I spent my last night in Kuala Lumpur in the center. While the city seems pretty sterile to me during the day, it certainly comes to life when the sun goes down, especially in Bukit Bintang.
Kuala Lumpur After Dark
I don’t really like shopping or crowds and I certainly don’t like lines, but I’ve had a soft spot for Bukit Bintang since my brother and I first checked it out in 2013 when we stayed at the Grand Hyatt.
During that first trip to KL, we enjoyed Mexican food (see, some things don’t change) and Middle Eastern food, we got cheap haircuts and shaves, and we enjoyed several nice cups of coffee around the city. Some pictures:
This trip–12 years later–I was at the Hyatt Centric and walked into Bukit Bintang in the late afternoon to see if anything had changed. Not really. The area was packed and things looked the same; the restaurants and the sights and smells. I also checked out a couple of the malls, which are quite impressive.
I absolutely despise the smell of durian and sadly, durian appears to be very popular…it’s a smell almost as bad as pot and it was pervasive in one area where everyone seemed to be selling the same thing.
I mentioned on Saturday that I had every intention of having Middle Eastern again, but the lines were so bad that I had Taco Bell instead (as one does when they travel all the way from the land of tacos in LA to Malaysia).
This is a great place to visit at night…and while I’m just not into many of the smells and spices, you can get a massage (just go to the right place!) and get your ear cleaned then enjoy masnaf and knufeh…what a treat!
I have no immediate plans to return to Malaysia, but I sure look forward to returning (maybe more so for the hotels than for this) and it is something you have to experience because my pictures give you the sight, but not the sounds and smells.
I’m sharing about my whirlwind trip through Asia.
” durian smells almost as bad as pot ” oh heck no. Durian is a combination aroma of open sewers and unburied bodies in a garbage dump. Would. anyone smoke anything that smelled like that? However I understand durian is delicious if you can get past the smell.
Don’t remember where but I saw a sign at an airport that durian was among the things prohibited to bring on board of the plane.
And on public transport & in hotels!
I don’t blame you for despising durian, even the supposedly “less smelly and superior quality” Malaysian durian (which to me smells like a natural gas leak). I finally tried it myself when I was in KL. I checked a box off the list. Moving on.
Also did you check out the Kampung Baru and Chow Kit? They were the neighborhoods I walked through on a food tour I took when I was there.
Natural gas does have a small. Mercaptan is added so gas can be detected, and the variation rotates periodically so nobody becomes accustomed to the scent. Durian never changes.
Oh and thanks Matthew, great photo essay.
I detest the smell of Durian, but the secret is you have a saucer of bite size pieces and put it under your nose to inhale the fumes for a minute -or more. The smell is neutralized and afterwards it taste like sugar cubes. Of course the wife now proclaims you have durian breath so …no kissing for a week.
More of these types of posts please. Also, I love durian. But I also love Epoisses.
To put into right respective, durian does give of the smell of leaked gas with that impulsive reaction, I do resemble it to the smell of cat poop!
To say nothing has changed around Bukit Bintang after some 12 years is an absolutely understatement, KL is constantly transforming at such lightning speed, one of the most evident has to be the now greatly & widely accessible & well connected MRT system that even comes with multipleexit points at different locations even with underground pedestrian path linking to Fahrenheit Mall & Pavilion mall.
One of the most obvious has to be the KL’s vision of Tokyo’s Shibuya crossroads which has instantly became an overnight sensation to become one of the most photograph-to-death by everyone & anyone, locally & internationally alike.
Then, there are other changes which I won’t wanna get into details.
I’ve noticed among the pictures u took, couple of them showing a woman with 2 young children seating by the road side begging for money, that’s one sight that absolutely infuriates me big time. It’s this bunch of repulsive social parasites, the Rohinya refugees we were generous enough to take some of them in as part of humanitarian mission & this is how these people repay us back by shaming & embarrassing us by projecting a false misunderstood impression to foreign tourists to think of Malaysia as a poor nation with evident poverty where beggars are spotted on some spots across the city!
What irks me even more is where the bloody hell is the police or authority to eradicate this nuisance & those refugees who are caught to be soliciting money from anyone, through begging or not, seating on the road or street side should be deemed as severe violation. I’ve spotted them scattering around the city giving that wrong impression of the city. WTF! I strongly believe we should now consider deporting them, all of them as they are nothing but parasites & social pariahs, the worst thing is they breed so damn fast, WTF!
Durian is the national and favorite fruit of the majority of Malaysians. No need to insult the preferences of the majority, even if you have a personal dislike of its smell. Quite insensitive.