10 Happy Mooncake Day!

Pig-shaped Doll Cookie

Today, we celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. The full moon is upon us (does not give you license to howl...really!). I can't seem to spot it though. I've walked to my balcony a couple of times only to see nothing more than a starless sky. The pearl has been hidden by the clouds. May wind blow a path through for me to see.

In Malaysia, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also widely known as Mooncake Day or the Lantern Festival. We celebrate the occasion by giving mooncakes to friends and family. Back in my hometown, it is celebrated with a small reunion dinner of sorts and kids are given battery-operated lanterns to play with. Sometimes we join the lantern procession which is held in town.

Here, it's just me and my other half. We make do by gazing under the stars and sharing a piece of mooncake.

This is what we just ate ~ Scarlet Snow. A beautiful mooncake creation by Casahana. I think it was a brilliant move to put mochi in the center. I love the combination. If I ever, ever, EVER make my own mooncakes, I'm going to add mochi into mine too!

Scarlet Snow ~ Rose Petals on top

Ingredients include green bean, lotus seed and honey

Pomegranate Omochi (red jelly-ish center)

Besides mooncakes, we also had hand made 'doll cookies' earlier in the week. I don't know the significance of these but aren't they cute? It's cheap too, costs just RM3+ with the typical mung bean and red bean paste filling.

Ox - Doll Cookie

Well, that's the end of my post. I'm heading out again...to see if I can catch a glimpse of the moon. Happy Mooncake Day, everyone!

3 Royal Selangor Visitor Centre, Kuala Lumpur - Here I am again!

This is my 4th visit and I'm already planning a 5th. I wonder if anyone else visits the centre as often as I do...I mean other than tour guides and people who work there.

I do my part for domestic tourism....hah...not really. It all began from a need to break out of shopping boredom. When friends and family visit little ol' me in Kuala Lumpur, the first thing we do is head for the malls. After a couple of trips doing the same old, same old, we (ok, maybe just me) started to wonder if there was anything else to do in this big city of ours. That motivated me to google out a list of interesting nearby places to visit. It was how I discovered the Royal Selangor Visitor Centre.

Royal Selangor Visitor Centre

The Royal Selangor Visitor Centre is now in my must-visit list. My houseguests don't know this. When they arrive, I blast them with a series of "Have you been here? Have you been there?" and very slowly, I slip in a suggestion to visit the centre. In between, I attempt to make shopping sound as unexciting as possible - "Yeah, that old mall. What you get here, you can get back home. Don't think a sale is on."  No, I don't see anything evil about it. I'm just......trying to help people out of their shopping addiction. Hmmph!

Back to the centre. Upon arrival, you'll be greeted by a guide who will register your particulars and provide you with visitor stickers. The tour is absolutely free.

Tag! I'm it! I'm a tourist.

A guide is assigned to you based on your language preference. The tour is never rushed. You're free to ask as many questions as you wish and take as many photos as you like.

The tour starts off with a little history. Royal Selangor was founded in 1885...and then they lead us to a mini museum where there are old pieces of pewter on display and various work tools of a past era.

A replica of Petronas Twin Towers (left) made out of 7,062 pewter tankards. Factory is empty because it's a Sunday.

You'll be intrigued with the Hall of Frames and the Chamber of Chimes. I especially like the Petronas Twin Towers and the Hand Prints on several walls. The tower took days to assemble, consisting more than seven thousand tankards. The pewter hand prints are in recognition of Royal Selangor's skilled craftsmen who have been with the company for more than five years. How lovely to leave your mark in a company...literally.

The Touchmark (chinese characters), Giant weighing scale, The science of pewter. All here.

 

I've worked here more than five years..kidding. I have been here almost five times.

The guide serves us a soda to give us a feel how cool and refreshing it is to drink from a pewter cup. We then proceed to the factory where we are shown a live demonstration on how pewter pieces are constructed - from melting, moulding to designing.

I enjoy the factory part of the tour. There are rows of skilled craftsmen busy constructing trophies, souvenir pieces and artsy pewter glasses.

After the factory, we are led past the School of Hard Knocks. For RM60, you get a 30-minute hands on class on using traditional tools to create your own pewter dish. I've tried it once. Came home with a certificate, an apron and the pewter I had knocked into a bowl. I was so proud of my masterpiece. Perhaps I'll sign up for The Foundry next, an hour-long class to produce my own accessory with my own design, using pewter making methods of today. Join me?

Finally, we reach the retail centre. There are special pieces of pewter sold here that cannot be purchased elsewhere. Check these out first. Then drool over pieces like those from the Lord of the Rings collection.

Stunning peacock art piece.

For sale..at the price of beauty.

After all that, you must be feeling hungry. There's a cafe next door. Tea comes in a gorgeous pewter pot.

Just outside the building is the largest tankard in the world. Don't leave without taking a photo with this. It's in the Guinness Book of Records!

The world's largest pewter tankard (A Guinness Book of Records achievement)

If you came here by cab, don't worry about arranging for a pick-up after. Your guide will call one for you once you're ready to leave.

