In a way though, "was" seem to indicate I have left this city for a long, long time. Indeed I did leave, but only for 4 years.
4 years wasn't long, but it has been 24 years of unfamiliarity with the city I was born in.
***
KL is a city of lights. The white, blaring lights striking from tall buildings and hawker stalls alike. It is warm, its coolness tamed by the hot, humid weather. The waft of frying oil, the aroma of sweet, sweet tea in the middle of the night sweeps through the alleyways and mamak stalls.
Yet in between them, the streets are dark, save the singular fluorescent bulbs and barely lit street lamps. The long, thin rectangular lights illuminates objects around it, pouring a sheen of moonshine over the vaguely visible lines.
This is not the KL of every hour. No, this is the KL late into the night. It is the KL where the glowing Twin Cobs looms at every corner.
Kuala Lumpur doesn't sleep. But it doesn't sleep not for it being an events-filled city. No, it is its acceptance of a nocturnal lifestyle. The late-night roaming is not an anomaly but a staple, lounging under the large tri-coloured umbrellas, or just the lighted up night sky.
***
Sitting on top of a prominent hotel next to the Twin Towers, sipping cocktails that burn a hole through your pocket, I wonder if this is the KL that is to be. Will it come to the time where street side vendors and umbrella-shading teh tarik sessions fall out of favour? Will it come a time where luxury and class comes from a life filled with Western styled bars and pubs?
It was an alcohol befuddled thought, but it is not far from our imaginations. Must one replace the other?
I doubt it, but I wonder too, what draws us back to the mamak stalls anyway?
Price perhaps. But I believe there is more to it.
But what is it?
I wish to find out. More.
