Cocoa Boutique

Today we went to the Cocoa Boutique. We were hoping to see a chocolate factory, but it was just a showroom. But--and this was good--there were samples of lots of different kinds of chocolate. Mmmm.
White chocolate. Dark chocolate. Milk chocolate.
Chocolate covered hazelnut.
Chocolate covered almond.
Chocolate covered cranberry.
Chocolate covered coconut.
Chocolate covered pineapple.
Chocolate covered durian.
They had it all. And I tried as many samples as I could.
Yummy.

Sightseeing

It was raining today, but we decided to go out sightseeing anyway. We're in a very historical city; it's also very religiously and ethnically diverse.
We saw Hindu temples.
Islamic mosques

...and dargas.
Buddhist temples,
where people light gigantic incense sticks
and let birds go free after they pray.


The diversity makes for a very colorful city with lots for a sightseer to discover. The literal colors are also a pleasant change--they give the city character and aren't garish like those I'm used to seeing elsewhere.
I give a thumbs-up to Georgetown. :)

Esplanade and Little India

"Helo? Helo?" We are trying to call you from Little India.
This evening we went downtown to the historical part of the city to see what was there and to eat in Little India.
Some of the buildings are from British colonial days and they have a different feel from the rest of the city.
We ate at one of the outdoor food stalls, where the plates were very big.

The beach

I went to the beach with Jessie. This is jellyfish "season", so they are plentiful in the water and washed up on shore.
We found one that seemed to have been swimming under the influence of caffeine, which led to his death on the beach.
Jessie was pointing out what led to his demise, and making sure he was dead.
Then she set up a foot massage parlor for me to have my feet done.
We watched the sun go down and then headed back.

Butterfly farm

We visited a butterfly farm. They were not shy butterflies and flew right up to us.
Did you catch that odd looking one?

There were also a few unusual and incongruous items to see at the butterfly farm, such as traditional clothing from...an ewok village?

And some giant bugs--real and otherwise--were on display.

After the butterfly farm, the drama queen and I stopped at the Tropical Spice Plantation. It wasn't very plantation-like, more some trails through jungle with sign-age.

And it had this out-of-place window for picture taking.

New geezer

No, "new geezer" is not an oxymoron. A geezer is what a hot water heater is called. And I got a new one.

When we moved into the flat, there was not a geezer in the kitchen, meaning there was no hot water at the sink there. I mentioned this to the landlord, thinking it would be impossible that anything would happen anytime soon. But he said, "A geezer? Why not?" And the next day he went out and got one.

I was amazed. Things never happen that quickly here. Especially when it involves spending money for someone else's benefit.

And look: it's even a special windsurfer one. So nice, huh?

New grafitti and fixing phone lines

Today was the first day in, hmm....six weeks? that we had c0-op for school. It was the first day I'd been through the bazaar, otherwise when I've been out we've taken the long way around.
There are some new messages painted on the walls.

Phone lines and internet have also not been working as they should. Finally, the repair men are out to try and do something about that. This is the guy who fixes the phone lines.

Visiting

Since there were no strict curfews or strikes today, I visited some friends. They offered me some chai and then asked me to take some pictures in the garden. They had a lot of different poses for me capture.

The kids have had weeks of no school because of the unrest. This was the first day for many of them to go back. Now the teachers are piling on the homework to make up for all the missed time. Poor kids.

This one just turned five last month (or "completed his fifth year", as they say here), and he was doing his homework: writing the numbers 1 to 100 in his notebook. Very neatly, too. He had three other books of penmanship in English and Urdu to do before tomorrow also.

They let us out

Today they finally lifted the curfew for the whole day, and there was enough time and freedom of movement for stores to be opened and shelves to be stocked.

People and traffic were finally on the roads again.
It was also the first day of Ramadan. So people were anxious to have something nice to eat for Iftyar, when they broke the fast. The streets and stores were crowded.

But the restaurant we waited in was not crowded. It was empty since everyone was fasting. The two pizza-baking men didn't have much to do.

Look! Is that Best Buy? Oh no. Their best buys are something to do with "beauty to bow from tips to toe". ?

One of the check points we passed through. But this is a usual one, not one of those recently added.