Pewtersmith For a Day

So today started with my alarm going off at 6, cause that's when I usually get up for work, and I had forgotten to turn it off. No one was very happy with me, but we were all wide awake at that point and since Michael wasn't scheduled to pick us up 'til 9, we had a few hours to kill. So we ran some laundry in our confusing washing machine and played Sushi Go! We had gone to the supermarket the night before for breakfast food, so we had some flavored rolls (vanilla, and mango) which were soft and sweet, and some dragon-fruit and jack-fruit. Jack-fruit was yummy, like a durian that tasted good, and I really enjoyed dragon-fruit. For one, its absolutely striking. The contrast of the fruit's flesh and skin looked entirely alien. I had never had dragon-fruit until today, and while my family didn't really care for it, I loved it, and I looked forward to dragon fruit at every opportunity. It had the texture of a kiwi, but the flavor was mild.


And today we got to see Nicole! She got it really late last night, so we went to bed without actually getting to see her, but all was put right this morning. So with our crew complete, we head out to the Batu Caves!

The caves were a natural formation that is used for a Hindu temple, and is still in use today. It was kind neat to see the way they used the cave. And can I just say it was a b-e-a-u-tiful day, and the sunshine was appreciated in full by yours truly.

Our first look



Are we not the most classic tourists?

People were actively running new construction in the temple and asked people to carry a bucket of sand or a brick up on their way, as their "entrance fee" and to help out. It was pretty clever.

Amanda filling her sand bucket


It got dumped out at the top

Going up

The caves were also home to a thriving colony of monkeys that were adorable and simultaneously very capable of running away with your wallet. They stole a bag of food from a little kid, which shocked the poor kid, but made everyone else laugh. You couldn't let your eyes off them for a minute.

Trying to get the monkey in the selfie

They're a little camera shy




 


Some of the inside of the cave



View from the top of the stairs

Here's a peacock friend I made while waiting for our taxi driver to pick us up.

Our second activity of the day was a tour and craft at the Selangor Pewter factory. Turns out Malaysia is a huge producer of pweter, which I did not know until today. I learned lots of new things, like what pewter is (an alloy of copper, tin and antimony, it's okay, I knew you'd be curious) and how it gets formed, shaped and detailed.


The tour was neat, but the best part was that we got to make our own pewter creations! We were maser pewtersmiths by the end of our two hours (or we'd like to think). For one of the crafts we worked with molten pewter and could free form our own shapes or jewelry items, or whatever we could craft up. It was unlike any kind of crafting I've done before. The second craft was learning how to hammer already formed pewter, and using a form, we shaped and cool little bowl. I came away quite happy with my molded pewter key and hammered pewter bowl.

We even got certificates, so clearly we're qualified pewtersmiths



Creativity is hard

Except for dad, who always has to take things one louder.

My key

And lunch was included. Score!

Your next greatest pewtersmith, Nicole

A great success, I'd say

 ...And a pewter lobster...for luck.


Our wonderful day was topped off with dinner with Jenny's family. Everyone was absolutely wonderful and it was a blessing to have them host us during our short stay. We enjoyed a delicious Chinese dinner (with Chrysanthemum tea - yum) and headed over to one of her sister's houses for chats and snacks (At least, that's what I could make of it).




I've got to say...Chinese snacks...not impressed. They're mostly crackerish and not really worth eating. But we had milk tea for dessert/late night snack and that was divine. Much better than a chai latte, although that's essentially what it is, but it tasted a million times better. Maybe I just needed to be in the right location, to appreciate it, who knows?

Our first day was long and full, but so much fun the whole way through and we slept well that night.

Thanks for reading, and keep rockin'

-Natalie





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