Finally settled, Myanmar count down can start!

Now we are finally settled in the new apartment. The new IKEA wardrobe and drawer have found its place and is already overfilled with our stuff. We still haven't unpacked three bags.. For now they will have to be stored in the 3rd bedroom (storage room for now..), maybe another trip to IKEA will be needed later on..

Last night Lina came back to KL from her 6 months stay in NZ (YAAAY!!) Finally I got my "makan" buddy back! She will stay with us for a while so there will be plenty of food experiment to come!

On Saturday we fly off to Myanmar for 10 days of holiday. So far we have only got the return flight ticket and the accommodation for the first night. Though I am not worried. I think mine and Mun's traveling style match each other very well.. Spontaneous, not to much planning, play by ear..  The only thing I know we have to do is to exchange some US Dollar and make sure they are brand new and not folded or torn. They don't accept "bad looking" bills and there are not an excessive number of ATMs around. Hopefully we wont have any problems. Update on the trip with pictures will come later on.

Tuesday was my last day working for Besedo after almost 4 years. Many mixed feelings. Its been an amazing experience and I have learned so much and met so many wonderful people. On Friday we had dinner at Hilton KL Sentral to celebrate Besedo 10 years anniversary and to say good bye.  I will miss Besedo dearly!

screw IKEA or IKEA screw?

My birthday weekend has been celebrated in a relocation marathon. We rented a car for 2 days to be able to get as much done as possible. Half a day was spent in IKEA eating meatballs with unboiled potatoes (a big disappointment..) and shopping for the basics since the new place doesn't have plates, cutlery etc. During the last year I have managed to assemble a full walk in wardrobe at the old place and I have been a little concerned where to put all my stuff when moving but thank god for Swedish inventions.. IKEA solves all problems! I got myself a brand new wardrobe and a drawer. Yesterday afternoon I was rediscovering IKEA furniture screwing a la Malaysian style.., that is in 30 degrees.. ppfff many screws to screw but with great team work the wardrobe and the drawer now decorates the bedroom very nicely.
 

How to copy your key in Malaysia..

I am moving! Finally we found a nice apartment close to a park with a small lake. I can't wait to explore the park more. I am looking forward to being able to go for a walk in nature which is something I miss very much living big city life. Today we start moving in and we went to get the door key to the new place copied and I learned how simple and efficient Malaysia actually can be sometimes.. The van was parked just around the corner from our new house and it took him only 10 minutes.  

Brickladies

Last night I attended my first Brickladies event in Bangsar. Brickladies is a social group for both local and expat working women of various nationalities and professions based in KL. Last nights gathering was at a French restaurant called Croisette Cafe inside a nice condo close to Bangsar Shopping Center. I went straight from work and was one of the first to arrive. Quickly I got myself the first glass of wine for the evening (many more to come..) and I chatted away with a Danish lady who has lived in KL for over 20 years being married to a Malaysian and running her own company here. Very inspiring! Second glass I enjoyed while munching of the French buffet table. The chocolate dessert was to die for! I had a really nice time and met some interesting fun ladies that I hope to keep in touch with.

I have a long weekend coming up with 4 days off. Hopefully the weather will be good so I can enjoy some lazy hours by the pool. It is a shame how little I have utilized the fact that I have two very nice swimming pools just outside my door.. there is room for improvement here!

Cecilia's Zoo

I have rediscovered drawing again and last week I got a really nice drawing/painting book that will teach me to draw all kinds of animals. 2 years ago in Malta I took a portrait and figure painting class but I have realized that humans are way too difficult to draw.. My skill level is just not there yet so I will stick to animals for now and keep practicing. I am planning to have my own little Cecilia Zoo and so far I have Elephants and an Owl. In progress is a lion :)

Pre-Burma, visa stage

Today we are getting our visas to go to Burma in the middle of October. I cant wait!! To apply for the visa was surprisingly easy.. after my experience of getting Russian and Indian visas I expected a million times more questions and trouble but our passports and papers were smoothly submitted yesterday and we can collect them today in the afternoon, piece of cake!

