Timpohon Gate, smiles before the hike

In planning this, I’d gone my typical route in trying to book the pieces independently. This was a little tough to do, as there are a lot of components required: local guide, insurance and permits, and last but not least mid-peak lodging. Lodging was tough to come by, as most of it seems to be booked immediately by tour providers. Krista had the eminently logical (but entirely surprising to me) idea of trying to book through a tour company. Genius! We were limited to a weekend so Grant could go, and the only organization that had availability for our preferred dates was Mountain Torq.

Mountain Torq manages the world’s highest Via Ferrata. Grant was familiar with this concept, and I’d actually heard about it in relation to Kinabalu and written it off with my crippling fear of heights in mind: Via Ferrata means “iron road” and it’s a mountain route with fixed rungs, cables, and footholds. It’s superficially similar to rock climbing, but you don’t have to place any gear yourself or have any technical skills – in some places you’re actually just climbing down ladder rungs bolted into the side of the mountain while both roped on and clipped on to safety cables.

Hardware on the Via Ferrata

To book with Mountain Torq and to stay in their mid-mountain hut, you have to pay for a Via Ferrata segment (no obligation to actually do it, but you’re paying for it anyway). I wrapped my head around this, and decided that the shorter route sounded like something I could actually do: Walk the Torq, a 1-2 hour (430 meter) route starting at 3,521 meters and descending 109 meters towards the Laban Rata lodging area. The overall plan was to get to the area on Friday night, check in at the base of the mountain by 7:30 am on Saturday, April 21, hike for 6 km and get to our lodging by mid-afternoon in time for the safety briefing from Mountain Torq. Mandatory early bedtime that night for everyone with lights out by 8 pm, and a 1:45 am wake up call to get us up in time to summit for the sunrise, followed by a detour on the descent for the Via Ferrata routes, and then back down to the base of the mountain.

Gampat and the trail map

Everything actually went according to plan! We were so eager to get going that we were at the Mountain Torq office before they opened, and we quickly got all of the necessary paperwork completed and were assigned a guide, Gampat, who has summited more than a hundred times. A short drive took us to the trailhead of the Timpohon Gate trail, and we started off. We did the first three kilometers through a shady rainforest in an hour and a half, and we were surprised by the rest facilities present about every kilometer along the trail – roofed pavilions with flush toilets and a water supply! The next three kilometers were considerably steeper, and we certainly understood why they suggested training for this hike by doing lots of stairs. This part of the climb had scrubbier trees, and uneven stones that made for a tiring climb. We made it to Laban Rata at an elevation of 3273 meters and the Mountain Torq Pendant Hut at 1:15, after four hours and fifteen minutes of hiking. Perfect timing, since it started pouring rain shortly thereafter.

Krista on a typical section of the trail

We were thrilled to have hot showers and we sat around drinking plenty of tea to warm up, because it actually had gotten pretty chilly at that elevation. I was glad to have brought my fleece jacket to Malaysia! There were several dorm rooms, and I think each room had about eight people in it. It was a pretty congenial group overall, and we got a thorough safety briefing later that afternoon to prepare for the Via Ferrata, including a demonstration of how to safely transfer the rope and carabiners along the route. Krista is an adventure hungry thrill seeking cliff hanger (seriously, it says that on the official certificate that proves she lives life on the edge!), and decided to opt for the world-record setting Low’s Peak Circuit. Grant stuck with me on the Walk the Torq route; I’m pretty sure it says somewhere in those marriage vows that he can’t abandon me on the side of a mountain.

For better or for worse...

The rain finally let up briefly, and we were surprised to find legitimate waterfalls gushing down the exposed faces of the mountain, but we made it to the main hut for an early dinner and we were all sound asleep around 7 pm, resting up for the next big day. 1:45 came quickly, and we geared up with our headtorches (in the local parlance) in place. We’d heard rain throughout the night, but were lucky in that it was dry for our trek to the summit. The first stretch was wooden staircases built over the mountain, which gave way to the bare rock face with a white rope secured to it to help you pull yourself up some of the steeper sections.

