Batu Caves

Batu Caves is a limestone hill, which has a series of caves and cave temples, just north of Kuala Lumpur. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu or Batu River, which flows past the hill. Promoted as a place of worship in the late 1800's, the cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India. Dedicated to Lord Murugan, it is the focal point of the Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia. The limestone forming Batu Caves is said to be around 400 million years old.
We had heard a lot of conflicting reports about the value of a visit to this oft promoted local attraction but since it is so close by and we had time on a Saturday afternoon, we decided to make a pilgrimage ourselves.


The entrance to the temple complex; the colors and carvings on the gate are very typical of Indian or Hindu temples.

Daddy and Conrad prepare for the journey.

272 steps up....The gold statue is the world's tallest (140 ft. tall) of Lord Murugan. It is covered in 300 litres of gold paint, brought from Thailand.

This is one of the shrines at the base of the steps. Most of the adjacent shrines relate the story of Lord Murugan's victory over the demon Soorapadam. Aparently the Hindus believe big bellies are good; maybe after 42 years as a Catholic it's time for me to become a Hindu...I fit the part.

Up we go.

Apparently the 6 mile run I did that morning wasn't enough: I had the dumb idea that this should be done with a 24 pound baby strapped to one's chest. Thankfully when we got to the top we found this instruction:

(I'm liking this Hindu idea more and more...)
The cave is quite large and as such is difficult to photograph but here is a view of the entrance.

One walks through the main cave to additional caves at the other end.

There really isn't much to see. The temples that have been constructed are small and simple. And quite dirty and poorly kept, it seemed to us.  But the monkeys are plentiful (I feared these children might be carried off if they didn't hand out their peanuts fast enough)

and the sunshine was beautiful as it shown through the chimneys in the ceiling.

Time to head back down. What an amazing view; impossible to imagine how much it has changed over the last 120 years.

It was really surprising how dirty the site was, considering it is such a sacred place. In their defense, Thaipusam, the festival commemorating the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (spear) so he could vanquish the evil Soorapadman, was recently celebrated. As the festival often attracts over one million devotees and tens of thousands of tourists, I can imagine that it might take a little while to get the house back in order, but much of the trash and debris around looked more like the sort of everyday housekeeping that just was not getting done.
As a whole, if you are planning an itinerary to visit KL, (I know, I am always lobbying for visitors!), unless you are Hindu and a fan of Murugan, or you are just really needing to climb 272 stairs on a really hot day, I would skip this one. And go to Kuala Gandah instead!

More of Mr. Conrad's neighborhood: Our local "wet" market and the Twin Towers

In my last post I pointed out the building that houses our local wet market.

It's quite well known throughout the city and as such can make it quiet easy to describe for people where we live. If we say "It's near the TTDI wet market" most locals, and even some expats, know immediately where we are. I have to say, and some of you can help me out here, that I'm having trouble thinking of an American City that has a wet market, or at least one that is well known. I'm sure many of the larger ones do but it just seems to be a concept that has really gotten lost in the American urban scene.  We have Farmers' Markets but that's really not the same, is it? The Farmers' Markets generally don't have full butcher shops or seafood shops. According to Wikipedia, in such markets, "the floors and surroundings are often routinely sprayed and washed with water—to the extent of flooding it at frequent intervals—which gave it the name 'wet market' ". Historically vendors at such markets kept livestock and patrons could chose their animal and watch the slaughter/butchering, if they so chose. Thankfully that does not happen here. I don't think I could set foot inside if that were the case. My Australian neighbor and I laughed that we can't bring ourselves to purchase meat there (not enough ice involved for our industrialized tastes) but then we had to acknowledge that this market probably supplies all of the restaurants in this neighborhood so if we eat locally, really what's the difference? (The difference is that sometimes we just don't want to know....) Although we have walked through late in the afternoon and there is a certain vendor that has racks of lamb still hanging in the heat, and the flies, even at 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I need to remind myself that mankind has existed for hundreds of thousands of years before the advent of ice, but again, my western, industrialized sensibilities are what they are. Hard to let go sometimes. I do bet though that it could be really great to buy such fresh fish, but I for one have always been very intimidated by cooking fish: what to choose, how to cook it...I have a filet knife at home in Indy and I really do hope some day to learn to use it.

