Tuesday, Returned to Sender

Please click the photo above to play the daily videoA long weekend had done its job so well that Tuesday seemed to take it personally.

At least the morning was sunny. It was proper sunshine too, bright and clean, with none of the haze that’s been hanging about lately. After the long crawl back down the highway, it felt like a small kindness. It didn’t make the day any lighter. It just made the start of it easier to face.

And it wasn’t going to be light. Time away always gets paid for, and with Monday off as well, the bill had an extra day to grow. Everything you left behind has been waiting for you, and it doesn’t wait quietly. The first day back after a long weekend isn’t really a single day. It’s two days folded into one.

Morning clinic ran straight into afternoon clinic, with no gap between them worth calling a break. Lunch got squeezed into whatever minutes were left over. I ate it rather than enjoyed it, and I’ve already forgotten what it was. Some meals are just fuel.

The evening asked for a different kind of effort: dinner with a CAR-T company over from China. On a day like this, a business dinner can feel like one more thing on the list. This one didn’t. It was a nice affair, genuinely so. The conversation went well beyond business, and there was the particular warmth of people who’ve travelled a long way to sit at your table and are glad they did. Everyone was curious, and nobody was hurrying the evening along. It’s easy to arrive at a dinner like that already tired and expecting to stay tired. Every so often it surprises you and gives you some energy back.

But energy you borrow at dinner gets repaid later. It was late when I got home, and the house had already gone quiet. A bag or two from the trip was still sitting there half unpacked, a reminder that only a few days ago I was somewhere else entirely. The tiredness had been building quietly since the drive home, and tonight I finally noticed it.

It’s a strange thing, a return. You come back rested, and within a day the rest is spent. The long weekend didn’t fail. Tuesday was just always going to take it back.

So tonight there are no plans and no ambitions beyond sitting still and letting the day drain away. Recovery isn’t glamorous. It’s mostly just stopping, and trusting that tomorrow will be a little kinder for it.

The week has begun a day late, and it will want to make up for lost time. Tonight, at least, it can wait.

Deepavali at the Malls

Last weekend, I had the chance to hit the town for a quick walk. It was the weekend after Deepavali and the decorations were still up. It had been a while since I had the chance to go out with my camera and explore.

I was lucky enough to be able to stop at both Suria KLCC and later Pavilion and I just could not resist the chance. It was just too good ....

The one at Suria featured a couple of giant peacocks in the middle of the main foyer. With their long tails and shimmering lights of the main atria, the colours were just great.

The decorations at Pavilion was slightly different. It was more traditional with large kolam filling up the main floor. The other day, they had a dance troupe doing their merry dance there. Quite a spectacle ...

I wished that I had time to explore Nu Sentral which is located right in the heart of Brickfields ....

Riuh Rendah

APW was only a kilometer away from where we stay. To be honest we could just walk there. Once a month they had this big flea market there called Riuh as well as the usual café offering. We missed the last two for one reason or the other.

We managed to get there this time around to explore what the fuss was about. And the theme for this one was Deepavali, while there were Halloween program for the children.

We started off looking for a drink.... and we found this ribena lychee lemonadeAnita got her drinks from this cool airstream ...Parking was a problem there. We decided to park at Lorong Kurau and took a 10 minute walk to the venue. It was a bright sinning Subang the event was in full swing when we got there just after 5 pm. First order of business was to get drinks and the lychee lemonade just did the trick. Anita had some pasembor from the store and we had that with some ice latte from a hip looking airstream. Nice!

Once we were filled up, we went to explore the pop-up stores and flea market. There was also some workshop with children activities at one of the landings. They had a Halloween costume competition there as well as some kid's fun activities, face painting etc.

A spot to eat and drink ...More lemonade ...Nachos? But the guy never convinced me of being Mexican at all ...Heading upstairs for the children worksop ...The pop-up stores sole crafts and clothes. The one which caught my eyes were a watch shop and a stall selling bathroom products a la "Lush". I bought a few to try. Anita had a look at some of the clothes and shoes Burnett didn't buy anything in the end. There were about to start with live music when we left. We wished that there were more variety of food there. As it was, we decoded t head over to Bangsar Village for dinner.

Off to the pop-up stores ....Purses ...Surprisingly, Anita didn't buy one of those ...Nice. But doesn't look comfortable though ....Topped things off with an Indian dance ...Riuh was an event worth having a look at especially when the weather was nice and you got a couple of hours to spare. I wouldn't mind just sitting down to have a drink. I wished that there were more spaces to sit around and more variety of food to try.

Clearing Up

Although it would only be a single day break, Deepavali coming in the middle of the week felt that it was more than just a day off. My clinic also went smoothly this morning as most of my patients already had other plans and would prefer to start things early. I managed to finish the clinic on time.

My boys are having a week break but they were not keen to travel. I would be on call on Thursday, so from the looks of things it would be a day in tomorrow. Maybe I would be watching plenty of TV, binging on a series or two ...

Happy holidays all.

Quiet Town

It was Deepavali Eve and I observed that the city centre was rather quiet tonight. We were on our way back from Great Eastern Mall for a quick dinner, fully expecting congested traffic en route home. But there were not too much to see.

The few stalls and restaurants opened also appeared deserted. Rather strange to be quite honest. Maybe it was the sign of the economy slowing down ..... but the surprise was even the Indonesian were staying in ....