Brickfields

This one is for my blipfriend Sally Mair.  She's off to India next week for the first time since 2020 so will be seeing elephants.

Yes, I was in Brickfields, Little India (though more Bangladeshi nowadays #1 says).  Despite it being round the corner from Sentral station and the terminus of the KLIA Ekspres I'd never been in almost 12 years. There was a sign at the elephant fountain, not about it's history or ultural significance but about the times the water runs and a legal bit, which basically says 'don't touch'. The clothes shops had a good selection of yellow clothes, T-shirts etc.  It's Thaipusam on Sunday so I think they are probably for worshippers going to the shrine at the Batu Caves.  Thinking of it Monday's holiday is probably for Thaipusam and it's just a coincidence it's also the end of CNY. 

I had a wander round Nu Sentral Mall first and had two successes.  A present for Kee Fun, a photo frame (and in the CNY sale).  You don't see many if them here and the fallback was Ikea and a Touch 'n Go card.  Malaysia had already embraced cashless pre pandemic and has gone for it full tilt since.  Many places are 'no cash' and a touch 'n go card will now allow me to use public transport in my last 3 weeks here. I might even get on the monorail.  I could also use it for shopping, parking, road tolls, but I won't.  The enhanced touch 'n go cards, RFID readable and loadable are like gold dust.  The chip shortage has caused a blip in supply.

It was very hot and humid as I waited for my Grab and I came home to B-Lab for lunch.  Wen Hui and #1 were picking up Olivia as it was parents' meetings.  She's coming to the end of Standard 2, in a class of 49 with only one adult.  The class watched Youtube videos of CNY songs while the teachers met parents.  #1 wasn't very impressed.  No differientated learning, they sit in serried ranks and it's mainly copying and rote learning.  Olivia didn't get a high score for Maths although she's always been brilliant at Maths.  #1 worked out, with the teacher, that it is because she doesn't understand the problem, not the Maths aspect but she doesn't fully understand the Mandarin so it's a language problem.  But apparently no plan to address. 

Olivia and I went to the playpark and then the pool.  It got darker and darker and at 4.30 we had to come out as it started to be windy and rain.  And what a storm!  By the time we got upstairs (5 mins) it was like a hurricane with horizontal sheet rain and #1 was laying all the balcony furniture flat in case it got blown away. The rain was amazing, as was the wind and later thunder and lightning, though not as bad a Wednesday.  the balcony is now covered in bits of plant and soil.

Wen Hui was working late so I made salad and chips for tea.  I actually got the oven to cook them today, unlike Wednesday. As Olivia says (quoting me) 'the oven hates Granny'  Always has, for the last 10 years. #1 then disappeared to his room and I did some business with S back in Ayr (and more later from my bed) and watched some Netflix till Wen came home at nearly 10 and I left the two of them to it. 

Got an invite to dinner with the sisters on Saturday night.  That will be fun.