Day 4

Today was another stinker (in more ways than one). We had a more leisurely start to the day, had a breakfast of green mango, lychees (fresh) and rambutan? which look cool, like little hairy ??? but like a super sized lychee inside.

An opened rambutan.

                                         Rambutan left, lychee front, mangosteem middle, green skinned
                                         mango rear right.

We decided to walk down Butan Binting which is a trendy shopping area, part of which I think they are using for the Formula 1 circuit next weekend. We stopped for a latte and cappacino at "Starbucks" (Hilary had a sugar donut). We sat outside in the warmth watching the world go by. We walked about a km I guess, possibly two passing grand buildings and fountains. Di spotted the Hermes, Gucci, Bvllgari, Ralph Lauren, Versace types.... etc, I spotted the  Porsche show rooms but from a distance. Had an interesting time trying to cross the road three lanes of traffic from the left, and once across to the traffic island sanctuary another 3 lanes from the left- potentially a trap for young players. One reason for difficulty is the shear number of vehicles including multiple fast flying motorbikes which whine like mosquitos and obviously aren't privvy to the same road rules as everyone else, not that a red light necessarily means stop to any Malayan driver, nor should the green running man mean cross to a pedestrian- without much trepidation. We eventually negotiated the hazards (not that we were making it easier on ourselves by using a pedestrian crossing) and  walked to the Kompleks Kraf (don't you love it). As the pamphlet says "The one stop craft centre, a "must visit" destination." We certainly enjoyed it and IT WAS AIRCONDITIONED (you'll read that a bit). It had great exhibits in a museum showing videos of various crafts, bronze casting, weaving, and silver working. Also static displays of weaving, fabric making etc. I love the vibrant colours, the reds, oranges, purples, pinks and bright greens that are prevalent in the fibre making process and hence the finished product.

Weaving

Brightly coloured cottons for the loom

Gorgeous embroidery on velvet

Kites

Silver and gold work

Hats

We spent most of our time with Lazim, a guy who does batik work. For 20 ringit each (about $9NZ) he spent a couple of hours with us creating a batik each. You choose a design from his sample books (outlines only) and then he mounts it on a frame under a piece of white silk. Next you trace the pattern with a watercolour pencil. He then uses this little gravy boat on a handle with very fine nib or pouring spout to go over the coloured pencil tracings with hot wax.

Lazim putting the wax lines on my frog batik.

Next you apply the dye to the picture. You wet the fabric first in small areas where you are working (with a paintbrush) and then apply a little dye which you then blend, so it fades in one direction. Continue doing this with touches of different colours but always wetting the area first and then blending. Especially important to work quickly because the silk dried really quickly in the KL heat today.

Our finished batiks. My frog, Di's hibiscus and Hilary's frangipani

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Hilary worked really well, I was under the impression from seeing her at home working on "projects" that she would be hard pressed to complete it, but she beavered away for over an hour, had a quick stretch and drinks break and then got straight back into it. Didn't want any help at all. Was miffed when Lazim did something to it but I think is really proud of herself and the outcome as she should be. I was thinking yesterday as she skipped down the ramp from the museum where she had watched videos alout bronze casting and weaving, insisting on watching all of the video, she is learning so much already. She reads all the signs which are written in Malaysian and English and is identifying the meaning of words. She ocassionally pops up with a comment like "......." means "....." in English (I can't think of an example), but her little brain is processing sights and sounds and registering smells constantly. Unlike me who just registers them (sometimes) she is working the information out and thinking about what it means ..... all the time. School was right when they said this experience wa the perfect way for her to spend a year.

Speaking of registering smells, and yes in this constant heat there sure are some which aren't so great. You'll be walking along minding your own business when suddenly you'll walk into this invisible yet potent cloud of stench, usually something rotten and acrid.  Speaking of rotten and acrid, I'm trying to "experience" KL, so we are trying all sorts of foody things, in Little India we asked the guy to choose us a selection of dishes from the street side restaurant (with rats), last night we had beef noodles from across the road, cooked on the roadside and served up to locals, and tourists alike. Served in a plastic bag with rubberband, accompanied by a delicious salty chicken soup and a wee baggy of spicy (translated to bloody hot) chilli sauce. Absolutely delicious, too much for me and Di, and Hilary had some too- only one serving- possibly a "normal" sized stomach could have eaten the lot- but it cost 6 ringitt which is about $2.80NZ.  I digress though that isn't what I was referring to as stinky, stenchy... that priviledge goes to the fruit. Yes I decided while here, to try Durian. I couldn't go with some fresh fruit (can you really ever call Durian that?) so I decided to try a Durian icecream. I had one bite and nearly lost it. As we walked along the hot street I tried to describe to Hilary and Di what it was like, it isn't exactly rotten meat, Sophie here suggested blue cheese (no I don't think so, that at least is edible even if I personally don't choose to consume it), she also said "rotten onions" and I thought "closer" or maybe rotten potatoes that you can smell coming from the pantry for days before you can actually identify the culprit and haul it bursting from the potato bag. But the best description I have had so far, which is pretty damn close is what we experienced when we came back from Hawkes Bay and New Plymouth after our Christmas holiday and went to put something in the outside freezer only to discover that 2 1/2 weeks earlier in the Boxing Day earthquake the freezer power tripper had tripped in the power cut and of course had not gone on. So when I opened the freezer and found a writhing soup of berries, meat, milk and other freezer contents I got an overwhelming stench of DURIAN.  



A man buying "my friend Durian"



Back to the craft complex. We also watched a young girl trying her hand at making a pot with a very attentive potter. Hilary was fascinated and really wanted a turn, it is like magic isn't it watching a professional creating something from a blob of clay, changing its shape, forming and reforming... stunning. Unfortunately we didn't think it was a sensible thing to take with us on our travels, especially as it wouldn't have been dry or fired by the time we left.

When we were browsing around the shop at the centre just prior to leaving their was an almighty explosion. My first instinct was earthquake, but then realised that wasn't right, took me a few seconds to register and Di and I both looked at each other and said "thunder". Indeed it was. As we hurredly left heading back to Bukit Bintang and the shopping we were accompanied by more and more thunderous explosions from on high and black sky. It heralded a monsoon like rain which fortunately we were safely inside a ponsie mall (Di's Calvin Klein, Versace one) when it arrived. As we stepped out of the mall though the heavens were open. We dashed across to cover and speedily walked to another mall. On the footpath were multiple hawkers selling umbrellas, they just appeared from nowhere, amazing. 10 ringgit fast became 5 when we declined a sale, we should have said yes to that, but were too busy trying to escape the rain and the hawker. The mall was large to say the least. Four floors high but hundreds of shops on each floor. Electrical goods were very reasonably priced, SD cards half the price I had paid in NZ just before we left. We bought Hilary a new Treble recorder, as she has progressed to a bigger version of her descant (and different octaves) now that she is bigger as are her hands, and her skill level has improved also.

Eyelashes anyone?



Weird jandals anyone? To go with your eyelashes maybe?

So then we wandered home, thought it was early but it was actually 6.30pm. Hilary did heaps of recorder practise on her descant and treble recorders, I sorted through the photos and Di ??? something quiet on her bed, maybe read?    Then had dinner, and fruit  3 different types of mango.... yumm.