Summit of Low's Peak

My fear of heights and adrenaline kicked in together, and I felt like my heart would leap out of my chest for a lot of this. Gampat was my savior at this point and while Krista led the way, he held my hand tightly and steadily walked me up the slope. This was my first nighttime summit, and it was bizarre to only see within the scope of my headlamp which left me imagining the worst: steep dropoffs and who knows what else in the dark. The landscape was eerily lunar in nature, and we somehow managed to outpace almost everyone else on our way, so it was also pitch black. Looking behind us, we could see a bobbing line of lights following the trail, looking like monks on a pilgrimage. Shockingly, because I kept crouching down to pat the rocks and reassure myself that I was on solid granite and to try and get my heart back out of my throat, we were among the first to the summit – top ten out of the 150 or so to attempt the summit that day. We got there around 4:45, and had a little over an hour to wait for dawn.

Sunrise from Mount Kinabalu

It was freezing up there, and we snugged down into the rocks for protection from the wind. Happily, the sunrise was inspiring, and the view above the clouds was worth every ounce of effort. The walk back down to our Via Ferrata meeting point was comparably a walk in the park, and we sauntered down the slope I had hesitatingly staggered up with Gampat. He really was my rock, and he still took my hand to help me through the tougher sections.

All smiles after the summit

We left Krista at the higher Via Ferrata, and Grant and I continued down to the lower meeting point to suit up in our harnesses. As we looked back up the slope, we could make out her group above us and while I was excited for her to have such a thrilling experience, I was really happy to be walking further down the mountain! Grant was the leader for our group, and set a good pace – slow enough for me to follow without feeling rushed, and fast enough for me to stay focused on the repetitive movement of moving my safety equipment along the cable.

Me on the Via Ferrata

I actually liked the vertical descent better than the traverse, because the ladder rungs and footholds made it easy to relax into the mountain. The scariest part was a two wire bridge – one wire above your head to hold onto while you walked along the other like a tightrope. One deep breath, and I made it across, shaking and not looking down! Just as we finished our Via Ferrata it started to rain; Krista got hit with the rain while she was still on her route, and got soaked. Grant and I had plenty of time to dry out while we waited to meet her at the hut, and before long we packed up and set out to finish the descent.

Krista leading her group down the Via Ferrata

It continued to rain lightly on us, but the bigger challenge was in navigating the rocky steps which were now wet and slippery, and in some places had turned into shallow waterfalls. It was a brutally slow climb down, and my knees were giving out before we reached the end. The last short stretch was actually uphill, and I’ve never been happier to change direction! We were all so achy and sore for the next few days that as Krista and I were sightseeing around Kota Kinabalu, we actually walked two blocks out of our way to avoid a particularly high curb. All in all, really tough climb, but extremely rewarding and we’re all happy we did it!

Me and my new boyfriend Gampat. It's a good thing Grant's not a jealous guy.

Eating out here in KL, it is unusual to be given a knife; typically a fork and spoon fill your needs, and chopsticks are often an option as well. In food courts, hawker centers and casual restaurants you will rarely get a napkin, although usually a sink is available to wash your hands before and after eating.

I went to lunch with my Mandarin class last week, to celebrate passing level two and to welcome a new teacher to the staff. We went to Little Penang Cafe in the Suria mall, a place that is pretty reliable for decent food and is always hopping at mealtimes. There were six of us, and the ethnic mix was interesting: Chinese-Malaysian, Korean, Chinese Muslim, Laotian-Canadian, Libyan, and yours truly, the token American. Lin, our teacher who is Chinese-Malaysian, was encouraging everyone to try the different specialties, but most of the table ordered the fried rice (a halal dish). I went with a spicy noodle soup, and Lin had char kway teow, a stir fried noodle dish. Some forks and spoons were delivered to the table – at least in Malaysia, you’d normally eat fried rice with a fork and/or spoon, and eat noodle dishes with chopsticks. At one end of the table was a big canister of chopsticks, and Lin asked for a set, so I turned and asked for two: one for her and one for me. She was quite surprised that I was comfortable enough to tackle my noodle soup with chopsticks and a soup spoon, and jumped up to take a picture to document my immersion into the culture! I think for her it must have been a little like watching a monkey type.

