Here’s a short account on how I took up the job of a tour guide last Monday as my friend Dario from Germany came to town with his girlfriend Joanna:
Dario called me up at 11 pm and told me that he and Anna is waiting at KLCC.
I decided show them something Malaysian even before we meet, so I arrived at KLCC ala Malaysian-style, I was late about 15 minutes :-P
Dario then updated me with their trip to Borneo, where they conquered Mt Kinabalu, dived in Sipadan, explored Gua Niah and then to Kuching. For a while, I really got abit jealous. Here’s a 20-year old couple who did everything in Borneo in just 2 weeks in what took me 2 years… Well, at least I explored Mulu!
Shortly after meeting up with them, I brought Dario and Anna to one of my favorite chicken rice stall in Wisma Central. Yeah, a friend of mine loved this shop and would travel 314.5 kilometres from Taman Johor Jaya to enjoy this delicacy. On the way to the chicken rice stall, I met my friend SK, the blogger, and I briefly introduced him to the German couple and my mission as the Malaysia Tourist Ambassador that day.
They pretty much liked the roast chicken breast and chicken wing. After that, Dario reminded me to get him a set of Chinese Chess. I met Dario 2 weeks back in Cherating, where we’d a game of chess under the piercing hot sun. I’d incidentally told him about Chinese Chess and he had the chance, he would like to have a game of Chinese Chess with me (he hasn’t known about Chinese Chess until he came to Malaysia…).
After that I brought the two lovely German couple to Putrajaya, and showed them the glorious architecture of our government offices. I also introduced them to Rojak during our tea break.
After Putrajaya, we shoot off to Sunway Pyramid, and we got Dario a very beautiful Chinese chess set at one of the lifestyle shop (I can’t wait to take my revenge after the defeat at Cherating…he he…).
The chess set cost about RM 89.00 and I didn’t think Dario would fork out money for that, because all along his backpacking journey, he is a very cost-conscious lad. You have to be cost-conscious as a backpacker, since you don’t live on an unlimited budget, and you don’t want to spend your backpacking journey working part-time. He told me how he earned some decent Australian dollars back during his 3 months trip in Down Under planting strawberries.
After the chess set, Dario and Anna decided they wanted to see some colonial architecture, and honestly, I have no idea where I can find one in KL until he showed me his LonelyPlanet guide (shame! shame!).
We parked closed to Dataran Merdeka and for the first time in my life, my feet walked the Padang Merdeka, where our nation’s founding father declared our Independence 50 years ago. You know, if it hadn’t been for Dario, I really wondered if I would ever walked the field of freedom.
We then shot for KLCC Park, where Dario wanted to have a nice view of the lighted, double, sweetcorns. After taking a few pictures, I asked them if they wanted to have some porridge, and they decided that it would be nice to try, a decision they will later regret, heh! I chauffeured them to one of the town’s best Teochew porridge stall near the Pudu Jail, as I explain briefly to them the history of the Pudu Jail and the mural paintings on it.
I ordered a few dishes which I think would appeal to them. There’s a plate of stewed piggie ears, and I told Anna to give it a try before I would let her know what it is. And after trying it, I told her it was piggie ears, and I ended up having to finish it… But we’d a good laugh though! Yeah, they enjoyed every other Teochew dishes, but they certainly don’t dig the porridge itself, as it remained untouched after a few spoonfuls.
After the porridge, we moved on to the next destination- the Showdown between Kasparovs and Deep Blue. Dario decided to have our showdown at a somewhat exotic pub in KL. So I decided the venue would be Pan Global 33rd floor’s Luna Bar, where they can enjoy the city’s beautiful and serene nightview.
And I have to admit it was a very nice experience playing Chinese Chess in a pub. Before the game started, I explained to Dario the basic rules. And in the beginning of the game, I almost freaked out as he started to gain the upperhand. I must admit that I am rather disturbed… here I am, defeated by Dario, a first time Chinese chess player, though I must say I am really no expert in the game either. Maybe it’s my nature, I just don’t like to analyze too much, and prefer to take action first :-P
As we played on, I began to gain the upperhand and eventually won the game. But it wasn’t a very fair victory. I have to attribute my main reason of defeating Dario is due to the fact that after his pieces moved out from the original place in the board, he forgot which is which…the Chinese calligraphy on every piece looked almost the same to him!
Ha…ha…so much for my bitter sweet revenge.
We finished 2 jugs of beer before I sent them back to their inn (The Backpackers’ Inn) at Jalan Sultan. They are going to visit the Islamic Art Museum the next day before taking a bus down to Malacca.
They thanked me as I dropped them off, and I hope they really enjoyed their stay here in KL, as much as I’ve enjoyed being their tour escort. It’s really a nice feeling exploring KL together with them, answering their questions and sometimes unable to provide any useful infos (I need to learn up my own city more!).
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