One of my laments this year was that I never celebrated my birthday. It was a big one and I had planned to. I was excited to! I delayed it because of work, and then again, and then again. It never happened and now it is gone. But! I did have a surprise birthday party at 30,000 feet and it was a gorgeous one.

I flew to Borneo earlier this year with Malaysia Airlines to explore. The trip itself was a joy, lovely people, fabulous food, and lots of laksa. I got to visit Sarawak and Kuala Lumpur for the first time.

I cooked local food, I visited local food markets, I brought home lots of pepper (Sarawak pepper is said to be one of the best), bright green pepper candy (which I am yet to try!) and some laksa paste so that I could enjoy laksa at home, and work out a recipe. I saw more wonderful orangutans, many of them. I flew to Kuala Lumpur from London business class, a treat in itself.

Turning left when you board a plane is a luxury. More room (just one neighbour on one side), a fully reclining bed which is also a massage chair, a blanket and pillow, a lovely wine list (including champagne!) and a fine dining menu. The TV screens are bigger and the headphones are very comfortable. This was also my first trip on an A380 superjumbo, an enormous plane with two floors, the top of which is business class. Even the toilets are bigger.

Lets get to the food. On Malaysia Airlines the eggs are cooked fresh to order and as you like for breakfast, scrambled, poached, fried. In business class 6 cuisines are available if ordered 24 hours in advance, including Japanese, Malay and Western. I stuck to Malay, it seemed a missed opportunity otherwise. It was, as you would expect, very good.

The satay trolley is the thing. 20,000 sticks are served a day on Malaysia Airlines flights. Made with fresh shallots, turmeric, garlic, galangal and lemongrass, the satay sticks are chargrilled by hand over mangrove wood charcoal. It is served on board with with a traditional crushed peanut sauce, nasi himpit, cucumber and onion. It is as good as I have had anywhere, and the staff take great pride in it, which they should.

On the way back, my travelling companions were being a bit sketchy. They wanted me out of the way so that they could arrange the cakes. Of course, I didn’t know, nor did I realise, so when they craftily suggested a trip to see First Class (and well – HELLO), I hopped along. I was surprised with two celebration cakes and champagne on my return to celebrate my big birthday. Anyone can order a celebration cake in advance (in any class) and it is such a joy. The lady behind me also had a birthday that day and so we shared it all.

I would always turn left if I could. It is a world away from normality, which is a lovely luxury every once in a while.

My trip to Sarawak was sponsored by Malaysia Airlines, who are the only carrier to offer a twice daily non-stop A380 full service link between the UK and Malaysia. UK passengers can also take advantage of frequent onward connections to destinations across Malaysia, Asia and Australasia. Economy class return flights from London Heathrow to Kuching via Kuala Lumpur International Airport start from £817. Business Class from £3167 (prices including taxes and charges). To book visit www.malaysiaairlines.com or call +44 (0) 871 4239 090.

Even though it is only a couple of hours flight away, Sarawak feels very different to mainland Malaysia. Sarawak is hotter, the humidity is particularly intense, and it feels very rural. There is a lot of jungle, and you know, orangutans and proboscis monkeys. Lots of lovely primates. And while Sarawak may only be one of two Malay provinces in Borneo, most of which is actually Indonesia, you could fit the whole of Ireland into it one and a half times. It ain’t small.

Kuala Lumpur by comparison felt very urban, and while I was prepared for a very sticky situation in terms of heat and humidity, it felt cooler, although so would almost anywhere. Kuala Lumpur is a tall city, with the Petronus twin tours and several bars perched high with great views. Despite this, Kuala Lumpur feels very accessible and not overwhelming, and people don’t feel rushed. It is very doable as a stopover which is essentially what I did.

I laid my head at The Majestic Hotel, a Kuala Lumpur institution still very attached to its colonial roots (the doorman is dressed in old colonial gear). I had a Junior Suite, a large room with four poster bed, day bed, sofa, table for 4 and 2 desks! A bath too, and all of this at a very accessible price (rooms start at £170 a night). I hadn’t realised until I got to KL that it has a reputation for luxury on a budget, something that I plan to take advantage of another time. 