A typical table setting in KL

On the other end of the spectrum, I met Grant for lunch on Friday (no Mandarin class in observance of Good Friday, go ahead and try to figure that one out). It turned into lunch with him and two coworkers: one is a local and the other is his Indian colleague also here on contract for the project. We went to a mamak cafe looking for a good banana leaf meal. I loved this place, just a little corner space open to the air, crowded with small tables and people looking to enjoy a leisurely Friday lunch before heading back to the office to finish out the week. I never saw a printed menu, but once we had secured a table a smiling guy came over and told us the chicken briyani was very good, and we all agreed to try it. Our places were then laid with a large piece of banana leaf, and a quartet of dipping sauces were presented to the table. Individual stainless steel pots of briyani came out, filled with a chicken leg, a hard-boiled egg, and mounds of fluffy seasoned rice. We each had a small ladle to portion food out onto our leaves, and then…I realized there was no silverware. Ok, no problem. Grant’s coworkers were completely comfortable with this, and assured us that we’d figure it out and if we couldn’t get the hang of it could always ask for a fork and spoon. We’d washed our hands (handy, handy sinks!) and the short tutorial was to push the rice together into a little ball with your fingers, and then to bring it towards your mouth and sort of flick it in. My technique wasn’t quite that clean, more like smushing together a clump of rice that I balanced on my fingers and then leaning forward over the banana leaf to shove it off my fingers with my thumb into my mouth, but I was able to eat my fill and have a great time doing it. I think it counts as a success! And did I mention how handy the sinks were when I finished eating and had fingers covered in curry and saffron?

With eating methods like this, we’re entertaining everyone we dine with – talk about dinner and a show!

We may look like tourists, but who cares?We're having a great time!

Now I liked Georgetown a lot, but I loved Melaka. Loved it in that slightly giddy way that you love a guilty pleasure, because that’s exactly what it is. Melaka has a ton of history (ruled at one point or another by the Portuguese, Dutch, and British; major shipping port, rich Peranakan culture), and we did the typical tourist circuit of the sights to see, but what I loved about Melaka was the lack of pretension and the mellow vibe. It’s not apologetic about being a tourist draw, and it is hard not to have a good time here.

Jonker Walk Night Market

Take for instance Jonker Walk. The main drag in Chinatown, by day it is a narrow street with sidewalks packed full of sweaty tourists poking their heads into every souvenir and “antique” shop. On Friday and Saturday nights, it becomes a night market, with the same shopkeepers you’ve seen all day in the surrounding blocks setting up tables to sell their goods in the street, and with a big karaoke stage at one end. That’s right: karaoke in the street. And I don’t mean the “tentative, takes a few drinks to get going” kind of karaoke, we’re talking about the “singing your heart out with a random back up dancer” type. Now, I don’t have a photo of that performance, because I was too busy picking my jaw up off the ground, but below is a guy rocking a Chinese ballad. Try to look past the Mister Potato sign in the background.

Karaoke at Jonker Walk Night Market

As you may have guessed from the first photo, trishaw rides are de rigueur here and they deck them out in spectacular ways. Fake flowers, ribbons, umbrellas, superhero logos, glittery tinsel, and a powerful sound system are all necessary. It’s difficult not to have a good time when your world view is edged with something sparkly, and the personal soundtrack that followed me around town wasn’t just in my head for once. The prices are fixed, so no haggling here, just sit back and relax while the driver takes you on a tour of the major sights in town. I loved every minute of it!

Trishaws galore!

I’m a fan of antique shops and Melaka is known for having lots of those, and also for not everything in the shops being true antiques. As long as you go into it knowing that you’re probably not making the find of a century, you’ll be fine. It was fun to wander through them, but unfortunately we found the best one only shortly before we had to head back to KL. Maybe that was actually a good thing, because it was more of an architectural salvage shop (think huge carved arches from Chinese shophouses, leaded windows, etc), and I don’t think we could have carried anything home with us! Of course, they can ship anywhere…something I’ll be keeping in mind for my next visit. We did get a carved dragon mask from Melaqa House, and his bug-eyed stare is something I’ll enjoy looking at and remembering Melaka for years to come.

My favorite souvenir that we’ve bought thus far in SE Asia is also from Melaka. Across the street from the guesthouse we were staying in, I had noticed a sign for an art gallery and a smaller sign that said: 15 Minute Seal Engraving. In my previous life with the bank, I’d become familiar with the necessity of having a seal or “chop” in doing business in China (often required for signing official documents), and here was a shop making them? Definitely worth checking out! The artwork in the gallery was beautiful, and after we’d looked around a young guy popped his head out of the glassed-in central office and asked if we’d be interested in looking at the seals that they carve.

