2 February 2007: Floral Parade

Last weekend, there was a Floral Parade in PutraJaya, the place where these days the Malaysian Government administrative centre is seated. The Floral Parade is sort of the "Floriade" we also have in The Netherlands. A large number of flower floats were decorated, most of them in a Malaysian theme. Because of the temperature, the event already started early: between 8am and 10am the spectators were able to watch the floats. The remainder of the weekend it was also possible to take a look at all the creations in an airconditioned tent.
Jenny was able to get a number of VIP-tikets, specially available for Expats. Because Henk had to go to Malacca for a teambuilding session, an "auntie" with her two children were invited: at 7.30 am a complimentary breakfast and after that watching the Parade from the VIP-lounge !

For an impression of the floats, click the photograph on the right.

18 February 2007: Chinees Nieuwjaar

This weekend, the Chinese New Year has started (according to the chinese calendar it is now 4075). For us, this means two public holidays: officially Sunday and Monday are the public holidays, but in Malaysia every holiday that falls on a Sunday is pushed to the first working day, in this case Tuesday!
We have a subscription to the daily "Star" newspaper, and because they published a number of colourful photographs of the decorations in one of the Chinese temples in Kuala Lumpur, we decided to pay the temple a visit. The temple was decorated with a large number of Chinese red laterns, and outside also a number of large lighted dolls were on display to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

For some photographs of the Thean Hou temple in Kuala Lumpur, click the photo on the right.

16 March 2007: Genting Highlands

Last Friday, we decided to take another day of annual leave from the office. After all, the last official public holiday (Chinese New Year) was almost a month ago .... :-)
On Friday and Saturday, we visited Genting Highlands, a place in the hills just outside of Kuala Lumpur (from our place just under one hour drive - 55 kilometers). A lot of Chinese people go to Genting to have a relaxed time in one of the Themeparks or to gamble in the casino.
One of the advantages of Genting Highlands is the temperature: in the hills it is much cooler than Kuala Lumpur: during the day approximately 20 degrees. Disadvantage is the fact that quite frequently it's cloudy (see the pictures) and it rains quite a bit. Genting Highlands is ok for a day, but then you've seen it all. At "World Plaza"you can see a number of miniature versions of famous places around the world: a mini Eiffel tower of Paris, the canals of Venice and the Statue of Liberty of New York and some other well known places. There is an indoor and outdoor themepark, mainly for children. Last but not least there is a big casino where merely chinese people go to try their luck (Malay people are not allowed to gamble accordint to the Islam).

Click for some 'spectaculair' photos of Genting Highlands the picture on the right.

28 March 2007: Tropicana Golf and Country Resort

Since we moved to Damansara Legenda middle of 2006, we have a subscription of "Tropicana Golf and Country Resort". This is one of the many Golf courses in Malaysia, where besides golf there are a large number of other activities. There is a large swimming pool (currently our main sprting activity), there are fittness facilities, a sauna, bowling alleys, tennis and squash courts etc. Tropicana also has a number of restaurants, which is quite handy every now and then because it's only a 3 minute drive from our house (one time we went there on our bicycle, but because of the temperature so far we did this only once ....)
Usually we go for a swim a couple of times per week. Maybe in the near future we'll play some golf as well (we already have clubs and a bag, now we just have to find the time and spirit ...)
It's also possible to live at Tropicana Resort. Unfortunately the regulations for building houses are not that strict (opposed to other regulations in Malaysia), therefore some of the house owners put in all of their creativity into their new home (not quite to our taste of course.....)
For an example, pls click the link on the right !

8 april 2007: Jenny's mother

This morning, Jenny's mum has arrived at KL International Airport. The plane was quite early (after a flight of 11 hours, the plan had landed at about 5.30am already). Therefore upon arrival, she had to wait for a while: from our home in Petaling Jaya it's about 40 minutes by car and we left only 5.50am (which is quite early for a Sunday morning !)

The next couple of weeks she will be staying with us to help during the confinement period. She will accompany us when we go back to The Netherlands on the 22nd of June.

Tonight we have taken her out to dinner at one of our favourite vegetarian restaurants: Jade Garden in the closest Shopping Mall we have: CenterPoint.

16 April 2007: Photo's

26 May 2007: Colours of Malaysia

This year the opening of the annual "Colours of Malaysia" festival was held in Putrajaya. Last year we also watched the opening of the festival, where all the various cultures of Malaysia present themselves, but in 2006 the parade was organised in the centre of Kuala Lumpur. Putrajaya is about 25 km from KL, maybe one of the reasons why there weren't as much people as last year. The opening was also broadcasted live on one of the local TV stations, probably adding to the small amount of people there.
The parade started with fireworks above the Palace of Justice, and after an number of speeches and the parade, the event was also closed with a (large) fireworks.
For a number of photo's from the event, click the small photo on the right!