This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/25/letter-malaysia-kuala-lumpur
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 4 | Version 5 |
|---|---|
| Letter from Malaysia: flavour and colour | Letter from Malaysia: flavour and colour |
| (4 months later) | |
| Kuala Lumpur when pictured from afar is to most people the largely English-speaking capital city of an Asian Muslim state. Visitors immediately notice the Chinese influences, adding more detail to their understanding, while a lucky few stumble into Little India for an unforgettable assault on the senses. | Kuala Lumpur when pictured from afar is to most people the largely English-speaking capital city of an Asian Muslim state. Visitors immediately notice the Chinese influences, adding more detail to their understanding, while a lucky few stumble into Little India for an unforgettable assault on the senses. |
| Pink pavements, beautifully garish arches and music from all directions – blending and competing simultaneously – instantly tell you you're in the right place. Follow your nose to flower sellers filling a side street with primary colours, your stomach to the restaurants and hawker stools spilling seats and customers into the throng, or simply your curiosity up and down until you begin to make sense of the delightful insanity of it all. | Pink pavements, beautifully garish arches and music from all directions – blending and competing simultaneously – instantly tell you you're in the right place. Follow your nose to flower sellers filling a side street with primary colours, your stomach to the restaurants and hawker stools spilling seats and customers into the throng, or simply your curiosity up and down until you begin to make sense of the delightful insanity of it all. |
| Although a few tourists regularly visit, it remains less travelled and entirely authentic: the shops sell Indian jewellery and clothes primarily to the local community, the flowers are for festivals and celebrations, the incense in the air appears well before the people, and even the driving and parking feel more like Mumbai than Malaysia. Visitors come by morning and are gone by night, but their passing is barely noticed as life continues. | Although a few tourists regularly visit, it remains less travelled and entirely authentic: the shops sell Indian jewellery and clothes primarily to the local community, the flowers are for festivals and celebrations, the incense in the air appears well before the people, and even the driving and parking feel more like Mumbai than Malaysia. Visitors come by morning and are gone by night, but their passing is barely noticed as life continues. |
| All over Asia, life revolves around food, and here, food revolves around plants and spices. You can eat chicken tandoori, but most just grab a plastic plate and heap rice on to a banana leaf, piling on daal and countless vegetables cooked in countless flavours with buffet-style freedom, then dive in. | All over Asia, life revolves around food, and here, food revolves around plants and spices. You can eat chicken tandoori, but most just grab a plastic plate and heap rice on to a banana leaf, piling on daal and countless vegetables cooked in countless flavours with buffet-style freedom, then dive in. |
| Teh and kopi (tea and coffee) wash down gossip 24 hours a day, both of which can be C (with milk), O (without milk), or kosong (without sugar). The well-known roti (flat bread) is ordered from tourist's guidebooks, while the lesser-known thosai provides a pancake-like breakfast or afternoon snack. Tables and seats are pleasingly plastic and functional, walls grubby, aprons stained: guarantees of substance over style for around $2. | Teh and kopi (tea and coffee) wash down gossip 24 hours a day, both of which can be C (with milk), O (without milk), or kosong (without sugar). The well-known roti (flat bread) is ordered from tourist's guidebooks, while the lesser-known thosai provides a pancake-like breakfast or afternoon snack. Tables and seats are pleasingly plastic and functional, walls grubby, aprons stained: guarantees of substance over style for around $2. |
| After the heat, colour and chaos, visitors often retreat to the relative, air-conditioned sanity of nearby KL Sentral station – ears ringing and eyes overloaded – to cool down and collect their thoughts. But Little India will leave a lasting memory for many, just as its people and culture have become an integral part of the city they call home. | After the heat, colour and chaos, visitors often retreat to the relative, air-conditioned sanity of nearby KL Sentral station – ears ringing and eyes overloaded – to cool down and collect their thoughts. But Little India will leave a lasting memory for many, just as its people and culture have become an integral part of the city they call home. |
| Every week Guardian Weekly publishes a Letter from one of its readers from around the world. We welcome submissions – they should focus on giving a clear sense of a place and its people. Please send them to weekly.letter.from@guardian.co.uk | Every week Guardian Weekly publishes a Letter from one of its readers from around the world. We welcome submissions – they should focus on giving a clear sense of a place and its people. Please send them to weekly.letter.from@guardian.co.uk |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. | Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |