Gallimaufry#50

Just a gallimaufry of photos 📷

 Red frangipani aka plumeria 
In Asia, it is said that the frangipani shelters ghosts and spirits. Malays associate them with pontianak (vampires)! We grew up believing that an intoxicating scent of frangipani after dark indicates the presence of a pontianak! Whenever our little noses picked up the scent when we were out playing in the evening, we would run home for our lives!

The pontianak manifests as a vampiric pregnant woman who died in childbirth. Described as evil and  vengeful, she appears as a long-haired woman in a flowing white robe. Pontianaks steal babies hoping to replace the child they lost.

I do, every now and then, catch a whiff of frangipani at night in my living room but I am pretty sure the fragrance comes from my neighbour's dryer. Or does it??!!👻

FUN FACT

The fragrance of the frangipani intensifies at night to attract its pollinator, the sphinx moth.

Thai dinner

Goong Ob Woonsen (clay pot shrimp vermicelli)

Khao Pad Sapparod (pineapple fried rice)

Pla Krapong Neung Manao (Steamed fish in lime sauce)

Moo ping 

Gai Hor Bai Toey

Khai Jiao (deep-fried omelete)

Yes, there really is a Starbucks everywhere you look!

Pandu lalu means drive through in Malay.

FUN FACT

There are currently 30,000+  Starbucks stores in the world — 33,833 the last time I googled.

Lanterns 🏮

 😎Endless summer 🌞

Sending you tropical vibes from my corner of the world 👙👓🍦🍹🌴

SKYWATCH FROM MY BALCONY

Towering inferno?

Nah, it's just the sun's reflection.

The TM Tower as seen from my balcony, a 23-minute drive away.

TM Tower — Avengers HQ in Malaysia??!!!

image credit - says.com

In 2018, fans of The Avengers went crazy when the iconic logo was spotted on the tower.

Turned out, the projection was part of a collaboration between Marvel Malaysia and TM in a tie-in for the movie  'Avengers: Infinity War'!

The tower does kinda look like  the fictional Avengers' Stark Tower, doesn't it?

Gallimaufry#49

Just a gallimaufry of photos 📸

Pink balsam

ZEN

Koi

The age of a Koi is determined by the rings around their outer scales — one ring for every two years.

Hanako is believed to be the longest living Koi fish ever recorded. She lived for 226 years before her death in 1977. The scarlet-coloured fish was born in 1751 in Japan. The average lifespan of a scarlet koi carp is around 40 years.

FROM THE TRAVEL ARCHIVES

Pencil Tower (Blaaktoren), Rotterdam

Lotus' or Lotus's?

In school, we were taught that if a possessive noun ends in s, an apostrophe is simply appended to the noun.

When Lotus's first acquired Tesco's retail chain in Malaysia and their logo appeared on buildings, people were buzzing over the correct punctuation of the possessive noun.

Haha, turns out everyone was wrong! The apostrophe is actually a drop pin that symbolizes their "your go-to destination for all your needs and wants" slogan, and the ‘s’ represents their SMART (acronym) values!

So LOTUSS it is!

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. 🚲

Albert Einstein

Gallimaufry#48

Just a gallimaufry of photos 📸

I had no clue what these were but an image search with Google Lens identified them as the buds of the Poison Arrow Vine.

Poison Arrow Vine 

Can you guess what this is?

It's a macro shot of the inflorescence of an amaranth.

FROM THE TRAVEL ARCHIVES

I love street photography and this shot of excited kids on a field trip, taken in 2011, is one of my favourite photos. Somehow, sharing snaps of children without parental permission didn't feel right, so I had their faces blurred.

But it was the happy smiles and unadulterated joy on their little faces that captured my attention in the first place.

I did some research online and learned that, as long as the photos are shot in a public location and not used for commercial purposes, it is totally legal to post photos of children without parental consent. 

What's your take on this?

Batu giling 

Long before the advent of electrical food processors, this massive stone metate was found in every Malaysian home. This crude contraption was used to grind an assortment of spices and herbs into rempah (spice paste).

 

image credit - http://www.pickles-and-spices.com/

It required a fair bit of elbow grease to work the heavy roller back and forth. Hands were calloused by the constant chafing against the ends of the course granite roller. The rhythmic rumble at the crack of dawn when Mom was grinding out the rempah was a sound I grew up on in the '60s.

When we were little, we used to love watching mom roll out the rempah. She would squat behind the batu giling with an array of plates and bowls of ingredients lined around the stone slab on the floor. She would then place some onions, turmeric, candlenuts, galangal and chilies on the slab, deftly smash the ingredients, and magically turn them into a smooth paste. The fascination became a dreaded chore when my sisters and I were old enough to take turns doing "rempah duty". But according to our Indian neighbor, this "exercise" was great for building the chest!

Ha, turned out, it was a myth. None of us sisters grew up well-endowed. But then again, you can't make mountains out of molehills, if you catch my drift! 😉

Korean BBQ

I love the novelty of the traditional Korean way of dining, where you sit cross-legged on the floor at a low table during your meal. But sitting on the floor after an hour or so can be a bit uncomfortable when your legs start to cramp.

So, Dorae (Malaysia's largest Korean restaurant chain) came up with this brilliant idea that allows you to enjoy the traditional experience minus the discomfort. The answer? A hole in the floor under a low table so you can stretch your legs!

Gunung Lang Waterfall