Now is definitely the right time to explore the country. It has opened up more than ever and welcome tourism. Many tour operators in Sweden have already entered and the response is very positive. Some even have had to doubled the number of departure dates for next years season.  In the article below they describe a trip to Burma as travel back in time and they mean Burma is like Thailand was 30-40 years ago.



http://www.travelnews.se/artiklar/artiklar/20120906/turistboom-i-burma

Ugly fish

Last weekend we went to Perhentian Islands, north east cost of Malaysia. To my surprise friends from Sweden, Micke and Linus decided to join as well. They have been traveling for a few weeks around Indonesia and I was very happy to meet them in Perhentian before they went back to Sweden. We enjoyed some lazy hours on the beach, a crazy pre-monsoon thunderstorm and the guys went for diving while me (chicken as I am) only did some snorkeling. I was swimming alone while the rest of the diving group was about 14 meters somewhere under me.. Peacefully I was swimming looking at the small fishes and the corals when I pumped into 8 terrifying ugly huge fishes.. They are called Parrot fish and this kind can be up to 120 cm. Thankfully they were friendly and were more interested in eating from the seabed than off me.. Next time I am planning to get over my "chicken" behavior and try to dive again. Might get a chance in Tioman in 2 weeks time. Maybe if I see more of these crazy looking fishes I will be more afraid of them than my diving equipment.. and I will actually manage to get an open water license. 

satu dua tiga.. SMILE

Yesterday we had a Raya and good bye event for some of the people at work who are leaving. We had crazy lot of food and even more different cookies.. We played charades and had a hilarious photo session snapping 4*10 auto pictures at once with a different pose in each. This is my favorite from the collection :)

KL Social Media Event

Yesterday I met up with Mita to attend KL Social Media Event 2012. Unfortunately it was not what we had expected. We had hoped for a bigger exhibition but instead the venue was at a small cafe and the speakers were nothing but impressive. They spoke of the power of Social Media, especially Facebook pointing out a lot of statistic and the threats of your safety. While mentioning the usage of smart phones and how much time we spend on Social Media platforms I couldn't help but smile when seeing these 3 Europeans in front of me all checking their Facebook at least every 10 minute.. So the question to ask.. was the event really that boring (me and Mita sneaked out half through to hunt for beer...), or do we over use our smart phones to the extend it becomes silly..?

Today we are having a relaxed Sunday at home, weather is bad with a lot of haze coming in from Indonesia. It is not very pleasant to be outside. Even though we went out to get breakfast, roti canai and nasi lemak.. yum!

Raya cookies and snakes

As promised I will give an update on the Hari Raya weekend in Penang.
It all started with a bus ride from KL early Saturday morning and I had expected a very bad traffic but the loud Indian bus driver took the old road with less jam so the trip took about 6 hours +, instead of 4 (which was not too bad since I had feared for 10 hours). We arrived in the late afternoon to Mun’s family house where we entered a cooking marathon. The whole family was sitting on the floor in the kitchen rolling sticky rice in bamboo leaves. We spent the evening preparing for the next day and I was admiring the nearly 20 different kinds of homemade cookies..

The next morning we woke up early for the traditional prayer at the Mosque. I followed and watched from outside. The prayer was over within an hour, I was enjoying my time in the shade doing some serious people watching. I had borrowed one of Mun’s sisters Baju Kurung, which is the traditional Malay dress. Its a knee long loose fitting blouse worn over a long shirt. They can be very beautiful and usually for Hari Raya women in the family match the colour or the pattern with each other. I did not match the sisters however, mine was very light green, compared to their red and blue. I wore it to the Mosque and for the rest of the day but not to worry.., I also wore the “modern and sexy” one (which is just a top, not a Baju Kurung) but not until the day after when visiting relatives. For the record, there was no one in the family who gave me a high eyebrow look, for this time I got by smoothly and passed the test =)

After coming back from the Mosque we went for a little road trip with the mother, grandmother and the sisters up to Perlis where grandmother has a house. Perlis is a state up north and we were as close as about 30 km from the Thailand border. The Malay Raya tradition is to visit one another and eat. We had visitors coming over to the house and we also went to see other relatives close by.

