14/09/09

Been taken to another obscure part of town...

...just to sample this local hero's speciality of...

...the best wonton or gon loh noodles in KL.
Optional additions to your plate of noodles include honey roasted char siu, phoenix talons (chicken feet to the rest) and Chinese mushrooms. Unfortunately what we get in London's Chinatown doesn't come close.

Taking away a bag of laksa for the maid.

The gate to the surgery of the family's GP

This is the jab that's recommended for my trip to China next week.
A vaccination to counter not swine flu or bird flu or SARS but the plain and simple seasonal one!

Dr Lian, thank you for allowing me to intrude.
For obvious reasons, no flash involved.

A brief trip to say hello to Aunt One (Mum's eldest sis).
This is her urban pile.

We've heard of supermodels and superchefs, well Leng here is a supermaid or to be ethically correct; a female butler. She runs a network of other maids and has established herself as an institution at the above mansion. We've known each since we were ten and before you know it; she's richer than me by a long way. She insisted that I tried some of her homemade mooncakes.

Gulp...I'm not crazy about them. Acquired and most other Chinese peeps would concur as well.

The KL I love

Although the number of monks in KL are not as numerous as in Bangkok or Rangoon, any sighting of them still touches me.

Jalan Petaling or Chinatown

Fried Rice for 20p?

Chestnut stall.
We may only eat roasted chestnuts during the colder months in Britain, but here they're snacked on everyday.

Fried sweet potato balls.
That elegant lady has been perfecting the art ever since I can remember as a child. She has aged well.

Barbecued rashers of streaky bacon. This is relatively new, the cure is sweeter than usual and they're simply sold as street snacks (no sandwiches or fryups).

If only you can smell here!

The Chinatown in Singapore is cleaner and more sanitised, but this is the real thing.

Dinner at Mum's.
The tiffin containers simply give the game away. Dinner is cooked by an aunt of mine who caters professionally for some of the other members of my Mum's huge family. Hokkien cooking is terribly simple and unsophisticated compared to the Cantonese.

Lunar Festival.
Perfect for the kids in Malaysia to stay up even later than usual.
Candles and fireworks are introduced at an early age; probably a good reason to deter them from becoming pyromaniacs!