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...