KL for the start of the Year of the Snake
by prudence on 10-Feb-2013
Another Chinese New Year (or CNY, as everyone calls it round here). Three of our last four CNYs have now been spent in Malaysia, and I'm really happy to have had the chance to stay on for this always exciting time.
Apparently toy-makers struggle with the Year of the Snake. While people love to buy tigers and dragons and so on, they do not love to buy snakes. We just don't trust them.
And there was a nasty little ssss to the year's beginning in our case. We'd booked first-class sleepers from Arau to KL. After watching the sun go down over the burning rice-fields of Perlis, and Alor Star's glowing Menara slip behind us, we were looking forward to a reasonable night's sleep and a nice nasi lemak as we slid into KL for 5.30 am. Instead of which, we were rudely awoken just before Sungai Petani, and told there'd been a derailment up ahead, so we were being bussed to Ipoh, and then trained on from there.
That meant sitting up all the way, and arriving in KL for 3.45 am...
That's exactly the sort of sssneaky, mean, unreliable thing you'd expect from a Snake...
Anyway, the day picked up. The Vivatel, which is new, and was doing a great introductory offer, has turned out to be fantastic, and they really kindly let us check in early. Four hours' sleep made us feel rather more like facing the world and all its snakes again.
It's been a very Malaysian New Year's Day. Our Mamak-style lunch was cooked for us by someone from Myanmar. A rainbow demographic filled the malls and the trains. An acrobatic lion dance team wowed the crowds outside KLCC. Juiceworks was serving up "prosperity juice" -- a delicious combo of mandarin, guava, and lychee.
Not at all CNY, but an enjoyable part of our Malaysian day nevertheless:
-- the exhibition at KLCC, entitled Taman Nurani: Islamic Impressions in Malaysian Contemporary Art, with the geometric and calligraphic pieces a particular delight;
-- durian chiffon cake, eaten with yoghurt.
So that's the other side of the snake -- full of ssserendipitous sssurprises.
UPDATE (13 February): Upon application, good old KTM instantly refunded the difference between the first- and second-class fares. Very impressive. Tax authorities: take note of this fine example.
Apparently toy-makers struggle with the Year of the Snake. While people love to buy tigers and dragons and so on, they do not love to buy snakes. We just don't trust them.
And there was a nasty little ssss to the year's beginning in our case. We'd booked first-class sleepers from Arau to KL. After watching the sun go down over the burning rice-fields of Perlis, and Alor Star's glowing Menara slip behind us, we were looking forward to a reasonable night's sleep and a nice nasi lemak as we slid into KL for 5.30 am. Instead of which, we were rudely awoken just before Sungai Petani, and told there'd been a derailment up ahead, so we were being bussed to Ipoh, and then trained on from there.
That meant sitting up all the way, and arriving in KL for 3.45 am...
That's exactly the sort of sssneaky, mean, unreliable thing you'd expect from a Snake...
Anyway, the day picked up. The Vivatel, which is new, and was doing a great introductory offer, has turned out to be fantastic, and they really kindly let us check in early. Four hours' sleep made us feel rather more like facing the world and all its snakes again.
It's been a very Malaysian New Year's Day. Our Mamak-style lunch was cooked for us by someone from Myanmar. A rainbow demographic filled the malls and the trains. An acrobatic lion dance team wowed the crowds outside KLCC. Juiceworks was serving up "prosperity juice" -- a delicious combo of mandarin, guava, and lychee.
Not at all CNY, but an enjoyable part of our Malaysian day nevertheless:
-- the exhibition at KLCC, entitled Taman Nurani: Islamic Impressions in Malaysian Contemporary Art, with the geometric and calligraphic pieces a particular delight;
-- durian chiffon cake, eaten with yoghurt.
So that's the other side of the snake -- full of ssserendipitous sssurprises.
UPDATE (13 February): Upon application, good old KTM instantly refunded the difference between the first- and second-class fares. Very impressive. Tax authorities: take note of this fine example.