Another festival-Diwali

Being the multicultural country that it is, Malaysia is not short of culture celebrations. This week is the festival of Diwali/Deepavali. The Indian equivalent of New Year. It has been fun to watch the build up and take part in events whenever possible.

The first signs of the festival were the beautiful Kolam ( coloured rice pictures ) that began to spring up in the shopping malls. As you can see, peacocks dominate. 

Some of the intricate rice patterns.

One of the local malls had a series of Indian dance shows. We were lucky enough to catch the peacock dance, beautifully done and what a stunning costume. 

There are two areas in KL known as Little India. We had visited one, Brickfields, a number of times. On the Sunday 19th Oct. We went to the other in Jalan Masjid India. It was packed with everyone doing their final Diwali shopping! 

Apparently one of the must-buys at this time of the year is gold. There were lots of gold shops all filled with customers. We were not allowed to take pictures in this store so went out side and took one looking in. You get some of the sense of how busy they were. The chap sitting extreme left is a guard with a rifle across his knee. I  persuaded Andrew that maybe I needed something small and expensive. We went into one shop but I think the assistant realised we were not going to pay the big bucks and paid us very little attention. 

Another important item is sweets, cakes and lots of them, the brighter the better it seems. Andrew had fun choosing a selection. You realise how tall we are when you see how short the locals are!!!!

The main day for celebrations is tomorrow, Wednesday 22 Oct. It starts of with ritual cleansing and going to the temple to pray. Later in the day the feasting begins. People often invite guests. We have had two invites; one from a taxi driver... and another from one of the teachers at the school I spend at little bit of time at. We may go to Bawani's  home if time allows but I am flying out tomorrow evening to Adelaide to give a hand, looking after the wee grand daughters for three weeks.

Two weeks of fun with Chris and Ton

Luckily for us Chris and Ton ( Andrew's cousin and husband) decided to spend their holidays this year in KL, with us. They are Asian veterans but hadn't been to KL before and were determined to see and do as much as possible. I played tour guide and was proud of myself for not getting them lost once. We explored the usual places, Imbi market, Central Market, Batu caves,  Asia cafe, Jalan Alor, Heli lounge and the Lazat cooking school, all of which I have mentioned on the blog before.

Our new exciting venture was a few days spent on the Perhentian Islands. Initially Chris and Ton had wanted to go diving in the world class dive spot of Sipidan but there has been a lot of political unrest there so we decided on Perhentians instead. It was late in the season. The monsoon season closes the island resorts and the monsoon usually arrives some time in October. We were lucky the dive shop was to close the day we left, 6th Oct.

After much deliberating we choose  to stay at 'The Perhentian Island Resort'. It was a little run down  ( our bathroom leaked like a sieve when it rained!) as I think most place are in the Perhentians but that didn't stop us enjoying a wonderful few days. The weather was fine for the most part, and the sea crystal clear. I stuck to snorkelling, Andrew went on his first dive just to see what it was like while Chris and Ton did the real thing. Chris had an underwater camera so was able to record the beauty of the underwater world.

Looking out over the jetty to Perhentian Island resort!

We saw Nemo and his siblings every where. Once I was only knee deep in the water and I came across an anemone with Nemos!

The happy trio of divers, Ton, Chris and Andrew. 

The numbers and varieties of fish and coral we saw were amazing. One of Andrew's highlights was a 1 1/2 m reef shark. He was on his own so no photo to back it up!

Plenty of time for sitting relaxing.

Colourful fishing boats in the port of  Kuala Besut 

We had a wonderfully crazy taxi driver who drove us back to Kota Baru to catch the plane. He was such a happy chap who kept us entertained for the hour long journey. Into the bargain stopped at a Buddhist settlement so we could look around. 

Last Night in KL for Chris and Ton, dinner at Jalan Alor. 

Family Time Part two.

On our last weekend we drove to Cherating on the East coast. The drive took about 5 hours and was a fairly tense one. Charli and Geogia are of course used to travelling in car seats.  We were unable to use them as we wouldn't have all fitted in the car.  Normally a drive of that length wouldn't be too much of a bother as the girls would sleep in their seats.  But they were not at all impressed with having to sit on laps and let us know it!

On arrival at Cherating all was forgotten when Charli spotted the swing. There was even more excitement when the turtle watch group from the hotel released 10 tiny turtles into the sea.

We broke the journey home with a stop at the elephant sanctuary. Where you could feed and help bath the elephants. Much fun had by all including the elephants.

The main reason behind the Abley family visit was to help Kirst's celebrate a big "0" birthday. 

Yum it was very good cake!

I couldn't resist putting this pic, in Georgia just loved the shower!

Everywhere the girls went they were a real hit with the locals. They got lots and lots of cuddles. 

Family Time August 21st 14th Part 1

We have had a wonderful three weeks with Kirstin, Anthony, Charli and Georgia.
Kirstin wasn't sure how to celebrate her big' 0' birthday so decided to come to Kuala Lumpur for something different.
Our apartment has three bedrooms and a biggish lounge so we all fitted in well. Cecilia, ( the kindest land lady in the world!) loaned us her car while they were here and that helped our transport problems.

