Day two was a bit of a slow start, our breakfast order was lost, or had not been passed on to the cook, so we had to wait 35 minutes while it was prepared. Not a massive problem but it just put us a little behind schedule for our first visit of the day, the National Mosque.
For the first time ever we Uber’d for a taxi and within minutes our driver, Sivi, appeared in his shiny silver Myvi whisking us through the late morning traffic, pulling up right next to the Mosque in a few minutes and all for the princely sum of RMB11.95, which was a shade over £2.00. I was super impressed with my first experience of using Uber ???
The National Mosque, Masjid Negara, is simply stunning. It’s open architecture and sparkling pools were simply amazing. Peace and tranquility amidst the chaos and bustle of KL. We were made very welcome, were politely asked to dress appropriately and we were then allowed to wander freely apart from in to the actual prayer floor. This area is completely reserved for Muslims. Volunteers were wandering around and were happy to answer any questions and there was no pressure to engage in any faith conversation which was nice. Due to their Mosques daily prayer routine the place was cleared at midday to allow for prayers to take place.
Another crazy 10 minutes walk down the road from the Mosque to Independence Square, where the UK handed back Malaysia to the Malaysians way back in 1957. Built around a cricket pitch, the mock-Tudor Royal Selangor Club with St Mary’s Cathedral on the other corner, it all looked rather like an English village than Kuala Lumpur. Something like Lords cricket ground. Very odd and all very British.
Visiting St Mary’s we were made to feel most unwelcome by the two women inside who looked us up and down like we were aliens who had suddenly appeared in ‘their‘ church! What a difference from the warm friendly welcome at the Mosque up the road and we’re Christians too.
Making our sweaty way across the road to the Sultan Abdul Samad building we headed to the Petaling Street where after walking in near 40 degree heat all we could do was look for somewhere cool to sit and have an ice-cold drink rather spend time outside looking at the Chinese market stalls. Finding a hotel advertising iced drinks we entered and ordered large cold drinks and spent a while cooling off. Refreshed and cooled, and with bearings found we headed to the nearby KL Transit station, Kelang Jaya, and we headed up the line back to KLCC for lunch. Having never used the transit before, we studied the map, looked at the signs to work out where we were going and purchased a ticket. We must have appeared like we knew exactly what we were doing as an American couple asked for help and two Australians struck up a conversation asking if they could follow us back to KLCC! Once back in the cool surrounds of the KLCC Mall it was a light lunch of Kaya Toast and coffee from Old Town Coffee.
Skirting the park in the cool of the conference centre and the shade of the trees we headed back to our apartment for an afternoon by the pool.
Cooled and refreshed by our quiet poolside rest, we booked the second of our Uber experiences. Even more entertaining than our first trip, Aden took us to Jalan Alor where our restaurant table awaited at Dining In The Dark. Aden our driver, had been there recently confirming that it was a good choice of restaurants and as we hopped out of his car, wished us bon appetite. This restaurant gives you a small glimpse in to the world of the blind as the whole meal, five courses, is held in total and complete darkness. We were warmly welcomed in the bar area where you get to practice being in the dark by finding paper clips in a bucket of rice blindfolded. When your table is ready, we were then introduced to your blind waiter, Yus, who guided us in to the darkness and our table. Once inside you can see nothing. Absolutely nothing. Yus advised us on where our cutlery was positioned on the table along with tips on picking up our wine glass. Our first course arrived, four dishes on a square platter and Yus advised which order to eat them in. One of the startling things about eating in the dark is getting the food in to your mouth. How do you know you have a forkful of food? How do you know if the bowl is empty too? You have no idea if you’ve dropped anything on your shirt too. Very, very disorienting. Without any visual aids, taste and touch are now all you have to go on in an attempt to work out what it is your eating. Dining with a partner you have no visual clues as to whether they are enjoying it, hating it or even if they are still your partner. And without any visual ‘things’ around you, no looking at your watch, no checking your phone, no looking at the colour of the decor or being able to see your waiter, the whole experience is a sensory overload and you suddenly have to totally trust this mystery waiter to do everything for you. Trusting them to bring the right food, trust them to get you in and out of the restaurant and even take you to the toilet if you need to. Feeling like it was only 45 minutes our meal ended and we were surprised to find out that 90 minutes had flown by. Yus reappeared at our table asking if we had enjoyed our meal and chatted briefly about our holiday, again, very strange talking in to the darkness. Yus then guided us back out in to the sighted world where we were then shown a menu of what we had actually eaten, some of which we had worked out, some of it was a complete surprise. Our experience though was amazing and one that shows just how much we really take our eyes and vision for granted.
Our thrid Uber ride of the day gave us a unique and hilarious ride back home with Chai Chin, an oldish retired guy who laughed loudly and light heartedly criticised pretty much every neighbouring countries cuisine which he mostly declared to be either “shit” or “totally insane”. Our short ride home, with one unscheduled detour “coz Waze maps are shit” (Mr Chins words) was a real joy and a great way to end to our stay in KL.
mrandmrsyoung 