We started with an afternoon tea in The Tea Lounge, there is also a beautiful orchid room which unfortunately was booked out. Breakfast was the best of the trip with a broad selection of dim sum, sushi, curries and my favourite fresh roti canai with dal. That roti canai was perfect, and I am trying to work out how to make it at home. It is all technique, swirling and swishing, teasing the dough like a tissue and introducing air. Then folding, frying and tearing it to dip it in dal or curry, which clings to the grooves and the pockets. So lovely, I could eat one every day.  

We were very lucky in KL to have Guan lead us, and introduce us to some Nyonya food. Guan was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, and while he is based in London now, he is devoted to his food culture through his own Nyonya supper club. You may remember Guan from The Taste, right?

Guan brought us to one of his favourite restaurants, Limapulo, which strictly speaking is Baba food (baba = grandfather and nyonya = grandmother). Guan ordered and the table was filled with food not long after. A rich Nyonya curry laksa was my favourite. We also had kuih pie tee (aka “Top Hats”), crispy outer shells with turnip filling, sambal sotong petai (sambal squid with ‘stinky’ petai beans), ayam rempah (braised chicken in nyonya spices, chillies and coconut milk), ayam pongteh (chicken stewed in fermented soy bean paste and palm sugar), hu chnee rempah (mackerel stuffed with sambal spice paste and udang masak nanas (prawn & pineapple curry). You mustn’t miss this restaurant when you visit KL. It is incredibly good value too.

There is lots more to see in KL, I am sure of it, but start here, and you will be very happy. 

Related posts from Malaysia and Borneo:

Read my previous post on my trip to Kuching and surrounding Sarawak directly before

Cooking in Sabah: Two Healthy Sea Gypsy Recipes (Fish Soup & a Fish Salad)

The Street Food Markets of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

Sabah: Observing Orangutans at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort and Sepilok Orangutan Rehabiliation Centre

Visiting Sabah Tea Plantation & Facing My (Non Tea Related) Fears

A Postcard from Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

Dispatches from Brunei’s Bandar Seri Begawan in Borneo

My trip to Sarawak was sponsored by Malaysia Airlines, who are the only carrier to offer a twice daily non-stop A380 full service link between the UK and Malaysia. UK passengers can also take advantage of frequent onward connections to destinations across Malaysia, Asia and Australasia. Economy class return flights from London Heathrow to Kuching via Kuala Lumpur International Airport start from £817. Business Class from £3167 (prices including taxes and charges). To book visit www.malaysiaairlines.com or call +44 (0) 871 4239 090.

So where were we? Oh yes, the blog turned 8, I got salmonella poisoning (separate incident!) which unfortunately is still lurking, and then I had a birthday too. A significant birthday, no guessing, lets just say it warranted a very big celebration and a long one. What better than to skip off to Borneo and spend my last day of the year before the significant one (a-hem) with orangutans, then spend my birthday itself eating laksa and satay and all sorts of other wonderful Malaysian things.

Sarawak is the other Malaysian province of Borneo. You will remember that I have already been to Sabah, and I loved it. I liked Brunei a lot too. I especially fell head over heels for long haired ginger men of the forests (gasp! no, that means orangutans whose name literally translates as that). I was so lucky this time, I saw so many, which is very unusual. This is because it isn’t fruit season so they tend to come to the feeding platforms to eat.

The thoughts that go through your head when you are terrified of heights but doing something that might kill or cure you are overwhelming. When in Sabah, despite signs saying something like “just please don’t do this if you are afraid of heights, ok? OK?!”, I kept schtum and did a very high and very wobbly rainforest rope walk anyway. I have had a year of trying to conquer my fears (doing the worlds longest island to island zipline in Sabah was another one), and forced myself. Continue reading

Visiting Sabah, I was excited as always about the food and the peculiarities that would be offered by the region and the local cooking. Sabah is tucked away in Borneo, caressing the sea, but it has a lot of rainforest and cultivated land too. On the coast there are what are referred to locally as sea gypsies, living in wooden houses on stilts in the sea by the coast. Originating from Indonesia and the Philippines, they do have their own local food culture, and I found a chef who teaches it, Fortunato Lowel, at the Mango Garden Restaurant.

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