Note: Craftsmen are off Sundays. The factory will be empty. Preferably, plan your visit on work days for a fuller experience.

 

8 Is it a marshmallow?

What IS this?

It's the rainy weather and brrr, chilly.

This is my basil plant. I water it every two days although the stems have browned and it's on the verge of dying. There's still some green leaves at the top. Optimistic much?

I noticed this white stump the other day but dismissed it as peeled paint that had furled together.  How nice, I thought, assuming the wind was responsible for this beautiful random creation.

I was watering my plants just now and, lo and behold, a fluffy white mushroom! By golly, it looked so enticing that I started imagining marshmallows. I doubt this can be eaten.

Anyway, I've decided to leave it as is because I think it adds character to my mini garden. To fluffy mushroom, I say, "Welcome" .

Getting some ant love

Why you grow here?!

8 Fraser's Hill - Flower Power

If I could rename Fraser's Hill, it would be called the "Land of beautiful flowers". I don't grow flowers in my apartment because I've never been successful at it.

Greens, I have..mostly the money plant. I've given it so much of my attention that it's grown out of my little pot and crawled up to the ceiling. The leaves have flourished bigger than my palm. It's also all over the place *grin sheepishly*

I am no match for the gardeners who tend the flowers at Fraser's Hill....sigh..

Worse, the only flower I can name below is the Hibiscus. That's because it's our National flower. Aahh..but is it important that I know it all. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet?

Hibiscus

I think this is called the "Bottlebrush" plant ..

4 Fraser's Hill ~ A place to chill

I did a bit of domestic traveling. My Raya holidays was spent gallivanting from one tourist attraction to another. Fraser's Hill was one of the places I visited on a day trip out of Kuala Lumpur.

It's just two hours away.. ..so we were told. Took us almost three hours because we made a small stop to stretch our legs. The winding uphill road is no place for a Formula One race. It is also unfriendly to those likely to suffer from motion sickness. I'm so glad I went prepared.

Fraser's Hill

The hill was named after Scottish tin prospector, Louis James Fraser. This was in the early 1920s after his mysterious disappearance. Makes for a nice thriller novel, doesn't it? The Sherlock Holmes kind. Fraser Hill's, to me, is a lovely spot for creative juices to flow. Novel writing, cooking, painting...composing music.

I could move here a couple of months, pretend I was the next Jamie Oliver, whipping up fancy meals in the middle of the street. Reallyyyyy.... I've got to get my head out of the clouds.

I stand near the roundabout where the clock tower is, taking the view in. Small gusts of cool air play with my hair. I am surrounded by British colonial buildings. Did horse-drawn carriages ply this route? Did ladies in pretty puffy dresses and wide ribbon hats have many strolls on this pebble road where I now plant my feet?

Police Station

Post Office

Restaurant

Public Toilet

Outdoor benches

Fraser's Hill is more than just charming old buildings. The Bird Interpretive Center is clear indication that it is a haven for bird watchers and nature lovers. Other things-to-do include jungle trekking, camping, paddle boating at Allan's Water ..and meditation. You won't find meditation in the travel pamphlet but it's so serene here, I believe that I could go into some sort of Zen mode if I stayed a little longer.

Oops.. I almost forgot to mention the bountiful flowers that have been so carefully tended in Fraser's Hill. They are beautiful to look at. The park benches are a brilliant idea. I sat many minutes admiring the environment and fresh air. I'll share more flower photos in my next blog post.

For now, I have these:

Bird Interpretive Center

Beautiful Flowers

A Gardener's Fairy Tale

Note: Fraser's Hill is crowded on weekends and most of the shops are closed on Public Holidays. If you want a peaceful experience, then these are the days to avoid.

4 Dale, Lake Fields (Sungai Besi)

Dale at Lake Fields. The name itself stretches my imagination. A fairly spacious 3-storey terrace house with a lake nearby gives me illusions that I'll be having lots of evening strolls with the sunset behind me...even though the lake is technically wayYYyy over there and I may not even walk that far.

Dale at Lakefields

I love the double volume concept and overall design. It's beautiful. Hardly original though. I once felt that it was unique but after seeing a number of houses with the same old, same old, I begin to wonder if housing developers are sinking into this mire of commonness. It's not a big deal but I always wish for something with a little more 'creative' in it.

For some reason, I could not feel the excitement. Mayhaps I knew what the price would be like. Maybe a sleepy town isn't my cup of tea. Perhaps it's just too big. With five bedrooms, this is a home meant more for large families. 

Plenty of space to play about

I can see you from up here! Like this so much!

Three storeys up. Huff, puff...... I'm tired already.

One of the rooms

Room with a bath

Now tagged at a no-surprise asking price of around RM1 million plus-minus, I wonder if anyone's thinking "Sungai Besi?". It's a head scratching moment when you find out that it sits in an old mining town that has yet risen to a level that can be said to generate high-income earners.

But of course, this is the shallower side of me speaking. People drive long kilometres to get to their work places. The prices of landed property is steeper in city areas, hard to find and if there is something cheaper, it is either very small, very old or poorly maintained. I guess city folks who can afford it would seriously think about getting a unit here.

