This morning we walked down to the area where Kuala Lumpur was founded. When we were last here a few years ago it was run down, but there was lots of renovation work being carried out.
Now it is all finished and the area is beautiful. There is a mosque at the fork of two rivers and a lovely steamy mist covered the water, which to be honest is usually a dirty brown colour. There is a long pond at street level full of goldfish and huge trees and bright flower beds.
On the other side of the river is a fantastic Islamic building with fountains and a rill.
After that we went to the market and found out that the Chinese year of the dog begins next week. Strangely we saw a sort of scorecard with marks out of five on it for wealth, career, love and health. Unfortunately, people born in the dog year only scored one out of five for health. I am an ox and scored two out of five, while Daz the sheep also scored only one. All slightly worrying.
This evening we went on a guided tour of the local area, and learned a lot about the food which was mostly quite hot and had some scary ingredients. Part way through there was another massive thunderstorm and we had to hide under cover until it passed.
After the break we found out that we like soursop ice cream, love roasted sweetcorn, like pandam and absolutely hate durian!
Durians are large spikey fruits above the size of a coconut. The fruit is pale yellow and smells like the inside of a dustbin. Our guide told us to try not to smell it before we ate it. I thought that it tasted similar to boiled leek, but was very moshy and indeed did smell dodgy.
When we have travelled in the past there have been signs saying 'no Durians in hotel bedrooms' and I can now see why.
However the Malaysians love them.
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