Chinese New Year decorations in our condo

#MalaysianDiary

Over the last two years in Malaysia we have been hearing about the 1MDB scandal, but never got to know the details of it. This gives a good primer into what it was all about.

While it gives a good overview on the scandal, my gripe with it is more about the storytelling. It could have been better.

Der Backmeister, TTDI, Kuala Lumpur

After a good hike at the the Bukit Kiara trails at TTDI, we went to the Der Backmeister @ TTDI for a well earned breakfast. The place was full of folks digging into their food and that was a good sign!

We ordered their The Big Backmeister which was a mix platter of Ham, Salami, Breads, Buns and choice of eggs. When ordering the kind lady at the counter was attentive enough to ask how many folks were in our group. It was a big platter enough for 2 adults and a child.

We also ordered an Avocado and Egg Sandwich on Ciabatta, which was a huge. We asked them to pack the left over and they kindly obliged.

Their Caraibe Dark Chocolate deserves a special mention. It was just yum!

The staff were polite, chatty, accommodative and attentive. 😍

#DiningOut #MalaysianDiary

This was our first movie of 2024!

It is a wonderful family drama. Reminded me to the 70's and 80's cinema, where family drama with a simple plot line was shown with a lot of heart.

The film too tugs your heart all through. Everyone did or does things as a product of their situation and it is beautifully brought out. No one is blamed, everyone is compassionate and everyone is accepting.

While the quick acceptance all around is almost unbelievable, that the topic of homosexuality is the core of this mainstream cinema and that the macho-man of Malayalam cinema, Mammooty does this role, makes you look past all that and welcome this movie with a smile. Everyone in the cast is spot on, particularly those in role of the father and Thankan.

Hope the success of this movie, helps more such topics to be discussed in mainstream cinema!

Came across this post by @annie

While I loved the initial thought,

The love I give doesn’t depend on the person I’m loving. It depends on me.

What I loved more was the inversion she does in the later part.

Other people love me the way they love me because of who they are. Not because of who I am.

Check it out

Love depends on me

Today through @maique’s post I got to know about Pika, a new blogging platform. But what was more interesting was the company behind it—Good Enough.

They have some tiny delightful products—Letterbird, Quack and many more.

We welcomed the new year in a train, sleeping in our upper berths. A new experience for us, but also very appropriate since we will be travelling from Malaysia to another country this year.

We reached Madurai as the last leg of our India trip. The morning was spent in a quick visit to Meenatchi Amman temple.

This was promptly followed by a visit to New Shri Ram Mess. Basic but tasty meals on banana leaf.

John Oliver’s take on Elon Musk. John is brilliant as always—data and journalistic commentary wrapped in humour.

Merry Christmas! 🎄

Usually Christmas is at home or with family, but this time it is mostly on the road. Initially I was bummed by this, particularly it went contrary to our careful planning of comfortable travel and being with family.

But now I’m seeing this as the spirit of the season, after all the little Christ was born on a travel and in a short stay in the middle of nowhere.

I tell myself, it is important to remember that one is surrounded my ones they love. And that is all that matters.

❤️

The nativity setup at our condo for the holiday season

#MalaysianDiary

A neighbour who makes excellent Caramel Custard, dropped by last evening to give us a large one. We were so impatient, that we realised no photos were clicked only after we had sliced it up 🙈

Everything was perfect—firm but soft to slice, not too sweet, just the right amount of bitterness. Easily the best caramel custard I’ve had.

#MalaysianDiary

The Koi fish pond at our condominium’s lobby is such a peaceful thing to watch!

#MalaysianDiary

Went on a hike yesterday to Bukit Kiara at TTDI (again!)

I absolutely love this area. It has a paved hike for beginners, casual hikers and for the elderly! But it also has trails that branch out for additional explorations. Took one such trail “Snakes & Ladders” yesterday.

#MalaysianDiary

Obama on the Decoder podcast

I am always amazed by the clarity of his thought. Even on emerging topics like AI he is pretty spot on!

