Getting to Know a New Friend

So last Wednesday was a very good day.  There were a few things happening that I would like to share with you...

First, Patric was able to go pick up our new car...

This is our Suzuki Swift.  We originally ordered it in blue but that would have taken three or four extra days for delivery.  So we decided to go with the red one since they had them in stock.  Isn't it cute???

I did say that Patric picked it up.  He went by himself because I had other plans.  That was the day that I was spending with my new friend, Sharon.  We planned to attend another Christmas bazaar that was being put on by the Manza Association.  There were many of the same vendors that attended the AAM bazaar but that was ok by me.  I didn't get to walk around much at our bazaar since I was working for most of it so I was able to spend time looking last Wednesday.

I did buy a few things but can only show one...

I fell in love with this necklace so I just had to buy it.  It is handmade but I can't remember what the stones are called.  Now I just need a reason to wear it.  =)

After we walked around the bazaar and bought all that we were going to buy, Sharon and I left and headed to find lunch.  Since we were in her part of town she started naming off places to eat.  The one that peeked my interest was California Pizza Kitchen...yay!  So I had pizza and Sharon had a salad.  It was nice to spend time with Sharon and get to know her a little better.

After that she introduced me to a new mall - BB Plaza.  I've heard about this mall but hadn't been there until now.  True to form, it was huge like all the other malls.  The difference with this one was that it seemed to be built more out instead of up.  There weren't as many floors as most that I have been to but it felt like it was more spread out.  Sharon took me to some of her favorite stores in this mall.  A couple of them leaned toward a wild and funky side which I liked a lot.  She also took me to a gown shop.  I really liked going here because in February I will be attending a ball that AAM hosts every year.  I've seen many shops that sell gowns but this one even does fittings and alterations which are all included in the price of the gown.  I can't wait to go back and do some serious shopping there!

By the time we were finished with the plaza it was time for me to head home.  I was supposed to go out to dinner with Patric and his group from work that night.  Unfortunately, I had to miss out on that.  When I got home it started raining really bad so when I tried to call for a taxi to take me to Patric's office there were none available.  This was really sad but ok...there will be another time.  I used the time to chill out and watch some TV instead.

Thursday promises to be full of fun.  I'm scheduled to go on a jungle walk!

See you next post!!

Monkey update:  yeah, not so much.

Nails...Round Two Update

After my China Town outing I was looking forward to the weekend!  Unfortunately, when I woke up Saturday morning I was feeling a little under the weather.  Patric had been sick with some sort of flu or virus and I was afraid that I had picked it up.  Needless to say, we didn't get out a whole lot last weekend.

We did go to the Curve for a little while on Saturday.  I needed to go by the nail shop to see about getting some nails that had started to lift fixed and we needed to pick up some things at the grocery store.  While we were there we ate lunch and looked around at a few other places but we weren't there long.  We spent the rest of the weekend at home.

When I went to the nail shop I figured the fix would be as easy as gluing down what was lifted.  This is what I had always done in the past.  When I asked the lady in the shop for glue she looked at me like I was an alien from outer space.  When it hit her what I was going to do with it she asked me, in a very baffled tone, if I was going to try to fix them myself.  I said yes and was given a small tube of glue.  Suffice it to say that the glue here is not like the glue back home so I realized quickly that this probably wasn't the best way to go about fixing the lifted nails.  The glue that they had was way too glumpy and sticky.  I'm used to a more fluid glue that will almost find its way to the spot that needs to be repaired.  I reluctantly made an appointment to come in and have the nails fixed by filing them down and basically doing a refill.  This meant another three hours of being worked on but the bonus was that they weren't going to charge me.  It was kind of like a warranty job.

