Kuala Lumpur Reflections
September 1976
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26th September – KL (Malaysia)
Just a day spent walking and sightseeing around town. Daniel didn’t wake up until 10am, so by the time we had breakfast (special Hari Raya food, i.e. little fancy biscuits), sat around and talked, had a mandi (mandarin) and a shave, then finally caught a bus into town, it was about midday.
A loop around the city. First stop, the National Museum. Spent two hours in there and that was nowhere near enough time. Many cultural displays depicting traditional Malay costumes and clothes, wedding dress, musical instruments, theatre and puppet shows, and mock-up circumcision rites etc.
Old rickshaws, a natural environment and wildlife section, industrial displays showing industry, agriculture and mining in action. Large murals showing the fight against the communist guerrillas, newspaper clippings of gallant actions by nationalist soldiers, and posters calling on the people to wage a constant struggle against the reds.
Malaysia is real neurotic about its insurgent problem. Chinese people aren’t allowed to visit their homeland until they are 45 years old, as they could come back indoctrinated.
From the museum, a stroll through the Lake Gardens, past Parliament House (depicted on the currency), and the National Monument, before grabbing a taxi back into Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman.
A Chinese lunch of fried rice, bean sprouts, cuttlefish, beef, spinach and spring onions with Coke. Mm! Still can’t convince Daniel to let us pay for anything. It is getting quite embarrassing. Still, that is the way these people are.
Decided to go to the movies, the 6 o’clock session. With a couple of hours to go, we strolled down through Chinatown and stopped off in a pet shop. Huge monitor lizards and pythons, just coil after coil of snake, probably 20 inches in circumference. Lots of parrots and monkeys in cruelly small cages.
Met Daniel’s friend who conveyed the information that all tickets had been sold for the movies, so we decided to go to the special midnight showing. That left about seven hours to wait, so we figured the nicest and most comfortable place to while away the time would be in the Hilton Hotel main lobby.
A taxi out there. We all certainly felt scungy as millionaires strolled past us, with an occasional glance showing utter contempt. Many Americans, some Germans and French, Indians, Malays and Japanese. Can’t see any Aussies. This place must be too cheap for them.
Daniel drags us into the Avis Rent-a-Car office on the ground floor of the Hilton, where he works. A baldy-looking Indian is in there enquiring about transport, so Daniel gets lumbered to chauffeur-drive him around tomorrow. I don’t think he minds. After all, he’s got a maroon Mercedes 280SE to belt around in. Cost for one day with driver, a mere $200M.
Anyway, that ends our chance of the midnight show. Catch a taxi back into town and head for the late-night food stalls. A quick snack of Soto Ayam (boiled noodles and heaps of chicken) and cold pineapple juice.
Lots of people dining late, young lovers with eyes full of passion. Can see they are dying to get home. A nice warm evening, no rain for a couple of days.
A bus back out, a cool mandi, some biscuits and cordial, then a welcomed sleep.
27th September – Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
Now eight weeks since we flew from Darwin, so I suppose that is something of a milestone.
Today spent quite leisurely. Daniel went to work early and Joe supplied us breakfast in lieu, a tasty Chinese dish, Yang Tau Foo.
Finally got moving around 10am. A bus into town, then another two out to the Batu Caves. Not overly spectacular as far as caves go, but OK.
For 50c you get a short rail-car ride which saves you a 272-step climb into the main entrance. The 50c also entitles you to visit the Dark Cave, certainly the most interesting. Huge ceilings cluttered with dozens of bats, dripping water, occasional rays of sunshine piercing the darkness, and coloured lights marking the track. A dirty waterline indicates the place must periodically be flooded out.
Anyway, into the main cavern where is housed a Hindu shrine of Lord Subramanian. A sacred place of worship for Hindu devotees and focal point for their festival Thaipusam, held once a year.
Rather grubby and untidy and uninteresting. Just entertained ourselves throwing rocks at the bats hanging upside down on the walls.
Met an American couple and had a chat with them over a lunch of Mie Goreng and Coke. A few hints and addresses of places in Thailand. The guy had travellers’ cheques, airline tickets, passports and cash stolen from his hotel room in Bangkok. They got into his room and picked the lock on his bag.
More than enough reports filtering through to indicate Thailand’s a pretty heavy place.
