Sungai Gombak

Hello Kuala Lumpar.
I had filled in the Malaysian immigration forms for all 3 of us online before arrival. It had tested my patience as the site kept freezing. When we arrived at immigration I was feeling smug as we passed passengers scrambling to fill in their online forms and watched first Joe and then Troy pass through the e-gates, plain sailing it would seem, until I tried. Blast, I had accidentally omitted my middle name. Now, I had to stand against the wall and scramble to redo my form. Pride does come before a fall!
A Grab to our home exchange in Bangsar revealed an extensive overpass and underpass network, a snakes nest of congested roads full of upscale cars. I instantly missed the moped culture. This felt like a city in the west, people feeling invincible in their car cocoons.
We arrived to meet James, our delightful home exchange host. We were staying in his mother-in-law's apartment up the hill from Bangsar. An area of high rise apartments for expats and yoga legging clad young vegans. Very pleasant but lacking in the down and dirty, real Asian feel.
He kindly gave us a lift in the torrential downpour to the restaurant area. We found a street food cart and ate a delicious rendang style meal on the ubiquitous plastic chairs on the street. That's better.
We spotted a bar with guitars hanging on the back wall, a PA and a cajon, so we asked about live music. The sweet bar tender gave me her bosses number. A couple of WhatsApp texts later and we secured ourselves a gig for the next night in return for a few beers. What a great way to introduce ourselves to KL. Despite it's size KL seems to be home to a lot of bedroom musicians and not so many live venues. We met some delightful musos at our impromptu gig and found the welcome that made us feel at home.... beer is very expensive in Malaysia, the playing for beer deal turned out to be very advantageous!!
We had spent the day wandering around China town half heartedly looking for the venue for the weekend. A charming area complete with a hindu temple, bookshop, market and sweet hidden spots overshadowed by the show off, grotesque skyscrapers. Of course, I understand that high rises are essential in such a populated city but they seem so soulless and unnecessarily ostentatious. That said, there is little sign of poverty in KL, there is also far less smiling, are the two observations related I wonder?
We were back on the bus to our 1st scheduled gig which was in Muar. The adorable young Iman picked us up in his mother's car and proudly showed us the sights. We arrived at the venue at the top of a rundown building where it had been suggested we would be 'comfy' sleeping the night. Saying that it was filthy would be an understatement.... think 10 year student squat complete with a never cleaned squatting toilet. They generously loaned us a bass and a guitar but the guitar only had 5 rusty strings. Troy and I left Joe restringing the guitar and we went in search of a hotel room. We had found our limits of where we were prepared to sleep a night.... especially without a beer!
The gig itself was a blast. A more diverse bunch of bands. Our view from stage was a circle of intent faces, several of them singing along. As was to become the pattern, the only pay that we received was from the sale of merchandise. Playing music is considered a hobby and doesn't earn you even a bottle of water for the stage. It's been an honour and a wonderful experience but isn't sustainable. A repeat visit to Malaysia is not on the cards.
The next venue was in Malacca but sadly we didn't have chance to explore. We arrived, went to soundcheck, had a shower and then we're back at the club. Mugo X Masterpiece is in the car park of an abandoned mall. A secret treasure house. The equipment and sound was 1st class. They had put on an 6 band bill. Each and every band put on a good show but setting up all of the amazing pedals, specialist amps and backing tracks ate into changeover time and made for a very long evening. All of the musicians were welcoming and fun to hang out with, Crazy Grizzly and MATH were my favourites. We made more adorable fans and felt the love.
Then back to KL and the sweetest gig yet with a largely lesbian audience thanks to the band ssshh..diem. Our anthem song 'different is beautiful' had found it's perfect audience. Moutou, the venue, is a secret 'underground' club that's actually on the 4th floor in China town complete with a magical roof top garden. Ben and Gordon from Ben's Bitches arrived full of smiles and deep laughter. They had prepared a set full of jokes about Portugal and wonderfully humorous songs. Sshh...diem had 2 members who had already played 2 sets with us in Muar, Yon and Joe. This line-up though was my favourite of theirs, the band started out as a lesbian band but the front person is transitioning to a man and has already had top surgery. A moving but fun song about showering had him remove his top and show off his scars. They are releasing a film at the upcoming Berlin film festival called 'Queer as Punk' following them over the last 6 years.... do check it out.
Phew, that's a long entry. Well done if you made it to the end!
Just Georgetown and Ipoh left and then we're off to Thailand and to switch drummers. Czytaj więcej