Of the Voice Assistants I have used, to ask questions on things I don’t know about, I have found ChatGPT Voice by far the best. It is quick to understand my accent, super fast in its response, cohesive when referring over to previous responses in the current chat. I have always ended up knowing something and with a smile!

If I were to be really nit-picky, I would only say that initial “Connecting” UX could be avoided and it could start listening from the moment I tap the microphone icon!

I can finally say I swim

One of my achievements of recent times would be learning to do the breaststroke. Today was the day I did 6 laps across the 50m pool in a calm non-panicky manner. I am quite proud of that!

Swimming has been elusive for me till now. There were many failed attempts to learn it. I was never comfortable with water for me to begin with. Also I was always learning with the help of friends, who while being kind were not the best to teach me the skill. There was a swimming coach in our campus in Delhi, but I think he was more of a lifeguard than a coach.

However it was in Delhi that I learnt to do the freestyle by sheer brute force. I would kick the wall to gather a good momentum and then I couldn’t have anything stop me mid-way, nor could I miss the rhythm. Else I would just fluster and sink! But it was something better than nothing, and I could get some form of swimming done.

Finally in Kuala Lumpur, thanks to getting a swimming coach for #OhBoy, I got a chance to learn. The coach had to be hired by the hour and since #OhBoy was too young to continuously swim for an hour, we could use the rest of his time to learn ourselves. I chose to learn the breaststroke as I wanted to have a clean start. And it worked out.

Next would be to unlearn my way of doing brute force freestyle and learning to do it the proper way!

#MalaysianDiary

With a week off at school for Deepavali, #OhBoy and I are using each morning to a different activity. Yesterday we went off for a short hike at Kiara Hill Walk.

#MalaysianDiary #Hiking

#OhBoy is drinking his Yuzu Mandarin Gelato, since he wanted to bring it home and share it with his grandmother! 😍

#MalaysianDiary

A long awaited writing desk came home and was assembled yesterday! #OhBoy said it was a wonderful Deepavali for him!! 😍

This is a Flisat Desk and Bench from IKEA.

#MalaysianDiary

Tasty Porridge, Bukit Jalil

While we we left home hoping to dine at Shin Zushi in Bukit Jalil, the line was long. That’s when I saw “Tasty Porridge” and I remembered @liztai@hachyderm.io recommending it.

We ended up having dinner there and quite enjoyed it. We tried the following— Golden Pumpkin Porridge

Porky Mushroomic Porridge

Mala Crispy Fish Skin

Lemongrass Chicken Wing

#DiningOut #MalaysianDiary

I just realised I have been away for almost a week from posting or reading anything from here. In my defense, I was finally able to locate my camera. And we were getting introduced to each other all over again :)

My usage of the camera dropped around the later part of 2018 and with the birth of our son #OhBoy the following year I have been just shooting primarily with my iPhone XR.

There is a lot of brushing up to do, including literally cleaning up the body and sensor!

I hope to get back to shooting with this old friend and do a lot of pending edits on my Lightroom as well!

Our condo is getting decorated for Deepavali!

#MalaysianDiary

After the back injury last year, I’ve been slowly building up the strength. Finally after ages, got to do 5K yesterday.

From where I was last year, this is a huge win. Hoping to slowly build up the strength for a 10K by next year! Poco a poco, paso a paso!

#MalaysianDiary

(I am the 3rd from the left!)

Ethnochestra Senandung Nusantara

Thursday night we got an opportunity to attend the National Day reception organised by the Embassy of Indonesia here in Kuala Lumpur. As part of the evening, there was an concert titled Senandung Nusantara

It was one of a kind, of the concerts I have been to so far. It was an excellent blend of traditional folk and modern sounds. And the lighting and projection of visuals (they do it off stage as well!) envelope you and transport you.

For me the highlight of the evening was Woro Mustiko! What a talent—both with the singing and dancing!

(The photo is bad, I know! But this is the only shot I got of her performance!)

#MalaysianDiary

I was a fan of @elk.zone (https://elk.zone/) to browse my Mastodon feed, until I discovered @phanpy.social (https://phanpy.social/).

I in love with what @cheeaun@mastodon.social has done at Phanpy.social. Highly recommend it!