Back into KL and a bit of window shopping and browsing. I finally bought a green canvas shoulder bag, $3M (490 rupiah). Cheap next to Indonesia (1200–2000 rupiah, $3–5 Aus), where at Kuta Beach they wanted 600 rupiah for cotton flour sacks.
A lot of flash shopping complexes in this town and they also seem to have caught jeans-denim mania. Fashion-wise, KL is right up with Australia. In fact, except for the different appearance of the people, KL is any Australian city.
Waiting out a heavy shower of rain, we headed for tea (dinner) in the market. The usual: Mie Goreng, fruit juice and coffee.
Spent an hour looking at the Trades Fair. Sort of a miniature Adelaide Royal Show, without the sideshows, without the livestock, without the motor pavilion, without the horticultural displays, without the fashion parades and sporting spectaculars.
Really, it doesn’t resemble the Royal Show at all. That is why it only took an hour to see the lot.
Back to Daniel’s place. Joe and his girlfriend here also. Spent a few hours (until 1.30am) chatting.
Poor Rosie (Joe’s girlfriend) left her plane ticket to Hong Kong in Penang, where she had just spent the Hari Raya weekend with her folks. It will be a real scramble to get the ticket here in time as she is due to fly out Wednesday morning. Because she works for Malaysian Air Service and the ticket is free, another one can’t automatically be written out.
Dan not back from work yet. Looks like he is spending the night out.
Interesting to get a Malaysian opinion of our food. They consider it bland and tasteless because we use few spices or chillies. But then again, if their cooking didn’t use special flavouring, it would be so tasteless because rice and mie make up their staple diet and there is nothing naturally flavoured in that.
28th September – KL (Malaysia)
The day spoiled right from the start by the wonderfully efficient and helpful public servants of the Australian High Commission.
Had visions of reading newspapers from home in the comfort of our embassy. But the jolly fellows weren’t content with having only three days off to celebrate Hari Raya, so decided to take Tuesday off as well.
If you add up all the Australian public holidays, which they’d have for sure, plus the assorted Hindu, Moslem and Buddhist festivals in Malaysia, added to the fact they work only six hours a day (the times are displayed), the overseas diplomatic corps are definitely atypical public-service bludgers.
We’ve got to find an embassy open.
Not much better news in the post office. Only three letters for the last two months, and one telling about Norwood’s (Alan’s favourite Australian Football Lead club) demise in the finals.
Anyway, around lunch time we headed to the Zoo Negara. Although small, it’s well laid out, with animals and birds in spacious enclosures.
A large section for orangutans built with funds from the World Conservation Society. These apes are definitely highly intelligent. Watching them, you can virtually see the last stage before the apes come down from the trees and become Homo sapiens.
Unfortunately their numbers have decreased so rapidly over the past few years they have reached the point of being classed as an endangered species. This is through the destruction of large areas of their lowland forests by the overseas multinational chipboard industry, combined with the price they fetch from zoos around the world.
Another step forward for mankind.
Back into town for tea in the market. I had Mie Goreng (the usual) and Sop Kambing (goat soup), which was quite delicious.
KL is served by a good public transport system. Buses leave from town to the outer suburbs every few minutes and vice versa. Prices are never over 40c a trip (13c Aus), and for short sections 10–15c.
Peugeot taxis serve the inner city. It’s a cheap way to get from one spot to another, especially if you have become a bit confused amongst all the skyscrapers and are not sure whether to go left, right or straight on.
Fares are never much more than 70–90c.
Lots of multi-lane highways in KL with flyovers, underpasses etc. Diesel Mercedes taxis are a popular means of intra-city transport and are found all over the Malay Peninsula. Reputed to be nearly as cheap as buses or trains.
Back to the flat. A strange bod answers the door and seems reluctant to let us in. But we persuade him we are not a couple of robbers. Then a girl comes in and she seems pretty surprised to see us.
Finally Joe and Rosie come back and we are all introduced around. Still no sign of Daniel. Haven’t seen him for two days now. Funny way to treat his guests. He was certainly a strange one.
Anyway, the rest of the evening talking with Joe and Rosie. They make us a delicious soup for supper.
You don’t have to worry about burglars or communist terrorists in this neck of the woods. All males have to take turns being on a nightly patrol unit. In groups of three or four they guard the streets at night.
So we hit the floor for the last time. It has been a rather pleasant stay in KL, but because it is such a westernised town, it has become a bit too familiar.
Tomorrow, onto newer pastures in Malacca.