, or head coverings with jeans, shorts or tank tops. Men’s clothing is just as diverse. We also had the honor of hearing Islamic prayers being sung and watching the men pray in front of one of the mosques. It is an amazing town. It is impeccably clean and modern; the people are so friendly. There are huge sky scrapers surrounded by plenty of trees and parks. In fact, the communication tower that we went up in (4th tallest in the world) cost an extra 430,000 MR (more than $140,000) in order to save a 100 year old tree that was in the way. While we were in the tower admiring the city lights, we noticed that many of the buildings were completely dark! Undoubtedly saving money but also electricity–very green!