Brand New Buzz

Forget the Asian Arts Museum, the national Museum or the art Gallery. We were in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, to go shopping at what proved, at least to me, to be a furious rate. I noted with some desperation that we could go shopping at any of the Kualalumpur hotels we chose and not have to leave for the heat of the city. I really said this because I could stay near the beloved gin and tonics and exotic bar food of the city which I’d grown quite fond. But that excuse lasted about as long as a slushy snowball on the center median in the afternoon of a road in Kuala Lumpur and I was cajoled out to the market, and beyond, as I like to think.

I prefer flea market type atmospheres to shopping in shopping malls, or mauls, and department stores (why are they called department stores, do they sell departments? “I’ll have two departments please, and could you wrap them to go? And take off the price tags, they are going to be gifts for some new friends I met in Indonesia. Yes, Sally and Pruvis Yanklow.)

At the flea market, I did not see any fleas actually for sale (why are they called flea markets? You’d think they’d have a more exotic name like bizarre bazaars or something in Kuala Lumpur). While at the clamboring, hot dusty loud and irresistable market (I could always get a gin and tonic later, I told my self and shrugged) Kate and I dug in and bargained with some guy for fifteen minutes for a gold and pink Buddha statue we had to have for a friend in Pennsylvania, one Morris Glickman Ogrodnick, who said if I didn’t return with his statuary, he’d have my head on a platter. Well, we hope he enjoys his Malaysian Buddha!

Related posts:

1. CNN’s Top 10 Seafood Markets: The Lexington Market in Baltimore
2. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
3. The Beautiful City of Kuala Lumpur
4. Changing Spending Habits Amidst the Poor Economy