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~
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