Showing posts with label malaysia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label malaysia. Show all posts

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

22/09/09

An epic upload of pics from a magnificent day out.

Stayed overnight chez Henry and Liz in Sungai Buloh, a town north of Kuala Lumpur.

Breakfast of roti canai at a local Tamil restaurant.

Swirling and turning the dough into a paper-thin sheet.

Folded four times to make a pseudo puff pastry base.

Griddled with loadsa ghee and additonal Planta margarine.
Ghee almost sounds like a swearword when it comes to dietary issues, clarified butter seems more forgiving.

The usual accompaniments of fish curry sauce (no morsels as standard) and dhal apply.
The best roti still comes from Uma Rani, see here.

Driving through rural Selangor.
Our destination was the small town of Kuala Selangor on the west coast of the peninsula.

Climbing up the steep steps leading to Bukit Melawati.
You know you're old when you've been lagged behind at some distance!

The lighthouse on top of the hill is supposed to be iconic to the town of Kuala Selangor, but no mention of it in Mikipedia.

There's always something about the sky near the coast...
...and unlike KL, no smog to speak of.

Not quite the Amazon, but the country still has a decent amount of rainforests. Catch it while you can.

The benches don't look too unlike the headstones found in the Chinese cemeteries nearby.

Nephews Nic (6) and Ethan (3).
Boisterous and hyperactive are polite descriptions of them.

Their Mum, Liz...

...and Dad, Henry.
I've been incessantly reminded that we look alike.

Nic gaining a good depth effect of...

...the eagle.
If only I had a 500m lens. A group of keen birdwatchers from the States were euphoric with the sight, one of them even went on to say that it was more difficult to see their own bald eagle in the wild.

The top of the hill is also home to an old fort in ruins. The Dutch were responsible for these historic remnants, the fort was constructed to protect the lucrative tin trade in late 18th century.

Hitching a free ride on board the hill bus
(We found out later that it wasn't supposed to be free, just a case of poor policing and the staff have given up on the passengers' leisurely hopping on and off antics. Henry did at the end of the day make a purposeful contribution.)

Long-tailed macaques or monkeys.
This lot are less extrovert than the one shown below.

Our next destination.

The girl who sat next to me on the bus.
She totally ignored the scenes on the descent, she was fixated by my camera.

Male Golden Pheasant captured at the forest reserve of Taman Alam Kuala Selangor.

And his missus.

Mangrove plant life.

Cheeky monkey.

The small fishing village of Pasir Penambang.
The cars shown belong mainly to the city folks from KL in search of a seafood meal.

Sleepy village, time forgotten shops.

Hyperactivity postponed for the time being.

The seafood restaurant, perched rather precariously on wooden stilts.

Food is one of the primary reasons why Malaysians thrive on getting together. They'll also travel great distances just to have lunch or dinner.

Mum and a tired looking Ethan hoping for a glimpse of mudskippers.

Steamed Grouper.

There's only one way to serve fish freshly killed from the tank, simply steamed.
Delectable.

None of us were that hungry after the roti breakfast. In addition to the fish we had some forgettable butter prawns and excellent locally grown beans.

For afters Henry popped over the road to the bakery.

One can't beat deliciousness that come out straight from the oven.

Bay Tay Saw.
Hokkien biscuit filled with sticky maltose.

The boy has regained his form and relishing the warm biscuit.

This is a fishing village, so the following snapshots apply.

Salted Fish.

Prawn Crackers shop/factory.

Sun drying the discs of precooked crackers.
You can forget about the ones they thrown in at the Chinese takeaways back in Britain or the prepacked supermarket variety; this the real thing and they contain real prawns.

Bucket of Pissing Prawns.

The one shown is around 5" long. They crawl with their legs and I think of them as aquactic woodlice. The pissing tag comes from the excitable squirting of water when they're manhandled. Like crayfish, they taste bland.

Fisherman/fishmonger/villager taking a well earned break away from the frightful sun.

A big thank-you to Liz and Henry for an illuminative Sunday Tuesday.

Wednesday, 16 September 2009

16/09/09

We're lucky in London that we don't have the smog like Kuala Lumpur has. This sad sight is courtesy of illegal logging and forest clearing in nearby Indonesia and Malaysia as well. Some people are just plain thick and ignorant when it comes to caring about this little planet of ours.

All the national dailies are 'advised' by the government be it in English, Malay, Mandarin or Tamil. The Independent should feel at home here.

There's milk in the coffee, but this is Malaysian kopi, it stays resolutely dark.

Supposedly the best laksa in the country is sold by Madam Q. She has been selling her legendary dish for forty years and like most people from this part of the world they'll only stop at it till they drop!

Vermicelli or egg noodle or mixed; choice is yours.

70p as opposed to £7 in our Chinatown's Malaysian restaurants.

Coconut milk is eschewed in favour of a more kickass watery stock.
Needless to say this is the best laksa I've had.

Parking attendent bloke, I'm convinced that he owns the piece of land where our car is charged to park on.

Cousin Siew Mei

Cousin Cassandra

Hungry Ghost Festival.
Tonight is the last night of the brief amnesty whereby the ghosts are allowed to roam free. This happens once a year and tonight's closing ceremony is a Hokkien version.

Huge incense or joss sticks line the main road of Jalan Ipoh.

The temple compound.

Offerings of anything edible like rice, cakes and cooking oils are offered to the Gods and I believe the dead to follow.

There were the sacrificial animals as well. I counted there were at least fifty pigs on one long table alone.

Por Tor Kong.
Hokkien for the God of the Underworld. Thanks is given by the worshippers for his help in providing a trouble free passage for the ghosts' return journey from the land of the living.

Mum and Aunt 2 lighting their joss sticks...

...and placing the joss papers in the hallowed furnace.

The temple of Guan Yin or the Goddess of Mercy.
She's the most popular deity among the Chinese Buddhists.

(before you shriek the swastika is sacred and totally original to Buddhism)

Chinese opera, sung in Hokkien, is staged to...

...entertain and appease both the living and the dead.

It's often difficult to lug a camera around in any holy places. I'm not entirely sure if I was allowed to do so this evening but I'm sure that the gods would approve somewhat. The grainy pictures were due to lack of flash photography and a tripod.


Came back to Mum's and found Nic's assemblage of bots. He wouldn't go to bed until I took a picture of it.