Royal Selangor

Continuing on with KL--Day 2...after we left the Istana Negara, we went to Royal Selangor.  I don't know how familiar the average person in the world is with this company, but in Asia as a whole, it's a big, big deal.  The company was started in the mid-/late-1800s.  They make pewter products.  Pewter is one of the two major products of Malaysia (palm oil being the other).  The original company stamp included these Chinese characters:

 The outside of their building:

We were given a quick, kid-friendly tour.  This picture is of how they used pewter for currency.  Originally they would break off a piece of an animal to a certain weight and trade for their goods.  After that, they used the "money tree" where they could break off a "coin" at the end of each limb:

Then, we moved towards the factory.  They keep ALL shavings...it adds up in weight and it value:

We sampled cold soda out of some pewter cups:

Everything they make is done by hand.  There are some machines that will turn or etch, but it is still the workers who are actually working.  Each piece, therefore, would be unique in some way:

This woman is making handles for mugs:

This person is making cups.  They have added the decorative line to the one on the right:

 This person has been polishing and has shown the difference from start to finish:

Parker is being allowed to tap ruts onto this cup...which I am quite sure was melted at the end of the day:

They all got to try.  There is a technique to it (spacing and hitting each spot perfectly, twice, etc.) and the workers who learn this technique spend six months in school to perfect it:

We had previously enrolled the kids in "The School of Hard Knocks."  For RM 60 (US $20) each, they each had a spot in the class to learn how to make a simple pewter bowl to take home.

Of course, we also "toured" the store.  Lots and lots of choices:

We exited with our "loot" (the bowls we made, some necklaces, and a frame for one of the pictures of the kids making their bowls).  We stopped to take this famous picture shot, which Jeremy is excited to send to his cultural trainer and university teacher (who he had visited this place with a couple summers previous).

We returned to our hotel at the mall and had Papa John's for dinner.  It tasted just like we remembered.  Perfect!

Kuala Lumpur--Day 2

In the morning/day this is what KL looks like from 37-something stories high...facing the city:

This is what four happy American kids look like eating American Krispy Kreme donuts at the mall below the hotel (good donuts of any nationality are hard to come by):

The hotel we stayed at rose out of the top of a mall (this is very, very common).  However, the mall was about 10 stories tall...we could get some serious shopping done.  Instead, we settled for playing music on one of the staircases, literally.

KL is a treasure of old buildings filled by museums, religions, and offices.  By the time I blogged this, I'd forgotten what this one was:

 This is the Textiles Museum:

This one is the KLM Building.  KLM is the name of their metro system.  Some of the pictures were taken out of dirty car windows, there's just no where to stop and pull over, and if you notice all the traffic...it's horrendous.  Jeremy kept commenting under his breath that they certainly have never had a city planner...the streets are crazy and there's no straight shot to get from Point A to Point B.  Don't even think about not having a GPS here.

The one building I really wanted to see is the Sultan Abdul Samad Building.  It is quite impressive when you are standing directly in front of it, across the square.  I snagged a shot (the first one) from online, as the particular day that we went by, they had the whole entire square, buildings surrounding the square, and roads between the two (on all four sides) completely blocked off to any vehicular or foot traffic.

Also notably famous are the Selangor Club and the Cathedral...not impressive views from where I was standing or with the construction:

We made our way next to "Istana Negara" which means "the king's palace."  This is the old one.  I was inhabited by the Sultan of Malaysia up until just December 2011.  (He got a bigger, incredible one after that.)  Here is the current Sultan and his wife and the outside of the palace:

We were able to walk up to the palace not only because it is no longer inhabited, but also because they have displayed a small collection of their personal effects that have a history with their reign.  It was located in a wing of the palace.  This was the only part we were able to go in to:

They had a poster picture of the new palace.  We'd been by it on the highway, but it sits on a hill as you round it on the highway and were unable to get a good picture.  This would be a good place to also try to visit: