0 National Science Centre, Bukit Kiara

One of the things I love about having my own home, is having the occasional visitors stay over. It's an adrenaline rush preparing a list of places to visit, even if it turns out to be a head banging affair. Things weren't always this way. An old habit of mine was to drop into one shopping mall per day and be done with it. You know..Midvalley, 1Utama, Sungei Wang.

Living in the city for a good decade has made me lackadaisical in the spirit of exploration and poor in appreciating the little things around me. Work, home, work, home, anywhere else would labeled 'too far'.

Often, I would know the place you're talking about but I'd never really been there, unless you consider passing by as good as 'been there'. Have I wronged the place I was born and bred in?

I picture the majestic sights and sounds of China in my head, a great week-long getaway. I take for granted the beautiful places around me which I have shamefully driven by without a second thought.

"Ohh..that place arh. Can eat with Hornbills one", Typically how I answer people who tell me they've been someplace (eg the KL Bird Park) I haven't and leave the sentence hanging, hoping they don't ask the next question ie "You've been there?"

It's uncanny why I should feel inadequate but I do. Mayhaps I am imbued with feelings of guilt..if I can travel overseas and be wowed by the little things there, how is it that I've never ventured our own land with the same passion. 

So, these days, whenever anyone pays me a visit, I make it a habit to go out of the norm. While I've made some progress over the years, there are days I wonder whether I risk ruining someone's holiday.

Like this trip to the National Science Centre. I'd been dying to enter this great green dome for ages. That building, which promotes enquiring minds, beckoned my conscience everytime I drove past the hill it stood on. The opportunity finally presented itself when a friend from Penang stayed over.

She said, "No more shopping malls. Let's explore."

I gleefully agreed.

At the National Science Centre

December school holidays - kiddy chaos 

Does this work?

Cloning box..*pinch nose* ..cough..cough

What the..?

Again? It's everywhere!

We walked out and saw a bit of history

My friend lamented on the poor state it was in...yadda yadda yadda.....was I hearing a loud echo? Whoaa..! Her voice reverberated around us. There goes any chance we had of "putting it nicely". I'm pretty sure all the employees heard THAT.

Caught by surprise, we retreated into a softer voice, and soon found the culprit. It was a whispering dish located just outside the entrance. 

Thank you so much for letting us air it all out in the open, Mr Dish!

Sound waves..sounds like how a rumour travels

A good laugh we had.

From the putrid smell of human sweat in the cloning box to the unvacuumed floor and the many contraptions that are out of order, I worry about the state of our scientific prowess for real. 

While I understand that repairs are being carried out, I cannot fathom how it had gotten this far in the first place, unless regular maintenance was never a practice.

Well, that's one place off my list....for now.