Friday, January 30, 2009

Chinese New Year Long Weekend


The Chinese New Year long weekend has been and gone and we have had a very busy and enjoyable time. For every festivity there is a dress up at Isaac’s Kindy for which a trip is made to the local department store to get an ‘authentic’ costume in keeping with the theme. Isaac loved his Chinaman outfit although I suspect the parents enjoyed the get together more then the kids lingering at the Kindy longer then I’m sure the staff would have liked. So cute.

Lina was working at home that day so we stopped off at for my favourite roti chanai at Rajus. Roti Chanai, a very popular snack in Malaysia is like a pancake with an Indian twist. A couple of puddles of gravy on the side….delicious.

On Saturday we were invited to a party to celebrate Sassy and Falk’s new born daughter, Ada. Sunday involved an early morning trip to the play ground at Lake Gardens. Out door activity has a short window in these parts given its 30 degrees by 10am (last weeks lunacy excepted, see ‘Walking Adventure’, 21 January) so we were finished by 11.30 before retreating to the comfort of air conditioning.

Apparently, a Chinese New Year is not complete without the appearance of a dragon and we were lucky enough to have a ceremony on our doorstep, outside the hotel opposite our condo. Isaac was initially terrified as the dragon dances to the beat of a pounding, incessant drum but eventually he could not stop talking about them for the rest of the day.

A morning at the Sunway Lagoon pool and slides, followed by a BBQ in the afternoon at Brian and Rachel’s place resulted in too much sun for me. Again! However this time I have the red back to go with it


The little emperor









Loving it



Perfect Roti Chanai - slightly flaky, soft on the inside



Isaac's favouite playground activity



Sassy and her daughter Ada


It must get hot under there


The dance is quite elaborate










Thursday, January 22, 2009

Kin Kin

The photo in no way does the food justice; however, this is some of the best nosh that you can taste in KL. The experience starts off just the way I like it. A restaurant tucked away in a particularly untidy lane, obstacle course pavement, surrounded by mechanic shops, tailors, cheap carparks, and without a shopping mall in sight. Tick. Enter restaurant – plastic everywhere, most importantly the chairs, but also the bowls, chop sticks, spoons, and cups. Tick. The best food in KL is to be had perched in a backless plastic chair. An elderly man roaming, cooking, serving, handling the cash, (no credit cards – tick,) looking at home surveying his domain, like he owns the joint, and then realizing that he does. This has potential. A quick scan of the menu – and I mean real quick, because it consists of one thing, Pan Mee with chili accompaniment. This is going to be good. And it certainly was. Restaurant Kin Kin is world famous in KL for the best chili pan mee. Home made noodles, nice and thick with a slight al dente texture, layered with, minced meat, dried anchovies, the obligatory runny egg, and the x-factor ingredient - chili, supplied in a side bowl for that highly personal distribution over noodle.

We love this place.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Walking Adventure

KL, like Auckland, is a car town through and through. Partly through inadaquacies of public transport and because driving here is cheap and easy relative to most other Asian capitals, walking is a rare choice of transport. The rationale for this is clearer to me following my stroll home after collecting Isaac from Kindergarten. As the crow flies the distance is about 1.5 km from the Kindy to our home. So given these bare facts, walking Isaac home after Kindy should be feasible. Right? Unfortunately not.

The car was in for a service yesterday and I decided to do just this. Isaac was fine atop my shoulders feeding his face, basking in the glorious sunshine while I was doing it tough, head down, laden with baggage, evading broken pavement beside a fully fledged freeway, sweat coming from my brow faster then I could wipe away as that midday 38 degree heat hammered me. Upon my arrival home I looked like every passing motorist had thrown a bucket of water at me. Thankfully Isaac has not inherited his father’s physiological propensity towards colder climates.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Good times at the weekend

Going away parties are a regular part of living overseas. During my time living in Britain these occasions were another excuse for converging upon the local and not so local watering holes andtoasting friends who we would most probably never see again. Over a decade later, it is still a pleasant excuse for a knees up and hence another such occasion occurred on Saturday night for Phillip and Yuri’s leaving dinner and drinks. We met them through kindy and their son Nico has developed a great friendship with Isaac. They are returning to Phillip’s country of origin, Belgium, and Yuri, who is from Thailand, will begin the task of learning the local tongue, Flemish. These parties are a great way to meet other people also and get to places in KL that we would otherwise miss. Dinner was had at Chutney, a North Indian curry house in Bangsar, followed by drinks at the ‘classy’ Waikiki bar. A planned early finish ended up at 3am for which we suffered the next day. Undeterred however we were pleased we made the effort the next day to attend the KL Performing Arts Centre open day. It would be fair to say that you must really scratch well below the surface to access the arts in this city, but if this facility is any indication, then it is in fine shape. There were performances throughout the day and the artists were very friendly and helpful with a refreshing lack of pretentiousness that can be discouraging amongst the western art scene. It was a gorgeous Sunday evening so we topped it off with dinner at the Bangsar night market. Sunday nights are unlike those in NZ. Instead of tucking away at home preparing for the working week, Sunday is just another day to get amongst it in Asia. We really feel that we are getting the full bang from our weekends.
Relaxing by the pool.......
whilst Zac swims on a Saturday afternoon

Yuri (L) and Cindy (R)

Opps - Still getting used to the photo stuff





He loves his corn. Bought at the night market.


