Last Saturday I went over to the embassy of Malaysia because they had an open house. Its the king's birthday and they threw a bash for him.
Arrived there at 1030 and they sang Negaraku, followed by a speach by His Excellency the ambassador, who touched on issues like keeping the good name of Malaysia while overseas, speaking the national language with pride, and taking Malaysian Airlines plane to show patriotism and because its 'sooooooo' cheap. Yeah, whatever.
The food was the major draw for the about 100 odd crowd. It was a good mix of races but you could see many cross marriages with ang mohs.
They served fried rice, curry chicken, instant roti canai, curry puff, and some green kuih I cannot identify. The other stuff they served that was not 'asian' were oranges, grapes, kebab, and ice cream.
Anyway, the food was so so, according to some old timers who have been here many times over, the previous sessions had nasi lemak, satay and laksa. Seems like the recessioin is hiting quite hard.
But it was a nice surprise to find other Malaysians/Singaporeans-acting-like-Malaysians-for-a-day, that I know there. Made the food tastier.
Long live the King! I shall write in a pettition to ask that we celebrate the king's birthday more often. After all, he is the king, should be given special rights, right?
So, this is supposed to be part 1. Forgive my poor blog plannign skills. The first waterfall I visited that fateful Saturday morning was bigger than the second, but also more crowded. Entry is RM1 per person.
People camp around the compound, with teh waterfall's crashing noise rocking you to sleep
Bamboo thicket
cotton wool fall
Get a rubber tyre, and slide down from the top. Should be quite exhilarating
This is a milder version
going .....
splash
Kids these days jump off anything, here a branch over a pool, with a backflip
another guy follwed suit immediately, its a wonder tehy didnt crash against each other in the water.
This one is scary. Rushing waters, narrow ledge.
You jump, I jump
Panorama of what people do to get their RM1's worth
Much upstream, there are fewer people, and quieter waters.
A lovely way to just waste away a day, dangling your feet in cold running water.
One fine Saturday back in Mud City when I was on holiday, me dad says lets go out to see some falling water. So me grabs the camera and came out into the sun.
We went eastward and began a climb (the car climbed, I just sat there). Halfway, there was a little hill you could see the greying cityscape. The whole of Mud City lay at your feet. Can you hear the devil ask: 'all these things I will give if you fall down and worship me, muahahah'.
Thanks, but I'll pass on this soot filled valley.
Quiz: How to paint the KL cityscape?
Answer: You dont need to paint, just buy grey coloured paper.
Now, this is more like it. Water cachment area, as part of a dam that supplies water to I dont know where.
Some simian friends scurry to get some evolution tips from me; sorry bro, you won't live 2 billion years to see it happen.
Another lovely sight. Wondering if you can kayak down there.
This is the second waterfall we went to. The first is in another post.
nice
The river grows narrow when you trek upstream
until you meet with a gurgling brook, with lovely buttress roots and crystal clear cold water. Now, this is the real Malaysian rainforest.
the best food in KL is usually at some hidden nook or corner, behind a 5 star hotel, where the chefs go out to eat, and at the sidewalk of the busiest streets.
this one is at the back of a hospital. just incase, you know.
wet fried noodles, yin yong. with nice prawns
black hokkien noodles. with cubes of fried lard, slices of pork, and lots of black sauce. sinful.
the usual suspects.
slurp slurp
chomp chomp
side dishes; supposedly famous fish cake that tasted normal to me
plateful of la la, a kind of bivalve shell that tastes fab with a light chili sauce.
i think both you and me had enough of food pictures for the moment. any more and i'll be booking the next ticket back home.
its normally teh simple foods that everybody takes for granted that are the ones that are most sought after by wayward visitors coming back.
a roadside stall selling fried fritters, from banana, tapioca, yam, currypuffs, fish dough.
crunchy, oily, tasty
cheap 60 cents bun full of holes and layered with cheap lard inside tasting heavily of some cheap flavour. still, it brings back memories, and worth eating once a year.
the grown up version of the cheap bun, this is the cheap loaf, just as many holes in teh bread, sans the cream. the adults will have to slap on their own choice of lard, in this case, kaya, a coconut derived spread.
perfect tea time suspects: hot milo, cream crackers to be eaten dipped in the milo or spread wiht kaya, tau sah piah (green bean pastry) from Penang, and a huge mug of chilled coconut water.
half boiled egg with light soy sauce ad a dash, or two of white pepper.
indian breakfast: chewey dough with a variety of curries: chicken, dahl or fish. best taken with a bubbly cup of tea.
if that wasnt enough, add an order of tossai. great with chutney.
Yong tau foo which is fish paste cramed into anything, then deep fried or boiled. eaten with a salty soup with noodles, or rice. notice the ubiquitous chilis.
a cold desert to cool down on a hot day. cendol. green tasteless strands of smooth whatever in a soup of brown sugar, coconut milk, and shredded ice. amazing.
