Friday, September 19, 2003
Right I'm determined to get at least almost up to date now.
so i left you with me out in Bukit Bintang - its a pretty crazy part of town at night although its not as if you really feel threatened at all - there are a lot of bars with loud music and all the normal shenanigans you would see back home - we werent drinking anything stronger than coffee though - i dont think Ronnie drinks but i wasnt bothered about getting pissed anyway (actually he does)
we basically watched the world go by, played spot the transvestite and had a laugh
it was about 3 o'clock by the time we dropped Mariam off at her friends and we didnt get home till about 4
The following day was probably the best since ive been here - Sunday meant Ronnie and his friends were off work all day so we had a trip planned for a picnic.
I cant tell you the exact name of the river we went to - all i know is that it was just north of the Batu caves that we visited on the way back.
Which probably doesnt help much but anyway..
we drove through some meandering hills into forest only about half an hour or so outside KL but it felt like a different world. There were lots of locals all having barbeques and wading in the river and we were amongst them. Ronnie, Maya, Aiee, Geoffrey and one of Ronnie's schoolfriends Megat came with us.
Geoffrey and Megat were on cooking duty getting the coals hot on the small barbeque we had brought with us while Ronnie, Aiee and I decided to see what the water was like.
At first I was a little bit reluctant to get totally in the water - fear of tropical diseases and all that sort of thing but eventually i went with the flow - particularly after getting drenched when the others decided i wasnt wet enough..
eventually we ended up playing with a kid who had a beach ball which was a laugh - although the way he was throwing himself about i was convinced he was going to land on a rock and crack his head open.
He didnt
which was good.
The food was excellent as well - big bits of chicken with a spicy sauce that certainly beat the normal burgers and hot dogs fare (or even the sandwiches and scotch eggs which would be my picture of a "PICNIC" usually.
I havent had any tropical diseases either although i have had quite a few mozzie bites and i cant help thinking that the most likely place to have picked them up was in the river. ho hum
then as i said we drove back towards KL and stopped at the Batu caves which is really only one very big cave - its a hindu temple and during one of their ceremonies people drag chariot type things from the centre of KL. Now not only is that a long way but they pull the chariots by wires attached to their skin. By big hooks. It looks incredibly painful. On top of that once they get to the caves there is the small matter of the 272 steps up to the entrance. We were nearly dying by the time we reached the top - Maya had to stop about 6 times.
We did make it though and here is the proof:
There are Monkeys running about all the way up the steps and into the large cave at the back - on the way down one was disturbed at an awkward moment and the shrieking was enough to leave us cowering at the top until some guy had scared it off with a big stick - and they looked so cute.
The caves themselves were a little bit underwhelming - big certainly but messy and essentially just a cave
After this we were all in need of a drink so we went and had some fab fruit juice stuff - i had Rabmutan which is a small red fruit with a load of soft spiky bits all round the outside difficult to explain the taste but it was nice.
By now it was getting dark but we decided to take a trip to the National theatre which looks a bit like a blue Sydney Opera house -its actually designed to resemble the traditional Malay kite. We had a look inside and sneaked into the auditorium to have a look (not that there was anything on)
It was about 9 o'clock by this stage but we still had film to use in our cameras so we decided to take a drive out to Putra Jaya which is a new development south of KL which is the administrative capital of the country - basically they have moved all the government departments down there and the Prime Ministers office and residence. There is also a Mosque which is designed to hold 16,000 people. Its all very nice set around a big lake and amazingly quiet - no traffic at all which is quite disconcerting after KL where there seems to be traffic all hours.
Here we are posing:
The government works very strangely over here - there are signs to celebrate 50 years of "power sharing" in Malaysia because the main party over here has been in power that long - it contains ministers from the different ethnic groups - Malay, Chinese and Indian and the elections are held in such a way that the ruling party seems to decide which type of candidate would best suit a particular area and they get into power - there are opposition groups but apparently the support is very limited - it sounds odd but it does seem to work
I wont go into detail about the Sultans that are the head of the individual states but the Presidency basically rotates between these different leaders
Learnt anything yet?
Okay one more day quickly and then i have to be off
Monday the 15th
Ronnie and Maya both took sickies (or MC as they call it here after the Medical Chit they have to get from the doctor)
Ronnie and I picked Maya up in the middle of a thunderstorm and drove to the Mid Valley Mega Mall to go to the cinema. We saw the Italian Job which i actually thought was rather good - certainly better than i expected. The relationship with the original was tenuous - Minis was all i could figure - but i considered that a good thing.
We grabbed a lunch of Roti Chanai which is a Roti (bready type thing) with a curry sauce to dip into.
Then it was time to visit Mayas boss who was in hospital with very bad asthma.
