Mark and cats… I know I mentioned that in the last blog, but half of my pictures from Malaysia involve Mark petting or following a cat. We lovingly call him Dr. Doolittle because he can get stray animals to follow him anywhere.
This cat was hanging outside our airbnb everyday, so Mark even thought about getting cat food for it. He’s a very good man, and I couldn’t think of a better adventure partner.
Alex is learning the ways of his dad…. always with the cats!
We were waiting for our cab to come and get us while we were making friends with the neighborhood cat. KL, like most of Southeast Asia, uses Grab- an Uber like car service. If you’re ever heading to that part of the world, set yourself up an account before you get there.
We were getting a cab to head out to another Hindu temple, well, really two that are right down the street from each other. I very much like the aesthetics of Hinduism- the artwork is unlike anything else.
Unfortunately this temple was under construction inside, so we didn’t spend very long inside. The outside is still beautiful though.
Nearby was the second temple, and for personal reasons I’ll explain, this one was near and dear to my heart and I made it a priority to head there.
While walking from the first temple to the second, we noticed a terrifying amount of pigeons…. Hitchcock’s The Birds numbers of birds.
Every power line, street light, fence, car, sidewalk… all had birds on them.
And so much bird poop… I was afraid one of us would slip and fall like a cartoon!
This temple is the Sree Veera Hanuman Temple – Lord Hanuman’s temple. When Mark and I were first married, we went to see a movie at Ebert Fest in Urbana, Sita Sings the Blues. It is a great movie and tells the story of Rama and Sita (with the help of Lord Hanuman) and the trials and tribulations of their story interspersed with the director’s marital trails. It is a different style, and after the movie was over, we got to see a panel discussion with the director. The Hanuman temple shows lots of scenes from the Rama and Sita story, along with other stories from the Hindu mythology.
Rama (center, the blue one)
Also Rama, with a white cow- we didn’t find out the story that goes with this, but he is often pictured with a white cow.
Statue of Lord Hanuman on the building next door, also under construction, that will connect to this temple when finished.
Lord Hanuman, the divine monkey, Rama and Sita.
At the temple, there was a Pujari (Hindu priest) who was changing the garlands and offerings on the statues, he gave Alex a few of the removed flowers, which is supposed to be
The pujari completing a ritual. He was very nice and invited us to take pictures and be included in the process. I got the impression that they don’t get a lot of tourists in there. But Alex and I screwed up– I forgot the rules about left hands and right hands, in India, the right hand is used for eating, and the left hand is considered unclean. We took the offering water to drink with our left hands. And the pujari noticed but didn’t say anything, it took me a couple minutes to realize what we had done wrong.
This little boy latched on to Alex and followed him around the temple. We thought he was with one guy, but then the guy left and the boy was still there. Alex shared his offering flower and this little guy was so happy. I think we could have brought him home without too much trouble ;-).
The Pujari, waiting between offerings and rituals.
At the temple we met a representative of the temple who was curious about us and why we were there. We chatted for a while about the temple, the people who go there – and given some suggestions for lunch nearby.
As one might expect, we were on the border of Little India, and we decided to head over there to find lunch instead.
Alex standing at the border to Little India. It was very hot that day, but the smells and music and atmosphere made the hike over there worth it.
A view of the Petronas Towers- I was surprised how close we really were to the towers from our Airbnb.
That night, Mark found a Mediterranean place for dinner, and we hopped in another Grab to head over there. We got there before it got busy, and the manager really liked Alex, he taught Alex how to do a style of twiddling his thumbs that they do where he is from.
Alex and the manager– Alex is such a delightfully weird kid.
Dolmas, really good dolmas- I never really ate them before, because they are usually dripping in olive oil and are just off putting, but these were amazing, not oily, just delicious.
Alex got a Kit-Kat milkshake, and he was so happy, it was “as big as my face Mom”. Also pictured is the tastiest hummus and pita bread, I didn’t realize how much I missed hummus!
Alex ordered a very traditional Mediterranean dish… salmon. This kid is ridiculous, but it was tasty. We had a lovely braised lamb with rice, and also chicken and lamb kebabs.
This was a really nice day in KL. The blend of different cultures in this city make it feel like you are visiting more than one city. I’d go back to KL anytime, and this was just the beginning!
Traveling Expat Family 