The original plan had been to jet off on 1 January. A couple of months ago, it became clear that this was one of those impossible things I was talking about the other day. There would still be too much stuff to sort out.

So, by way of compensation, we decided we would have a tourist week in KL (admittedly there are not many tourists who go home to mark the essays still lingering from their previous existence, but hey...)

Favourite things, in chronological order:

1.
Saravanaa Bhavan is an Indian vegetarian restaurant on Leboh Ampang right next to our longstanding favourite, Kader. It opens a little later, so we'd never noticed it. But on a slow-starting New Year's morning, it was perfect. Truly, this place is Dosas R Us. My specimen, chosen from a lengthy list, was perfectly crispy and plumply stuffed; the sambar and chutneys were top-notch, and the salty lassis perfectly creamy.

More generally, I love the Leboh Ampang area. It's always full of life and colour (not to mention kind solicitors who are happy to endorse a copy of your marriage certificate without charging).



2.
Taman Dusun Bandar is a gorgeous little green space not far from that fascinating Chinese cemetery we visited a couple of times last year.

On New Year's Day, we shared its quiet and peaceful compilation of water, fruit trees, and lawns with just one other little family (plus a couple of monitor lizards).








3.
LOKL is another of our recent coffee discoveries, and if you want your local kopi O kosong in an air-con environment, then this is a good bet.


But Purple Miao is still a favourite. I like their Johor coffee, the map chairs, and the scrunched-up Borneo on the wall.


4.
Some cute new street art has appeared round the Masjid Jamek LRT station.



5.
And in all the years we have been in KL, we had never, until today, set foot in the iconic Masjid Jamek (officially opened in 1909). So it was good to rectify that omission. It is a very elegant complex.

And it gives you the opportunity to be really fantastically purple: