Back in 2019 I attended my first large scale gathering of crossdressers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Jointly organised by Malaysian and Singaporean friends, it was the annual bilat event that sees attendance of 40+ crossdressers from both sides of the causeway, all dolled up to the nines. I made some good friends in the community whom I've continued to chat with regularly despite having only met them once during that gathering. Due to covid, work and life, I've never been able to join subsequent gatherings since, so when the opportunity for a 3D3N solo trip came along I decided to head to Kuala Lumpur once again to meet with old friends (sanctioned by the Wife of course. She called it my "Eat, Pray, Love" trip. Not the right reference, but it was a movie about a solo trip of self-discovery). 

I planned for my 1st night to be at a fancier hotel so I could do an indoor photoshoot in a nicer setting, while the remaining nights were at a budget friendly hotel within walking distance of the major shopping areas.

Being mindful of the potential checkpoint jam due to the long weekend and not wanting to waste any time, I began my drive towards Kuala Lumpur at 5.30am. I cleared both border customs in record time of 15 minutes, which was very shocking as that has never happened in any of my trips to Malaysia (perhaps going in early is the way to go). Stopping only for a coffee and toilet break, I reached my first Kuala Lumpur hotel at 10.30am. Fortunately they had an available room so I got to check in super early. The hotel was located in the city fringes so there weren't too many sights for me to explore which was fine since my primary objective was to take fancy photographs within the hotel. After a quick lunch and nap, I ditched my male trappings and began the transformation into Isabelle. 

Self-portraiture using a DSLR on a tripod and flash photography isn't the easiest thing to do. Not only do I need to do my own makeup, I have to set up my photography equipment, use my handphone as a timed wireless-tether to trigger the camera shutter, while being the model being photographed. This is something I do regularly at home and they tend to be long drawn 4 to 5 hours events with around 200 photographs taken. And this was exactly what I did at the hotel. I started at around 4.30pm and after multiple outfit and position changes in the room, I finally called it quits at 11.30pm as I was too hungry and tired to continue. By the time I changed back to my guy mode, ate my cup noodles for dinner and rolled into bed for that sweet glorious sleep, it was already 2am. Was it worth it? Definitely. You be the judge.

I originally planned to wake up early for a morning photoshoot by the hotel pool in a bikini (which would have been awesome), but there was no way in hell my middle-aged body was going to survive another day with 4 hours of sleep. So I opted for a late morning lazy breakfast, before I checked out of the fancy hotel and headed into central Kuala Lumpur. The second hotel was unable to cater for an early check-in, so I spent a bit of time wandering around Lot 10 and Pavilion mall to suss out the shops and potential places Isabelle could go shopping on the 3rd day. The latter had a Parkson Elite with a huge array of fancy dresses and cheongsams so that would be my go to. Day 2 however, was New Year's Eve and the main event. 

My friends had pre-booked a small table in a club/bar from 8pm till late. Events like this are hard to come by for us crossdressers, so looking like a million bucks was an absolute must. After nearly 2 hours of makeup, accessorising, sticking on fake nails and slinking into a sliver sequined mini-dress, I stepped out into the hotel lobby feeling like an absolute Queen.

I linked up with my friend and we headed over to the bar. Tapping on a nondescript door that looked like a maintenance access, it opened to reveal a fancy corridor that led to a swanky looking venue. I never understood the concept of a speakeasy, but I suppose some do enjoy the feeling of exclusivity. Also, this place was LGBT friendly, so being a speakeasy was probably a slight benefit in the more conservative Malaysia.

And so the night began! My guy self might be a homebody, but Isabelle...she loved looking glam and she loved the night life. There was a live band with a male lead singer who sang many suspiciously closet gay songs (there was George Michael - Careless Whisper, Lady Gaga - Bad Romance, Cher - Do you Believe). The food was surprisingly tasty for a bar so we stuffed our faces with food to hit the minimum spend (rather than drink ourselves silly). 

As we enjoyed the music, food and vibes in the bar, we chatted like a bunch of old friends, despite it being the second time we've met each other. We spoke of how life was treating us, of other crossdressers old and new, of future gathering plans, of the scary but heady experience of coming out to cis-gendered friends, etc. And before we knew it, we started the final countdown to the new year, which was capped off with a bang by a cabaret show (Nicki Minaj/Ariana/Jessie J's Bang Bang really riled the crowd up). The DJ started playing clubbing music and people began dancing in front of the stage with the cabaret performers and each other. Isabelle couldn't help but join the crowd on the dance floor, jiving and moving with revellers. We finally decided we had our fill of fun at 2am, bade each other farewell, Happy New Year and parted ways.

The 3rd day was considerably uneventful as it was a dedicated shop/eat/relax day. I didn't remove my red stick-on nails when I went for breakfast at the hotel in guy mode, so I got a number of stares from other guests sitting near me as I ate my nasi lemak. This was the first time I ever did something this bold, but I didn't care or feel nervous about it. The beauty of a being in a foreign country is that I will never meet any of these people in my regular life and there is very low chance of meeting someone who might recognise me.  

I was still feeling tired from the earlier two days, so there wasn't a huge motivation to go crazy shopping. Plus the public holiday weekend crowd also sapped my energy a bit (I dislike crowds). So I zoomed in on my main objective of cheongsam shopping...which unfortunately reminded me of how unforgiving cheongsams are. A perfectly tailored cheongsam on a lady looks incredible; poised, classy and shows off womanly curves (just look at Maggie Cheung from the movie "In the Mood for Love"). But with the wrong material, design or cut, it is so very easy to look matronly, too top heavy, or *gasps in horror* like a Bak-zhang (Hokkien for rice dumpling. Looking like one means looking swollen with all the meat and fats wrapped too tightly) I'm quite slim and have decent curves with help from my hippads, but none of the cheongsams I picked made the cut. Also, they all cost $100 and there was no way I was going to spend that amount of money unless I was going to look a smashing 10/10.

(The tasty tasty Bak-Zhang. But eat too many and you'll start to look like one)

By 5pm, I was utterly drained and decided it was time for Cinderella to finally transform back into a fella for good. After a simple dinner, I met up with my friend again and ended the day with another chit chat (this time we were both in potato mode) over a milkshake from Five Guys.  

My 3 day solo holiday to Kuala Lumpur was the longest consecutive period I have spent as Isabelle (which also included sleeping in nighties that I brought for the trip). Though it was quite tiring due to me being overly ambitious, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I've always wanted to celebrate New Year's Eve in a sequined dress as Isabelle and I did exactly that, checking off another item on my bucket list. I'm not sure if I will get another opportunity to attend the next annual crossdressers gathering or go overseas dressed as Isabelle, but I'll make a wee bit of effort to see if my schedule (and life) allows me to. In the mean time, I'll need to think of more things to add into my significantly shortened bucket list.