Despite the heat and the sun we got some outdoor exercise while helping mother do some cleaning and gardening at a small house she has inherited not far from grandmothers house. The garden (or I should rather say the land) is very big. The house is for now unlivable, the plan is to renovate and rent it. Mun acted farmer boy and sprayed the whole land with weed-killer and I was taken care of all the leaves next to the house. My heart stopped for a second when I saw a large snake curl out of my pile of leaves, clearly I was not wanted as I most have woken him up from his sleep. Luckily he was still in a good mood and made his way away from me and the house.. After that Mun changed his flip flops into proper rubber boots and I could carry on feeling a little bit better..

The last day back in Penang Mun took me to Georgetown to see the wall paintings. We walked for a few hours around town. Photos was shared earlier :)
Back at the house I met Mun’s aunt with family. Turns out that aunt's American husband has Swedish roots. His great grandfather is from Gotland! Once again the world has proven to be very small! 

I had a nice time and I am still enjoying the homemade cookies I got back with me home =)

Street art in Penang

While spending the weekend in Penang we went hunting for the new wall paintings in Georgetown that I had heard and read about. The paintings are done by the Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic during the Georgetown festival about 2 months ago. The paintings have become very popular, especially the main one on Armenian street of two kids on a bicycle. We had to queue to get a proper photo of the painting. However the queuing itself wasn't that bad, it was rather amusing in fact watching the Chinese tourists bring one pose after another next to the painting.

Here is my collection of the Ernest Zacharevic's street art. I sure look forward to see more!

Happy Hari Raya

This coming weekend is the Muslim festival Hari Raya when all Muslims break the fasting month. It is the biggest holiday of the year in Malaysia. We are off to Penang tomorrow morning to spend 4 days with Mun's family. I am really looking forward to it and excited to experience the traditional celebration. Mun's mother and sisters have already picked out my outfit which was kind of a surprise to Mun since its not what he expected, its modern and sexy according to him.. lets see the reactions I will get from the rest of the family.. to my defense, I didn't choose it myself! I promise I will tell you all about it and I will get some photos uploaded as well :)

Besides from Penang we also have some other nice trips planned soon. First weekend of September we are going to Perhentian islands again for a few days to relax and enjoy the beach. I cant wait! And.. In mid October we are going for a 11 days trip to Myanmar (Burma), finally! I booked the tickets earlier today so now there is no turning back. Just need to figure out the visa and decide our route.

Tonight I will enjoy a nice meal and some drinks with the gang at Jalan Alor before everybody is off for the holiday. I wish you all a Happy Raya and I hope you will have a great weekend!

  

Sunday shopping

Grocery shopping a la Asian style; pack as much as possible onto the bike without falling off..
Last Sunday we went to Bangsar Village and this time (to my big surprise!) I remembered to bring my very pink big recycling shopping bag. You see.., the packing of your groceries here is a bit different from what I am used to back home. Here the cashier lady will do it for you and she will separate all the things depending on the type of product, soft things in one plastic bag, cold things in another and so on.. Rather convenient if it wasn't for the complete unnecessary waste of plastic bags!!... When doing light shopping I will have 4 plastic bags with me home even if I just got some breakfast stuff! This usually end up me having to hold several plastic bags on each side of the bike balancing the weight not to fall off.., resulting in us looking like a crazy shopping Christmas tree.. Anyways, the Sunday shopping this time went more smoothly than normal even though my bag is more over loaded and heavy than it looks like..

 

Since last time..

I realize I cannot blame lack of time for not updating the blog since March so therefore I wont start listing a bunch of excuses.. However, the main reason is because my blogging and Asian food inspiration came from my friend Lina who left KL to go to NZ in April..  Come back Lina pls!

Now.., way too many things have happened since last time to fit in one post but I will share a little bit to get back on track. I have recently enjoyed two nice weekend get-aways in Kuching, Sarawak/Borneo and a road trip to Cameron Highlands.

In Kuching we went for the Borneo Music Rainforest Festival in the middle of July. The festival was during three days but I only managed to visit the festival one day. It was cool music and a nice atmosphere. The day after, before heading back to KL we visited the Orang Utans at Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Center where we got to meet the Orang Utan named "Hot Mama" among others..

