KL KL... Big City of Dreams

KL KL big city of dreams… Time has always been of the essence, whether in a rush or taking your time, it ticks on at the same pace but internally it often creates the impression of a different sort. I now know firmly that things don’t always happen as you may plan. Leaving the tarmac and ascending into the clouds above the islands that make up Hong Kong I was predicting some minor trouble upon my arrival in KL. Since I hadn’t heard back from Nazri I wasn’t assuming there would be someone at the airport, so my first mission was to refill my mobile pre-paid. I went straight for the shop to get my hot link top up and was messing with my phone wondering what was going on. It turned out that my number was no longer in service and apparently had not been registered. In fact, I had already registered before I left Malaysia at the end of September 2006 and I wanted to figure out exactly what was going on. I went to information, they called around, I went back to the shop, I went to the post office and at last broke down and got a new pre-paid number from the photo shop across the post office. The didn’t happen to be a Maxis outlet at KLIA so I was forced to get a whole new number, so as one of my current aliases I went with Digi. I called Naz and he told me Kahled was waiting for my outside gate 5 so I sped down to arrivals and went to meet him. Ah the heat, another reminder that I was really so far away from Canada. We spoke in the car about the differences between the telcoms here and back home, spoke about the death of Tok Guru and I explained my rational for the move out to Asia. Yi Kin, being at work, told me to head to Sungai Wang to Tim’s shop and chill there until he was done, so Kahled and I made our way through traffic and arrived outside on of the first malls in KL. Knowing it like the back of my hand, I thanked Kahled and made my way with all my belongings to the shop. Tim wasn’t around, so I soaked it all up, happy to be back in Malaysia. I thought about the things I had written about on the flight over from Hong Kong, the ideas that I have been working on and about stepping up my game. In fact, I managed to get another track written on that flight, and in order to set the tone of my arrival, its message was very motivational.

Once Tim appeared we went straight around the corner to grab some grub. My first official meal in Malaysia wouldn’t seem like anything special, just some bee hoon goring loaded with chili and a glass of Chinese tea ice. Tim and I caught up, laughed, and finished up the meal to head around to see about unlocking my BlackBerry. After much effort it would seem that BB’s are not at all common out here and no one could help. I guess I’ll wait to try my luck in Singapore or Jakarta. Yi Kin showed up not long after excited to talk about music and new ideas we walked around looking for somewhere to sit, have a drink and chat. It always takes time to reconnect with people after so long and being a lot has gone down since we last met I knew it wasn’t gonna be simply a chat over tea.

Jet lag began to set in as Tim closed the shop. Yaniz came through as well as David aka Lestat. More food was on the menu and we shuttled over to this hidden away Chinese restaurant. The food was great as we sat around shooting the shit. I played Yaniz some new music and we talked about the possibilities of working together to get some shows set up. Things seemed to be moving along at a good pace, I must always remember to be patient and not fall for the paper chase. It will all come in due course. I was fading fast, but I really wanted to have a teh tarik and a gudang garam. It wasn’t until 1am that that craving had been satisfied. On my last legs we hit the mamak before concluding the night. If it wasn’t for the fact I didn’t really sleep on the flight over I might have been able to hold out. Actually, this afternoon after having a solo meal down the street from Yi Kin’s place, I passed out on the couch and caught up a little bit. I needed that re-energizing. So, it’s almost 5pm and I gotta make a move out before it gets too late. Yi Kin’s at work and I’m headed to The Curve to catch Reshmonu’s album launch party! A lot of catching up yet to do, February is just a day away!