Carving Grant's seal

King’s Seal Engraving is a two man operation (brothers, and their father is the artist-owner of the gallery), and they took their time chatting with us about what they do, and showing us lots of examples of their work. They are artists in their own right, and an do anything from carving your name, your signature, an image or a portrait onto a block of stone – and there’s a lot of customization possible. With your name, they usually (for non-Chinese names) will figure out the phonetic equivalent in Chinese, and create your seal with those characters.

As you may know, I think I have a super cool last name, and I proposed doing a literal translation instead. They liked that idea and drew out the characters for black and stone, and I started looking through the dozens of pieces of stone that they had to pick the perfect one…a black stone. Yes, I’m rather pleased with myself, thank you. Grant decided to have his last name literally translated too, and had his first name phonetically done. He chose complementary stones with small lions carved out of the tops that face each other: one a reddish-brown with tan streaks for Brown and the other mostly tan with reddish-brown streaks for Grant. He also had them carved in opposing manners: for Grant, the characters are carved into the stone (resulting in a red stamp with white characters), but for Brown, the stone around the characters was carved away so the characters stand in relief as red stamped against a white background.

Of course, they also sell the paste needed to stamp these, and they were explaining the different types (darker/lighter, longer lasting). They made the comment that the longer lasting one is also known as the pretty one, since it has the Chinese word for beautiful in its name. After only a week of Mandarin lessons, I casually threw out, “Oh, mei? Like Meiguo?” and managed to impress them with my Chinese! Meiguo is Chinese for America and literally means beautiful country. After one week of Mandarin, I was pretty confident with a couple of sentences: Ni hao, wo shi Chris. Wo shi mei guo ren. (Hi, I’m Chris. I’m american.) It’s all about practical application!

In any case, we now have our own seals, and you might be wondering what on earth we’re going to do with them, since I can’t imagine walking into a bank back home and stamping paperwork. Well, we do have a few books (ok, maybe 25 boxes of books in storage in Massachusetts), and they suggested using the stamps in lieu of a bookplate. Brilliant! We’ve stamped the books we have here in Malaysia, and that’ll be a project to look forward to when we’re eventually unpacking back home.

Ta-da!

Giant dragon incense in the streets of Penang

Public holidays here have been sneaking up on us, and we learned at the beginning of February that Grant would have two days off in a row: Feb 6 to observe the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday (which fell on Feb 5, a Sunday), and Feb 7 for Thaipusam. Since our Thaipusam outing was early on Sunday morning, we decided at the last minute to take advantage of the bonus weekend and rented a car to drive up to Penang.

Penang is a small state in the northwest part of peninsular Malaysia, made up of a small strip of land on the peninsula itself, and the island of Penang in the Straits of Malacca. It’s a four hour drive north of KL, and can be reached either by bus/train to a ferry or by driving and crossing a 13.5 km bridge – one of the longest bridges in Asia. We wanted to set our own schedule, so this meant enjoying Grant’s first experience driving in Malaysia.

Yes, he drove with this much confidence.

He did an excellent job, especially taking into consideration the fact that we picked the rental car up in downtown KL and spent the first twenty minutes circling in dense traffic while I tried to set up the GPS to get us out of town. Luckily, driving on the wrong side of the road is pretty easy to get used to when there are lots of other cars surrounding you or you’re on a highway!

It was really nice to get out of KL and see more of Malaysia – the only stretch we’d seen before this was the road to/from the airport which is surrounded by palm plantations. Turns out, a lot of Malaysia is covered in palm plantations, but about two hours north near Ipoh we found ourselves driving through a gorgeous valley. Misty limestone hills blanketed with emerald jungles rose up and reminded us that this sure wasn’t Massachusetts!

Four short hours later, I’d reread the guidebook to Penang, and we were ready to explore. Penang is called the “Pearl of the Orient,” and is widely acknowledged as having some of the best food in Southeast Asia. The main town in Penang is Georgetown, which was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2008. As you can imagine, the main draw here is the heritage zone, and the shophouses that line the streets there.

