Chinese New Year in Kuala Lumpur!

Dearest Friends,

I am so happy to be writing to you as it has been such a LONG time since I last sent you an update, and I have lots of stories to share!!

But I must tell you that this past week and the week before, I have been missing home a little bit. It was family day long-weekend and Reading Week at Western so my brother was at home with my parents doing fun things with them like watching movies, eating cookies that Marissa made, driving around in an Audi because Jalesh got the car rear-ended...good job Jalesh... and I was so missing! On top of that, can you believe that I am actually missing the snow, ESPECIALLY when y’all take pretty pictures of snow covering things/snow falling in pretty places (like Montreal) and then instagram them. You may look at my instagram feed and get a little jealsies, but I’m feeling the same way looking at yours!

Anyway, this week I wanted to tell you about what it’s like to experience Chinese New Year in the land of the Chinese people...(ok it’s not China but there are nuff Chinese people here too). First of all, I don’t know if I mentioned this but it is the year of the snake which is MY YEAR! So it’s really cool that it is my year the year that I am in ASIA!

So as I told you before, Kuala Lumpur was totally painted red. There were red Chinese lanterns hanging from every mall and every other house, and red lights up all around the city. Even whilst in Penang, there were rid lights and lanterns EVERYWHERE. Boxes of mandarin oranges and yummy shortbread cookies appeared in our office kitchen every day and everyone was abuzz with Chinese New Year plans.

I, too, had plans for Chinese New Year, but much simpler plans than everyone else. Since we got an EXTRA long weekend (Sat, Sun, Mon & Tues), non-Chinese people travel to some lovely Asian island while Chinese people travel back to their home towns. The thing is, because everyone is traveling, it’s not the cheapest time for booking flights and many hostels and hotels are fully booked. This was okay for me though, because I wanted to stay in KL and experience Chinese New Year from the perspective of a family celebrating! My co-worker, Lin, invited me to her family’s Chinese New Year open house, where all of her family gets together to eat, drink and gamble!

I think you can guess whose house this is....

So on Monday around noon, we walked over to Lin’s house and shortly after, Lion dancers showed up at Lin’s front gates. Her family lit dozens and dozens of fire crackers and the Lion dance group played drums and cymbals as they lions danced through Lin’s house, blessing it with wishes for prosperity (just fyi, I am not an expert in Chinese traditional practices/culture... and most things are done for prosperity so this MOSTLY a guess....). The Lion dance was a loud and elaborate spectacle and really interesting to watch because each lion is controlled by two individuals who have to be extremely coordinated to make the lion dance. The lion also goes around ‘eating’ things like heads of lettuce and pineapples so I literally have no idea how the dancers managed to hold them inside the lion with them while manipulating the lion its self.

ROAAAAR

wraw. 

After the lion dance, we enjoyed a massive meal with Lin’s family and friends. One of the things that they do before they eat is bring out a huge plate with noodle-type-things and raw seafood. Then, everyone is instructed to put their chopsticks into the huge plate, all at the same time, and try to lift and mix the noodles as high as possible. The higher you lift the noodles, and the more messy you make it, (you guessed it) the more prosperous you will be.

Noodles & Prosperity!

After stuffing ourselves with Nasi Lemak, fried chicken and tiramisu just DRIPPING in rum, we tried to gamble with Lin’s friends. Notice how I said ‘tried’. The game was blackjack, and at our table, the minimum bet was 5 RM (this is $1.66). So I happily put in my 5 RM and within 2 seconds, the money was taken from me because someone else WON something. I didn’t even look at my cards. I had noo idea what had just happened. I was UBER confused and decided that gambling was NAAAATTTT my thing. After this, I decided it would be wise to watch (why I didn’t think of doing this before I played, I do not know). I soon figured out that they were playing blackjack with about 15 additional rules such as if you can hit 7 times and still be under 21, you win 3 times your bet. If you draw a 15, you have to double your bet, kill your cards and pick up 2 more sets of two, increasing your chances of getting 21.

intense FOCUS.

