4 posts tagged “kl”

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Puduraya

Feb 24, 2009
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There is a reason why people are surprised when I tell them I'm walking through this part of town. Once I get to the streets I smell the thick smog. My 15 minute walk will take me on asphalt through banks and various Indian owned shops. All covered in the same shade of gray. Although it is sunset I do not gawk in awe of this magnificent gray cityscape. I have a bus to catch.

Puduraya is probably the busiest bus depot we have. A hundred counters line up to sell you bus rides to any town on the Peninsular. Though the booths are stationary, ticket pushers gather around the main gate to get an upper hand. As I walk into the depot they try to sell me tickets to places I have no intention of going. They badger and follow me until they find other people to badger and follow. This place gets its smell out of a cocktail of car fumes and bus smog from below. It is hot. I doubt there is technology advanced enough to cool down an open bus depot crowded with hundreds of people. If there is we cannot afford it here.

Three counters tell me that they've sold out all tickets to Penang. I'm desperate and decide to get a ticket from a ticket pusher for double the usual fare. He says its because it is a special bus. This does not comfort me. I walk down towards the buses and wait beside what used to be a garden. I assume that all the plants were suffocated by years of bus fumes.

The other passengers and I start to worry after an hour's wait. But then things start happening very quickly. First a 3 foot tall midget comes round and demands that we pay him more money to bring us to our bus. He is the meanest midget I have ever met and we submit. Then he leads us up the stairs, quickly pass the crowds and out of the depot. Some of the passengers are left behind while we cross the street, walk up another block of buildings to get to a gas station where there is a bus. As we try to get on the bus driver starts shouting at the midget. Midget shouts back. I'm hoping this is about the extra money we paid him so we have a chance of getting it back. The shouting goes on until both decide to leave, leaving us stranded beside the bus. 30 minutes pass before a replacement driver comes to let us into the bus. I thank god the air conditioning works.

KL Highway map preparation

May 11, 2008
5 comments

I'm preparing to do a map on KL highways and thought I'd share the information I've gathered so far. Experienced KLites will balk at me for not already having this information in my head, but the idea is to be able to produce an easy to read map so I don't have to think about this crap any more. Please let me know if I missed out on your favorite highway. Watch this space for more information on individual highways in the future.

KL Highways

[2] Federal Highway (Seputeh ↔ Klang)
[28] MRR2 (Sungai Buloh ↔ Sungai Besih)
[E1] NKVE (Jalan Duta ↔ Klang)
[E6] Elite (Shah Alam ↔ USJ)
[E10] NPE (Bangsar ↔ Subang Jaya)
[E11] LDP (Damansara ↔ Puchong)
[E20] KL-Putrajaya Expressway (KL ↔ Putrajaya)
[E23] Sprint (Damansara Utama ↔ Jalan Duta)
[E37] Seremban Highway (KL ↔ Seremban)
[E38] SMART Tunnel (Jalan Tun Razak ↔ Sungai Besi)

All information courtesy of Wikipedia.

Eating in KL

Mar 8, 2008
9 comments

Eating at Delicious

Some of the places I've been to the past few weeks and would love to go back to. Once I've run out of new places to go to. I'll be the first to admit that the choices I've made are totally subjective and are probably influenced by the company I had.

$ + ★★★

Sang Ha Mee at Jalan Imbi - As a bonus they also sell pretty good satay there too.
Night hawkers at Yulek - AFAIC they have the best dessert soups + chinese buns in town.
Chicken wings at Jalan Alor - Right behind where Cathay cinema used to be (god bless that place). Best wings in the world.
Seafood Curry Mee at Seapark -Seafood + Curry is always good.
LYJ Restaurant at Sungai Buloh - Good cheap food. Worth the trip to one of the uluest places in town.
Banana Leaf rice at Bangsar - Good cheap food. Hard to believe its in Bangsar.
Nathan's near old Klang road - ★★★ Cheese Naan. Life's not worth living until you've tasted this.

$$$ + ★★★

Ikiru at Faber Towers - So nice that its near my place too.
Relish at Changkat Bukit Bintang - Best burgers in town.
Delicious burgers at 1Utama and Bangsar Village - Second best burgers in town.
Aoyama at Sri Hartamas - Had the most expensive meal of my life there. Everything came in tiny portions. Can't believe I haven't been back there in a year.
Chef & Brew at Plaza Bukit Damansara - Loved them in Penang. Love them here. They sell the best sambal burgers in the world.
Domes everywhere - Everything they make is just good. My theory is that they use the best ingredients they can find.

Not exactly for the food

Apartment at KLCC - Love the deco.
Desserts opposite Plaza Sunrise - The food wasn't that great but I loved how laid back and quiet the place was. Here's hoping it won't close down soon.
Marketplace near KLCC - Another nice, quiet place. Perfect for intimate parties.
Alexis at GE Mall - Great music + Martinis.

★★★?

Chow tau foo in Connaught Pasar Malam
Jogoya at Starhill
Chee Cheong Fun by the roadside at SS2
Ah Yat Abalone Dim Sum at K Avenue
La Bodega at Pavilion and Bangsar
El Cerdo at Changkat Bukit Bintang

I will be making a...

Oct 26, 2006
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IMG_2160

I will be making a short trip down to KL tomorrow and it got me thinking. I'm still quite ambivalent about the city. On one hand, I grew up there and used to think that this was the best place in the world. On the other, there is the dust, the heavy traffic, the lack of green spaces, the dirt that's everywhere, the crowd, the high prices for everything, the lack of parking spaces, the heat etc.

Despite that, I'm still in love with it. There is nothing like watching KL during the night. Or how she smells after the rain. I guess it really does grow on you like fungus.