if i've been quiet lately
it's only because i felt that updates that went "today i did this, than this, and then that" were a little boring. i guess though than by waiting i'm only replacing the old update for a "yesterday i did this, today i did that" kind of update. but i hope that perhaps by combining days it will seem less like a list and more like a feeling, a flow, a something more meaningful and pleasant to read. hopefully. maybe. maybe not.
in the past few days i have visited the petronas twin towers twice, once by night and once during the day. both times were with a couple from chile that i met at the guesthouse. they're the first people from south america that i've met on this trip and it was so new that i kept feeling that they were from spain. no, i did not get to practice my more than limited spanish, although i did understand parts of their conversations. as it says in the book that i am currently reading (the piano tuner, a great book, get it!): "one can learn many things if one assumes that you cannot understand their language". i am only paraphrasing and i am certain that it is said much more elequently in the book but ut stuck with me. anyhow, back to the towers... the twin towers are the tallest twin towers in the world. they are very shinny under their stainless steel dress. they are impressive, beautiful, artistic. today i understood why i felt the last adjective. the towers were designed with islamic design in mind and used the 8-pointed star patter as the shape of the tower (created by superposing two squares). very clever!
anyhow, i now have too many pictures of the towers, at night, during the day, with sunglight, with strom clouds, it's reflection in a pond, the view from the bridge at the 41st floor... haha. had to wait 3 hours in line for those last ones!
i visited little india and found it just as disapointing as chinatown. i realised though that because this city is so intertwined in all those cultures that the actual area for that one culture can't look different from everything else, because it is present everywhere else. pretty cool, indeed, but makes for boring sight seeing...
what has been impressive though is all of the arab/moorish architecture that you can find here. yet again i am taking too many pictures but it's only because i haven't seen anything like this on my trip so far. i visited the islamic art museum and they had a section on the architecture and evotution of the mosque and they had the one in x'ian there. i tought it was pretty neat that i could look at the model and say, i've been there! that exhibit though has really made me want to travel and see the mosques that were on display. so incredible. the years. the grandeur. mecca can hold a million worshippers... crazy.
talking of worshippers, i visited my first mosque. i mean, the first one where i could actually go inside the prayer hall and such, not just do a walk around. i had to wear a scarf, it was pretty cool. everyone (tourists only, it was visiting hour) was in blue robes and scarves. more pictures there.
and i've unfortunately got another cold. i used to think that it was beijing and hanoi that got me sick but now arriving here and getting sick again i connected the dots: it's flying that makes me sick! dammit. yet another cold, a different kind this time. more sinus, headaches. good times. yesterday i thought that i might have a fever, i was so hot and sweaty and couldn't get out of it. i kept touching my forehead and asking people if they were hot too because i couldn't understand what was going on. it turned out that the air conditioning at the guesthouse broke down. ha! i was happy not to be sick but not happy to have such a hard time sleeping...
people come and go from this city quite fast. not one at the guesthouse has been there for as long as i have. i mean, they've all left since. my dorm room just keeps changing everyday. i don't get it. speed tourism? who knows. it's a cool city. with great food (probably it's best asset). why leave so fast? as for my departure, i will hold on until after christmas. maybe on the 25th or 26th will i head to somewhere, i'm not sure where yet.
i said that the food was great here. i mean, it's wonderful, incredible. i've been eating so much roti and naan and mutton massala. the food is great everywhere. for example, at the mall at the petronas towers (the biggest mall in malaysia, 6 floors, huge, lots of fancy expensive stores like chanel and prada and i had to fall in love with a marc jacob's dress. i mean, is 6000RM with 60% off still too much money? for me, right now, yes. but dammit, that's cheap for what it is! about $340 usd) i got really excited about the food court. i mean, i haven't been this excited about food court food since le marché opened in toronto and montreal's main food court. anyhow, we're talking about the ultimate food. choose from arab, indian, malaysian, chinese, western, japannese, thai, middle-eastern. we're talking hot pots, sizzeling plates, and the best freaking chicken with rice i've had in my entire life. chinese bbq over steamed rice with a tereaki-like sauce with some cillentro and cucumber slices on the side. divine! and afterwards i had to go for a made just for me naan. good stuff. but the ultimate highlight: i found a cinnabon! ha! it had been so long... too long. the downside though is that their regular bun is the size of our mini. and they have the mini as well, which is like, one bite. crazy.
today i went shopping crazy... i have been set on a pair on jeans since vietnam and i decided this was the time and the place to finally get a pair. see, this is the first place since vietnam where i can actually fit in a pair of jeans (or a bra for that matter, but shopping for that got ruined by all the bras being padded). after trying on about 20 pairs of jeans i found 2 that i couldn't choose between and since combined they were about the price of the cheapest pair i had found so far i decided to got them. crazy, i know. how i'll find room in my bag? who knows. i also got a shirt for xmas/new year and the likes... it was nice to shop. but shopping is evil.
