Birds, Bees, Orchids

Having a room free of insects and with clean sheets, makes for a good night’s sleep. The television even has more channels in English than we do in Hungary. An interesting cultural note is that in all three of the hotels so far, the bathroom is truly a water closet. The shower is not separated elsewhere. You shower where you toilet and the toilet paper is under some protective covering so it does not get wet. Also, each bathroom has a separate hose to be used like a bidet. Now I thought this was a custom for women only, but when I went to the men’s room at the Handicraft Center, all of the stalls there had this hose with a nozzle also. I have heard that Orthodox Jewish men have some restrictions about touching themselves, so perhaps this is the same with Muslims also. I am not going to ask around.

We had to break into the Euros to exchange money this morning in order to get breakfast. We have not had Ron try his luck with his ATM card again. If Bank of America has shut down his card too, well I just don’t want to think of that situation at the moment. When we passed restaurants on our way to Starbucks, I rationalized why we do go there. Besides the fact that none of the restaurants serve coffee, we witnessed what people here eat for breakfast. At 9:00 am, people are sitting at the outdoor restaurants eating duck, pork soup, soup with noodles, another words, all of the same things they eat for lunch and dinner. Now I have been known to eat pizza, left over spaghetti, and chicken for breakfast, but I don’t make it a regular practice. What you don’t see here is what you would consider breakfast foods unless you go to the American style places. Rationalization part II: Starbucks gives free WiFi. Even if I am not going to use it, it is nice to support them. With Internet cafés all over, I have yet to see any WiFi hotspots other than Starbucks.

The National Museum is located near the Bird Sanctuary, the Orchid Farm, and the Butterfly World. None of them are accessible by public transportation, so we had to take a taxi. The hotel desk clerk told us not to pay more than 10 Ringgets for the ride. Well this knowledge did not bid us well as three taxi drivers refused us for that price. We suggested we pay the meter, but was told that they will not use meters in the city since the traffic is so bad. After settling on 20 Ringgets we found a ride.

The National Museum is another gargantuan complex with little open on the grounds. The museum itself is open to the public for an entry fee of 2 Ringgets. It has been years since I have been on a football field, but my guess is that the whole of the museum is smaller than one. What was there was interesting, but there was not a great deal there. A foot bridge connects this underutilized space over the eight lane highway to the National Planetarium. Walking through the parking lot, you can find the Bird Sanctuary. Admission here is 30 Ringgets and despite the fact that it is the world’s largest, we thought the admission was for the birds and all too high. Across the street, the Orchid Gardens was charging a reasonable 2 Ringget admission, so we submerged ourselves in orchids and the national flower, the hibiscus. We went to the butterfly gardens in Thailand, so skipped it here. Returning to the bird side of the road, they have coupon taxis where the rates are fixed by zones, giving us a bargain fare of 15 Ringgets for the ride back to the hotel.

After dropping our laundry at the service next door, we took the monorail to the Malaysian Cultural Center. They have a 45 minute dance performance highlighting the different dance styles throughout Malaysia. We did not realize that parts of Malaysia are not connected to the peninsula, but across the sea. There are two states attached to Indonesia, called Malaysian Borneo, Sabah and Sarwak with Brunei in between. Sabah and Sarwak are larger than the entire peninsular country. The show was vibrant with costumes from all of the different Malaysia States; this country of 24 million has a cosmic number of cultures, costumes, and dance traditions. What really dazzled us was the way the women dancers use their hands in dance. One dance was a hand dance while sitting on the floor. They are able to bend their hands backwards and make unusual contortions making them extremely demonstrative. We found later that they have to start bending their hands backward starting at 2 years old to stretch them to perform these moves.

Then it was time for a nap, reading, and writing. Afterward, we went walking down the street around the corner for a dinner place. Basically, they all look alike, so it is difficult to make an informed decision. Basically, we stopped when we reached a section of the street we had not eaten at yet and where they had menu items other than fish. I don’t eat fish at all, but there were a number of Internet articles on fish contaminated with a new not easily detected parasite throughout Asia, giving Ron pause about ordering seafood. Normally, this would be his choice. We again had chicken curry with fried rice and greens cooked in garlic, sharing a large beer. It is one of the few things on the menu we can understand other than deer, or frogs that does not have gills.

We wandered over to Starbucks to check e-mail and confirm our reservation for our hotel for tomorrow night. We leave for Melaka tomorrow afternoon. It was a tight fight to find a table near an outlet so I could plug in the computer. The place was mobbed at 10:30 pm and they are open until 2:00 am.

Pin It Now!