Finally we went to a cafe in some back end of KL (ive been there twice but dont think i could find it by myself)
Its an outdoor place and we sat the other side of the road to where the food was prepared - we had a great feast though - all local Malay stuff - Cuttlefish, Fish in Sweet, Sour and Hot sauce, mushrooms and shrimp in ginger, spinach and some porridge stuff wth salted egg and fish
all very nice and left me very full.
okay enough for now - i may not update for a few days but to come that i have already done - the Lake Gardens - including the Bird Park, Planet arium, and Orchid Gardens (woo)
and the Natural History museum
Plus a new friend
excited?
so i left you with me out in Bukit Bintang - its a pretty crazy part of town at night although its not as if you really feel threatened at all - there are a lot of bars with loud music and all the normal shenanigans you would see back home - we werent drinking anything stronger than coffee though - i dont think Ronnie drinks but i wasnt bothered about getting pissed anyway (actually he does)
we basically watched the world go by, played spot the transvestite and had a laugh
it was about 3 o'clock by the time we dropped Mariam off at her friends and we didnt get home till about 4
The following day was probably the best since ive been here - Sunday meant Ronnie and his friends were off work all day so we had a trip planned for a picnic.
I cant tell you the exact name of the river we went to - all i know is that it was just north of the Batu caves that we visited on the way back.
Which probably doesnt help much but anyway..
we drove through some meandering hills into forest only about half an hour or so outside KL but it felt like a different world. There were lots of locals all having barbeques and wading in the river and we were amongst them. Ronnie, Maya, Aiee, Geoffrey and one of Ronnie's schoolfriends Megat came with us.
Geoffrey and Megat were on cooking duty getting the coals hot on the small barbeque we had brought with us while Ronnie, Aiee and I decided to see what the water was like.
At first I was a little bit reluctant to get totally in the water - fear of tropical diseases and all that sort of thing but eventually i went with the flow - particularly after getting drenched when the others decided i wasnt wet enough..
eventually we ended up playing with a kid who had a beach ball which was a laugh - although the way he was throwing himself about i was convinced he was going to land on a rock and crack his head open.
He didnt
which was good.
The food was excellent as well - big bits of chicken with a spicy sauce that certainly beat the normal burgers and hot dogs fare (or even the sandwiches and scotch eggs which would be my picture of a "PICNIC" usually.
I havent had any tropical diseases either although i have had quite a few mozzie bites and i cant help thinking that the most likely place to have picked them up was in the river. ho hum
then as i said we drove back towards KL and stopped at the Batu caves which is really only one very big cave - its a hindu temple and during one of their ceremonies people drag chariot type things from the centre of KL. Now not only is that a long way but they pull the chariots by wires attached to their skin. By big hooks. It looks incredibly painful. On top of that once they get to the caves there is the small matter of the 272 steps up to the entrance. We were nearly dying by the time we reached the top - Maya had to stop about 6 times.
We did make it though and here is the proof:
There are Monkeys running about all the way up the steps and into the large cave at the back - on the way down one was disturbed at an awkward moment and the shrieking was enough to leave us cowering at the top until some guy had scared it off with a big stick - and they looked so cute.
The caves themselves were a little bit underwhelming - big certainly but messy and essentially just a cave
After this we were all in need of a drink so we went and had some fab fruit juice stuff - i had Rabmutan which is a small red fruit with a load of soft spiky bits all round the outside difficult to explain the taste but it was nice.
By now it was getting dark but we decided to take a trip to the National theatre which looks a bit like a blue Sydney Opera house -its actually designed to resemble the traditional Malay kite. We had a look inside and sneaked into the auditorium to have a look (not that there was anything on)
It was about 9 o'clock by this stage but we still had film to use in our cameras so we decided to take a drive out to Putra Jaya which is a new development south of KL which is the administrative capital of the country - basically they have moved all the government departments down there and the Prime Ministers office and residence. There is also a Mosque which is designed to hold 16,000 people. Its all very nice set around a big lake and amazingly quiet - no traffic at all which is quite disconcerting after KL where there seems to be traffic all hours.
Here we are posing:
The government works very strangely over here - there are signs to celebrate 50 years of "power sharing" in Malaysia because the main party over here has been in power that long - it contains ministers from the different ethnic groups - Malay, Chinese and Indian and the elections are held in such a way that the ruling party seems to decide which type of candidate would best suit a particular area and they get into power - there are opposition groups but apparently the support is very limited - it sounds odd but it does seem to work
I wont go into detail about the Sultans that are the head of the individual states but the Presidency basically rotates between these different leaders
Learnt anything yet?
Okay one more day quickly and then i have to be off
Monday the 15th
Ronnie and Maya both took sickies (or MC as they call it here after the Medical Chit they have to get from the doctor)
Ronnie and I picked Maya up in the middle of a thunderstorm and drove to the Mid Valley Mega Mall to go to the cinema. We saw the Italian Job which i actually thought was rather good - certainly better than i expected. The relationship with the original was tenuous - Minis was all i could figure - but i considered that a good thing.
We grabbed a lunch of Roti Chanai which is a Roti (bready type thing) with a curry sauce to dip into.
Then it was time to visit Mayas boss who was in hospital with very bad asthma.
Finally we went to a cafe in some back end of KL (ive been there twice but dont think i could find it by myself)
Its an outdoor place and we sat the other side of the road to where the food was prepared - we had a great feast though - all local Malay stuff - Cuttlefish, Fish in Sweet, Sour and Hot sauce, mushrooms and shrimp in ginger, spinach and some porridge stuff wth salted egg and fish
all very nice and left me very full.
okay enough for now - i may not update for a few days but to come that i have already done - the Lake Gardens - including the Bird Park, Planet arium, and Orchid Gardens (woo)
and the Natural History museum
Plus a new friend
excited?
