Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Day 4

Kuala Lumpur is WAY better than Penang.  It was nice to experience the Hawker markets and see the gentrification of a small state, but there really wasn't much to do in Penang.  It made for some good blogging time, but I didn't travel half way across the world to have blogging time.  After being knocked out by Dramamine on the train ride for seven hours, we slowly pulled into the Kuala Lumpur train station. Nick exclaimed, "They have sidewalks without holes!" and I was thankful to finally be off the train.  Can you believe that these are the first class train cabins?  Nick's shoulder barely fit in the door. 

Happy that we're almost off the train.

Either Nick is too wide or the doors are too small.

We took a short taxi ride to the J.W. Marriott where we would be staying.  I thought that the hotel in Penang was nice.  The J.W. was even nicer!  I knew that the Fongs love Marriotts, but now I know why.  The hotel was connected to a very high end mall where I experienced my first Louis Vuitton store.  On one side of the lobby was the check-in desk.  On the other was an LV.  Pretty darn cool.  The rest of the mall contained stores that I chose not to go into.  It made me feel extremely poor.  Even the bars were expensive.  

J.W. Marriott in KL.

J.W. Marriott lobby:

Our hotel room:

I'm so easily pleased.  For some reason I always
get a kick out of big bathrooms in hotel rooms.

Across the street from our hotel was a much more wallet friendly mall that we spent quite a bit of time in.  As I had learned from my past trips to Hong Kong, the malls in Asia are huge.  The ones in Malaysia and Singapore are no exception.  Malls are used as pathways between major roads and metro stations.  There are above ground walkways throughout KL that are relatively air conditioned and definitely keep you dry during the daily rainstorms.  It is also safer to use the malls and walkways as means to get around as the drivers are very agressive and erratic.  With all the cutting in and out, we're all pretty surprised that there is very little road rage.

Nick and Mr. Fong

This is the LV store that is attached to our hotel. 

I'm part of the family now!

The Pavilion Mall.  This was one of four
malls on our street. 

Our first stop in KL after napping and showering was the famous Din Tai Fung (DTF) for the soup-filled dumplings called Xiaolongbao.  We stuffed ourselves before going back to the hotel and sleeping more.  The train really doesn't make for a good night's sleep. 

The front of the DTF restaurant is made of glass so that you
can see the chefs making the dumplings and noodles.  They
move at lightening-fast speeds and do everything by hand. 

Fried tofu with a savory sauce that looks like chocolate.

Xiaolongbao

Sweet sesame balls, kind of like sesame paste mochi, in soy
milk and red bean soup. 

After DTF, we walked around the Pavilion mall for a while before heading back to the hotel for after lunch naps.  Even after eating orders and orders of noodles and dumplings, we found a cute little area in the mall called Little Tokyo where they sold many different baked goods, boba, tea, and mochi.  Macaroons are very popular here too, which I was surprised by.

Melissa's macaroon was so cute!

Custard-filled cakes.

If I liked sweets, I'd be all over these mochi just because they
are so darn cute. 

I couldn't help but jump into this anime booth.

For dinner we headed out to a great place for suckling pig.  Holy moly, Nick wasn't lying when he said that baby pig is delicious.  It took a while to find this restaurant as they had moved locations from the last time that Mr. and Mrs. Fong had dined there, but it was worth it.  

We made it to the restaurant!

We noticed that when we are served food at
restaurants, they always wear masks so that
they don't breathe all over our food. 

They made a delicious white pepper soup with the suckling
pig's intensities.  It was so good that I'm going to have to try
to make it this winter. Well, the broth anyway.  Not sure if I
have the "guts" to clean out the guts. 

For still suckling, this pig has pretty big teeth.

Once we were done eating the body, they cut the head up for
us.

The crackling of the skin was like the consistency of thin
ice.

Piglet tail.  

They gave us the fish glands and rectum.  Yum...  I left that for
Mr. and Mrs. Fong. 

Chicken for the famous chicken rice!

As if we hadn't been gluttonous enough today, we went to one of the bars in Marriott's mall for drinks and to listen to so-so lounge music.  

Nick's mojito.  It seems like everything they
do here is very precise and made to perfection.
It took the bartender about 10 minutes to make
this drink and he did every measurement deliberately
and precisely.  Even when they set the tables for
guests they measure everything out.   No wonder
everything looks so appealing.

Vigin Lychee margaritas. 

The bartender misheard Dennis and made him the girl version
of the drink that he wanted.  Good thing his hand is big enough
to hide the pink girliness.