NOW DO YOU SEE WHY I WAS SO CONFUSED? After learning the rules.... I still didn’t play but helped by co-worker win some $$ and overall, it was lots of fun.

After some gambling, I thanked Lin and her mother for a wonderful day and headed out to see one of the largest Chinese Buddhist temples in KL called the Thean Huo Temple, to see everything that happens on Chinese New Year and to see all the pretty red lanterns.

This temple was beautiful! There were thousands of red lanterns, tons of stalls with shiny golden pinwheels and lots of people praying and collecting their fortunes at the temple. 

Thean Huo Temple - Bangsar, KL

I also got my fortune! What you do is grab a bunch of plastic sticks. You pull them into the air and then drop them into a metal cylinder. All the sticks will sink to the bottom but one will stay above the rest. This stick as a number on it so you match the number to the numbered fortunes, and that there, is your fortune! What was my fortune?? THAT’S A SECRET.

I absolutely loved seeing people dressed in red and white, lighting their incense, praying to their ancestors and deceased relatives and getting their fortunes. It was like my Religions of East Asia class coming to life!

All in all, it was a lovely Chinese New Year. I got to experience it from the perspective of a family that celebrates and parties, from the religious perspective, and from the perspective of someone who doesn’t celebrate and lies in her bed at night listening to firecrackers go off for 14 days straight :-P.

But seriously – love that my Asian adventure is finally giving me some cultural experiences! The saddest thing though, is that all my pictures are TRAPPED on my camera until further notice because I didn’t bring the TRANSFER WIRE WITH ME. But I am soon taking a trip to Singapore, at which point I will obtain the technology I need and you will be inundated with my photos.

More about this past week’s trip to Ipoh later!  MUCH LOVE!

My trip to the town/city of PENANG!

When you tell people from Kuala Lumpur that you are taking a trip to Penang, they all say “awwww Penang? I love penang! I want to move to penang, penang has the best food!” and when you talk to people from Penang, many of them will tell you that they are originally from KL, went out to Penang for a trip, and never left!

Basically, people in KL love Penang, people in Penang LOVE Penang, and I really enjoyed my time there too! Penang is an island off the west coast of Malaysia and is about a 4.5 hr bus ride from Kuala Lumpur. If you ask people what there is to do over there, they will tell you that you that you go to Penang to EAT because Penang people really care about their food. I even downloaded an app on my phone called “Penang street food” which points you to the best places nearby, based on what you want to eat. Apparently Penang has the BEST cha kway teoy (shirp, friend noodles), Indian food, prawn mee (prawn noodles in soup), plus a number of dishes with names that I do not understand the meaning of.

Quickly, here’s a lesson on the naming of Mamak food in Malaysia:

Nasi = Rice

Goreng = Fried

Mi = Noodles

Cha = shrimp

Ayam = chicken

Roti = bread

Now let me test you:

What is Nasi Goreng ?

What is Mi goreng?

For Bonus points: Maggi Goreng?

If you answered: Fried Rice, Fried noodles and those maggi noodles that you get in a package but fried in a real dish, you would be correct! Add some ayam and you got a full meal... kinda... One thing I discovered with Tharyn yesterday (I mean he probably already thought of this but I’m just going to say that we had a brain wave) was that the reason why everything is fried is because of the lack of concept of ‘BAKED’ because of the lack of OVENS! We thought up this while thinking about how easy it is to make quiches but how difficult it is when you don’t have an oven L (Just so you know it took me about 2 weeks to finally understand that every time I ordered Nasi goreng, I was just ordering plain old fried rice... and not some other new and interesting dish).

