Malaysia is a Groaning Buffet

You can judge a country by the way they eat…and Malaysia certainly tops my list of culinary wonderlands. It’s just that there are so many choices…and everything, almost, is really good. Ok, last night I did sample a ‘national dessert’ of shaved ice with three different syrups that I left in the bowl, but for the most part, we have all been taken aback by the delicious food choices that are all so cheap.

We went to KL’s Sri Rampai neighborhood, the usual rabbit warren of shops piled on top of shops, and busy with cars, scooters and people. We stopped at a non-descript open air food court, where about a dozen different businesses offer Chinese foods and the proprietor sells the drinks. We had noodles with chopped roasted chicken, and little mussels with sizzling prawns, and stir fried noodles with sprouts and scallions. It was all delicious, cooked up for us as we waited, and it costs 5 ringetts or about $1.50. Wow!

This city is full of architectural gems, intriguing buildings that are designed by creative minds that think differently than those in the west. The most famous building in KL, the Petronas Twin Towers, are gorgeous to look at close up, with the steel ringing every few feet, and the design that gets successively thinner and thinner to the top of its 88 stories.

Our guide waited in line for us so that we could join the 1400 people today to ride up to the 41st floor to walk on the Skybridge. They ran out of steel when they were building these massive towers in 1996, and they had to bring more over from the UK. Up close it is a marvel of engineering, and downstairs there is another mall, this one with a food court that just doesn’t quit.