Shophouses in Penang

There are a fair number of “heritage” hotels in some of these shophouses, but the first half dozen I called were fully booked so we opted for an easy budget option: the Tune Hotel. You may not be familiar with the name, but you’re certainly familiar with the concept – it’s owned by AirAsia, the major budget airline in this region, and the same tenets apply: you get only what you pay for. The base rate (about $30/night) gives you a comfortable bed with an adjoining private bathroom with a shower, then you pay additional fees depending on which amenities you select. We added on 24 hour air-conditioning, but skipped the towel rental fee (seriously?) and brought our own stuff. All in all, it was a decent place to stay in a good location, but I’d rather search a little more next time for some personality or charm in a historic setting.

Penang has the largest Straits Chinese population in SE Asia, and in Penang and Melaka they use the terms Peranakan Chinese or Baba-Nonya (literally, gentlemen-ladies) to talk about their culture. It’s a mix of Chinese religion and Malay language and culture, combined through assimilation and marriage. Today, you can delve into the culture mainly in restaurants and museums preserving the intricacies of the pre-war way of life, as modernization and government policies (like 1Malaysia) blur the lines and assimilate Peranakans into mainstream culture.

Peranakan furniture inlaid with mother of pearl designs

We began our stay in Penang with dinner at Nonya Baba Cuisine, just a few blocks away from the hotel. What a way to start! The restaurant was almost full when we arrived, but they seated us immediately and brought out the menus. The lovely owner came out to talk about the menu and the type of food we like to eat, and we put ourselves in her hands ending up with four dishes for the two of us. Everything was good, but the appetizers were fantastic – the otak-otak was heavenly, much more of a custard than we’d experienced before and bursting with flavor, and the spring roll and pork roll were yummy too.

What really made this dinner special to us was the atmosphere and interaction with the owners. They chatted with all of their patrons, and we found common interests with Tony, the owner’s husband, and we felt like old friends by the time we left. Actually, I think Grant may have found a soul mate; they talked about watches and cars the whole night! There’s great food everywhere in Penang – is this the best? No, probably not, but we enjoyed the atmosphere and the experience here very much and will definitely be back on future trips to Penang.

Rooftop decorations at Han Jiang Temple

The next day, we set out to walk the heritage zone, and had a long hot day filled with museums and temples. We started off in the Penang Museum, which was really well curated and a steal at RM1 (about US$0.30). Well worth it for the air conditioning alone, but also interesting as it had different galleries focused on the different ethnic groups of Penang and specific historic events (like WWII). My personal favorite was the wall of old postcards, showing how unchanged many scenes are today.

We strolled along the Esplanade, where they were setting up for fireworks to celebrate the last day of the Chinese New Year celebration – SO many fireworks over the past few weeks – and wandered into the old British Fort Cornwallis. It only took about 10 minutes to walk around the walls, and we poked our heads into the creepiest old chapel and looked at some archeological artifacts that were unearthed during restoration efforts, including… an old bicycle chain?

Little India was only a block or so away and as always, filled with color and sparkle in the form of sari and jewelry shops. We wound our way through the streets towards Chinatown, where we were blown away by the temples and clanhouses (called Kongsi).

Elaborate carvings at Yap Kongsi

This is heart of the heritage zone. There are many good reasons for Georgetown to be designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but in my opinion these carefully restored temples stole the show. We probably visited five or six within a few blocks radius, and each was unique in its own way: from the detailed dragons of Choo Chay Keong Temple at Yap Kongsi, to the geometric roof beams at Hang Jiang, and last but not least, the ornately decorated Khoo Kongsi.

Roof beams at Hang Jiang

Tucked away down a small alley is the entrance to Khoo Kongsi. Don’t let the approach fool you, this is the most impressive clanhouse in Georgetown. The roof explodes in a riot of carvings and inside is just as richly decorated.

Ornate roofline of the Khoo Kongsi temple

Ancestral worship is a core tenet of Chinese religious beliefs, and inside the temples gilded ancestral tablets are arranged according to the ancestors’ positions in the clan hierarchy.

Ancestor tablets displayed for worship at Khoo Kongsi

On the advice of our new friend Tony we also visited the Pinang Peranakan Mansion, which recreates a typical home of a rich Baba from the early part of the 20th century.

