Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The Year of the Tiger: Kuala Lumpur

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur with two goals: eat as much delicious food as we could cram into five days and celebrate Chinese New Years like the Chinese. The city was decked out in fake cherry blossom branches and red lanterns that glowed at night:

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Unfortunately, we found out that most Chinese celebrate New Years by LEAVING the city to be with their families and close friends in relatives’ homes. Our hopes of seeing daring acrobats and dramatic lion dances were temporarily dashed, until we saw signs in a local mall advertising otherwise. Cue spectacle and spectators, from three floors up:

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Although the entertainment may not have met our high expectations, the food exceeded it. And ultimately, that was more important. We decided to treat ourselves to fancy dim sum, in order to properly ring in the year of the tiger. Our celebratory feast in all of its glory:

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Chinese greens with oyster sauce

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BBQ pork three ways (char siew, belly and ribs)

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Shrimp dumplings

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Spicy pork sausage and mushrooms wrapped in tofu skins

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Green onion pies

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Having entered into deep food comas by the end of our meal, we needed to head back to our hostel for a much needed mid-afternoon nap and prepare for three more days of hearty eating.

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