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Published: December 23rd 2008
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For as long as I can remember we've always celebrated Christmas with all trimmings. In our family that's what good Moslems do
:D In KL we celebrate in the German tradition of Aunty Marga, on Christmas Eve, with a huge stuffed bird, sugar dusted star-cookies and thick slices of stollen. When I lived in London we lounged around all morning in front of a crackling fire, with ButteredToast-SteamingTea-TheTimesSupplement, listening to the Queen's Speech on telly and playing monopoly till turkey, brussel sprouts, roasted parsnips and brandy butter was served around 3pm for lunch. In Dubai, Christmas Lunch always took place outdoors. The crackling fire came from the BBQ 😊 The mulled wine still excellent.
The 2 global constants in MyChristmasses have always been the greedy thrill of secretly wrapped presents - and -
the pure childlike delight with the miles and miles of twinkly lights... 😊 From gracefully lit angels circling the towering multihued Norway Spruce at the Rockefeller Center, to more modest offerings strung on trees in homes and shops, to the creative genius of an eco-friendly blaze of sparkling snowflakes on Carnaby Street - what could be a more mesmerisingly magically monumentally breath-catching way of celebrating -
anything Sprog & Spouse
Quick mom I spy souvenirs! - really??
So Spouse announced yesterday that we were off to view HIS Christmas Lights an hour away in Kuala Selangor. Yes - we were finally going to visit the
Kelip-kelip Kampung Kuantan! Sprog had been wanting to go ever since we bought a charity christmas calender in support of the preservation of these
fireflies ooh - 3 or 4 years ago? Kampung Kuantan is believed to be one of only two places
in the world where fireflies congregate in large numbers resulting in what is reputedly quite a spectacular show of twinkling lights. YAY! At last and better late than never...
As a family - we LOVE road trips - even little ones. No schedules, no check-ins, no limitations on luggage or liquid! That freedom of hitting that road in anticipation of the unexpected. OK OK this was just up the highway exiting at Sungai Buloh - but you never know
😊 😊 😊 It's A Different World even 30 minutes beyond the city limits
:0 Loaded up at the obligatory rest stops on Hot Rods (I kid you not! NEVER again - they were soooo vile), Dunkin' Donuts and honey roasted cashews. As we zipped through
Kampung Sungai Plong (who names these places?) I salivated longingly at the stalls of Ayam Golek - with black pepper, juices dripping... cursing KFC and Sprog's addiction to finger lickin'. Followed the signs to Sungai Buloh Prison where most of our good friend Sree's clients reside under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (times are hard - it's a living). Past the jarring concrete developments of "boxes little boxes made of ticky tacky that all look just the same"(one has to watch Weeds
:D). There were palm estates, kampung houses with corrugated iron roofs and Ijok Town - the setting of the infamous BUY-elections in April 2007. Finally we passed the greens of the Royal Kampung Kuantan Golf Club (!) , a solitary fisherman was fishing in a ditch, a couple of bright blue birds perched on a wooden fence 😊 and then we were standing on the banks of Sungai Selangor...
It was almost 7pm and the sun was slowly setting. Fishermen in sampans were returning with their catch of prawns and siakap. The murky brown waters were turning a really gorgeous dusky pink. A small group of girl guides and Middle Eastern tourists lolled about
listlessly. The ticket office wasn't open for another half hour so we decided to venture further along to Taman Bestari for some of that famed Kuala Selangor seafood.
Yusri Seafood Ala Thai (:D) was the first restaurant we stumbled upon. It was just a small wooden shack off the road with plastic garden seating and TV3 blaring in the corner. Spouse and I had seriously spicy seafood tom yam and excellent steamed siakap. Sprog, inexplicably happy with his Hot Rods and donuts went exploring 😊
Forty five minutes later we were back on the wooden jetty, clad in bright orange lifejackets, waiting for our ride. The fishing sampans from earlier were now tourist sampans for the viewing of Kelip-kelip. As our boatman rowed along the waters, away from the jetty into the pitch black night, the cluster of trees lining the mangrove banks glowed with the twinkling of a thousand darting lights! :D :D :D No of course it wasn't the spectacular extravaganza of wattage and clever design. But this was just so so pretty! AND these tiny white lights could fly!!
Berembang Christmas Trees in silhouette with REAL fairy lights. Mother Nature scores again...
:D We rowed
right up to the trees, straining to watch the fireflies feed on the sap of the berembang leaves. Their tails warmly flickering on and off in perfect unison. Inky black water gently lapping round our sampan - it was a rare moment of pure peace and beauty 😊
The 25 sampans will take visitors along the river till about 10.30pm on a good night. We were our boatman's second load last night. The night before he'd taken four boatloads out. It can get pretty busy these days as the school holidays have started. Christmas? Ppffftttt! That's nothing compared to Deepavali our boatman told us. That's when it gets REALLY busy. Last Deepavali he took 11 boatloads out in one night! Rockefeller? Carnaby?? They don't call it The Festival Of Lights for nothing here 😊
HangLiPoh
xoxox
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Mariana
non-member comment
Lovely
Another wonderful post and oh, honey roasted cashews ... I want!!!