As will be the case for all our posts going forward, the photos featured here will be small and relatively few (believe it or not). There are lots more photos and videos (!!!) on iCloud: https://www.icloud.com/journal/#8;CAEQARoQuWj_bg94JNNh9wuTyGGCSw
On with the summary commentary of our adventures!
Karine and Roger live very close to a golf course, which they play at several times a week. Above the course along the road is a "nature preserve" where several tribes of monkeys hang out, expecting to be hand-fed by humans. When it rains and people do not visit with enough food, the monkeys descend on the golf course and wreak havoc. This includes moving balls in play from the green, unzipping bags and stealing cell phones, etc. The doors in the house are locked at all times, largely to prevent monkeys from raiding the fridge! Roger told us a story of a family of ex pats that left KL for a holiday and left open a small window by accident. When they returned the house was completely ruined by squatting primates who have not been toilet trained. Nevertheless, the monkeys are irresistible to watch. Their actions mirror ours so closely that we are endlessly fascinated by them.
Malaysia has a few stray dogs, but nothing compared to the number of semi-domesticated, photogenic felines.
And there is also Putra (meaning prince in Bahasa) the pet cat who lives next door who has extended his kingdom into Karine and Roger's house.
We did a lot of eating, of course. This is one of the best parts of Asia, afterall.
Top to bottom: Alex has passion fruit on the street; He has his first coconut in asia in a looong time. (This makes the island boy very happy.); A hanging bunch of mangosteen. (Karines favorite and mine, too.); Next is a flower fruit that is often pressed into a juice (we are trying to find the name from google because we can't remember it.); Next two are dragon fruit cut into rounds and papaya halves with lime. The spikey red ones are rambutan;. The last two are shots from Karine's prefered fruit stand. We had chili and lime pickled mango there and sugar cane juice, too.
Tropical fruit! Too good.
Except, possibly, for the durian. This is known in Malaysia as "king of the fruits" and is evidentally a quintessential Malaysian experience. We did our duty as tourists and tried it...and did not enjoy it. To untrained noses it smells a bit like a dumpster of rotten scraps left in the sun for a week. The consistency is complete mush with a slight sweetness and a taste entirely...durian. Alex says it tastes like raw chicken skin cream. Roger has put in the work to aquire a taste and now he loves it. We gave him all our uneaten pieces. Maybe next time we will learn to appreciate it.
And when we were not eating, we still admired food along the way (even that which we are not brave enough to try.)
It just so happened we visited Malaysia, a predominently Muslim nation, in the last two weeks of Ramadan. This meant every where we went we felt the impact of Islam and the fasting month. We woke up every morning around 5:30 with the call to prayer broadcast from enormously loud public speakers from the mosque behind Karine and Roger's house. We would visit markets before sunset where everyone was rushing to buy treats, but no one was eating them. Every night at 7:30 we could almost feel the lull and relief when the day had ended and eating could begin. We were lucky enough to have a few of our own ramadan feasts while we were in town.
One evening we went to a Ramadan buffet at the golf course. This was a traditional resturant-style Ramadan feast beginning after a prayer at 7:30pm. It was also an awards ceremony for a golf tournament that had taken place that day.
Karine came in first place! She beats all the men and was allowed to take home the travel golf bag, the most coveted prize.
Later in the week Alex and I were able to swim at the club pool for half price because Alex is the nephew of the champion!
Old KL train station
The white building is the post office HQ. Entirely covered in muslim stars. Impressively georgeous. The pink set are government buildings across from Independence place. They are very beautiful in person. (The image is from a postcard we sent home...which will hopefully reach home, apparently there is a 50% chance the mail will be lost somewhere in between.)
We visited the aquarium below the convention center. Inside the shark jaws it says, "no entry." This kind of goes without saying, no?
Another feature of "Choice, Bro!" Lots of love for The Creek.
Alex and I went to KL City several times to explore.There are a lot of shopping malls in KL for two main reasons: it feels good to be in air conditioning for relief from tropical heat and, there is a lot of money to be spent in KL. This is an oil and natural gas company and there is a clear upper class to show for it.
Master artist, deep in his process.
Clearly, my car could zoom.
On the top floor of the KLCC mall is a discovery center science museum funded by Petronas, the big oil company in Malaysia. The museum is well funded with really great exhibits to capture the attention of small children and 30 somethings alike. It does not come without the creepy sensation of propagana, however. It praises the resources of the rainforests without any mention whatsoever of their degradation.
We ventured into the KL bird park, "the worlds largest free-flight walk-in aviary."
On another day all four of us took a drive out into the country side to visit the Kuala Gandha elephant sanctuary.
In our second week Alex and I flew north toward Thailand to spend theee nights on Kapas Island. We did a bunch of snorkeling, but without an underwater camera we can't share the magic kingdoms of the coral gardens. We did get to visit a pool of incubating baby sea turtles, though!
The day we left Kapas was Hari Raya, a grand Muslim feast day signifying the end of Ramadan fasting and beginning a second month of partying, gift-giving and eating during the daylight. Probably plenty of praying, too, but no one told us about that part. The population of Muslims near Kapas is about 90% (it's more like 40% in KL.) We were very fortunate part of the remaining 10% were able to give us a ride to the airport! We had a chatty Sikh man point out lots of sights, mainly mosques, along the way. We also admired all the families dressed in colorful silk, returing from prayers and out to spend the day with friends.
We had our own special Hari Raya treat when we returned. Miriam, who works for Katrine and Roger, invited us all to her home for an open house. We ate traditional Malay food and had a lot of giggles over trying to work everyones cameras for photos.
We left Karine and Roger's at 5am the next morning. Back again to the airport. This time headed for Delhi. We had a truly lovely stay at their home in KL. We are so grateful for their beautiful hospitality. Merci beaucoup, beaucoup, beaucoup!
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