Bits and pieces in Chinatown

This morning I woke up around 8.30 and got ready to head out. Before I went, I caught up with Daisy to ask her to do a few things around the house. Then I drove over to Pavillion where I had some breakfast at The Coffee Bean. All the Christmas displays were up. After breakfast I picked up some batteries and some vitamins for Ross before heading back to the car.

I drove to Chinatown and parked in the Central Market. Julia had asked me to get a caricature done of our friend and netball captain Sam who is leaving KL in a couple of weeks to go to Abu Dhabi. I found the caricature guy and dropped off a photo of Sam and also an example of a caricature netball player for him to copy. He said he would drop it off tomorrow at my house.

From there I walked to Peter Ho and picked up a couple of presents before going to a new bead store. They were selling tiny Chinese crystals so I picked up a bunch and also bought a display for my earrings in the shape of a palm tree (sounds cheesy but it is actually pretty good). I then headed down Petaling Street to try and find a back for my friend Kate but without success. It was like Xmas had thrown up in a lot of the stores along the back streets as they were all selling tacky Xmas decorations and gifts.

On my way back to the car, I picked up some orchids and had some lunch at Central Market. I drove home and spent the afternoon doing some beading before Ross came home about 6. We made mushroom and onion pasta with the 2 leftover portobello mushrooms. We watched some more TV and then headed to bed about 9.30.

Chinatown

This morning Ross headed off to the Singapore office for a few hours and I headed out for a walk. I thought I would go and try to find the beading stores in Chinatown. I walked up a couple of blocks until I got up to North Bridge road and then walked south until I crossed the river onto Sth Bridge Road.

Just over the bridge I found numerous beading stores. They were all quite good but more expensive than those in KL. They did have some different beads though so I bought some cloisenne beads and some Swarovski crystal beads as well as a few other bits and pieces.

By this time, the rain had started so I headed into a mall on Clarke Quay. I had lunch at a Japanese restaurant overlooking the river while the rain poured down. Luckily, the mall connected straight to the MRT system so I caught the train back towards the hotel. I walked through the Citylink mall and picked up a little black skirt before getting back to the hotel about 4.

Ross got back about 4.30 and we chilled out for a couple of hours before going out for dinner. We thought we would walk down to the Robertson Quay area for dinner. We ended up at Indochine - a cool Asian restaurant with Thai, Laos, Vietnamese and other types of SE Asian food. We shared a great salad and some noodles overlooking the river.

We walked back to the hotel via the Esplanade and I ducked in to Mango to pick up a couple of little cardigans I had had my eye on. We got back to the hotel about 9 and watched TV until we fell asleep about 11.

Today's photo is of the ceramic mosaic in Dhoby Gaut MRT station.

More beads (as if I don't have enough!)

This morning I slept in until 8.20 and then started my day by going to the chiropractor. I was still sore from earlier in the week and when Nick did the adjustment on my back it cracked like you wouldn't believe! I walked out feeling better.

From there, I drove to Chinatown and parked at the Central Market. I headed back to the store that sold semi-precious stones and bought some more beads including some amethyst, obsidian, pearls and all sorts of types of top drilled beads (shaped like tear drops). After blowing some cash there, I headed to the next beading store and picked up a variety of wire and tiger tail. Finally I went to my usual store and bought a whole lot of findings including charms, memory wire and more Chinese crystals to match with the existing colours I have.

I walked back past the florist street and picked up some orange lilies. I dumped all my stuff in the car and then went into the Central Market for lunch. As you can see from the photo, I had top hats - yum!

I drove home and spent the afternoon again on the bed with the cats. In the evening I made myself a goat's cheese salad and watched a lot of bad TV before heading to bed.

Beads, beads and more beads!

This morning I did a few things around the house before walking down to the train station to catch the train to Chinatown. I got out there about 11 and went in search of the bead stores that the girls in my beading class had been talking about.

I came across one store that sold strings of semi-precious stones. I asked the lady if she did wholesale prices and she said yes. The price came down to one quarter of the retail! But the catch was I had to buy quite a bit. I ended up with strands of red agate, carnelian, garnet, lava stone (basalt), shell, bloodstone, black onyx and a few others.

From there, I had a look in one of the other bead stores up the road. I didn't find anything to my liking there so I walked back to Peter Ho for some lunch and a look around. I made it before the lunch hour, expat lady rush and managed to snag a piece of Chinese mushroom and tomato quiche - so good.

