Kuala Lumpur on a shoe-string budget: Part II

After the previous night's late outings, we woke up mighty late. Breakfast was on till 11am and I woke up half an hour late. I sprinted to the pantry to find that the kitchen was being cleaned up. However, (seeing my sad face, most probably) they encouraged us to have our breakfast. You can read more on our cute little accommodation here.

GoKL!

Today, we had decided to visit Chinatown and shop for a few friends who had given me cash and asked me to perform the arduous task of shopping on their behalf. I was little irritated that I lost precious shopping time sleeping!

By the time, we were ready, it was 1pm and the sun was being ruthless. We asked the front desk how to take the monorail from Rajachulan to China town, however, Jennifer provided a simple alternative. Board one of the free GoKL (purple line) buses that goes to Chinatown! So, that's what we did... free transportation!

Somehow reading Bengali in Malaysia was v.satisfying

On reaching Chinatown, my task was to find a "fake-genuine-looking-luxury" brand bag. My budget: Rs. 3000. I was not in a mood to bargain with the front-shops, so we stepped in one of the 'real' shops. We were discussing on what to buy and what not to when the shop assistant asked which language we were speaking:

"Assamese", we replied in unison.
"Oh! That's why I could understand... Why! I'm a Bengali!", he said.

... And hence, started a dialogue between Neel and him in Bengali... The brotherly love flowed and the shop-assistance told us the tricks of the trade and gave us a genuine Burberry bag (not 'fake', but smuggled, it seems), well within our budget!

Unlike what I thought, our shopping didn't take too much time. In fact, we were done in under 30mins. From Chinatown, we walked to Pasar Seni (Central Market). Walking in KL is a task... drenched in sweat, we entered the two storey Central Market and went straight to the Old Town White Coffee for a rest. There I had the Malaysian brew, Teh Tarik and Neel had a weird carbonated beverage named Frost that tasted like carbonated Iodex! Mind you, this was the first spend of the day: Rs. 250.

If Iodex was a beverage, it'd be Frost

After catching our breath, we took a tour of the Central Market. We bought souvenirs for friends, I took him to the Art Annexe of the market and generally, checked the colorful bric-a-brac that Central is famous for.

Art: Annexe: Pasar Seni

Precious!

There was another reason why we came to Central: Precious Old China Cafe. Again, this was a Lonely Planet recommended place. On my last visit, I had lunched at Old China Cafe in China Town and loved the Nyonya cuisine served there. It seems, Precious is a sister concern of Old China Cafe. So, we decided to lunch here. Moreover, the reasonable prices seem to be an added advantage.

Precious is located on the second floor and is quite Chinese in its way. There is a large dining room inside, which was closed that day, however, I was allowed to check the place. It was a little ghostly inside. Chinese horror. The outside section was a pleasant one and we were attended by a old Chinese waiter who seemed to have a spring in his step... literally!

Cute 'Pie Tee'

We ordered Pie-Tee which was so very cute. It came in upturned hats (that tasted like Fortune cookies), and one had to fill it with a certain mixture, some scrambled eggs, sweet-chilly sauce and garnish it with a sprig of coriander before popping it in the mouth! It was delicious too!





For the main course, I can't remember the names of what we ordered but it looked like this:



The bill came around Rs. 1000 for two.

After our late lunch, we boarded one of the GoKL buses and headed to our Guesthouse. In the afternoon, we calculated and decided we had some free cash left and so, we headed to Bukit Bintang to indulge in some shopping. We came back to our area at around 10pm and we were out on the pub-street, Changkat Bukit Bintang by 11pm.

At Bukit Bintang

Now Changkat is a totally different ball-game. The waiters stand on the street and usher you to try their Happy Hours. Lively music spill from every corner of the street. Crowds dance in open discos and there are a few women who gives you luring looks!

I presume one will chance upon a Ladies' nite at some pub every weekday and so it happened to us! We were ushered to Sutraa Bar by a waiter whose offer was a Buy 1 Get 2 Beer for 55MYR nett and for Ladies, unlimited Blue Lagoon cocktail. Poor guy didn't know what Indians are capable of once they get a good drinking offer. Neel drank his drinks slowly. Mine was free, right?, so there was no stopping me. Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!

At Sutraa: Happy glow

It was 1am by the time we left Changkat. The bill at Sutraa came around Rs. 1500. I was happy, Neel was happy and the street was uber-happy. We decided to visit Changkat once in a while to "raise our spirits"!

Now that it was 1am and we didn't want to head to Jalan Alor, we took two Nasi Lemak parcels from the restaurant around the corner for Rs. 150. And once at the Guesthouse, we sprawled ourselves on the floor and ate, what I reckon saying, "the tastiest Nasi Lemak ever".... it must have been the Blue Lagoon effect... I shall never know!


On the third day, we took a monorail from Rajachulan to KL Sentral (Rs. 40 per person) and took an Aerobus to KLIA (Rs. 180).

That, in a gist, was how we did KL in a shoe-string budget, missing none of the fun! You are welcomed to try our itinerary!

Cool yo... B-)