A Bruneian in Kuala Lumpur
Spend a long enough time in any one place, you will always see something interesting. One of the interesting shops I saw along Jalan Pudu (or was it the Jalan before that?) in Kuala Lumpur was this shop selling coffins. That's pretty unusual - of course when compared to Brunei - but what interest me more is not that shop but the shop next to it. It was a fastfood restaurant. My uncle was zooming a little bit fast and I wasn't able to catch a photo of it. Imagine the conversation you would be having after passing by the coffin seller on your way to the restaurant and being reminded of your mortality - "...maybe I will just drink water instead of this fat ladden fastfood stuffs - maybe I just want to live that much longer..."Another thing I learned is just how bad KL is trafficwise during rushhour. I know some Malaysian MPs have described certain parts of KL as the next Patpong but I can assure them that the whole traffic system in KL have almost matched if not exceeded the Bangkok traffic jam. On the way back from KLCC to Times Square, it took us almost 2 hours to get from one place to another. I thought Bangkok was bad but this is worse. So the next time I am caught in the traffic jam at Jalan Tutong at the Bunut/Medewa area, I am going to say Syukur Alhamdulillah, the Brunei traffic jam is still manageable compared to the snail like pace we went through trying to get back.
I saw a road named Jalan Brunei also in the Pudu area. According to my uncle, Pudu is sandwiched between Bukit Bintang and Cheras. For an area which is in the middle of the city and adjoining that of the brightly lit Bukit Bintang - it has not seen much development. Pudu is more famous for its Puduraya bus station as the centre of all buses coming to KL. Jalan Pudu stretches from that bus station all the way to Cheras.
Pudu is known for its wide variety of Chinese cuisines and a number of restaurants are found there. Jalan Brunei however is famous for Pudu's other well known business which is printing. There are a number of printing shops along Jalan Brunei. Surprisingly the Malaysian JKR map of KL labelled the road as Jalan Berunai whereas the road signage says Jalan Brunei. That seemed to be an interesting quiet tussle between the JKR, a federal agency versus DBKL, the local authority with regard to the naming of the road. There is a whole bunch of other Bruneis off the proper Jalan Brunei. There is Lorong Brunei Selatan, Lorong Brunei 2 and Lorong Brunei 3; and Jalan Brunei Barat and Jalan Brunei Utara. I would really love to know how that road and all the other roads get their names.
A Bruneian is always good at ferretting out good places to eat. The one haunting area that a Bruneian - at least those in the know - must go to is Syed Restaurant in PJ. This restaurant served the one and only Nasi Briyani Bukhara. I didn't know about this particular restaurant but three years ago, my principal, then the PS of PMO asked me to search for it. He said that during one of his trip as part of the royal entourage, he was served this briyani. Apparently this is a favourite among the entourage. So we went to search for it - it's in front of PJ Hilton, if anyone wants to know. Since then I have always drop in there to have it everytime I am in KL. The restaurant tells me that every once in a while, a Bruneian would drop in and order like 50 packets to bring home to Brunei. The other famous food is the Satay Kajang - the famous one obviously is the Satay Samuri Restaurant which have grown so much larger since the last time I came here. With that kind of crowd, I would happily leave my job and open up a satay place.
It's time to say goodbye to KL and it's been an interesting week here and hopefully my mind will be refreshed for work starting Monday.
PS. All the best to the Brunei Marathon Runners!
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