Today marks the end of Ramadan, and in the true spirit of Malaysian gourmandising we decided to go to an all-you-can-eat brunch.
Our choice of venue – a prosecco and pork extravaganza – wasn’t exactly in keeping with Islamic principles, but the intention was there.
Then on to a gin palace, where behaviour deteriorated somewhat …
… not mine, I hasten to add.
They give you a bottle of gin and invite you to make a mark once you’ve had enough –
Needless to say, the bottle was well and truly empty once the crab crew got going on it, so no marking or haggling over price was necessary.
And this evening I can see fireworks going off in every direction as I look out from the balcony
This isn’t my photo … I can’t see the Petronas Towers from my window, but I’m sure you get the idea.
There are yellow and green decorations everywhere
and they are all in the shape of the little woven boxes that are filled with money and given to children at Hari Raya.
Here they are in a shop down the road – along with flaming torches, which seem to be another essential for Hari Raya –
– plus lots of bright, shiny decorations.
The guards at the gate of the condo have really got into the Ramadan spirit and decorated the guard house –
– despite the fact that they’re all Nepalese, and therefore presumably Hindu.
That’s the great thing about Malaysia; there’s a huge mix of cultures, and they all embrace everyone else’s celebrations with great enthusiasm. So the Malays have a knees-up at Chinese New Year, and the Chinese flock to the Iftar buffets during Ramadan.
As a last word on Ramadan, I had a revelation at my final Iftar buffet last Thursday. These buffets specialise in traditional home-style food which you don’t normally see in restaurants, and on Thursday I had some of this –
which I thought was artichoke. But I was assured by my Malay neighbour that it was jack fruit.
I was so convinced that it was artichoke that I took a picture of the label
and looked up a translation later, and of course she was absolutely right.
So there you go, cooked jack fruit is indistinguishable from artichoke … I bet you never knew that.
So, as they say over here, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, or Happy Hari Raya – so no more Ramadan buffets until next year … sigh.