The weekend after we packed the car for a road trip to Cameron Highlands. In the highlands you can enjoy beautiful tea plantations, yummie strawberry farms and nice hikes. We visited the Boh tea plantation on the hill with a stunning view over the green scenery. We also had a hilarious moment in the souvenir shop trying out Cameron Strawberry ear muffs..     

And not to forget.. we started a new trend! Make sure you look after this in the new autumn collection this year.

For more pictures check out this album:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150683958170941.446968.587000940&type=3&l=82264248ce

How you know you live in a suburb?

There are different ways in different countries how you decorate your balcony. This is how it would look like in a suburb to Stockholm.

In Asia on the other hand, the balcony decoration tend to be a little bit more colorful and of different shapes.

Sunway Lagoon

As any big city Kuala Lumpur also have its own theme park. The name is Sunway Lagoon and as the website tells you can find 5 different parks inside; Water park, Amusement park, Extreme park, Scream park and Wild life park. In my opinion a little overrated but the main reason for going was Lina and Sara's crazy idea they wanted to go bungy jumping, and so they did!

We spent the full day of Saturday in the amusement and water park and all of us turned into excited kids running between the coasters and rides. Each park is kind of small but the rides were great fun. I was not alone to not have brought any change of cloths and in Malaysia its absolutely normal to swim with your cloths on, and frankly we didn't really have any choice.. The rides in the Wild West part of the amusement park is not water proof to say the least so there was not really any point in changing into swimming wear when moving on to the water park.

Totally soaked from top till toe we passed through the Sunway mall in search for food and beer. We made a quick stop to buy a new DRY outfit for the night, 5 minutes efficient shopping and a quick make over in the toilet and i was ready for some Satey (Malaysian amazing BBQ sticks).

I love you I miss you I kiss you

MURNI is another restaurant in SS2 that attracts a lot of people. The restaurant itself is rather small but during the evening the pavement outside is turned into a 500 meter long dining table with hungry locals. Last night I found myself in the middle. The food served here is supposed to be special and looking at the number of people waiting while the staff is stressing to put up another table at the end makes it obvious. All of a sudden the dining stroll becomes 510 meter and it keeps on growing. When ordering Lina said to the waiter: I love you I miss you I kiss you. And NO it was not Lina expressing her love to this random waiter. It was the name of the drinks she ordered for us. All beverages are home made mixes and they tasted really nice. The best one was I kiss you with a base of apple juice.

I love you - I miss you - I kiss you

 

The dirtier the place, the tastier the food

Saturday night Ms Lina took me and our two neighbours for Chinese food at SS2 which is an area not far from Bangsar south, where I, for those who do not know live. Here they have a lively Chinese food court by locals called Wai Sek Gai. After parking the car and walking the 50 meters towards the stalls we managed to pass a mountain of smelling garbage and a dead rat on the side of the road. Lina has taken me to this place before in my earlier days in KL so thanks to that I was still sure I was going to have a nice meal. However, our two friends joining us didn't seem all that convinced (I don't blame them..) Lina and myself laughed it over and said "the dirtier the place, the tastier the food" which I have found to be so true. From my experience traveling in China and South East Asia you cannot find as good and tasty food as in the street stalls and in the whole in the wall kind of restaurants. You pay absolutely nothing and yet you get dishes delicious enough for a Michelin star. Maybe I am exaggerating a little bit here but considering what you get for the money I will continue finding my way in KL's dirty allies searching for food and I will be happy to share it with you.

We ended up having a really nice dinner with Japanese tofu, dried chili chicken, baby kai lan with butter and spicy sambal prawns.. yum yum..

Apollo launches Langkawi as destination

The Swedish tour operator Apollo is going to launch the Malaysian island Langkawi as a new destination next winter with a direct flight. This will probably happen even before Malaysian Airlines will reopen its non stop line KL-Stockholm. Hopefully this might be a start to open and widen the traditional Swedish tour traveling a bit.   