Tuesday came which was the day of my appointment.  I went to the Curve a little early so I could do some shopping and get a chai at The Coffee Bean.  I wound up not buying anything but I did find some clothes that I might just have to go back and get.  I do need clothes even though I know I have some coming in about two weeks.  All of the walking I do here has me doing well with weight loss!  =)

I headed to the nail shop and got ready to spend the next three hours sitting in the same chair.  I'm grateful that I have the Kindle app on my phone.  At least I knew I would be able to read.  When I went in on Saturday to make this appointment there were only four nails that needed to be repaired.  By the time I arrived on Tuesday there were nine.  Crazy, huh?  I have no idea why this is happening.  I have them using the exact same product that Tracy used back home.  Every now and then a nail would lift after Tracy did them but it wasn't in less than a week and it was never this many at once.  So I had them try to use their bonding agent this time...maybe that will be the permanent fix.  I'll just have to wait and see what happens.  I sure would hate to have to give up my nails but it could become a reality...

Wednesday doesn't have much going on.  I'm heading into KLCC to go to another Christmas Bazaar with my friend Sharon.  But Thursday has a highlight...I'm going on a jungle walk!!!

See you next post!!

China Town Revisited

Last Friday I met a new friend for lunch in China Town.  If you've been reading with me you will know that I have been looking for a reason to go back to China Town since my first very brief visit.  Little did I know that this visit had the added bonus of a history lesson.  My friend, Brigitte, had taken a guided tour of this area and was more than willing to share some of her knowledge.

As we walked to the restaurant that Brigitte wanted to introduce me to we passed some of the landmarks that I had already seen and even taken pictures of.  The benefit this time was that I got to learn a little about them.

Remember this picture?  I took this one the first time I went to China Town.  Now I have information to share about it.  This is a Chinese Temple.  I went inside this time and here are some of the things I learned...

When you first walk in you see these hanging just inside the doorway.  These are incense coils with prayers of individuals hanging down in the center.  The way it works is the incense is lit from the bottom and as it burns up the prayer is sent up to the heavens to be answered.  Cool, huh?  Another cool thing is that all of the prayers are written in Chinese.  When you buy the incense to hang you have a person behind the counter write your prayer for you.  This particular temple is 100% Chinese.  Anything that is written here is done in Chinese.

This is an oven in the temple.  This is an alternative to the incense.  You can have your prayer written in Chinese then burn it in this oven if you prefer.  The thought being that as the prayer burns the smoke carries it up to the heavens.

These are offerings to the Gods.  At the end of the day all food that is left is picked up and donated to the poor.

In the brass bowl looking thing are a bunch of lit incense.  These are left by people that have come to pray.

Each Chinese temple has one God that it is dedicated to and that God has the biggest alter within the temple.  This is the God that this temple is dedicated to.  I don't know his name or if he has one.

This is one of the alters that has the other Gods on it.  There were two of these.  They have all of the Gods represented so that when you pray it is heard by all of them.  It is kind of like covering all of your bases.

We left the temple and continued our journey...

This picture was taken the first time I was in China Town also.  This is an Indian temple.  It is also the only temple that Indians can be married in within all of KL.  The Chinese have only one temple for marriages also but it is in another part of KL.  I didn't go in this temple even though I could have.  They were having their prayer and there were a lot of people there.  I learned that between 1:00 and 4:00 the Gods rested and there was no activity at any of the Indian temples.  At this particular temple there is a curtain that is pulled around the statues to signify their time of rest each day.

From here we headed to parts of China Town that I had not seen before.

This is one of the oldest buildings in China Town.  It is basically in ruins as are most of the old buildings - even the buildings that have been designated as historical.  There is no money in the KL budget to renovate these buildings and bring them back to their former glory.  Usually what happens is they let the buildings go until they fall (or are close to it) then sell the land to have new condos or other things built on it.  Kind of sad when you think about the history that is being tossed away...

Finally we made it to the restaurant.  And how fitting that it was a Chinese restaurant!  It was kind of small but the decorations were very cool!  It was mostly done with old pictures of China Town from way back in the day.  There were also two huge mirrors on the long walls.  It had almost an old western saloon feel to it.

As most people that know me will tell you, I'm not a huge fan of Chinese food.  Pei Wei was about as close I would come to it back home.  Well, there are no Pei Wei's here and the Teriyaki chicken bowl is pretty much non-existent.  So I am learning to try new things when I find myself at a Chinese restaurant.  This is what I had for lunch...

