I realised that my hotel is only 10 minutes walk from Kampung Baru, a traditional village smack in the middle of KL. Villagers have resisisted selling up to developers … so you get these kampung houses surrounded by high rises.
Kampung Baru is famous for its eating so I joined the longest queue (presuming it is an indicator for the best) for nasi lemak (coconut rice with curry and condiments) for breakfast.
After cooling off at the gorgeous Pavilion mall, I made my way to Sri Petaling to meet a friend Dora for dinner. At the Hang Tuah transfer station, I was met with a shocking queue. Fortunately it was for tickets and having a Touch’n Go stored-value card I was able to go straight in.
The train arrived and it was chocka with people in Liverpool soccer jerseys. Fortunately I only had to wait for the next train.
Upon enquiry with people around me, Liverpool was playing the Malaysian national team at Bukit Jalil stadium … one stop before my destination. I’m really surprised how KL has become the soccer hotspot … Chelsea and Arsenal also have games here in the surrounding timeframe.
Anyway, after dinner with Dora and her adorable little boy, I made my way back to KL and found that the score was 6-3 … there’s no question about which way around it was!
Some things I learnt about my fellow-countrymen today:
- Malaysians are disciplined queuers, even if they’re soccer fans!
- Malaysians are resistant to using electronic payment despite having very fine e-payment platforms available (the National Identity Card, the contactless Touch’n Go card).
- Malaysians will support the touring team (eg. Liverpool) in favour of the national team for whatever reason!? Perhaps nobody wants to be seen wearing the colours of the team that will clearly lose.
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- KL Tower in the background of a Malay house in Kampung Baru.
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- Petronas Twin Towers in the background of a Malay eatery in Kampung Baru.
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- Petronas Twin Towers in the background of a Malay house in Kampung Baru.
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- Petronas Twin Towers in the background of a Malay house in Kampung Baru.
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- I picked the longest queue when choosing between the several Nasi Lemak places for breakfast.
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- Nasi Lemak with Ayam Masak Merah, perkedel (begedil in Malaysia though), cucumber, ikan bilis, sambal ikan bilis, egg and tempeh goreng
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- Queue at Hang Tuah station to buy the train tickets to go to the Liverpool match.