Langkawi is situated on the Malaysian west coast very close to the Thailand boarder and is famous for the number of water sports you can do here as well as the tax free shopping. 

http://www.travelnews.se/artiklar/nyheter/20120216/apollo-lanserar-direktflyg-till-langkawi

Mashed Potatoes @ George and the Dragon Legend

It is far from everyday I add a little extra luxury in my daily routine, considering my lunch most of the days is spent in the over crowded canteen. Last night however I met up with Ana and Nanditha at the English pub George and the Dragon Legend @ Bangsar Shopping Center. I surely enjoyed the traditional pub atmosphere and I had a huge plate of chicken and mushroom pie with beautiful fluffy mashed potatoes. I can very much recommend that! Thanks Ana for taken me!

With our bellies full we jumped in a taxi and went to Bangsar Village where we got ourselves some DVDs for the weekend, the non original covered in plastic kind of DVD. Let's just hope the quality is somewhat good!

Weekend getaway Penang vs Melaka

The two last weekends I have spent outside of Kuala Lumpur. Two weeks ago my local friend Mun took me to his home state Penang. We spent 3 days staying with his very welcoming and friendly family. The weekend after my friend Becky invited me to join her for a weekend in Melaka. There we spent two intense days within the Chinatown area. Penang and Melaka are Malaysia's second and third smallest states but they have more in common than that. Both have been visited and colonized by the British, Dutch and Portuguese and the culture heritage is obvious when strolling around Georgetown in Penang and the streets of Chinatown in Melaka, both holding the UNESCO city heritage status.

Georgetown Penang impress with a number of buildings of historic importance and the closeness to the sea gives a beautiful view. Mun is very proud of his home town and he gave me a brief history lesson while we were walking around the Fort Cornwallis and driving through the city.

We also visited the Snake Temple where half wild snakes can be found everywhere inside the temple and in the garden outside. After my trip to Borneo earlier this month I am starting to get used to the sight of exotic animals but Mun didn't seem as confident..

One of the mornings at the breakfast table Mun's mother dusted off the old family photo album and showed me her wedding pictures and pictures of the children, Mun and his sisters. Digital photos in all glory but there is not much like it to watch old photographs with its special color and memory. Mun's mother also made home cooked Nasi Lemak for breakfast, just for me to enjoy while going through memory lane of the family's history.

The second day I was trusted to drive the car and we went to the Kok Lok Si Temple which is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia. The temple is placed on a hill with a great view over the island.

Another thing Penang and Melaka have in common is food. The local traditional dishes are famous all over Malaysia but only as its original they taste the best I have been told. In Penang I tried different noodle dishes and the traditional Penang Laksa which is like a sour noodle soap with fish and vegetables. In the evening Mun took me for seafood and we had a wonderful meal with fish, crab, calamari and prawns for only RM52. A real bargain! 

The Malaysian dessert Cendol is a must try, however its not one of my favorites to say the least. I have tried the Cendol in KL, Penang and Melaka and I can honestly say that I have given it a fair chance but there will be no more Cendol for me. In Melaka you are supposed to get the best one but with the mix of flavored ice, fruit, sometimes ice cream, baked beans, corns and whatever they put in it it will still be a very memorable food experience for me despite my dislike.

Penang version of Cendol to the left and Melaka to the right.

In Melaka everything is about Chinatown and Jonker Street. A long Jonker street you can find plenty of antique, craft and cloths shops. It's a nice experience to walk here and do your souvenir shopping. During Friday and Saturday evenings the street is closed to traffic and it is transformed into a lively street market with all kinds of food and trinket stalls.

Another street of my taste was Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock. This used to be the former preferred address for wealthy "Babas", straight born Chinese. The architecture found here is Dutch inspired and walking looking upon the buildings its like being transferred to a small European village. You will keep admiring the different details of the doors and windows until a crazy colorful Trishaw (bicycle taxi) will pass by playing Lady Gaga on highest volume.

Me and Becky tried out our creative side in a small Chinese gallery where we were shown how to paint Malaysian Batik. We both chose to paint elephants and the teacher right away started to put a grey color on Becky's. When I asked if I could do mine in green he looked surprised at me with one eyebrow higher than the other. We enjoyed the time and the Chinese man was very interested in "our money" and "our language" and had lots of curious questions. The end result of the paintings we got to take with us home.