With India completed after 10 weeks Air Asia touched down at Kuala Lumpur International Airport for the second leg of our journey at 5am. Surely from now on in travelling anywhere on the planet would seem almost easy!!! Let’s wait and see.
Once again our luggage arrived on the carousel which I will take as a good sign, and even though the next comment is not one to really boast about with being cultural seekers and all that. We just couldn’t resist sharing a McDonalds Breakfast (A Double Sausage & Egg McMuffin!) Absolutely delicious! We just had to make sure that we were no longer vegetarians. Glad to say we still love meat and are prepared for noodles and noodles with a touch of rice.
Kuala Lumpur or KL as it is commonly known is a gleaming 21st century city of high rises and highways that sits amongst the Malaysian jungle environment. It is said that it seems like a triumph of man over nature. The cream of Malaysian creativity can be found in the city and a mix of ethnic communities brings a host of different things to the table, most importantly in the form of cuisine.
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| KL a 21st Century City in the Jungle |
Four days were planned for our time in the city of Kuala Lumpur on the main Malaysian Peninsular and our ‘huge budget’ took us to China Town and the Original Backpackers Inn which included the smallest room ever known. Room for a bed and that was it. There was no chance of even swinging a cat around!!!
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| Time to enter Chinatown, KL style |
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| Swing a Cat? You must be joking... |
An afternoon nap was needed with exhaustion setting in so once we had pulled ourselves together we headed for the hostels roof terrace which overlooked the city skyline to enjoy a small can of Tiger Beer. Unbelievably chilled, and to be honest amazing. Sip one made us realise that at last we had got our hands on a proper blonde lager, and that the quality in India was probably a little lower than first anticipated.
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| A huge welcome to Tiger Beer, our 1st Beer of South East Asia |
With being in Malaysia and myself not really seeing Tiger Beer as a Malaysian beer but a beer from Singapore I will leave the tasting notes and my experience to when the time comes to visit Singapore further along in our travels. There is however some background information for the beer market in Malaysia.
GAB (Guiness Anchor Bhd) was formed in 1989, with the merger of Guiness Malaysia Bhd and Malaysian Breweries, whose parent companies were Malayan Breweries Ltd (the present Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd and Guinness Overseas Ltd (GOL).
GOL is owned by Diageo PLC, one of the world’s leading premium drinks Group.
GAB now operates the Sungei Way Brewery which started its operations in 1965. Located in Selangor, the brewery oversees Guinness, Tiger, Heineken, Anchor Smooth, Kilkenny, Anglia Shandy and Malta in Malaysia.
Today, GAB is the clear market leader of the Malaysian beer and stout industry, with 57% of the market share.
A busy couple of days followed with excitement about exploring a major world city. Not knowing our route as always we headed to Lake Gardens. On foot as always no sightseeing tour bus for us. Kuala Lumpur turned out to be a beautiful city built in the jungle and sights for the day included the National Museum, Observatory, Deer Park, Bird Park, Auditorium, Lake and War Memorial. Next stop the Old Railway Station, Central Market and St Mary’s Cathedral plus the Old City Hall and Merdeka Square.
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| The Old Railway Station |
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| Lake Gardens |
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| The War Memorial |
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| Central Market |
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| Merdeka Square |
Exhausted and soaked after a Monsoon downpour (Not losing the crazy rain!) we headed back to Chinatown for MEAT and our first taste of a true Malaysian Beer, Anchor Smooth Pilsner Beer.
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| We seriously need to stop getting caught in Monsoon Rain |
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| Awesome Rain. I might steal that guys umbrella! |
ANCHOR SMOOTH BEER, Malaysia, Pilsner Style, ABV 4.5%
Brewed by GAB as previously stated, it is the local Malaysian beer that is pasteurised and brewed with water, malted barley, maize, hops and yeast. With a contemporary and easy-to-drink feel, it has its appeal and is a good accompaniment for local mouth-watering dishes, which around the capital is a wide mixture of Indian, Chinese and Malay. Especially enjoyed around the open air hawker stalls! Anchor Smooth has been brewed since 1933 and is still brewed in the pilsen tradition but with aromatic European hops to give you an even richer smoother taste. A good quality, golden blonde beer with a crisp, smooth and refreshing taste. Not the most attractive packaging in the world but seems to be popular amongst both locals and tourists, especially around the Chinatown vicinity.
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| Enjoying the Anchor Smooth at a Hawker |
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| Sampling the local cuisine. As I said Noodles, Rice & Meat! |
On day two we headed north into the City through the Golden Triangle District towards PETRONAS Towers and the KL Tower, which just overpowered the Kuala Lumpur skyline. Two great structures especially the PETRONAS Towers which just glistened like silver in the suns rays. Once the largest tower in the world it really is a must see. Or you could watch the film Entrapment with Sean Connery that people seemed to mention a lot.
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| Belgium Beer Cafe, Golden Triangle District |
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| Underneath PATRONAS Towers, Massive! |
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| Not a bad Snap if I do say so myself..Obviously Kate's handy work!. |
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| KL Tower makes you dizzy!!! |
The nights were spent around Chinatown which just seemed to buzz at every hour. Filled with street stalls and market stalls selling every knocked off copy goods you could think of. Chinatown was an amazingly entertaining place with circuitous streets and cramped chaos creating a pressure-cooker of sights and sounds. Another place to use the well learnt bartering skills of India. People did tell us that it was chaotic and not hassle free. We didn’t see that at all. Maybe we were lucky or just still in Delhi mode. But between me and you it was a pretty laidback city and one that you could imagine living in. Very Westernised and it did take us a few days to settle. I mean it was pretty expensive for us and people actually drove in straight lines on the right side of the road. Kuala Lumpur turned out to be a reality check or should I say ‘Welcome back to Planet Earth’.
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| The pressure cooker of Chinatown where you can buy anything! |
Kuala Lumpur also had a lot more backpackers pounding the sidewalks, and we ended up meeting Meral and Raphael from Nuremberg in Germany. They were heading into South East Asia after spending 12 months working in Australia. It was great to pass along knowledge and we had time of course for a draught Carlsberg (only a couple of days into South East Asia but already the beer market is dominated by large European Breweries!!!) and a hookah pipe at the Reggae Bar.
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| Meral & Raphael enjoying cocktails & hookah. Me and Kate on the Carlsberg Draught! |
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| Always time for a Connect 4 lesson!!! |
Our first port of call in Malaysia turned out to be a great destination following India and gave us time to plan our route of attack. This always seems to be the case. Our motto being! Arrive in a destination and then plan what to do. Just go with the flow. Next stop The Cameron Highlands and to our great surprise for the first time on our trip no public transport. A tourist mini-bus will be collecting us from the hostel before driving us directly the next hostels front door and in only 4 hours. This might turn out to be a little too easy after all!!!
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| Cheers KL & thanks for reminding us it's nearly Christmas... |
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