For the most part we shop there to buy fresh vegetables and fruits. There is generally a very nice selection and almost all of the vendors are very friendly, many of them playing with Vivienne and giving Conrad a small orange or banana. I say most because at the beginning we often shopped at one of the largest stalls. One day I bought about 13 ringgit worth of fruit, gave the woman a 50 (which is about 15 USD) and she gave me change as though I had given her 20. I did the math in my head again, and then again just to be sure that I was right, and when I pointed it out to her, she looked at me over her glasses, very matter of factly reached into her till and handed me the remaining 30 ringgit and went on to the next customer. Her entire demeanor said "if you're smart enough to figure it out then I will give it back to you". She never even pretended to have made an honest mistake. Needless to say, we don't shop at that stall anymore, but that certainly is not specific to any culture. Anyway, it lead us to be more loyal to some of the friendlier vendors, even if the prices are a little higher.

One of the most interesting aspects for me though about this particular wet market, is the building itself. I have been to Albuquerque a few times in my life and every time I felt as though I had wandered onto the set of a bad alien movie: the architecture looks like it landed out of the sky. That being said, I feel as though our wet market belongs in Albuquerque. This is a view of it from the pedestrian bridge over the main street nearby.

It's basically built like a pyramid, why I can't imagine, there is no historical significance for the shape in Asian architecture, and it just makes me laugh everytime I look at it. This shot also gives you a good view of the trees that one finds on the medians everywhere. They in turn look like something out of a Dr. Suess book! As a whole the landscaping throughout the city is truly beautifully done, quite meticulous but you never, ever see anyone working on it! It does make it nice to drive around.

As I have a few more minutes of Conrad-free time, I'll include some more information on our extended neighborhood. Just a few neighborhoods away is a great little Indian restaurant/food court.

The food is served on palm leaves and you eat it with your hands in the traditional style. And the food was delicious! We did at least get Conrad (aka Mr. Picky) to eat some rice. He finally had an opportunity where he was allowed to eat with his hands and he chose to use his spoon. He is 3 after all...such a contrary age. Napkins aren't generally provided it seemed, but there is a sink in the corner where everyone washed their hands after their meal.

Of course Kuala Lumpur is best known internationally for it's twin towers, the Petronas Towers.

We have not taken the time to go up to the observation deck (it can be an arduous process where one has to show up early to buy tickets to go later in the day, kind of like at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, when they do let people climb it) but we did spend a day in the park that is part of the complex. It is very large and has water features, a jogging trail, a children's wading pool and an enormous playground.

Daddy and Conrad at the towers

They sure are tall...

One of the awesome sculptures in the park. (The Aquarium is also part of the complex.)

View of the towers from the playground

Help! One of the scary tropical trees got Daddy!

Again, I fear that I am confounding Blogspot with the number of pictures in this post so I will wrap this up until the next time. I hope you have enjoyed your visit~

Mr. Conrad's Neighborhood

We thought it might be fun to give you a glimpse into what our world looks like over here. Foreign countries have a way of looking so, well, foreign, in ways that are often so completely unique yet hard to describe so we'll show you some pictures of our immediate neighborhood.

We showed you some photos of our fabulous view in some of our earlier reports so we won't brag on that again here. Instead, this is our building.

This is the gournd floor commercial area

These are views from our building. (Note the odd pyramid shaped building across the street from the big construction site. That is our local wet market but we'll get into that later.)

Conrad on our 16th floor playground.

                                      

This is what a typical commercial block looks like with shops, restaurants on the ground floor, and a mix of offices, businesses and apartments above.

There are a lot of high rise apartment buildings throughout the city but there are also a lot of single family homes. A few are semi-detached, even fewer are single houses but the majority are attached row houses that also have a very specific look to them. Most are 2 story, but instead of a front yard all have a gated yard in front with what is basically a motor court.

Some of them are really nice: modern, well-kept, like this one

Some have transformed the area in front into beautiful gardens, with koi pnds and bonsai trees but most are pretty much open air garages. As expected in every neighborhood, some are quite rundown but most are pretty average, like these .

and these

With all of the cars off of the street for Chinese New Year holiday recently, we finally noticed this on the corner just outside of our lobby.

