Friday 21 January 2011

Adventures of Moon

The adventures of Moon continue including car dramas :-)

Losing the car in the shopping mall car parks, I can handle that, it's mildly amusing even in the soaring heat, yesterday though we reached a new level in the car dramas :-)  we took a trip to the dentist and innocently parked the car on a side street as the car park was full . . . everything is so busy here with zillions of cars everywhere so it can be hard to find a parking spot (honest!), so we just copied others (mistake number 1) and parked on this side street alongside some other cars . . . we even bought a car parking ticket to show willing! As we walked up to the dentist we noticed a car being towed, OH even said "ha unlucky" but we carried on our business anyway (mistake number 2!). We were gone for about 45 minutes maybe, we come back out, and there is my father in-law's car ON A TOW TRUCK being driven away . . . we watched like it was in slow motion . . . errr panic! Actually there were several tow trucks taking cars away and lots of policemen hanging around, they had a one-day operation in the area, arrhh nightmare! OH gives his best sorry face to the policeman, luckily he agrees that he'll stop the car going to the compound but we still need to pay the fine and pick up the car from the police station up the road, PHEW! 350 ringgit (about 70 GBP) later we finally get the car back, and RELAX! :-)


Another day, another shopping mall (seriously, there are that many here to choose from).


I decided to be a bit more adventurous and tried Tom yum spaghetti for lunch, hmm looks appetising huh!? No idea why I chose it, in my defence there was no picture in the menu but then again, it said minced chicken so still not sure why I chose it!


Yesterday we went over to the Batu Caves as we're lucky enough to be here at the time of the Thaipusam hindu festival, bonus. 


This is what the Batu Caves looks like normally at night, it's a big tourist attraction - the most popular Hindu shrine outside India. There are 272 steep steps up to the temple in the cave . . . I've made it up there on a previous trip to Malaysia and it's pretty spectacular.


The Thaipusam festival is every year around this time in January, I've seen this on the TV before but this year we were lucky enough to visit to see it person . . . wow, what an experience! Dr Google tells me that the festival is about faith, endurance, penance and for devotees to show their appreciation to one of the hindu gods. 


It was quite shocking, the pilgrims seem to go to extreme lengths to show their faith, some pierce their faces through the cheeks or tongue with skewers!! others put metal hooks in the backs, it's pure madness. Apparently they don't feel any pain or bleed as they are usually in a trance, the eyes of some people looked like they were in another world.
It's quite amazing to see, my photo's don't really give it justice. The crowds gather and there is a lot of chanting and drumming for the pilgrams who have walked bare foot for miles to make their journey to the shrine at the top of the Batu Caves.




Anyway, stay tuned for more adventures of Moon :-)

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