New Year in KL

This week in KL has been just as I hoped. Kelly and I spend most of our days walking around, putting the map I bought to good use, writing for me, painting for her, and having the freedom to do as we please.
Taking this
as a trip out of China, feel no guilt in going to Whiskey bar two days in a row for whisky served right on a tray with a cup of ice, a cup of water, and the whisky separated for you to mix and sip as you please. I’ve also indulged twice in their cheese platter, which is a treasure I thought I would be missing for another six months.

I am understanding more how the lunar New Year lasts for 15 days. The lanterns and lights remain all around to signify the celebration, and there are spontaneous lion dances, fire works, and firecrackers on many different days. They were so loud one night that I didn’t dare leave the hotel room, but luckily had a view of the fireworks over the trees from my hostel. The booms and cracks were so earth-shaking that I had a better idea what it must be like to be in war before the 21th century.

By chance, when going to the Aquarium, they were setting up for a special acrobatic lion dance. The lions, each made up of two people, one controlling the head being the front legs, and another, back down, making up the body and rear legs, did the “dance” on top of 20 poles 10 feet high. The other lions also came through the crowd and tossed us oranges through their pen mouths. It was a spectacular sight watching them leap through the air, though I foun1d myself nervous for the boys, some of whom couldn’t have been more than 12, without the reassurance of knowing that it turned out as planned.

FYI – I applaud the aquarium in KL for making the feeding times for the different animals public shows. I’ve always walked through zoos and aquariums and thought it’d be much more entertaining to see the animals moving around and eating. The sea life in KL exhibits were exceptional lively, including an octopus that was swimming, suctioning, and climbing all about. (Until now, I’d never seen them do much of anything, and only spied the corner of octopus skin through a rock wedge.) They also encourage you to watch their feedings, so I saw them in the tank holding out fish chunks to the 5 foot long arapaima (Amazon River fish), sea turtles, manta rays, and even tiger sharks. Well done, KL!

PS… The newspaper, South China Morning Post, reported on 2/19 that in Beijing there have been 501 injuries, 2 deaths, 1 person blinded from fireworks since the year of the rabbit began on Feb 2nd.