We made the most of the lovely time together, getting away to a tropical paradise in Langkawi for four days and visiting the east coast for a weekend. When possible the girls and I  stayed home and enjoyed the pool while Ant and Kirstin saw some of the sights in town. Poor Andrew was at work  most of the time but made ever effort to get home from work early to spend time with the girls in the evening.
I will let the pictures do the talking.

Georgia being introduced to Malaysian food. 

A welcome dinner with Cecilia, Eric and family 

Kirstin and Anthony at Lazat Cooking school. This was a birthday present from us. 

Langkawi
We loved our time in Langkawi the wild life was amazing. The resort luxurious The beach and sea were  clean something you can't always say in Malaysia.
 

Mum and bay Culugo. These little critters are nocturnal but they sleep with their eyes open!

Charli up close with a monitor lizard. 

Love this satay 

Night market at Air Hangat was fantastic.

Beach fun!

Giant squirrel.

Yes the sun set really was this colour!!!!!!

Busy weekend 15-18 August

As busy weekends go August 15-18 was a busy one for us. Friday night saw us at the local school celebrating Hari Raya. It was a lovely evening. Everyone came dressed in their finest, the children looked particularly striking in their Malay and Indian national dress. There were the usual speeches, some entertainment from the children ( Andrea Meredith they needed you to show them how to put on school entertainment!!) and then there was FOOD, heaps and heaps of delicious Malaysian delicacies.  

Saturday morning we headed off bright and early to a permaculture property"Eats Roots and Shoots". I had contacted them sometime ago to see if I could attend any of their courses, didn't hear a thing for ages then got an email advertising a day with KL chef Darren Teoh. The idea was to harvest food from the garden and the chef to cook up a stunning meal using the veges and a few other bits and pieces. I was surprised when walking around the garden I couldn't see any familiar plants!!

 Lunch was six course affair,  some yummier than others. We were very full by the time desert arrived but of course that didn't stop us from enjoying it.


 One of the dinner courses taro fritter with capsicum foam garnished with garden herbs.









After Lunch we waddled off to the airport. Our three month visas were due to expire so we made a quick trip to Singapore to renew them.

We were pleasantly  surprised to find the Singapore Garden Festival was on while we were there. It was a huge affair rather like Ellerslie. I spent  two days wandering around enjoying the displays Andrew dutifully tagged along!                                                                                                              

I loved these models dressed in orchids and bromeliads. 

Many of the displays relied on lighting to add impact, this made them difficult to photograph. At the base of this fiery forest were a mass of red and yellow orchids and roses. 

What about this for a dinner table!

The show continued into the two huge biosphere that are permanent fixtures in The Gardens by the Sea. The biospheres are amazing, they have plants growing from many different parts of the world.  All looking amazing healthy and well cared for. I was really taken with huge twisted olives trees and giant baobab trees but didn't manage to get a really good photo of either. This was one of the more colourful corners.

These rather space age trees were not part of the garden festival as such, but are more permanent fixture. in The Gardens by the Sea. As well as being somewhat decorative they capture rainwater that is used as irrigation in the biospheres they also have huge solar panels on the tops that provide power for a rather dazzling light show at night.

We headed back to KL late on Monday night with new visas, tired feet.

A Potpourri of Cultures

The last weekend of July saw the end of Ramadan.  Hari Raya  is the culmination of the festival. Many folk go back home to their family kampong for a few days. Traffic jams all over the country are legendary! For that reason alone we chose to stay in Kuala Lumpur.

 Most of the shopping centres, railway stations and other public places have representations of going home. This beautiful kampong was set up in one of the major shopping malls in KL. 

We though it would be a little quieter than usual in town but I think a lot of others had the same thoughts. Imbi market, where we went for breakfast, was packed with people. We  shared a table with a Chinese family who helped us decide what to eat. Andrew got the oyster porridge, I settled for egg custard. The stall we bought from happened to be the one mentioned in Lonely Planet. As we were leaving we bought some  delicious cakes. We gobbled them up, just outside the market beside this lovely little shrine. 

           The Pandan cakes are my favourites 

We then took the monorail to Brickfields, 'Little India'.  Brickfields is one of the oldest areas in Kuala Lumpur. After a disastrous fire and flood in the 1880s, it was decided to stop building in the traditional wood and thatch manner and use bricks. The Brickfields area was where is all began. 

It is a fascinating place full of colour, smells and delicious tastes.

I was taken by the shelves of glittering bangles and I would have bought some only my Kiwi hands are too fat for these slim Indian bracelets!

In the same shop there were amazingly colour garlands, statues of Hindu gods and cooking pots!

Outside was a shop selling the real thing, Beautiful garlands of fresh flowers made as  offerings. They were stunning!

We wandered on down the street and came to the Sri Kandaswamy Hindu Temple. We were a little unsure if we were allowed to go in but an Indian gentleman assured us we were fine. So we had a very peaceful wander around admiring all the fascinating art work.

A little further down the road was  this Chinese temple. What an interesting mix the old with the new!

All in all another wonderful day exploring Kuala Lumpur.