The Greatest Adventure Is What Lies Ahead: The Allure of Jalan Alor

We've been eating well. And one of the reasons we have eaten well is that Patrick, prior to departing for Baltimore after two years in KL, decided to countdown the departure with a tour of his favorite places to eat. Sushi! Belgian Beer! All great, but I have fallen in love with Jalan Alor. But let's back up...

We spent Tuesday day in the Lake Gardens playground, but had to run early to catch up with Patrick who drove us downtown to Suria KLCC (suria = mall in Malay) to visit Maxis, the cell phone store. Thank you, again, Patrick for giving Brian your phone! (A side note, mostly because Violet wanted this picture: At the mall, we ran by the bank -- our bank in Malaysia is CIMB Bank whose logo is a giant red octopus. Bank to bank electronic transfer here is so, so easy. We pay all our bills, reserve hotels, rent a car, re-up minutes on the faculty cell phone - all using CIMB Clicks. Thank you giant red octopus.) Patrick then took us up to the top of Traders Hotel to have a drink at the Sky Bar while overlooking KLCC park and the Petronas Twin Towers. I didn't take a good picture of this place, so check out the website: http://www.shangri-la.com/kualalumpur/traders/dining/bars-lounges/sky-bar/. The kids begged to swim... No. They did not. And no one got pushed into the pool. Then off to meet the rest of the group at Jalan Alor.

Jalan Alor is KL's food street. Lined with shop after shop of storefront restaurants, the PUGSOM team is faithful to the Lilian (expediter) and Simon (chef) team at the Restoran Lim Kee -- and with good reason. Here you walk down the street, pick a plastic table (or three, for our group) outdoors in front of someone's restaurant. When I say outdoors, I mean you are on the street (see the picture above). The scene is great. The food is oh, so delicious. I could have eaten three plates of the salt and pepper squid. Robin loved the ray. Kris' wife is flying in on Tuesday and only has one night to eat dinner in KL. We are taking her to Jalan Alor.

My eating langsat at home

Charlie buying langsat

Also before leaving Jalan Alor, we tried some new fruits. Durian is a big must try in Malaysia. It's a terrible smelling fruit. I mean so bad smelling that many hotels have notices saying "No Durian". There a saying about durian "smells like hell, tastes like heaven" - some people equate the taste to vanilla ice cream. Anyway. What I learned is that individuals' reactions to tasting durian differs broadly. (Some say "smells like hell, tastes like...hell"). Now I did not get the pictures, but check out Nicole Shilkofski's FaceBook post from Tuesday: "Durian vs. Chocolate Ice Cream". Robin found durian vile. Brian said it was okay. I think Modupe actually liked it... (I didn't try it - after having a reaction to Jackfruit, I'm staying away from anything melon-y.) Charlie also had us try a fruit called langsat. They are small, with a thin shell and citrus taste, similar to grapefruit. They were wonderful!

That was all Tuesday, and now it's Friday morning. Wednesday we shopped. Got a great Osprey backpack from "the" backpack lady at the Pertama Complex - she was as good as they say. Plus a bunch of other sporting goods - INCLUDING the elusive masks, fins, and snorkels for the kids! When Brian returned home, we played badminton with our new rackets and ate with Kris at the hawker stalls in Desa Sri Hartamas, before saying a final goodbye to Patrick. Tyler cried after saying goodbye -- we did explain that if Patrick stayed on in Malaysia, Brian would not have had a job here and we would not be here. That logic was kind of lost on a five year old.

Yesterday (Thursday) we saw the elephants. This is getting long, so I'm leaving that to a separate post...