Deepawali

Nov 11 was Deepawali (or Diwali), an Indian holiday also known as the Festival of Lights. Part of this holiday involves detailed sand-based drawings, put on the ground. I saw it in KL Malaysia all over the place, and below are a few samples.

More Malaysia...

Just happend to get a glimpse of a Blue Mosque (I don't think it's THE blue mosque) on the way to the Airport: We stopped at a "Petrol Station" shortly after - the fumes were so overwhelming that I had to exit the car. It wasn't the normal gas smell, rather a paint thinner smell.

My best meal in Malaysia was at Le Bouchon - a French restaurant in KL.

Started off with a cold foie gras salad, with grapes. Quite rich and tasty (no pic). The main was a 3-meat grill of Lamb, Rib Eye, and Chicken:
Dessert - Cheese plate.

Look: America's Auntie Anne's pretzels:

In the far distance, you can see 2 (3 actually, but the 1st one moved to quickly) military helicopters with supplies hanging below:

Memories of an unpleasant hotel stay at the Renaissance:

(L) Smoking in the lobby; (R) a used ashtray on the non-smoking floor (why is there an ashtray on the non-smoking floor?)

Photo diary of my Tour of Duty to Kuala Lumpur...

Ah, the Petronas Towers... just about the only thing my ignorant self could identify with Malaysia before coming. Otherwise known as the site for Sean Connery & Catherine Zeta-Jones' film, Entrapment. It is an office building, of the Government Linked Company (GLC), Petronas, and also called KLCC - Kuala Lumpur City Center. Other interesting things about Malaysia are...

• Buses often have a sales person on the bus who helps the driver get customers - sometimes, drivers don't leave the bus stop until they get a full bus, thus delaying the "schedule".


• Cabs often try to rip you off - skipping the meter in favor of a verbal agreement. This was quite frustrating, in having to negotiate for a 2 minute cab ride home. Also, they are sometimes so lazy that they won't even stop to pick you up, even if it's 12 AM and they won't get any other business anyways.


• The Malay government heavily favors the ethnic Malays, also called Bumiputera. For instance, publicy-listed businesses must have 30% Bumiputera ownership, developers must reserve 30% of new developments for Bumiputeras, and there are huge affirmative actions in Universities. I went to the National Museum, and paid all of RM 2 (USD 0.57) to get in - the Bumi's got in free!
  
• They have the "World's Largest Bird Park" - yes, I went - upload photos some other time... it's big, but probaby not the largest. Pretty cool, and I escaped sans bird flu.
  

Pictures from the plane to KL:


Surprisingly, there's some innovative advertising ideas in KL - the Monorail (their above-ground subway) is sponsored by companies, who have adopted stations, and actually get logo sponsorship on the monorail map.