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.