Interior courtyard at the Pinang Peranakan Mansion

The house was full of natural light thanks to the large central courtyard, and the wood carvings on the stairs and walls were gorgeous. There wasn’t a tour, so we were free to wander at will and it was so much fun to imagine life there! I would have fit right in…

Carved wood panels separating rooms

We spent the evening at the New Lane Hawker Center, stuffing ourselves silly. We started with pork satay, which you don’t often see in KL as many restaurants here are halal, had some delicious char kway teow (a Malaysian fried noodle dish), a big bowl of assam laksa, and finished the night off with a gigantic shaved ice concoction called ABC. ABC is short for Air Batu Campur which is shaved ice topped with tapioca noodles, sweet corn, red beans, sweet syrup and condensed milk – Grant loves it, I’d leave it.

The next day, we circumnavigated the island to make good use of the rental car. The rest of the island isn’t nearly as developed, and we passed through a few small towns, but the most vivid memories are of the twisty and narrow roads on the hilly western side. Lots of sharp switchbacks, and occasionally you’d make a turn and come upon a car stopped in the road while the driver visited a fruit stand! Again, very thankful it was Grant driving and not me. We ended up taking a walk on the beach at Batu Ferringhi. It’s a narrow beach and the water was a bit cloudy, so we weren’t overly impressed. I know, I know, how can I complain about this? I guess I’ve been throughly spoiled by the gorgeous beaches of Southeast Asia!

Beach at Batu Ferringhi on Penang

All in all, Penang was a great weekend trip, and I will happily go back and work on eating my way across the city. I think next time I’ll take it a little slower in Georgetown, and spend more time exploring the heritage zone. Since we were there on a long weekend, the main market and many shops were closed, and I’d like to see it at its vibrant best!

Looking down the steps at the Batu Caves

Over a million devotees attend the festival at the Batu Caves each year, and we were going along with an expert. Cheryl, our guide on this outing, is an expat photographer based here in KL and she’s been attending and photographing all sorts of festivals around Asia for years. We got together a few days before the actual event to chat about what to expect and how to shoot it, and then met at 6:15 am on Sunday morning at the site, ready for the experience.

Devotees preparing for the day

The festival honors Lord Murugan and commemorates the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a “vel” (meaning spear, pronounced veil) to vanquish a demon. This is essentially a time for his followers to say thank you for their prayers being answered in the previous year, for things like recovery from illness or a new baby. Although the focus is on individual sacrifice, it is very much a community event, including lots of children.

Puffed up with pride

To prepare to observe this holiday, devotees may fast for up to 48 days, sleep on mats on the floor near altars instead of in comfortable beds, and on the day they make their pilgrimage many shave their heads indicating humility before Murugan.

Shaving his head with a straight razor

They dress in yellow, bathe by the river and make their procession bearing a “kavadi.” Kavadi means a burden or something that you carry, and it is represented by many things ranging from a simple jug of milk to enormous 70 kg altars. Although these huge altars are eye-catching, I was most impressed by the long poles carried by a husband and wife, with their new baby suspended from the middle in a yellow sling.

That's one carefully balanced baby!

The air is filled rhythmic drumming and the chant “vel, vel” and some devotees enter a trance state. It’s mostly young men, and once in the trance they take on the characteristics of different deities which involves shouting, dancing, rocking, and jumping around. The more intense practitioners take vows of silence with the visible reminder of a spear pierced through their tongue or through their cheeks. Several men also had their backs covered in hooks from which hung tiny jugs, bells or limes.

Balancing a 70 kg altar with lots of tiny jugs of milk hooked to his back, and he was still smiling!

The whole atmosphere was electric, and I was really surprised at how welcoming the community was. There we were, clearly outsiders with cameras, and they would not only allow us to take photos of them but would beckon us forward, move their friends out of the way and actively instruct their kids to pose for us. I really enjoyed the scene down by the river (and wouldn’t have known about it without Cheryl’s guidance): seeing grown men and small children having their heads shaved, watching people gathering quietly as a small group before their makeshift banana leaf altars, splashing in the cold showers as the sun was coming up, and swaying around the drum circles.

Praying and cleansing down by the river

Once prepared, people proceeded across the street from the river, and along the walkway to the foot of the stairs up to the caves themselves. Some walked, some staggered, some danced, and believe it or not, some rolled. They all were completely absorbed in the task at hand and made their way at their own pace up the steep steps to queue in the cave and await their turn to present their kavadi to Murugan. The greater their pain, the greater their glory.