Bangsar Sunday Night Market













































Friday, January 16, 2009

Out of Africa Restaurant

I have heard a bit about a restaurant in PJ owned by some South Africans reputably serving authentic southern African cuisine…….in Malaysia. I have met the chef/owner before and I have been very curious so we finally made it down there last night. We don’t usually go out to dinner mid week however as Lina is working for much of this coming weekend, we made an exception. The restaurant is situated in a run down ex-sports complex with an Olympic sized pool that has seen better days. Seating was available outside in an open courtyard that is very inviting on a beautifully warm tropical evening.

The service was spot on and we all had our full of meat as is the South African way. This place is quite popular with expats who live out in PJ with a bar attached that is affiliated with a couple of local sports teams. I had the chicken livers to start followed by an ostrich schnitzel, while Lina had the Biltong Caesar salad (Lina is a huge fan of biltong which is unsurprisingly difficult to get here…..seen any cows lately!) with the lamb chops as a main. A dessert was shared and we were stuffed. To top it off, this place has a playground which attracts many families so keeping the little fella amused was a piece of cake. He had a great time and we didn’t need to resort to the portable DVD player! Another good find for some distinctly un-Asian, hearty, red blooded food. I forgot my camera so these shots are down loaded from their web site. I am still trying to get into the habit of taking the camera out.



Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Model Citizens


Isn’t it great to do something that you never do? To get out of that comfort zone. I think that a photo shoot posing as one of the worlds most famous and infamous couples would fit into that category.

A friend who works for the magazine ‘Expatriate Lifestyle’ was in dire need of a couple to interview for his story about love in KL. He needed couples who brought love, found love, and lost love here. Each couple will be photographed in a movie iconic theme and as the couple representing the bringing of love to Malaysia, ours was based on this publicity shot for the movie ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’ starring you know who.

Now, some women might need some persuading to pose as Angelina Jolie complete with shoulder length legs and freshly botoxed lips, but not our Lina. There was some consternation of course, but as expected, it was a lot of fun and the photographer was left with clear instructions from Lina as to how she was to be represented in our version! The results will be for all to see in next months issue so I will keep you posted when that hits the newsstand.

http://www.expatriatelifestyle.com/

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

New Swimming Lesson

We were invited by Cindy and her son Carsten, to a swimming lesson at their condo pool in TTDI. This lesson was different to Isaac's usual swimming as I was observing as the instructor put him through his paces. He was certainly more compliant then when I am in the pool with him and he had a great time , impressing the lady with his diving and general 'no fear' attitude in the water. Thank Paddle Tots in New Zealand, you have created a true Kiwi water baby! We love taking him to water as he enjoys being the centre of attention with his water stunts. Water awareness and ability in Malaysia amongst the locals and expats is of a much lower standard then New Zealand, but no Toni, I have not become sufficiently motivated to get the Malaysian branch of Paddle Tots up and running! There are several swimming schools for toddlers in KL but I have still to find one that is going to take Isaac to the next level! Pushy parent.....nooooooo

Zac needs some help with the kicking



This is Carsten who attends Isaac's kindy

Hmmmm......what should I play with next



Sunday, January 11, 2009

Sunday Feed

The gas ran out in our condo yesterday and we cannot cook at home till Monday. In New Zealand this may destine one to a diet of McDonalds but not here. Starving is hardly an option with the huge variety of food so we headed for one of our favourite hawker centres, Ming Tien Food Court in Section 24, Petaling Jaya. The lights, open seating, and pretty much every type of Malaysian food available make it a great dinner destination and is a place we like to take visitors as mum and dad will remember.

The night market (pasar malam)
Lime juice: one of our favourite drinks in the tropics

The remnents of pork wantan mee

Calzone: our token western dish and surprisingly good
Portugese Style Satong (Squid)







Up and Running


It is close to 10 months in Malaysia and I have been thinking for some time that I really should write a blog to chronicle our family’s life in this country. Typically given my tendency to procrastinate, it has taken me this long to get it up and running. So here goes.

And what a great time of year to start. Chinese New Year is coming up; just one of many festivities to celebrate in this multi ethnic nation. We have had Hari Raya, Deepevali, The Buddhist holiday, and of course Christmas. They just keep on coming.

Here is a photo I took in the mall next door of the Chinese New Year (CNY) decorations. These guys take mall decoration very seriously. Overnight, a 3 storey structure will appear. Pretty amazing. So we can always keep track of the seasons by ducking to the mall and checking out the latest structures erected. This is a better indication of the change of seasons rather then the weather which is limited to hot or as Robin Williams said in the movie Good Morning Vietnam, ‘hot and wet’.

Lina and I were talking again today about how incredibly multi cultural this place is. We are not naïve enough to think that we are living in a multi ethnic utopia here, but at least they are trying, which is more than can be said for many other countries at the present time.