Fire in the Hole
A beautiful day today…blue, blue skies, gentle breeze. We woke up early and drove…yes, you read correctly, DROVE to Bangsar as Heidi had another hair appointment with Kenneth at …Ish. Daniel, our English GPS voice, led us to the perfect parking spot in less than 40 minutes…not much traffic in the early hours on weekends (our strategy in making an early appointment) Once back home we spent the early afternoon by the pool..swimming, sunning and reading…a rare treat but so desperately needed. Just to sit and not think about work for a bit was wonderful. Back up on our deck for junk food fix (Doritos, salsa and ice-cold hard cider) we were gazing over to Will and Allie’s condo. One second all was serene, the next, thick black smoke started billowing from the 11th floor, then flames shooting five feet out the windows. (now relax…there are two large towers and the fire was NOT in Allie and Will’s…..they were actually at …ISH getting their hair done) Heidi and I watched with horror and the fire intensified. With binoculars we could see people streaming out down the stairs and heard sirens in the distance. Now remember, this is Malaysia. Having a siren screaming behind you doesn’t seem to mean much…you’re suppose to move over but you’re also suppose to stop at red lights. About 10 minutes later we see a caravan of fire engines racing down the road (ok, racing is a bit of an exaggeration)…they drove past the entrance road, Oooops, figured out they missed the turn off, went up to the next light and turned around…classic Keystone Cop move!!!
To give credit, once they arrived and climbed the stairs to the unit on fire, they quickly put it out and peace and serenity returned. These building are all built with brick, cement and metal…no sheetrock, no wood-framed walls…so fire doesn’t seem to spread very fast. Heidi and I swallowed our hearts that had caught in our throats..we had visions of the entire condo tower burning to the ground. Very lucky. Going over to Will and Allie’s tonight for pizza and beer…time to toast new haircuts (except for me) and the brave firefighters of Kuala Lumpur.

Sting Ray and Mermaid
There is a tradition at our school where the guys all get together for a wild night on Jalan Alor…it is called STINGRAY!!! Been a tradition for years…beer, food, loud vulgar language and comradeship. No women invited. There must have been close to 45 guys there….the beers start flowing and the food starts rolling in….fried rice, spicy chicken wings, sautéed greens, something called “chicken fish” (not sure what type of fish it was but the texture and taste was EXACTLY like chicken) and finally, stingray!!! Not as good as ChickenFish but smooth white flesh, nice flavor. Whenever anyone arrived late, all 40 plus would sing a rather bawdy song….”(insert name) is a horse’s ass…he looks like a horse’s ass, he smells like a horse’s ass…” and it gets worse from there. Now mind you, this is sung loudly, with gusto.. we were the entertainment for all the tables around us. The night capped with the tradition of kissing the eel. A live eel was brought around to each Newbie (first year employees)…our job was to plant a kiss on the lips (do eels have lips?) of the eel. For any animal lover, no part of the eel was damaged during the initiation…at least until it was killed, cooked up and eaten !!!! Aaaaaargh….aaaargh!

Meanwhile, Heidi went to our favorite Mexican Restaurant, La Mexicana, for Mermaid Night….compared to STINGRAY it was a mild gathering of about 20 female teachers (no guys allowed..a girl’s night out)…but they had a great time chatting, telling tales, drinking margaritas, and just having a great time together…no eels or bawdy songs.

Moon Cakes

The Mid-Autumn Festival brings Mooncakes.
Here is the legend of the Mooncake:
Eons ago, 10 disobedient suns caused drought and death by all gallivanting in the skies when they were supposed to take turns roaming the heavens. Houyi, a talented archer, shot down nine of the scorching orbs.

People celebrated their beloved hero and came to him to learn martial arts. During this time, Houyi met and married Chang’e, a beautiful, virtuous woman.

The story diverges here, but one of the more popular versions says Houyi went to Kunlun Mountain, where the gods lived, and obtained an immortality pill from Xi Wangmu, the Goddess of the West. He gave it to Chang’e for safekeeping.

While Houyi was away, an evil disciple, Peng Meng, tried to steal the pill. Instead of handing the treasure over, Chang’e swallowed it and immediately floated to the moon.

Houyi spent his days and nights lamenting the loss of his wife. He put an incense table in his yard and put out a spread of Chang’e’s favorite foods, which included moon cakes. People followed suit in camaraderie with their hero and to pray that goddess Chang’e bring them happiness and safety.

We received our Mooncakes from an after school Mandarin Club. One afternoon they baked the mooncakes and then decorated them. A real treat !!!!

Mooncake with icing.

Inside with lotus paste.

Fruit of the Week

Buah Salak (aka. Snake Fruit)
Looks like a big fig but with a reddish-brown, reptile-like, scaly skin…that is how it gets the name, Snake Fruit. We peeled off the skin (rather thin and flaky) and inside were three segments, the largest segment contains an inedible seed. The fruit itself has the texture of an apple,sweet but funky. Heidi nor I could eat more than a bite…like Durian, it must be an acquired taste.

Snake Fruit

thin skin, segmented inside.

Apple-like crunch, sweet, funky.