Jeremy stays home for some quiet time and we three metro over to the old colonial center of KL. In the picture to the left, we are standing in front of one of the biggest mosques in this part of the world. We notice but have found no explanation for the fact that there are almost no women anywhere around and lots and lots of men. It reminds me of Cairo except in this case they were mostly young. Not sure if they were waiting for the call to prayer or if they were all out while the old lady was home scrubbing, polishing and cooking.Today we experienced our first cultural faux pas – or at least the first that we know about. Outside a Hindu temple there are many tables set up with people stringing jasmine blossoms and marigolds into what we took to be leis. Max told us that no we couldn’t buy them and wear them around our necks because that would be elevating ourselves to the level of the gods for whom they are intended. Apparently people buy them and put them around the necks of the gods in the temples. So we stood and sniffed the wonderful fragrance - as you can see in the first picture. When we came out of the temple later - after witnessing a Hindu wedding, reception, and all the picture taking - we stopped for another stiff. A stern looking fellow on a motorcycle said loudly, "No smelling!" Uh-oh.
Five hours on the streets seems to be all we can take. I simply wilt from the heat. The fact that our 25 year old companion, Max, is seven months pregnant saves us from feeling like old ladies because she wilts too.Max and Cindy and I wandered the old city center which grew up at the convergence of two
rivers to service the tin mining trade a couple of hundred years ago. Lots of Chinese labor and later lots of British government buildings built in the Moghul style that the Brits had learned worked so well in India. Some very pretty. We stopped in two taoist Buddhist temples where one lights joss sticks and waves the smoke at the gods after leaving offerings of fruit and money and the Hindu temple mentioned above.Five hours on the streets seems to be all we can take. I simply wilt from the heat. The fact that our 25 year old companion, Max, is seven months pregnant saves us from feeling like old ladies because she wilts too.
Max and Cindy and I wandered the old city center which grew up at the convergence of two
rivers to service the tin mining trade a couple of hundred years ago. Lots of Chinese labor and later lots of British government buildings built in the Moghul style that the Brits had learned worked so well in India. Some very pretty. We stopped in two taoist Buddhist temples where one lights joss sticks and waves the smoke at the gods after leaving offerings of fruit and money and the Hindu temple mentioned above.
Along the way we found a Chinese craft center selling Malaysian crafts we’d read about in our guidebook. Housed on the third floor of the old Lee Rubber Co. Building, it also had a lovely tea room which served some of the best Thai food we’ve had, and in air conditioned splendour, to boot. Jeremy joined us for lunch and then we walked through the old official buildings of the city center which now house various judiciary and court offices. Very pretty. Very hot.
rivers to service the tin mining trade a couple of hundred years ago. Lots of Chinese labor and later lots of British government buildings built in the Moghul style that the Brits had learned worked so well in India. Some very pretty. We stopped in two taoist Buddhist temples where one lights joss sticks and waves the smoke at the gods after leaving offerings of fruit and money and the Hindu temple mentioned above.
Along the way we found a Chinese craft center selling Malaysian crafts we’d read about in our guidebook. Housed on the third floor of the old Lee Rubber Co. Building, it also had a lovely tea room which served some of the best Thai food we’ve had, and in air conditioned splendour, to boot. Jeremy joined us for lunch and then we walked through the old official buildings of the city center which now house various judiciary and court offices. Very pretty. Very hot.
Monday, January 12
A little morning yoga, the first shower of the day, some shopping in the KLCC (see first entry) and Max and Cindy and I were off to the Lake Gardens after meeting Jeremy for another Thai lunch in a lovely restaurant across the street from the American Embassy (almost invisible behind high barriers and walls, like all our fortress embassies around the world these days). Here in the Gardens are an ASEAN sculpture garden, a national monument to fallen soldiers who, according to the inscription and like all fallen soldiers everywhere, are credited with dying (and presumably killing) in the name of peace and freedom. What is wrong with this picture? Then the butterfly, orchid, and hibiscus gardens before we once again wilted and headed for home.
A little morning yoga, the first shower of the day, some shopping in the KLCC (see first entry) and Max and Cindy and I were off to the Lake Gardens after meeting Jeremy for another Thai lunch in a lovely restaurant across the street from the American Embassy (almost invisible behind high barriers and walls, like all our fortress embassies around the world these days). Here in the Gardens are an ASEAN sculpture garden, a national monument to fallen soldiers who, according to the inscription and like all fallen soldiers everywhere, are credited with dying (and presumably killing) in the name of peace and freedom. What is wrong with this picture? Then the butterfly, orchid, and hibiscus gardens before we once again wilted and headed for home.Five hours on the dot again. What will we do when we aren’t in a home where we can do twice daily changes of clothes and laundry?
We’ve also decided to go to Singapore a couple of days ahead of schedule since we have pretty well exhausted the tourist sites here in KL and Max keeps saying that the food, shopping and tourist attractions are better there than here. Since Jeremy has to go out of town for a couple of days to oversee a provincial by-election (something we Americans feel we are entitled to tell the world how to do and which they could never do successfully without our oversight), Max is going to go with us! I can already see the benefits of having left travel plans and dates loose......
Tuesday, January 13
Cindy and I ventured out alone, taking the metro to the KL Tower, not to be confused with the double Patronas office towers near their apartment building. It was built with loving care and great expense in the middle of a piece of rainforest in the center of the city. We had a personal guided tour of the rainforest by a conservationist/naturalist. Cindy was thrilled being a real nature buff so we are good for each other since I will naturally gravitate towards something bookish or a history museum and Cindy towards a nature preserve. Together we will see it all.
After lunch at good old KLCC, we sat by the manmade lake and park built next two the twin towers for our last visit. We watched two women completely covered but for their eyes in black abayas sitting under a palm tree while their children swam in the lake in this sweltering weather. We were surprised that there weren’t more people there with their kids but Max tells us that growing up in equally sweltering Bangkok, they rarely went outside either. Think winter in Erie, I guess. At least you don’t have to shovel the heat.
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