Day 1 in KL (That's Kuala Lumpur to us)

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Geo: 3.12433, 101.684

I started my day with a visit to the Sri Mahamariaman Temple; it was a short walk from my hostel. I met a nice older man at the door who took it upon himself to show me around. =) As we reached the back of the temple, there was a gathering of folks all around a statue that was getting a bath of water & turmeric from a priest. Near the back of the group I started a conversation with a lady who was making candles to light after the bathing. She was making them from an inverted lime rind and a cotton wick (which she spun from a big ball) and then by pouring in a kind of butter they made from milk. She told me this was an important day for this ceremony, so she left work at lunch so she could be here, and she'd help with the preparations/ceremony for the rest of the day. Cool.

Then I got blessed by the priest, did my seven laps around the statues in the right corner of the temple. I need to learn what these are because every Hindu temple I go into has the same statues that people walk around seven times. I got a jasmine bracelet from the flower hockers outside, 2RP (that's less money than I can bother figuring out the math for).

I went out for lunch, and bumped into Mohammed, a guy who is also staying at my hostel. He is a flight attendent and home to KL for a visit. We walked through the main shopping mart together and then hopped into a cab to Times Square. There is a large roller coaster inside the mall there that I wanted to see.

After that, we walked around town, saw the KL Tower and the Petronas Towers. We took the subway home, and passed by the Jame Mosque and Merdeka Square where the Sultan Abdul Samad Building is. (He used to rule/own the city.) Also it's the place of the world's tallest flagpole. LOL. The Square was really beautiful, with all old colonial buildings from a forgotten time. Beautiful.

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Photos

c - Priest pouring water
This priest was blessing/washing the statue with turmeric water. It was orange and smelled so yummy.

e - Making the wicks
I sat with these two ladies for a while and watched them make these candles. They inverted lime skins. Then they pulled apart and twisted cotton balls into wicks, finally they filled them with a kind of butter that one of them made at home.
The woman on the left was really nice and patient to explain everything to me. She said that she left work at noon so she could be here to help out with the ceremony. I asked her if it was hard to get the time off and she nodded no. She said that these ceremonies happen all the time and that employers know the importance of religion and it's respected enough to take time off for.

o - The florist outside the temple
He was making wreathes, necklaces and loops to hang from most anywhere. These are jasmine buds.He worked so fast looping them together on a string. I bought a loop and wore it on my wrist the rest of the day.

p -My new bracelet!
The yellow flower was given to me by the man who was dressing the statues. He places them all around there feet and saved this one for me.

q - Masjid Jamek Mosque, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
This is one of the largest Mosques in the city, it sits right where the two main canals meet. I have some better photos of it later on when I visited it at night.

r -This is simply called the KL Tower
There is a viewing platform on the top, and a restaurant/buffet that spins. It was $50 for dinner, and I heard the food wasn't so great. I did go to the viewing platform though and saw the city skyline, and especially the Petronas Towers, from the top.

t -The Petronas Towers (and my right foot)
The Petronas Towers were a setting for some scenes in the 1999 film Entrapment staring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

v -Merdeka Square, KL
You might have seen this on the news in the past week, the Olympic torch passed through this square and the Tibetian protestors make headlines.
http://www.malaysiasite.nl/merdekaeng.htm

x - The Sultan Abdul Samad Building
The most beautiful building in Merdeka Square is the Abdul Samad Building. It was government offices, but now its empty.

Comments

[joannesp]

From Mom Loved seeing and talking to you. You look great! Will try to get the video working on my end. Love, Momps, All my new windows are in now. Sorry that was happening while you called.

[sofia_leo]

From Sofia Hi Momma, I wanted to tell you I ate my first bug of the season! (Nonna took this picture while I was watching it.) The bug was on Nonna's new window screen and I batted it with my paw and it fell down. It was injured and tri
ed to walk away, but I followed it and sniffed at it....then ate it! Love + miss you. Sofiaps....JLo had twins and a personal trainer who got her back to her pre baby figure.

[joannesp]

From Mom Sofia + Leo may have to have their own e-mail addresses instead of sharing. They want their own picture up there when they speak to you, but when I change the photo, it changes ALL the photos in past messages. I might have to d
o some work on that. Love, Mom