This is Beef Rendang and coconut rice and it is one of the best meals I've had here!  The coconut rice ranks right up there with some of the best rice I've had in my life.  It is tinged blue (not sure why) and made with coconut milk.  Yummm!!!  I've never had beef rendang and it didn't look very appetizing when I got it but the taste was really good!  It had just a little bit of spice to it.  They were good separately but every few bites I would mix the two and they were just as good that way.  I will definitely order this again and I will get back to this restaurant!

After lunch we walked around a bit and mostly Brigitte told me about the different stores.  We didn't take a lot of time to shop which was fine by me.  I was enjoying the history lesson and the little tidbits that were being shared.

LRT back out to my side of town and went home.  I'm looking forward to being able to go back to China Town and spend more time there.  I'm also looking forward to visiting other areas of KL and learning about them!

See you next post!!

Monkey update:  No monkeys on this day...I guess they are not fans of shopping...

The Mosque Tour

Thursday finally got here!!  That was the day that SSA was hosting the tour of Masjid Wilayah (Federal Mosque).  I had been signed up for this for a few weeks so I was very excited that the day had come.  I had even already figured out what I was going to wear - although this was pretty easy.  We were required to wear long pants, long sleeve shirts and we had to have something to cover our hair.  These were the rules of the mosque...no worries, got it covered!

I had my taxi driver pick me up at 8:15 AM so that I would have plenty of time to get there.  Traffic in the mornings here is horrible!  We were supposed to meet in front of the mosque at 9:45 and the tour started at 10:00.  I got there a little early which gave me time to walk around the outside and get some pictures...

These are just a few of the pictures I took before the tour started.  I will tell you, I took a lot more pictures than what will be posted here.  Otherwise, this entry would be very long!

It was easy to tell when others from the group showed up - they were taking pictures, just like I was!  As more of us showed up we gathered at the entrance where our tour would start.  There were a total of 24 of us signed up for the tour and only a few didn't show up...good turnout!  We learned a lot about the mosque itself and a little about Islam and the Muslim religion.  It was very interesting.  Don't worry, I'm not converting!  Since this is a Muslim country it was nice to learn a little about it.

We all know the phrase "A picture is worth a thousand words" so in that spirit here are some pictures I took.  I will give descriptions beneath them...

This is looking up the stairs to the entrance.

These are the doors we entered though.  The designs on the door, we learned, are typical of most mosques.  They do not have idols or statues that they pray to...instead they use geometric and earthy designs.  This door had plant like designs.  Geometric shapes were used throughout the mosque.

This was the entrance into the prayer hall.

This chandelier is completely solar powered.  No electricity is run to it.  It is energized by many small windows that are around the top of the mosque.  You can see some in this picture.

All mosques have one of these...unfortunately I can't remember what it is called.  It is like an alcove in the wall.  Everyone that comes here to pray faces this as it is facing in the direction of Mecca.  This particular one is fashioned after the Taj Mahal.

This is the first verse of the Q'uran written in Arabic.  It is the top right corner of that section of wall.

This is the section below the verse.  Take a closer look...

The color on the wall is not paint.  It is precious gems.  They brought in the great-grandson of the guy that did the same work in the Taj Mahal.  It is a very tedious process.  The design is cut out of the marble then the great-grandson cut the gems to perfectly fit in the design.  It is very beautiful!

After we were finished in the prayer hall we continued the tour.  This is me in front of the "men's entrance" that opens out on the courtyard.  The prayer hall will hold 5,000 people while this area will hold another 4,000.  This area is usually only used during major prayer events when a lot of people will come to the mosque to pray together.

We found out that this mosque is the only one in KL that can service a person from the time they are seven days old until they die.  There are schools, a wedding hall and even an area that is used to prepare a body for burial.  At the end of the tour we had lunch and were sent home with all sorts of information about the mosque and the religion.

This tour definitely made for a good Thursday and now I was looking forward to Friday!  I had plans to meet a new friend in China Town for lunch.  Yay China Town!

See you next post!!

Monkey update:  as far as I know they don't have religion so I didn't see any at the mosque asking for blessings...