Anyway, Penang is all about the Mamak food. There is just a seriously huge amount of food everywhere you go and everywhere you turn. But the food is not perpetually there... The road literally transforms from day to night. The main road has nothing but hardware stores and airline/travel stalls and Chinese temples and Mosques.  But as soon as the sun begins to set, BAM. THE FOOD STALLS COME UP, tables are set up everywhere along the street and people are just chowing down. It really was a transformation that I have yet to experience anywhere else. You also have a number of open air hawker centers where tons of people sit and order food from the stalls surrounding them. The food comes fast, friend and super yummy! And the food was YUMMO – I think my favourite was the peppered prawns or the Satay that we ordered.

Zehra and I stayed right by a street called Love Lane, in an area called “George Town”. George Town, and particularly Love Lane, is a UNESCO world heritage site because it is the area where the British first colonized Malaysia (I think....at least this is what Zehra and I determined thanks to Wikipedia) and so the architecture in this area is just lovely – quaint little buildings painted in pastel colours. All around is iron street art, made to depict the British history of the area. Zehra and I did a lot of exploring.

In George Town with new Sunglasses!

We walked around George Town, around Little India, around the mosques and temples that are known for being so diverse and in such close proximity, and the  “clubbing district area” where we ended up going into a hawker center called the Red Dragon where we found tons of people sitting around tables, drinking, and watching a petite Asian woman dance around on an elaborate stage while singing asian music. We THINK it was a performance for Chinese new year but we can’t be sure because then, the Asian woman got up on a table, started singing gangnam style, and then proceeded to chug beers while doing flexibility exercises. It was easily one of the weirdest (yet entertaining) things I have ever seen in my life. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera with me so you’ll just have to believe me.

What was also really fun about this trip is that we got to meet up with Michelle Ngai, since she is currently doing research  about 2.5 hrs away for her PhD in Ipoh. We explored the Chinese temples together and observed as they got ready for Chinese New Year by hanging all their lanterns and things! It was like 2 Million degrees outside so we basically hopped from one shady spot to the next and drank ICED teh tarek in between.

Chinese Temple

Outside our Hostel

Outside the Penang Mosque

On our 2^nd last day in Penang, zehra and I made an executive decision to leave our cute little area and take a bus out to a supposedly GREAT hawker stall. But when we got there, we found that it was closed L LUCKILY we had directors from someone in our hostel to go looking for the best prawn mi place “close by”. So we walked and asked people and walked and asked people but there was no sign of the best prawn mi place ever. Finally I went into a restaurant where a jolly family gave me directions. BUT WE STILL COULDNT FIND THE PLACE after walking for 5-10 more mins. So we thought we would take the bus home but, little did we realize, we had taken the bus down a one-way street so the bus stop in the opposite direction was no where to be seen.

I went back to the jolly family who was unsure of the bus stop location but told us to take a taxi... and if we couldn’t find a taxi, come back to the restaurant because they would take us home. Obviously we could not find a taxi, so we went back and the jolly Asian man and his wife happily drove us back to George town... then... took us to dinner, then paid for our dinner, then introduced us to their daughter (their son, I had met at the restaurant because he owns it). So basically, Zehra and I met the most hospitable family in Malaysia. They were so sad that Zehra and I were leaving the next day as they wanted us to join them at their holiday apartment on the beach. But since we could not, they told us to get ready for 6:30 AM the following morning because they would take us to the Botanical Gardens.

And so at 6:30 AM the next day, they showed up, took us to see the beautiful Penang sunrise, bought us a traditional Malay breakfast, and took us on a walk through the gardens. Beverly (the mom) and her daughter, Angeline were actually the cutest mum and daughter ever. Angeline guided her mother as she drove through the streets of Penang and suggested some hilarious things like “why don’t you just go through this red light” ... or said “der der der der *point*” when the light turned green and Beverly hadn’t moved. They were so cute and so hilarious to observe.

With our new favourite family!

Botanical Gardens with Beverly and Angeline

Penang Sun Rise :)

A malaysian breakfast!