 

Now that I have started running outside early in the mornings I often smell incense as I pass by so someone is making a regular offering. I think the plastic cover to the left of the temple houses supplies. These little temples are actually quite common; this pair is few streets away, near one of our favorite restaurants.

Also near our one of our favorite restaurants is this place:

The "Restoran" (Malay for restaurant) Extra Super Tanker. Everyone seems to know it but no one has ever eaten there. I do wonder if the chinese characters on the sign actually translate as such. We can't quite figure out what such a name could actually mean.

As noted before, Malaysia has a lot of rainforest, a lot of rainfall and is near the equator. Which means the plants and trees here are quite different than one might find in the states. These are some interesting trees near our building.

We pass this plant on our way to the park to meet the Mom's group and I always have this odd sense that it is going to reach out and snag one of my children a la Little Shop of Horrors

(No need to comment on Conrad outfit: he was happy, he left the house; what more could I ask for?) But if the plants don't get my children, perhaps the monkeys will.

We've had to fend them off more than a few times as they come looking to get our snacks. I'd swear some of them are big enough to carry off Vivienne.

This is the stream where we play at the park

And this is the sign that lets everyone know, in this Muslim country, that there is no kissing in the park!

They use the international traffic signs here so generally it is pretty easy to get around. Some of the local signs are still pretty self-explanatory. This one I get: children crossing, check; pedestrian crossing, check. But I was confused at first wether the last one was old people or aliens crossing. I haven't seen either at this intersection so maybe it's neither?

 

Seen near my favorite shopping center: (And no it does not make me afraid to shop there)

 

Thankfully I was not driving when we saw this one, but it was near Halloween.

The text says "Accident Area" but I wonder: is that because people are so distracted by the sign that they are driving off the road?

Blogspot seems very disturbed by the number of pictures I have included in this post so I think it is time to give it a rest. Good thing this spot is just around the corner...

The graphics just make me smile! We'll catch up with more soon, assuming Conrad lets me get on my computer again... 

Kuala Gandah - The Elephant Sanctuary

The more I learn about Malaysia, the more it continues to surprise me. It is such a small country and KL is so densely populated that I tend to think the whole country is that way. In fact much of the country is still virgin jungle: rainforest. The Indo-Malayan rainforests are the oldest in the world, making those in Africa and South America seem adolescent in comparison. Historically elephants were found in large numbers throughout the densely forested Malay Peninsula. However over the past 100 years the forests have steadily given way to agriculture for both food and cash crops, mostly palm plantations. Initially forest clearance paid no heed to the need for elephant corridors to allow for trans migration and this gave rise, as expected, to a considerable human-elephant conflict. With approx. 1300-1400 wild elephants estimated to live within peninsular Malaysia, the Malay authorities’ response was to set up the Elephant Management Unit in 1974 under the authority of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks. This unit has established the world renowned Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservation Centre. The unit has become highly specialized in elephant translocation in response to human elephant conflict, moving elephants to the eastern Malaysian states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang where there is still a large amount of forest, some of which is protected as part of the vast Taman Negara National Park.


About 90 minutes drive from KL, the Taman Negara is spread out over 4,343 sq. km. (nearly 1700 sq. miles) of rainforest. Last week we had the awesome opportunity to spend a day in a portion of the reserve, at the Kuala Gandah sanctuary and meet the elephants.

The experience begins with a video documentary highlighting the plight of the elephants in Malaysia and the efforts of the Elephant Relocation team. While waiting for the day’s activities to start, we chatted with one of the workers who explained to us that they have trained a number of the elephants to assist with the relocation by acting basically as ambassadors for the relocation team. When a wild elephant is captured for relocation, the trained (“job” elephants, as they are called at the sanctuary) are brought in to help calm the confused animal in preparation for its travel. They work in pairs and the video footage of the team moving to stand on either side of the frightened evacuee, using their trunks to stroke and calm the poor thing is both amazing and heartbreaking. (Those of you who know me know it brought tears to my eyes.)