Inside the cave, waiting to present their offerings

The photography focus of this outing was interesting, and Cheryl gave great advice on how to capture the chaos. Everyone else had nice DSLR cameras, and I’m thinking about upgrading. Grant used our basic Nikon Coolpix S550, and I was using my ten year old Nikon Coolpix 4500. I can take the 4500 out of automatic mode, so I played around a bit with the settings on it, but you won’t see any of my photos posted here. Out of all the cables and whatnot I’ve brought, I managed to omit anything related to this camera except for the battery charger! It really is an “ancient” camera, and I can’t plug the compact flash card into anything here, since everything is built for SD cards these days. Luckily, Mom has the same camera, so I’ll remedy the situation in March when we’re back in the US, and we’ll see if the pictures are actually in focus. Anyway, Grant took these great photos, so we hope you enjoy!

Oh happy day!

Lanterns at Temple Kun Yam Thong, down the street from our apartment

The only time the Chinese zodiac had crossed my mind was in Chinese restaurants when the placemat would help you figure out what your sign was (1980, year of the monkey). It’s impossible to miss it here! I’d thought they went all out for Christmas, but apparently that was just a warm up.

Huge 600 foot long dragon at Pavilion

Both religious and commericial temples are bedecked with red lanterns, and giant dragons swirl in the middle of the malls. We asked if there would be any big celebrations for the holiday, but most people (even Malay and Indian ones) go home to visit family. Since there are so many people traveling, we’re planning to stick around here. There are dragon and lion dances in Chinatown and in some of the malls, and apparently the God of Prosperity will be wandering around so we’re off to look for him.

Thousand Hand Buddha at Temple Kun Yam Thong

Special menus are on offer at many restaurants, and there are some unique traditions found in Malaysia and Singapore like “yee sang”. It’s often described as a raw fish salad, but I think that’s oversimplifying it. It’s presented as several small heaps of shredded vegetables on a platter with a small dish of (usually) salmon sashimi on the side and several dishes of toppings: oil, plum sauce, crackers, and whatever else has inspired the chef. Once it is served, the waiter (or someone at the table) adds the ingredients on the side to the main platter, and then everyone joins in to toss the ingredients together while saying auspicious things in Chinese. The higher you toss, the higher your fortunes will grow in the new year, so you’re really supposed to go for it. Grant got to partake in this during a holiday lunch for the team he’s working with, and now I’m jealous so we’ll be seeking this out this weekend.

(Fake) cherry blossom trees and lanterns

Actually, he may be a little jealous of me and my new endeavor. I’ve signed up for Mandarin lessons, and will be taking an intensive course starting on February 6th. It meets every weekday from 9 – 1 for a month, so I might be spending more time hearing and speaking (or trying to speak) Mandarin than English. Wish me luck – I’m really excited…and a little bit nervous!

United Buddy Bears

These are particularly well traveled bears; they’ve been on the road since 2002 covering five continents, and Malaysia is the 23rd stop on their world tour.

Malaysia's Buddy Bear

There are about 140 bears, one for each country recognized by the United Nations. Each is two meters tall (yes, I’m working on getting used to the metric system again), and they stand in a circle with their arms upraised, “hand in hand” to promote tolerance and living in peace and harmony. These begin with identical fiberglass casts, and each country has chosen artists to decorate the bear in a manner to represent that country. The US went with a pretty iconic choice:

Lady Liberty

But my favorites are usually the lesser known countries, like Moldova.

The helpful Moldovan Buddy Bear

They are visiting here until February 15th, and it’s quite a sight to see!

One of the biggest surprises when we got to KL was how much from home is easily found here, even my favorite brand of apple cider vinegar is here. Lots of fruits and veggies, and even some organic choices are usually available. I had been shopping mostly at the grocery stores in Suria (the nearest mall, the one under the Petronas towers). One of them is a British chain, Cold Storage, and the other is a Japanese one, Isetan, so depending on what I’m looking for I head to one or the other.

That is, until I discovered my new favorite grocery store just steps from my front door.

My favorite grocery store in KL

He shows up once a week, Wednesday afternoons around 2:30, and unpacks his scale onto the sidewalk to weigh your purchases. There are several condo buildings in a little cluster here, and I see the same people show up at this truck each week. His produce is fresher than the grocery stores, and it’s a much more social experience with everyone recommending what they got last week and helping each other select the perfect pineapple or whatever.

