I arrive in Kuala Lumpur ready to wander, ready to walk as long as it takes to find a view to sketch.

My steps lead first to Chinatown, to the great green gate marking the start of Jalan Petaling – or the famous main road of the neighborhood called Petaling Street.

Within minutes of entering, I am indeed ready to keep on walking. Both sides of the crowded road are lined with hawkers, proffering me and a hundred other tourists t-shirts, belts, bags, and at least fifty different watches.

At first, it’s hard to imagine inspiration finding me here.

Where two men stand roasting chestnuts, sifting them through hot coals in a round silver vat, I turn left, trying to escape the commotion. But it’s then that I see them – a perfect row of red Chinese lanterns, strung just above my head from one lamppost to another, glowing like hollowed-out pumpkins.

They alternate in shape between spherical and oblong, perfectly contrasting with the neat square windows of the building behind them, and I’m suddenly reminded of the first time I saw such lanterns.

Kuala Lumpur ChinatownMalaysia Chinese lanterns

Ever since visiting Macau three and a half years ago, these lanterns have never failed to fascinate me. I find them incredibly evocative – a symbol, perhaps, that I have truly arrived Elsewhere. I wonder if such symbols exist for all of us, something that always represents just how far we’ve traveled from home, no matter where home may be for each of us.

Here in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown, I have to sketch these lanterns, that much I know – but from where? Finally I spot a shop, a small drinks and ice cream stand with just two red plastic tables out front, two square yellow umbrellas overhead, and a killer view of my beloved Chinese lanterns.

What’s more, they serve bubble tea – a favorite drink of mine I’ve yet to have again since returning to Southeast Asia. I order one, chew contentedly on the round tapioca beads at the bottom of the milky drink, and get to work.

Malaysia travel sketch

Malaysia travel sketch

Soon after I begin, a woman with a British accent but of Middle Eastern origin, hijab scarf covering her head, stands over my shoulder and studies the sketch I did in Singapore. I tell her about my plan to spend six weeks sketching around Asia.

“That’s wonderful,” she says. “You should do a book.”

It’s that kind of moment where the universe seems to affirm the very thing you’ve set out to do.

I smile, thank her, and say, “I am.”

Malaysia travel sketch

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