I felt pretty special that Beverly and Lim (her husband) had taken a liking to us. I didn’t know whether they were just really really bored, or they really liked us, or, Beverly just saw the fear in my eyes when we couldn’t find the bus nor could we catch a taxi. All in all, I felt so happy to meet this lovely family and experience the friendliness of the Malaysian people that everyone is always talking about J

Zehra and I got up to some other exciting things like going to the beach to go parasailing (although beaches are not Penang’s strong point), finding and chicken nuggets, after eating SO MUCH MAMAK FOOD, and then being caught by a local who told us off for not eating the local food anddddddddddddd ya. Also the hostel we stayed in was wonderful and highly recommended for anyone traveling to Penang. You can find them on Facebook here!

Overall, we had a lovely trip and we came home with full tummies and some great stories!

Mindvalley, Mamaks, Malaysia, Massive Lizard and other 'M' words [General Update]

Friends. We have been out of contact formuch too long... So long that I did not know where to begin this post. Then,while I was using the bathroom, I had a visitor. This visitor was a MASSIVELIZARD just chilling in the bathroom. So that is how I’m going to start – byannouncing that I just went pee with a lizard and surprised myself by the factthat I was surprised by a lizard. I would have thought that with all of themini cockroaches I have come across and all my crazy sprints across the highway(or across the sidewalk for that matter – motorcyclists do not seem to want toacknowledge that the sidewalk is made for people, and it is, in fact, NOT aspecial lane to avoid road traffic), I would have toughened up a little, or atleast not be so terrified by a lizard! I was wrong. Still terrified.

AN-Y-WAYS. I’ve had a really exciting lasttwo weeks! I feel like I have finally gotten into the swing of things atMindvalley. I wake up at a VERY reasonable hour, shower in my shower (and Ifound out today that my shower is called “Shower of Happiness” according to thebox connected to the shower head), squeegee (I’m getting good) and head out thedoor, totally confident that I will not be ransacked on the way to work, norwill I be hit by cars going on and off the highway because I ALWAYS used theforged path. I have my access card to my building and office and in addition toobtaining that card; I opened a bank account and got a debit card so I finallyfeel like I can live in Malaysia. Hurrah!

The next thing on my list is to secure internet.Guys I seriously feel like I am living in the stone ages with my desolate 3Gsituation and my complete lack of internet and wifi.

Mindvalley is really different from yourtypical work environment. If I want to sit on a bean bag and work, I can go siton a bean bag. I work facing stunning views of Bangsar in an office that has areally great vibe going on overall. Everyone is very friendly, creative and SOGOSH DARN MOTIVATED to contribute, innovate and learn. It’s a dynamic andexciting environment to be in. I am currently being trained in customersupport, so yes, this does mean a lot of email answering but it also means thatI get to learn about all the products that Mindvalley sells in the area ofpersonal grown and development. Some of these products sound like they could reallyhelp people (and by people, I am including myself) grow. I guess I have hadprevious exposure to this kinda stuff like muscle testing, reiki, chakrahealing and so I’m not as skeptical about things like meditation, visualizationand understanding the body’s energy flow and its healing powers (thereare enough people in California to keep the business going though so THAT’SOKAY). I’m enjoying learning about these programs  and the emailing isn’t so bad either,especially when I get lovely notes from customers who rate me 10/10 and blessmy soul and tell me I’m helping to make the world a better place (the peoplewho use our products are of a different type....)... And who doesn’t like alittle praise? What I’m most excited for now is to be finished training and toreally get to join my team and get to know them through working with them J

Me & All the newbies getting some mamak food!

A group challenge at work involving wishing people nice things

One of the 3 office spaces at Mindvalley

The view from Mindvalley offices

Mindvalley is also really social. Theyrecently had an event pushing for Kuala Lumpur as a developing epicenter forentrepreneurship, innovation, and start-ups, complete with capoeira dancers, anamazing band and lots and lots of drankz and Polaroid pictures.

