The Ramlee is P. Ramlee, of course, or -- as, his passport had it -- Ramli bin Puteh @ P. Ramlee.

I've been intermittently fascinated by P. Ramlee since we went to see the musical of his life last year. Such an outsized story: talent, fame, three marriages, early death...



A few more pieces of the story are added by the Pustaka Peringatan P. Ramlee, a collection of photos, movies, and documents housed in the last place he lived, Jalan Dadap, Setapak.



We got there via a short LRT ride, and a short though hot walk, through still-existing bits of kampung, and along a River Gombak that is at this point still uncorseted, and frequented by painted stork.



The collection underlines the tragedy and triumph that swirl around P. Ramlee's life.

Here's part of the last song he wrote, before he died in 1973. Entitled "Tears in Kuala Lumpur", it aches with sadness:

My noble dream has been destroyed; the palace I built has become a grave.
The future is nothing but dark; my spirit wanders north and south.
Life has no meaning; outwardly I live, but inwardly I'm dead;
Crushed to pieces, my heart is broken;
Tears in Kuala Lumpur.

We have far from finished the P. Ramlee trail. To be continued...

Meanwhile, there is Ramly. This, most famously, is Ramly Mokni, the founder of the Ramly Burger.

Now, I'm a little confused here. I was under the impression that all real Ramly Burgers came wrapped in egg.

But we had our first one last night, from the stand across the road, and it didn't. It had a Ramly Burger patty, plus lots of veges, and a great chilli sauce -- and in fact, though I'm not a huge fan of burgers, I thought it was pretty tasty -- but it had no egg wrapper...

I am currently working on the hypothesis that if you want the egg, you have to order the "special".

We have far from finished the Ramly Burger trail. To be continued...