The elephants that actually reside at the sanctuary are mostly orphans. (The team does try to relocate families, or pods, as much as possible.) Some of them have very sad stories, as you can imagine: one is missing a foot due to a conflict with humans, one is a survivor of a tiger attack, but they seem to be well cared for and well-loved by the staff. While on the grounds we had the opportunity to feed the elphants:
grass to the smallest,

(click this link to see video of fearless Conrad feeding this cutie: http://www.shutterfly.com/video/myVideos.sfly?fid=3235dd89c50098c0cf4ab00f16ca9e1e)

peanuts to some of the medium sized ones,

and fruit to the biggest ones

(Conrad was trying to feed him the watermelon seeds too!)

I can't remember this one's name but she is 69 years old; elephants can live to be 80 years old

Conrad and Mommy went for a ride

I don't remember this little cutie's story but she was definitely the youngest at the sanctuary

The day ended with a swim in the river with the residents

(click this link for a video of this little adventure: http://www.shutterfly.com/video/myVideos.sfly?fid=f353044cf18ce42e5b2f2841c4d4a52e)

There is no entry fee to visit the sanctuary but a donation is requested. Per their website: "Although the Sanctuary receives funding from the Malaysian government via the Department of Wildlife & National Parks or DWNP, additional fundings from externally generated sources are always welcomed with open........trunks?" You can imagine the government funding doesn't cover all of their needs so should any of you feel inclined to help them out you can access them through the website : www.myelephants.org/donation.html

More Chinese (Lunar) New Year fun

We were in the mall on Chinese New Year's Day (2/14) and happened to catch this performance (see link to video, below). Each lion was a team of 2: one person was the head and front legs, the other was the body and hind legs. Their acrobatics on these 10 foot poles was really quite amazing, the video really doesn't do it justice, but hopefully it will be fun for you to watch anyway. Some of you have already seen this video on Facebook but for those of you for whom it's new, enjoy!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0IZtXDVq0ZMX4A

The retail celebration of Lunar New Year has continued to entertain me. There are many vendors that seem to set up in the shopping centers specifically to sell traditional New Year's fare. It always makes me think of Hickory Farms because they seem to be the ones that most recognizably only appear in the malls at Christmas but instead of the petit fors and summer sausage, the Malaysian kiosks have a lot of things I don't recognize: dried fruits and jerkies,  crispy potato and rice treats - always in clear plastic jars with red tops as red is the color of luck: it symbolizes fire which drives away bad luck; and some that I do: pineapple tarts that we sampled in Melacca and they were quite yummy, and Chinese Love letter cookies: sweet butter-sugar cookies. Doubly yummy!

Pineapple tarts

Chinese Love Letter cookies, sometimes folded, sometimes rolled

These items were found in almost every vendor's set up but there was another item that I saw everywhere and it really made me laugh: the ever popular, traditional Chinese Famous Amos chocloate chip cookies! It seemed to always be the biggest display. Or maybe it just stuck out more to me because, other than the Mandarin oranges (of course!) it was the only item not packaged in clear plastic with a red top!

The Lunar New Year usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice and the celebration lasts for 2 weeks. I was unable to find an explanation for the 2 week duration but feel free to celebrate until the end of February, if you wish. There are so many traditions and practices associated with it that it makes my head spin and I can't even begin to share them with you: foods you are supposed to eat or not eat, things you are supposed to say or not say, gifts you are supposed to give or not give, but one thing I am sad to say I did not learn about in time: on Lunar New Year's Day you are not to clean/sweep the house as it is believed that you risk sweeping away the luck that has accumulated, apparently on your floors and tv set? I never thought of dustbunnies and dried blueberry yogurt as lucky, and I kicked Heinz and the kids out of the house Sunday morning so that I could scrub my floors in peace! If only I had known, I could have put my feet up and ignored it all for one more day!

Gong Xi Fa Cai, y'all!