in the past few days i have visited the petronas twin towers twice, once by night and once during the day. both times were with a couple from chile that i met at the guesthouse. they're the first people from south america that i've met on this trip and it was so new that i kept feeling that they were from spain. no, i did not get to practice my more than limited spanish, although i did understand parts of their conversations. as it says in the book that i am currently reading (the piano tuner, a great book, get it!): "one can learn many things if one assumes that you cannot understand their language". i am only paraphrasing and i am certain that it is said much more elequently in the book but ut stuck with me. anyhow, back to the towers... the twin towers are the tallest twin towers in the world. they are very shinny under their stainless steel dress. they are impressive, beautiful, artistic. today i understood why i felt the last adjective. the towers were designed with islamic design in mind and used the 8-pointed star patter as the shape of the tower (created by superposing two squares). very clever!
anyhow, i now have too many pictures of the towers, at night, during the day, with sunglight, with strom clouds, it's reflection in a pond, the view from the bridge at the 41st floor... haha. had to wait 3 hours in line for those last ones!
i visited little india and found it just as disapointing as chinatown. i realised though that because this city is so intertwined in all those cultures that the actual area for that one culture can't look different from everything else, because it is present everywhere else. pretty cool, indeed, but makes for boring sight seeing...
what has been impressive though is all of the arab/moorish architecture that you can find here. yet again i am taking too many pictures but it's only because i haven't seen anything like this on my trip so far. i visited the islamic art museum and they had a section on the architecture and evotution of the mosque and they had the one in x'ian there. i tought it was pretty neat that i could look at the model and say, i've been there! that exhibit though has really made me want to travel and see the mosques that were on display. so incredible. the years. the grandeur. mecca can hold a million worshippers... crazy.
talking of worshippers, i visited my first mosque. i mean, the first one where i could actually go inside the prayer hall and such, not just do a walk around. i had to wear a scarf, it was pretty cool. everyone (tourists only, it was visiting hour) was in blue robes and scarves. more pictures there.
and i've unfortunately got another cold. i used to think that it was beijing and hanoi that got me sick but now arriving here and getting sick again i connected the dots: it's flying that makes me sick! dammit. yet another cold, a different kind this time. more sinus, headaches. good times. yesterday i thought that i might have a fever, i was so hot and sweaty and couldn't get out of it. i kept touching my forehead and asking people if they were hot too because i couldn't understand what was going on. it turned out that the air conditioning at the guesthouse broke down. ha! i was happy not to be sick but not happy to have such a hard time sleeping...
people come and go from this city quite fast. not one at the guesthouse has been there for as long as i have. i mean, they've all left since. my dorm room just keeps changing everyday. i don't get it. speed tourism? who knows. it's a cool city. with great food (probably it's best asset). why leave so fast? as for my departure, i will hold on until after christmas. maybe on the 25th or 26th will i head to somewhere, i'm not sure where yet.
i said that the food was great here. i mean, it's wonderful, incredible. i've been eating so much roti and naan and mutton massala. the food is great everywhere. for example, at the mall at the petronas towers (the biggest mall in malaysia, 6 floors, huge, lots of fancy expensive stores like chanel and prada and i had to fall in love with a marc jacob's dress. i mean, is 6000RM with 60% off still too much money? for me, right now, yes. but dammit, that's cheap for what it is! about $340 usd) i got really excited about the food court. i mean, i haven't been this excited about food court food since le marché opened in toronto and montreal's main food court. anyhow, we're talking about the ultimate food. choose from arab, indian, malaysian, chinese, western, japannese, thai, middle-eastern. we're talking hot pots, sizzeling plates, and the best freaking chicken with rice i've had in my entire life. chinese bbq over steamed rice with a tereaki-like sauce with some cillentro and cucumber slices on the side. divine! and afterwards i had to go for a made just for me naan. good stuff. but the ultimate highlight: i found a cinnabon! ha! it had been so long... too long. the downside though is that their regular bun is the size of our mini. and they have the mini as well, which is like, one bite. crazy.
today i went shopping crazy... i have been set on a pair on jeans since vietnam and i decided this was the time and the place to finally get a pair. see, this is the first place since vietnam where i can actually fit in a pair of jeans (or a bra for that matter, but shopping for that got ruined by all the bras being padded). after trying on about 20 pairs of jeans i found 2 that i couldn't choose between and since combined they were about the price of the cheapest pair i had found so far i decided to got them. crazy, i know. how i'll find room in my bag? who knows. i also got a shirt for xmas/new year and the likes... it was nice to shop. but shopping is evil.
posted by Magalie at 6:13 a.m.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
<< Home