Around the City in Hotels

Ron looked at the map and found an area with a high concentration of hotels. We took the monorail to that area and to our delight; there was a Starbucks at the bottom of that station. Sitting at the bottom was a San Francisco Coffee Company. We had an Americano breakfast. Ron had scrambled eggs with sausages and I had a bagel. From here we went from hotel to hotel to find there was no room at the inn or the inn or the inn. All of the places with credit card stickers in the windows and a bit more upscale than our last two places were booked solid for the next two nights. With each refusal we asked for a recommendation and were sent further down the street. We happened on the Comfort Inn, not to be confused with the American chain, it is a small and independent hotel, but the lobby was clean and attractive. We asked if they had a room and gave us keys to look at two rooms. Eureka! They were clean and suitable. We booked our two nights here.

Relieving our backs of our luggage one more time, which they seem to be getting heavier even without any purchases, we went in search of some culture. We heard we should see the Malaysian Handicraft Center where handicraft artisans are weaving, making pottery, and batiking in the traditional ways. Going from here to there and then over yonder, we found yet another mall with a gigantic Christmas tree in the center courtyard. Christmas carols playing throughout made this white monstrous tree seem a bit Christmasy after all. This upper scale mall was enhanced by a Jaguar car dealership and a concierge desk with uniformed employees. By walking through the mall, we were able to find the road to lead us to the Handicraft Center even when everyone said it was too far to walk, we did it. It really was not far from this mall.

As we neared the Center, it seemed it was closed; there were no tour buses or cars in the parking lot. Fearing that we walked all this way for no good reason, we were delighted to find it was indeed open. This is really a series of little independent shops strung together in a Malay style building, each selling their own line of products. The first was the clothing store with Malay woven clothes for men and women. As hard as I looked, I was only able to find one shirt that I would be caught dead in and then only if I had died in Hawaii or Miami Beach. Other than those two places, this shirt would live it entire life span in the closet, not making for a good investment, I left it behind.

Batik artists, weavers, and potters must be in short supply. There was no craftsperson crafting, not even crafting spaces were obvious with the exception of one two harness loom that was set up, but not a single pass through had been made. In all of the other stores, I had repeated déjà vu experiences and then realized that thanks to Pier One Imports and similar stores in the States, where “We shop the world so you don’t have to” we have been privy to these decorative items for years and the novelty has worn off years ago.

Back in our hotel area, we walked the neighborhood making this a fortunate part of this move. We would never have known this neighborhood was here otherwise missing out on dozens of new stores and restaurants. On one side street near our hotel, there is a dim sum restaurant that spreads out over the sidewalk to the edge of traffic. We lunched there. Four varieties of dim sum and a large beer was only $6.00. I am in constant conflict over whether travel is about seeing museums or just witnessing the people, but I settled on a combination of the two so far. It seems unconscionable that we have spent so much time viewing hotels and not museums, but then again, they have tons of motels and few museums, so it seems to work out.

Near the hotel we are currently staying at, there is a shop that does foot massage, regular massage, cupping, and ear candling. I suggested to Ron that he have ear candling done to rid what may be some waxy build up so he would have no excuse for not hearing me. He surprised me by readily agreeing to it. For the uninitiated, ear candling is when a specially made hollow wickless candle with a tapered bottom is placed in the ear and allowed to burn. There is no candle wax drip. While burning, the candle is drawing out wax and other impurities from you ear canal. It is also claimed it helps headaches, migraines, sinus problems, and stress. I had seen it done in California many times at different fairs, but never experienced it myself. Before they start, they show you the candle held up to the light so you see it is empty and hollow. For 60 RM (Malaysian Ringgets or about $14.00) Ron spread on his side on a massage table with the young lady massaging the back of his ear, with one hand while holding the candle with another. She kept a towel wrapped around the candle during this process to keep a seal around the ear. For fifteen minutes on each ear, the candle burns and the back of the ear is massaged. By the time the candle is burned down to about one inch, they throw it in a bowl of water. When you are completely done, they open the candle to show you the ash like content of what was drawn out and burned by the flame. So far, I have not had to repeat myself once.

Cupping is something different, which I may try at some point. They take wooden type drinking cups and heat the rims. The cups are then placed up and down you leg with the heat forming a seal. This is supposed to stimulate the circulation.

Streets blossom with restaurants once evening arrives. Cars cannot get through without playing dodge ball with people as the ball. Tables and chairs appear from nowhere with portable kitchens suddenly spewing steam from pots in your face. We had dinner at such a restaurant this evening. We were hungry for a coconut curry. As you walk down the street everyone is trying to get your business, so they shove menus at you. We found seats at a table in the street, ordered red chicken curry with coconut milk, pork ribs in a lemon sauce, fried rice, a green vegetable that is really stringy, and a large beer we shared. This was by far our most extensive and expensive meal yet. The bill came to 75 Ringgets about 25 Euros. It was also enough food for three. The lemon sauce on the pork ribs was outstanding.

Foot massages are ultra popular here. At 10:00 pm, we were walking off some of our dinner in the neighborhood. There were chaise lounge chairs lined up on the sidewalk and people from twenty-somethings to those that are septo or octo-genarians, were getting massages done.

Pin It Now!