It was a bit of a slow morning thanks to our new friends, but we were able to get everything packed up in time to get out right around noon to leave the hotel. We had a few hours left before our train ride, so we left our bags with the hotel and headed back into town. We wanted to try some Indian food, so we walked towards a popular seeming southern Indian banana leaf restaurant for lunch. As far as we knew, for banana leaf meals they will place a large banana leaf as your plate and you typically eat with your hands.
We arrived prepared to attempt this, but did not know much of how to properly eat or order food. It didn’t help that the employees spoke almost no English and didn’t really explain how to order. We eventually kind of ordered our food, David asking for the fish and Caitlyn asking for the chicken (this was as much information as we were provided- fish, chicken, mutton or vegetable) . One employee took Caitlyn over to a food bar and she chose some food, and another came over to David at a table and offered rice as well as a few small containers with different kinds of curries. David wasn’t sure what he could take and if it was priced according to the amount or number of options you took, and getting this answer was very confusing. Eventually, we both had food on our plates and we begun to eat. At the back of the restaurant are 2 large sinks to wash your hands, as most people do not use cutlery. While we both washed before eating, only Caitlyn was brave enough to eat with just her hands. Thankfully for David, they offered him silverware. We also each ordered a “lassi”, which is a yogurt/milk smoothie style drink from India. David got the mango lassi and Caitlyn a sweet and sour lassi. We ate the food, not super impressed, and drank the lassi, slightly more impressed. The food wasn’t bad, but the confusion and difficulty of trying to figure out how to order and eat was not worth the quality of the food.
We both thought we could use a coffee so we went to Old Town White Coffee. The menu was quite extensive, with dozens of options and ways to order the coffee. David got a white coffee float (iced coffee with ice cream) and Caitlyn could not decide between two drinks so she got both the hot white coffee and the iced white coffee latte! They were all nice but the float was delicious, especially as the ice cream melted into the coffee.
We had run out of things to do in Central Ipoh and didn’t want to go too far away before our train, so we ordered a grab to a beerhall. After a 10-15 minute drive, we are dropped off out front. There appeared to be some construction at the entrance, so we tried to find a way in. It doesn’t take long for us to find a sign saying that the restaurant is closed for renovation until November. We pull our phones out and start searching for a new spot, luckily spotting one just a few blocks away. We head inside and realize that this will be the perfect place to kill time and work on the blog for the next couple hours before our train departs. We had a couple beers and made progress on the blog before it was time to head to the hotel and grab our bags.
We got a ride to the hotel, got the bags, and got a ride to the train station, arriving 45 minutes early. Soon enough, our train arrived. We hopped on, found a good place for our bags, and situated ourselves nicely. The internet was extremely unreliable, so we ended up watching downloaded content on Netflix. We alternated between 1899 and Saw, eventually finishing Saw. There were many stops, but it was comfortable and easy.
We eventually got off the train in Kuala Lumpur around 9:00pm. We hopped in a grab towards the hotel. It was pretty dark out, but so many bright giant buildings illuminated the night. It didn’t take long until we knew that we were going to love this city. Our driver offered us some suggestions about buildings and places to see, which we marked down.
We got to the hotel situated in Little India, and looked up open restaurants. We decided on some middle eastern food, finding a place just a 30 minute walk from the hotel.
The last part of our walk put us squarely on what seemed like the night life district of Kuala Lumpur. Dozens of bars lined the streets, with lots of both locals (seemingly) and tons of tourists filling up most of the stools. We walked into Halab Yemeni Food, a very impressive and seemingly high end restaurant.
We chose the mixed grilled meat platter, the lamb arayes, and a hummus with lamb. The mixed meat platter was incredible, with a huge assortment of kebab meat, grilled meats, prawns, lamb, and more. It turns out that arayes are pita bread stuffed with meat and with a delicious white garlic dipping sauce (also supplied with the mixed platter). It turns out arayes are basically middle eastern quesadillas which David was not disappointed with. David doesn’t really eat hummus, but Caitlyn enjoyed it, and the massive portion of hunks of lamb in the hummus was excellent.
We finished our meal and with stuffed bellies we walked back to the hotel. We grabbed a large bottled water from the lobby and headed to the room to get a good night sleep.
David’s thoughts of the day: I am not sure if we mentioned it before, but we had figured out in other cities in Malaysia that everyone exclusively calls Kuala Lumpur “K L”. This was certainly reiterated tonight since arriving in KL.
Caitlyn’s thoughts of the day: just from the short amount of time we spent in KL today, I can tell it’s going to be a great city with lots to explore! It also has MUCH safer sidewalks as compared to Ipoh and Penang (pictured in previous blog posts).
Steps walked: 8,457
Miles walked: 4.11
Bluming Travelers 