After a bit of a look around Peter Ho, I walked back down the street to find some more beading stores. I found one that sold Chinese crystals and went a bit nuts buying 22 strands of various colours and sizes. I also bought some headpins with little balls at the end of them - a bit different from the normal ones - and some ring frames.

The lady told me they also had another store and she took me over there where I filled up my basket with various findings - earring charms, chain, earring hooks and other bits and pieces. By this time, I was pretty much done.

I caught the train back to KLCC and then walked under cover back to the house. Again, I got home just in time before the storm. It pelted down! I had a bit of a break before having to head out in the rain to go to my chiropractor appointment.

I finally got in to see Nick the chiropractor. We talked for a bit about my lower back pain and shoulder pain. He asked me to stand up and he had a look at my feet. Immediately, he could see that my right foot had collapsed making my foot collapse in and therefore my alignment was out from my foot all the way up to my neck.

Next he checked my spine and said that I have a little bit of scoliosis - which I think I knew anyway - and also a pronounced curve in my spine. He asked me to lay down on the bed and he did some simple stretching and massaging before strapping my feet to the table. He then made the table go and and down at my hip level. This stretched my back again.

Next he did some manual adjustments (i.e. cracking) to my lower vertebrate and my neck. It was freaky how easily everything cracked. I stood up and felt a bit "lighter". Nick said that I should really come in twice a week for 6 weeks to get things aligned properly again. He also said that I should bring in my trainers so he can fit orthodics to help correct my collapsed arch in my right foot.

So I made an appointment for Saturday and drove home in peak hour traffic. I messed about with my new beads while waiting for Ross to come home. We made a chicken salad for dinner and then watched Transformers.

Spending the day with friends

Today started with netball in the morning. I went to Julia's place to pick her up and had a coffee first with her and Phil (it was a holiday today). Julia and I drove to netball and played for an hour - my god it was hot! I played one quarter as center and it almost killed me!

As usual we went to Fogel's for breakfast afterwards with a few of the netball girls. They really are such a nice bunch of girls! Julia and I left them and headed back to her place to shower and change. We had another coffee with Phil before leaving to drive to Chinatown.

Julia took me to Jenny's bag shop - a high-class knock off place where the bags are made from leather rather than PVC that you find in Chinatown. It was obviously a popular place to shop as it was full of expats buying bags and wallets to take back home for summer. I was suprised by home many French women were there - I didn't think they would go in for the fakes! The bags aren't cheap but they are really good quality. I found a couple that I liked but she was so busy we couldn't be bothered waiting so we left. But at least now I know where the shop is.

From there we headed into Petaling Street. Julia was looking for a gift for her friends daughter and I was looking for a couple of polo shirts for Ross. We found what we were looking for and wandered around a bit longer before going to Peter Ho's with the intention of having a look around and something to drink. On our way to Peter Ho's we came across a small fruit and veg stall selling fresh lychees - as you can see from the photo, Julia was pretty excited to find them :-)

Peter Ho's was packed also. I guess being Friday people have a longer lunch break and because it is almost summer, everyone is out to buy gifts to take home. We couldn't get a seat for a drink so we just wandered about the shop. I spotted some lovely lamps that I think I will take Ross back to have a look at. I also bought a pair of unusual silver earrings. They are very chunky but I really like them.

On the way bacck to the car, we stopped at the florist and I picked up a couple of bunches of tiger lilies that were mostly in bud so hopefully they will open up over the next week or so.

I drove Julia home and headed back to Stonor. I relaxed on the bed for an hour or two before Ross came home from work and joined me. Sonja called and said they would like to meet up and go out for dinner and some drinks. They came over about 6.30 and we had a margarita before walking over to Jalan Raja Chulan for dinner.

We ate at the Argentinian steak house. The food was pretty good as was the service. But I do think the steaks we bought from the dodgy Chinese butcher were just as good if not better. We had a couple more drinks there before walking to the Trader's hotel for a cocktail. As the boys were in shorts and thongs, we sat upstairs which was actually a better view than by the pool anyway and quieter. Sonja had a Lychee Rose, a vodka martini with lychee, rose water and vodka - very nice and one that we will try and replicate at our bar. I had a Selangor Sling - a variation on the Singapore Sling. And I can't remeember the name of Brian's drink but it was something Negro?? Ross had a Long Island Ice Tea.

We walked back to Stonor and had a final night cap at our place while watching the Broncos game. Sonja and Brian left about midnight and we fell into bed after a great night with good friends. Sonja and the kids leave on Sunday night for 6 and a half weeks - I will miss her company!