When it comes to homes, it will always be a subjective matter. We are so diverse in our preferences that whilst this may not have tickled my fancy, it could very well be someone's dream home for a lot of other reasons.
 

End Unit

Intermediate Unit

4 The Penang Tan

Arghhh!!! Sun!!

There lies the tan. A beautiful curve across her foot, designed by the opening on her red-grey sneaker sandals. 

This is the feet of my traveling friend.

You could say that Penang left its mark on us. Oh, don't laugh. We would have applied some suntan lotion if we knew four days could do this much. ..and I add, it wasn't a beach holiday. Tsk, excuses.

Truth is, we don't look at tans in the same light as before, not anymore. We've gone from sun-loving people to UV rays concerned individuals. That's not being entirely honest either. We've just been greatly influenced by those 'whitening' advertisements. We try to stay as fair as possible because "it's supposed to be good for us", not because we think we'll look prettier if we do.  ...yeah, not that.

Blast those marketing ploys...

2 Penang : More on street art

I took lots of photos, of course...couldn't resist.

Street art is the in-thing here, mostly murals and steel sculptures. There's so much creativity going on that I feel their passion. If there's one thing I do not regret, it is walking along the streets of Lebuh Armenian and nearby...even under the scorching sun. I was wow-ed by some sort of artwork every corner!

I noticed several tourists carrying umbrellas to shield from the heat. I was amazed. Haha me. I had no time and no opportunity to hold one. My hands were glued to my camera the entire walkabout.

Feast your eyes on some of the photos I took. Beautiful, isn't it?

Ernest Zacharevic - Reaching Up

101 Lost Kittens Project - I Can Help Catch Rats

   

Children At Play

 

A message on Penang's cycling initiative

 

Tang Mun Kian - Steel Rod Sculpture - Cannon Hole

I'm easily amused. They painted around it! Guess they'll finish the job later. Dark purple? Too dark a shade, me thinks. This will make this piece very hard to spot in future.

Tang Mun Kian - Steel Rod Sculpture - Too Narrow

2 When in Penang - Walk, Feel, Eat

Jen and I decided to spend our nights in hotels near areas where we wanted to visit most. It was a brilliant move. We didn't have to depend on public transport and the hassle that came with. 

Going on foot opened our eyes and hearts to many things that could have easily slipped by us had we been going around by car. There is history in just about every corner of Penang! To drive is to miss these hidden treasures.

Sightseeing, to me, isn't just about rushing to cover a place for the sake of ticking it off the must-do list. It's about taking the time to experience new things, it's about bringing "Dora the explorer" alive in us....and most importantly, it's about blazing our own trail and enjoying the moment. The last thing I want to do is follow the footsteps of another traveler in entirety.  

"You must go here, arh. Stop by that building. Eat this, ok. Make sure you try that. "

I don't know about you but these sentences smack of dictatorship to me. Haha. It is as though people didn't want us to discover something new.

Our first night was spent in Lebuh Queen (Queen's Street). As we strolled along the side of the road, old buildings, beautiful murals and creative art pieces coloured our walkabout.  Each one depicting a little about local life. We took our time to appreciate what we saw. Unashamedly, we never stopped clicking our cameras!

And if there's one thing I've learned, it is that it pays to explore small lanes with quaint entrances. In one, we were led out to the Cheah Clan Association's ancestral temple and discovered a mural of cats by Artists For Stray Animals (ASA).

Doorway to Cheah Clan's Temple. Spotted this mural in front of the temple grounds.

The weather in Penang is always h-o-t and humid. We were sweat drenched. Our cheeks pink from the afternoon sun. Then, we saw it - a blessing! The 70's Ice ball stall was a welcome sight. Didn't hesitate to order one for ourselves. Crunch, crunch, crunch...euphoria. Ice balls are what I would call the 'ice-cream' of olden era - a taste of the past, that's what we had.

Here, somewhere along Armenian Street was when I realised that Penangites are an artistic lot and I'm not just talking about the murals.

Mango flavoured ice ball and a work-in-progress mural!

Above the ice ball seller was a lamp shade made out of cassettes.

Cassete Lamp Shade

Next door, a pair of old jeans was used creatively to plant a small tree. Further down the road, we saw shoes being recycled into flower pots..if that's what it can be called.

Creative Planting

We stopped for a drink at a soy bean drink shop that had recycled tyres into neat coffee tables. At the end of the wall is another mural or should I say an illusion, a picture of a passageway painted to make it look like this was located along a row of shops...not that it wasn't in the first place.

Chilled soya, a relief for this sun barbequed soul. Wait a minute, is that ....?

I plonked myself onto a chair to rest. Whoa..is that another street art thing. Through the bars I saw....the famed interactive art piece "Little Children On A Bicycle" by Ernest Zacharevic -  that awesome moment of realisation.

Little Children On A Bicycle by Ernest Zacharevic

And this was just a "small" part of our adventure in Penang...

Jen says, "..aahh, my poor feet". Not just tired, there was an obvious suntan. Hehe. We rested, overloaded with a sense of achievement. You should have seen our contented smiles.