Have never been big on Halloween parties, preferring to stay in and be a couch potato instead of wading through a sea of ghosts, ghouls and witches. But this year, dinner plans with a friend, who is back home from New York for a few days, saw us bar hopping – Gen X style ……
Category: Kuala Lumpur
My First Roller-Coaster Ride
I had to explain why this bus was such a big deal, and such a significant part of our daily lives to the Gen Zs and Aplhas in the family recently. A journey on this notorious Bas Mini – through the streets of Kuala Lumpur was sometimes worse than a roller-coaster ride. It was organised…
KL temple procession back after 63-year hiatus
160th Anniversary of Kuala Lumpur’s (KL) oldest temple – the Sin Sze Si Ya temple – was celebrated with the return of the Qi An Da Jiao parade last Sunday after a 63 year hiatus. The procession through the city was held annually for blessings, fortune and protection for the city, and its dwellers. The…
Weekend Indulgence
In the 80s, it as common to have mobile trucks and hawkers tooting their way through neighbourhoods – selling an array of food, from breakfast bites, to noodle soups, dumplings and ice-cream. One of my favourite vendors was the ‘tau fu fa man’ – as we know him and the silky white bean curd he…
Winding Down The Week
It was a lovely and busy Saturday spent with family & friends, and we needed to wind down from a day of driving through heavy traffic and long distances. So we decided to make a date night out of getting all dressed up for the day – at a quaint neighbourhood restaurant in Lucky Garden,…
Copper Cup Brews
Rich, creamy & frothy tea and coffee served in shiny copper cups which have apparent health benefits. These special brews are among some of the more recent additions at Central Market Kuala Lumpur – once a tourist hub but nowadays an equally interesting place for locals, with a variety of pop-up stores and new products,…
Down Memory Lane: University of Malaya
A quest to find a book that I have been searching for over the last two years brought me back to my Alma Mater – the University of Malaya where I laid the foundation for a career in journalism, and where my interest in history and heritage were honed. It was a 35 degree Celsius…
Flying Retro ✈️
My paternal uncle bought a house in SS14 Subang Jaya in the 1980s. At that time this neighbourhood was the Hounslow of Malaysia – and a hub for airport and airline staff. It’s proximity to then Subang International Airport meant that planes would be flying over your house every hour or less. That put off…
Home Bound Day of the Dead
It’s a different Cheng Beng festival for the Chinese community today as the Movement Control Order (MCO) measures are tightened in view of a peak of Covid 19 infections in mid-April. This annual festival which is essentially the Chinese version of ‘All Souls Day’ is one where families gather at cemeteries all over the country…
Restricted Movement Sunday Lunch
Our routine over the past two weeks has been limited and the Movement Control Order has been extended till mid-April. I’m missing my Sunday banana leaf lunch with the family and tried to replicate it today with missing ingredients nevertheless. Here’s lunch for today, white rice, fish sambal, dhall and siew pak choy fried with…
新年快乐 (Xinnian Kuai Le) 🐭
A Happy Chinese New Year to the WordPress community, readers, friends and family! Special wishes for those born in the year of the rat.
An Abundant Ponggal to All
I didn’t realise it was ponggal (harvest festival) today till I noticed the boiling earthen pots under sticks of sugar cane, propped up in front of my neighbours homes this morning. All dressed up in colourful clothes, the families were gathered around the pot waiting for it to overflow so that they can shout ‘Ponggal!’…
Maria Dass the World 