Back To Kuala Lampur | Malaysia

I Continue From Here: Malacca | Malaysia

Postcards, Books and Final Impressions

17,18 September 2026

In the morning, I checked out of the hostel and took a Grab taxi to the bus station. My bus was slightly delayed, but I eventually reached Kuala Lumpur by noon. From there, I took the metro and monorail to my hostel in Bukit Bintang.

After dropping off my bags, I headed to Damascus for lunch. I had some spicy hummus and a falafel platter, a meal I had come to enjoy during my travels. I then went to the post office.

There is something incredibly fascinating about taking your time to pick the right postcard, writing a message, and then walking into a post office in a foreign country to buy a stamp and drop it into a postbox. You are setting it off on the first leg of its journey towards someone you know will be delighted to receive it.

Lately, though, the Indian postal service hasn't been doing particularly well. Only about half the postcards I send actually reach their destinations. But I refuse to give up.

The postcards I choose are often unusual and distinctive. I like to imagine that the clerk or postman who handles one will be so taken by it that, instead of letting it disappear into some forgotten corner, they will make sure it continues its journey to the person waiting to receive it. Hopefully, a beautiful postcard can charm its way through the postal system!

My next mission was to find books by Malaysian authors. I visited two well-known bookstores in the area including Books Kinokuniya Malaysia - Suria KLCC, but neither had the three books I was looking for. 

I later discovered that a local shop stocked some of the books. Finding it, however, was quite an adventure in itself. It was tucked away on the third floor of an old mall, in a small store. Unfortunately, they didn't have the English editions I wanted.

After checking online, I found that another bookstore, some distance away, might have the book by Agnes Keith. I decided to visit it the next morning.

I also bought the kurtas I had seen on my previous visit and tried a few desserts being sold there, including baklava and some of those chewy Dubai-style cookies.

The following morning, I had breakfast at Hock Kee before taking the monorail and making my way to the distant bookstore.

There, I met an enthusiastic young woman at the reception. She had been looking for Salina too. Unfortunately, apart from the book by Agnes Keith, I couldn't find any of the others on my list.

Noticing that she was an avid reader who seemed just as passionate about books as I was, I asked her to recommend a few Malaysian authors. She suggested several titles. Pointing to one called The South by Tash Aw, she told me it had been a longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize. She added that because its author was gay, the book had not received as much recognition in Malaysia as it deserved.

Our conversation left me thinking about the literary landscape of the country I had spent three weeks exploring.

I had found it surprisingly difficult to discover Malaysian literature in English translation. Books by the country's own literary figures were hard to come by, even in established bookstores. Paintings in the galleries I visited were often digital art, and I rarely came across a vibrant local music scene. What little I encountered on Perhentian Island seemed rooted in traditional or tribal forms.

I wondered whether the Islamic religion and cultural conservatism played a role in shaping these artistic spaces. I had seen something similar in Jordan too. Art and music were limited to some museums in Amman and Bedouin tribes of Petra or Wadi Rum.  

Indonesia, by contrast, had made a stronger impression on me through its popular rock music and cinema. I couldn't help wondering why I had encountered so little of a comparable contemporary cultural scene in Malaysia.

What disappointed me most was how difficult it was to find works by the country's own literary luminaries, such as Samad Said, in English. I had even contacted the publishers about his books, only to receive replies much later informing me that the titles were out of print. It was a shame that works considered important to a country's literary heritage were so inaccessible to readers who wanted to discover them.

I then took the metro back to Chinatown and visited my final bookstore, Riwayat. They, too, didn't have the books I was looking for. However, I came across The Sum of Our Follies by Shih-Li Kow, a book that had won a prestigious French literary award - Prix du Premier Roman étranger. 

I returned to the hostel, collected my bag and took the monorail to KL Sentral, from where I caught a bus to the airport. My flight was on time.

While waiting to board, I decided to grab a bite to eat. When I showed interest in trying one of the snacks - Seri Muka, the Tamil server kindly offered me the last remaining piece of Kuih Ketayap also for free. I didn’t really want it, but I smiled and accepted it, not wanting to seem rude.

Kuih Ketayap, a soft, thin crepe filled with coconut and palm sugar, and Seri Muka, a layered dessert made with pandan coconut custard and sticky rice. Both turned out to be quite good, especially the dosa-shaped Kuih Ketayap. But I wondered why they added so much of artificial colours. 

Over the course of three weeks in Malaysia, I had travelled through bustling cities, rainforests, rolling hills, towering mountains and peaceful island beaches. I had seen orangutans, hornbills, mouse deer and sun bears; snorkelled in turquoise waters; and climbed Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in the country.

I had savoured local food, interacted with kind and generous locals, and crossed paths with interesting travellers along the way.

Malaysia had offered me a remarkable diversity of landscapes and cultures. From the energy of its cities to the tranquillity of its islands and the wilderness of Borneo, it had been a journey full of discoveries.

I was returning home with wonderful memories, countless little encounters that would stay with me, and a few books by Malaysian authors.

Through their pages, I hoped to keep the memories of Malaysia alive a little longer.