Next week he’s on vacation for Chinese New Year, and I’ll be missing him!

From Grant's first visit

Grant had visited here back in September, which is why I’d been putting it off a little, but we both enjoyed it and I’m sure we’ll be back here again with visitors. It’s touristy, but in a pleasant way: lots of Indian snacks, statuary, steps, and monkeys.

Lots of monkeys. Maybe I should say that one more time: monkeys everywhere.

Man or monkey?

First, the caves, which were in fact the reason why we were there, and the reason I would return. Well, the main reason I’m going to say I’m returning. I might be going back for the monkeys too.

The caves are just about 8 miles north of KL, and it’s actually a series of caves within a huge limestone hill. We visited the main one, Temple Cave, which has several Hindu shrines in it and is at the top of 272 steep steps up the hillside. Beside the steps is a giant statue of Murugan (the largest in the world), which was framed by light scaffolding now. We watched workers climbing the scaffolding like monkeys, and then noticed monkeys climbing the scaffolding like….well, you know. I got a kick out of watching the monkeys stealing the workers’ drinks.

Thief!

Apparently, Murugan is a Hindu deity of war and victory, and he carries a Vel (translates to lance or spear). He is worshipped primarily in areas with Tamil influence, and the festival of Thaipusam honors him. We’ve been told we’ll need to come back to the Batu Caves for this one, as millions of worshippers from all over will be here to take part in a procession that begins in KL and ends here. During this pilgrimage, they carry burdens, which range from a jug of milk to piercing their skin and tongues with skewers and small spears: the greater their pain, the greater the merit they earn.

Interior of Temple Cave

The caves themselves are craggy, dim, dripping with water, and randomly lit by unnecessary sulphur lamps. The shrines inside are dwarfed by the high-arching ceiling, and we were mostly impressed with the natural beauty of the caves rather than the shrines.

Craggy overhang

Shrine in the caves

The trip back down the stairs was interesting. Hard for me, because you know how fond of heights I am, and the monkeys were a bit more active. We were getting closer to a mama monkey with her baby clinging to her chest, and while I was standing back on a landing trying to get a photo of her sitting on the railing, a guy accidentally grabbed her as he was reaching for the handrail. She wasn’t pleased, and made a beeline for Grant and me, since we were standing between her and the edge of the stairs closest to the trees. We awkwardly danced around her, and made our way carefully down the rest of the steps.

Up close and personal

Ok everyone, 272 steps and more monkeys than you can count. What do you think the greatest hazard is going to be? Wait for it….

Banana peels!

Some (crazy) people like to feed the monkeys here. We were walking around the base of the caves area, and you’d see the trees gently twitching as monkey acrobatics were taking place. All it took was one guy with a piece of fruit, and suddenly the monkeys started swarming down off the hillside. They are a little aggressive, and certainly have no fear of people. Of course, it’s quite the high life for them: plenty of free food, trees and buildings to climb, and a constant stream of tourists here to worship…them? I can see how it would go to their heads.

The taxi ride home was a new experience for us too, when our driver announced that he needed to gas up or else we’d end up pushing the car back to KL. He checked the meter with us before we stopped, and said we’d just check it again before we continued and subtract the cost of the stop – pretty reasonable. Then he pulled up to the pump, left the car running and opened the hood. We figured he was going to check something out, but then he proceeded to put a large hose into the engine compartment and we heard a loud hissing noise as he filled the tank (from the sounds of it, located in the trunk) with compressed natural gas. That was a first, although it looks pretty common for taxis here. Our driver was complaining about the lack of pressure, and I would have thought that Grant would have a million questions, but it left him speechless!

Never fear, even though the primary religion here is Islam, KL celebrates Christmas, and they mean Merry Christmas, none of the generic Happy Holidays stuff. It’s like the whole city is determined to get me into the Christmas spirit.

It seems that most of the Christmas songs you hear at home are of the “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” variety, and you certainly hear those in KL too, but you also get honest to goodness Christmas carols straight out of your hymnal played through the speakers of every store and most restaurants. It’s interesting to hear more religious Christmas music in an Islamic country than you hear in the United States!

Even though I haven’t done any decorating, because we’ll be spending Christmas and New Year’s in Cambodia, I’m getting my daily dose of Christmas cheer every time I step out of my door. Without further ado, here’s how they do Christmas in Southeast Asia.