Dinner is served...maybe

We have a rice cooker. It came with the place; this is Asia after all. People I know who have rice cookers swear by them but it is one gadget I have not felt a burning need to have. Quick cook rice has never let me down so far but since we have the cooker, I thought I would give it a try. Besides, I have yet to find boxed rice in the stores. They sell 40 pound bags of rice, as big as my 3 year old, but no quick cook in boxes. So I pull the box out of the cupboard to find that the cooker is still brand new, never been taken out of the packaging. I guess the previous tenants didn't cook much either (they were Asian, we found a cd of pictures from a trip they took to Cambodia. Great temples, made me want to visit. Plus we still get his mail indicating that he owes the cable company a lot of money....) Anyway, I pull out the box and am heartened to see that it is covered in English. Until I see the first amenity listed: "1.2mm Thickness inner pot, prolong the economy's natural life." In college we had this professor who was from South Africa. Brilliant man. His lectures were naturally in English but they were so misearble to sit through because I could never understand a word the man said. This is starting to feel like that. So the next amenity listed on the box is: "Glass top cover, the more pressure, the more rice savory."  Chuckling to myself now I open the box and take out the instruction manual to find the directive "Be sure to keep the space between the kettle and the heater plate clean from wet, dust (etc.), to avoid the unit work mulfunction or from damaged." Would it really have been so hard to have someone proofread this thing before you put it on the shelves? Some of the English we find here is so poor, both the grammar and the spelling. It makes me think of the probability of finding the minimum one spelling/grammar mistake on the Chinese take-out menus left on door handles and windshields in the states. Surely I'm not the only one who plays that game? But the other day I saw an ad for a local pre-school offering "Let us teach your childs English". Umm, no thanks, I'll pass. And it leaves me to wonder: are those the people who understand the box and the instruction manual for my rice cooker?

So we went grocery shopping Tuesday night and rice for the cooker was on my list. I did find where they have the small bags (merchandising in Malaysian stores would probably remain a mystery to me even if we lived here for 6 years, not just 6 months) but the new challenge became to find one that had any English on it at all. And I know you're probably thinking "Jack, it's rice, how complicated can it be? Do you really need a bag in English?" But remember I've never made rice in a cooker before, how much rice to how much water? Bottom line, I couldn't find a bag in English that told me so good old Wikipedia hooked me up. I clean the cooker, I wash the rice, which Wikipedia recommended I do and, after all, this is a foreign country (does that make me weird?) put it all in the cooker, and realize that I have not got a single electrical outlet on the kitchen counter. Not one. Maybe this is why the previous tenants never used the damn thing either. Behind the refrigerator there are 2 outlets. So the cooker is plugged in and sitting on top of the fridge because the cord would not reach to put it on the nearest counter.  It's turned on, the red light is glowing and if the outcome is anything other than uneventful, I will let you know.  Maybe I'll love it so much that I will have to get one for the house when we get back to the states.
Maybe not.
And regarding electrical outlets, we do not have one, not a single one, in any of the bathrooms. Can't use a shaver, can't use a blowdryer. Think of how many outlets you have in the room you are in right now. I think the American standard is 1 every 4 feet? We have one per wall. I guess that's one way to reduce consumption!

Malaysian fun fact #15: The Malaysian numbers superstition, like the American aversion to the number 13, involves the number 4. Apparently the word for the number 4 sounds too much like the word for death, so they avoid using it whenever possible. In our building, above the 13th floor comes floor 13A. On each floor there are 8 units: 1, 2, 3, 3A, 5, 6, etc. Heinz and I had to laugh because Conrad has taken a liking to the number 4 for some reason, and the other night at the Chinese wedding dinner we attended he kept pointing it out to us in one of the books we had brought to keep him occupied. We were horrified that somehow we were going to be considered rude guests or jinx the bride and groom!
Malaysian fun fact #16: The Canadian finish all of their sentences with "eh?"
The Malaysians finish all of their sentences with "la", as in "I have to finish this post, la". It takes a little while to get used to it but I find I hardly even notice it anymore!

Well, naptime is over and I have to go check the rice. Wish me luck!

Punishing Adultery, Malaysian style

Malaysian court imposes fine of farm animals

The Malaysia Sun

Monday 1st February, 2010

The Malaysian press has reported an adulterous couple were fined four buffaloes and a pig after being found guilty of an extra-marital affair. The report said the pair were convicted by the Native Court in Penampang, Borneo, after the man's wife lodged a complaint last year. The court heard from the man's wife who claimed she found the couple only partially dressed in sarongs and shorts. The court rejected a claim from the adulterous couple that they were simply friends, and imposed the animal fine, worth around US$1,900.

The pair were convicted under customary local laws.