Other than work, lots of things have beenhappening in Malaysia! Avia (my summer roommate) and Nicole took a trip to KL andcame to stay with me for a night so that we could go to a South Indian festivalcalled Thaipusam. They are currently doing an exchange in Singapore. It wasreally nice to have a piece of home, here in KL because I was missing havingpeople to just talk with about mutual friends and, experiences, etc.  

trying out the mcdonalds in malayisa (chilly curly fries! mmmm)

Although Thaipusam originated in India, theLARGEST celebration of it in the world is in Kuala Lumpur at the Batu Caves. Sowe took the train out there and we were greeted by MILLIONS of people and aroaring sun. We all watched men and women marching up the hundreds of steps ofthe Batu Caves to get to the temple, all the while, bearing piercings on theirbody attached to coconuts or lemons and limes. It was a very intenseceremony/march to watch! These people must have been in a completely meditativestate in order to bare the pain of the needles going through their backs, armsand face. Check out what these peeps look like!

This past week I was also lucky enough tohave Zehra come and visit meeeeeeee!!!! Zehra and I had a really entertainingweek where we ate so so much, drank tons of Tea Tarek, ate lots of roti,shopped and took a trip to Penang for the long weekend (but that will be adifferent post in itself J ). I also managed to meet up with Kat and her friend Julianna whoare currently on their own Asia adventure and all 4 of us did some Batikpainting. Batik is a traditional Malaysian art form where you kind of tie dyesilk that has a wax design on it. It’s a tie-dye paint by numbers of some sorts.Can I also just say that I was totally impressed by the artistic abilities ofmy friends? They made artwork so BEAUTIFUL that I just couldn’t get over it.

Getting some Banana Leaf

Hot tea tarek

Ice tea tarek 

And so the montage of pictures of Zehra continues

Our completed batik artwork (CHECK OUT THE ELEPHANT!)

Finally, I want to update you on myMalaysian Choir that I joined – “The Young KL Singers”! Basically I joined achoir that sings in English but it was just my luck that the choir is preparingfor a farewell concert for a Malay Composer, meaning I am singing in Malay andit’s kind of hilarious because I cannot read the words, nor do I understand oneword of what I am singing. The choir is really welcoming and fun. They took meout for drinks on my birthday after meeting me for the first time that day!They are so jolly and good natured and always cracking jokes (most of which Ifail to understand) and laughing. Attending these rehearsals really lifts myspirits for the week. I’ve added a video of a choir – you should all regard thefact that you can view it as a PRIVLEDGE because it is extremely embarrassingand you must tune out my own singing PLEASE. I beg you.

Chinese New Year is also coming up and I’venever celebrated it in  Asia before. Allthe main roads are decked out in red lanterns and lights and everyone is givingout Mandarin oranges at work. It’s a really exciting time and a really bigcelebration and hopefully I will be able to partake in some celebrations aswell. During Chinese New Year many major cities close down (like Singapore andHong Kong and Kuala Lumpur) because everyone makes the pilgrimage back to theirvillage to spend time with their families. As a result the roads are very quietand unless you know someone celebrating Chinese New Year, it’s a very quiettime in the city. Still, the lead up to the New Year is exciting for me becausethere are signs of Chinese New Year everywhere and this year it’s the year ofthe snake which is MY YEAR!!

As you can see I am settling in but thereare still days that I wish I was back in Toronto or Montreal, especially when Isee all my friends together. But it’s okay. Moving to a new place and settlingin takes time and is a long process. Somehow, I forget this every time I trysomething new like when I moved to McGill and despised the school for 3 monthsor when I traveled to East Africa and was pretty uncomfortable for a goodmonth. But then, I also know that this feeling passes. Hope everyone is wellback home. Send me text messages/whatsapps/viber me and tell me the mundanedetails of your lives.

And this is here just because I had it on my phone. heeheehee