Christmas Bazaar

After a boring day of laundry on Tuesday I was ready to get out and do something fun.  Wednesday was the 25th Annual AAM Christmas Bazaar.  This bazaar has historically been the biggest fund raising even of the year for AAM.  The funds raised would go to various charities in Malaysia.  Apparently the funds raised at this event are put together with all others that were raised throughout the year and then checks are made out to the charities.  A pretty cool set up if you ask me.

Since I have fallen in with a group of ladies that are very active in AAM it was only natural that I volunteer at the bazaar.  I wound up working the raffle table which wasn't a bad gig.  There were several items that were very nice that had been donated for the raffle so the tickets pretty much sold themselves.  I wound up working the table the entire time I was there which was ok.  I wasn't there alone and periodically someone would come and relieve one of us so we could walk around and see everything and even do some shopping if we wanted.  The only thing that really stood out and said "Buy me" to me was a really cool little Santa figure.  He is unlike any other that I have which is cool!  I just love Santa!!!  And there is nothing to put me in the mood like buying a new Santa!  I can't wait to put him out with the rest of our decorations when they get here.  I'll post a picture then...

The bazaar was scheduled from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM.  During the event I walked around with the current Treasurer for a little while to see what duties she has during one of these things.  I figured this would be good on the job training in case I do wind up as the next Treasurer.  After the event was done I helped the Treasurer count the money from the day.  So far I haven't seen anything that would keep from taking this position...but I haven't seen the day-to-day functions yet.

After we were completely finished at the bazaar we all headed back to Pauline's apartment.  I stayed there for a little while and watched TV through her sling box.  This was cool because it was American TV!  Apparently a sling box gets you this opportunity.  Patric and I have discussed getting one but we have some other options that we would like to try first.  It was nice to watch American TV but it did make me a little homesick.  The commercials are for things that you know you can't get here so it just reminded me of the fact that I am limited now.  But it is ok...it's all part of the adventure!

It finally got to be time for me to head home so I jumped the train and headed back.  When I got home I worked on some more laundry.  It seems to be never ending!  I've had to become creative with my sorting because the loads have to be really small to fit in the washer/dryer combo.  I know that some of you reading this are thinking to yourselves "just do it all in one load...why sort?".  Well, that is just how I am - I've always sorted the laundry.  Now it just takes longer to get them all finished.

Thursday promises to be a very interesting day!  I had been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks.  The mosque tour was finally the next day!!!

See you next post!!

Monkey update:  I don't think they celebrate Christmas...I didn't see a single one at the bazaar!

Nails...Round Two

After our weekend of semi-fun Monday was a holiday.  Patric had the day off so we had another day to do stuff.  So we spent Monday morning doing nothing!

Monday afternoon I had a nail appointment at a different place than the first time.  This new place was in the mall near us, The Curve.  My fingers were crossed that this time would take better than the first but I didn't have any expectations.  Patric drove us to the mall and he went off exploring while I was getting worked on.

My hopes for this new shop were raised almost immediately!  The lady working on me pulled out a dremel (basically a filing machine).  The first nail shop did not have one of these - they used only manual labor to file down the nails.  She wasn't as skillful with the machine as Tracy (my nail lady in Katy) was but she got the job done.  There still had to be some manual filing but not nearly as much as the first time.  At times there were even two people working on my hands.  It still took close to three hours but the bonus was that I was charged much less than I had originally been told I would be charged...yay!  Here is finished product...

They looked really good when she finished.  Keep you fingers crossed that these do well...

Patric got back to the shop just before I was finished so he went out into the mall and found a place to sit and wait for me.  When I caught up with him I found out that he had gone on a candle hunt for me...I love my husband!!  We haven't had much luck finding scented candle here and the ones he did find were really expensive.  He has now informed me that Ikea has scented candles for a much better price.  Look at what I got!

Woo hoo!  And they all smell so good!  I have to say, this is probably one of the things I miss the most - full access to an unending flow of scented candles.  Oh well, I have some now so I will be ok for a while!

Now it was time for something to eat.  On our way in to the nail shop we saw an A&W restaurant and they sell hot dogs.  Now I know that most of you probably think we were crazy but the only dogs that can be found here in the stores are chicken dogs.  I've bought some but I'll admit I'm a little scared to try them.  I used to get only turkey dogs back home so I'm almost sure these will be ok but...

So the desire for a beef hot dog won out over all other ideas we had.  We both got chili dogs and they were pretty good.  They didn't have cheese on them which would have made them better but all in all we were happy with our choice.  Sometimes you just have to feed the crave!

By this time it was becoming evening and we were ready to head home.  Plus we were pretty sure the dogs would be happy for us to come home.  The rest of the evening was spent much like the morning...doing nothing.  Nothing is good sometimes...

There isn't anything going on for Tuesday (just boring laundry) but Wednesday and Thursday are full of stuff to read about...

See you next post!!

Monkey update:  It seems that monkeys are the only living things that don't go shopping on holidays around here...

Ok...Not So Free

Saturday came and it started with an alarm clock, too.  Thankfully it wasn't nearly as early as it had been during the week but to hear an alarm clock at anytime on a Saturday is just a really sad thing.  But it was, indeed, necessary.  Our dogs had their first grooming appointment!

My internet research king husband, Patric, had found a groomer not very far from us and we had already gone and checked out the shop.  So we made them an appointment for Saturday at 10:00 AM.  When we got them there you would have thought that Duke had been there a million times and absolutely loved visiting!  He was so excited to be there we could hardly contain him.  I was a little worried that the two of them together would cause accidental injury to the lady that ran the place...she is so tiny and they are not small dogs.  But she handled them nicely.  She told us that she would let them watch us leave as they were pulling her to the back.  I assured her that is was ok and they didn't have to watch us.  Our dogs don't suffer from separation anxiety at first...it is only when we are away from them for extended periods of time that they show that emotion.

After we left there we headed into town so that Patric could sign the loan papers on the Suzuki Swift...yay!  I'm still having trouble with the fact that it is only him that they all want to deal with.  Since I am not a money earner they do not need my signature on things...I'm sure one day I will appreciate this.

By the time we finished with this and made our way back out to our side of town the dogs were ready to be picked up.  So we took them home then headed out to another hypermarket, Giant, that is in the shopping area that the groomer is in.  There were some things that we needed to get, mostly groceries, and we wanted to check this one out to compare it to Tesco which is in the Curve.  Hands down I will choose Tesco over Giant any day!  Giant wasn't as clean as Tesco and it smelled much worse in the meat area.  Patric and I did decide that hypermarket shopping may not be for us...at least not right now.  I think we are going to stick with what we know...Cold Storage all the way!  So we took home what we got at Giant and headed to Cold Storage to finish our shopping.  By the time it was all done we were so tired we just ate whatever we could find in the kitchen.

Sunday we got up and thought we were going to be able to watch another UFC fight...sadly, it did not record.  We still aren't sure why so we have no idea what to do to fix it for the next time.  I guess next time we will just get up and watch it live, even if it is at 7:30 on a Sunday morning!  After that disappointing start to the day we decided to head into town to go to an electronics superstore called Low Yat.  Really it is a mall that has nothing but electronics stores in it.  There are a few other things like a Coffee Bean (yay!) and a few cafe type restaurants but other than that there were six floors of electronics.  Nice!  We needed a printer so we were really on a mission but it was nice to look around and see what was there.  There was one whole floor that was cameras and everything camera related.  Another floor pretty much dedicated to cell phones.  We found a good printer at a really decent price!

Across from Low Yat was another little shopping area which is where we found Outback Steakhouse (see Stupid Little Brothers post for more on our meal at Outback).  We walked through this area and came out to another street.  We really had no idea where we were but we turned right and started walking.  We wound up at Pavilion mall which is where I had my First Friday lunch and was introduced to AAM.  Patric had never been to this mall so it was nice to see him get blown away by it when we walked in.  Before we walked in there was a fountain that I took Patric's picture in front of...

We walked around for a bit then headed back.  We were both getting pretty tired and weren't feeling too well so it didn't take much convincing for us to agree to head home.  We weren't hungry for dinner after our huge steak lunch so it was just a straight shot home to a quiet Sunday night.  The next day was a holiday so Patric would be off work and I had a nail appointment scheduled.  Trying a new place close to home...think good thoughts!

See you next post!!