Tigers in the tin mine
by prudence on 10-Dec-2011
A typical day:
Wake up in our very pleasant apartment. We have a view over to the centre of KL, the Petronas towers, and the substantial hills behind. The other day all the little hollows in the foreground were full of mist.
Next we warm up whatever it is we've laid in for breakfast. This morning it was the second half of my packet of beef and noodles.
The first chore of the day is to look for a taxi. It's sometimes not easy to get the drivers to use the meter, even though signs saying haggling is prohibited, and these are metered taxis, are plastered all over their doors. I've discovered you have more chance of finding a metered one before 8 am than after, but I'd prefer to dispense with this taxi thing altogether, if I can manage to find an alternative that doesn't involve my arriving at work in too much of a drenched and/or sweaty state.
Work. Have lunch -- usually in the cafeteria, but sometimes at the food court down the road. Work some more.
Today I found out that Monday's a holiday. This is the second holiday I've accidentally found out about. Two weeks ago we had the beginning of the Islamic New Year. This Monday is the birthday of the Sultan of Selangor.
To go home, I walk across the footbridge over the big hole that is the Sunway leisure complex. Down there is an amazing waterpark, a funfair with epic rides, and a kind of zoo. Flanking the hole on one side is the huge Pyramid mall, complete with faux Egyptian decor and ice rink. The hole is actually an old tin mine. Tin and rubber drove the economy of this area for a long time -- and its demography. But now it's an area of entertainment. Leisure and consumption drive the economy now, or at least part of it. And they seem to be doing a good job. A large proportion of the shops and restaurants round here carry signs advertising work.
Sometimes you can see a tiger from the walkway. Tonight I saw two...
Into the cool of the mall, where carols are being warbled incessantly at present. Up two levels, and then it's just a short distance to the bus stop. A 1-ringgit ride takes me home.
We usually go for a stroll in the evening, unless it's pouring with rain. Yesterday we checked out Asia Cafe. There's an enormous variety of stalls here, and it all looks delicious. Yesterday we just needed an ABC -- a large heap of shaved ice, drenched in syrups, piled up with sweet corn, beans, nata de coco, and other sweet bits, and topped with a scoop of ice-cream. Very, very nice. But we will be back for more. After this, we wandered the streets of Subang Jaya, enjoying the quirky names ("Magnetic Hairs" was a hair salon, and "The Oil Stick" a cafe), and the peaceful sounds -- the birds settling down in the trees for the night, the call to prayer from the mosque on the corner, the reassuring hubbub from the many, many eating places.
This evening we went down to the Empire, another of the malls with which this area is so well endowed. We toured the bookshop, viewed the "snow dome" where you can take your family to play in an artificial wintry world for a while, and wondered at the "largest indoor tube slide in Malaysia". The Empire was struck by a gas explosion a little while back, which may have temporarily deterred some of the punters. Certainly, it wasn't as busy as most pre-Christmas malls. But there are all sorts of offers to tempt people back, so hopefully it will be running full tilt again shortly. Tonight's snackery was I Love Yoo. Here we had yummy sesame balls and soya milk. But there are lots of other things on the menu that look like they'll have to be tried.
I feel very at home here already. But there's always an exhilarating layer of exoticism very close to the surface. How many other commutes, after all, involve tigers and a tin mine?
Wake up in our very pleasant apartment. We have a view over to the centre of KL, the Petronas towers, and the substantial hills behind. The other day all the little hollows in the foreground were full of mist.
Next we warm up whatever it is we've laid in for breakfast. This morning it was the second half of my packet of beef and noodles.
The first chore of the day is to look for a taxi. It's sometimes not easy to get the drivers to use the meter, even though signs saying haggling is prohibited, and these are metered taxis, are plastered all over their doors. I've discovered you have more chance of finding a metered one before 8 am than after, but I'd prefer to dispense with this taxi thing altogether, if I can manage to find an alternative that doesn't involve my arriving at work in too much of a drenched and/or sweaty state.
Work. Have lunch -- usually in the cafeteria, but sometimes at the food court down the road. Work some more.
Today I found out that Monday's a holiday. This is the second holiday I've accidentally found out about. Two weeks ago we had the beginning of the Islamic New Year. This Monday is the birthday of the Sultan of Selangor.
To go home, I walk across the footbridge over the big hole that is the Sunway leisure complex. Down there is an amazing waterpark, a funfair with epic rides, and a kind of zoo. Flanking the hole on one side is the huge Pyramid mall, complete with faux Egyptian decor and ice rink. The hole is actually an old tin mine. Tin and rubber drove the economy of this area for a long time -- and its demography. But now it's an area of entertainment. Leisure and consumption drive the economy now, or at least part of it. And they seem to be doing a good job. A large proportion of the shops and restaurants round here carry signs advertising work.
Sometimes you can see a tiger from the walkway. Tonight I saw two...
Into the cool of the mall, where carols are being warbled incessantly at present. Up two levels, and then it's just a short distance to the bus stop. A 1-ringgit ride takes me home.
We usually go for a stroll in the evening, unless it's pouring with rain. Yesterday we checked out Asia Cafe. There's an enormous variety of stalls here, and it all looks delicious. Yesterday we just needed an ABC -- a large heap of shaved ice, drenched in syrups, piled up with sweet corn, beans, nata de coco, and other sweet bits, and topped with a scoop of ice-cream. Very, very nice. But we will be back for more. After this, we wandered the streets of Subang Jaya, enjoying the quirky names ("Magnetic Hairs" was a hair salon, and "The Oil Stick" a cafe), and the peaceful sounds -- the birds settling down in the trees for the night, the call to prayer from the mosque on the corner, the reassuring hubbub from the many, many eating places.
This evening we went down to the Empire, another of the malls with which this area is so well endowed. We toured the bookshop, viewed the "snow dome" where you can take your family to play in an artificial wintry world for a while, and wondered at the "largest indoor tube slide in Malaysia". The Empire was struck by a gas explosion a little while back, which may have temporarily deterred some of the punters. Certainly, it wasn't as busy as most pre-Christmas malls. But there are all sorts of offers to tempt people back, so hopefully it will be running full tilt again shortly. Tonight's snackery was I Love Yoo. Here we had yummy sesame balls and soya milk. But there are lots of other things on the menu that look like they'll have to be tried.
I feel very at home here already. But there's always an exhilarating layer of exoticism very close to the surface. How many other commutes, after all, involve tigers and a tin mine?