March 20, 2008

Jim is off from work today because it is a national holiday. As Christians mark Holy Thursday, the day Jesus Christ had the Last Supper with his apostles, Muslims will celebrate a major feast day, Maulidur Rasul, the day Prophet Muhammad was born nearly 1500 years ago. According to Islamic history, Abraham, the governor of Yemen attempted to destroy the Kaabah in Mecca with an army that included a large number elephants. The raid was unsuccessful, but because it was customary to name a year after a major event, the year became known as "The Year of the Elephant". It was in this year that Prophet Muhammad was born. Most Muslims use the day to remember the prophet's good deeds, teachings, wisdom and how he forgave his most bitter enemies according to the Dept. of Islamic Development. It's observed with recitations of praises, blessings and salutations to the prophet held mostly in the mosques, they also prepare lots of food and distribute it to the poor as well as give out awards to those who have served their community. Non-Muslims celebrate by taking the day off from work and sleeping, or perhaps shopping which is what we did.

We weren't sure what would closed due to the holiday so Jim drove. Yes, I was terrified because this time we went on the highway to try to go to Petaling Jaya to find the IKEA store. The signs on the highway are very confusing to follow and we really did not know if we were heading the right way. Somehow we ended up in Shah Alam, all the way out by Jim's work, that's how we knew that we had gone too far. So we back tracked and found a place called Sunway Pyramid. If you will, picture the Sphinx in Las Vegas, this mall had a lion in the same position and just as large if not bigger indicating where the mall was, there is no way you could miss it!! Sunway is a town in and of itself. There is a resort, hotel, and the mall which also has an indoor theme park including water rides, thousands of stores, and Malaysia's only ice rink, needless to say it is massive. Jim wanted to stop and get something to eat so we looked for parking space, after reading a pamphlet about the mall we found out that its garage holds 10,000 parking spaces and we passed everyone because that's how packed it was. 1/2 hour later we finally found some place to park and went inside. I wasn't really interested in exploring this huge complex especially after it took so long just to find a place to park so we just looked at the directory and discovered that there was a Carl's Jr. located in the mall...Hooray!! For those who don't know, they make the best hamburgers anywhere!! Better than McD's, Burger King, Wendy's, anybody!! My favorite is the low-carb burger that's just wrapped in lettuce but unfortunately this location did not have it on the menu nor did they have Coke Light so I had to settle for a Guacamole Bacon ( chicken bacon, remember no pork ) cheeseburger and an iced tea. It hit the spot for both of us and since we had sort of walked around one section of the mall looking for the place, we decided that it was definitely too crowded for us to stay ( it was a national holiday so everybody and their grandkids went to the mall ) so we headed back to the car and tried once again to find IKEA.

We had one of our trusty maps in the car and figured out which way to go to get there and were successful after a few U-turns. IKEA was just as crowded as the Sunway pyramid!! I'm not sure what the maximum capacity is for the store but Jim is definitely going to look into getting some stock because it was packed!! We figured that it took us 3 hours to find the place so we might as well go in. Their parking is also underground but more organized, they had guards directing people to where spaces were available but me and Jim just "created" our own and parked next to a pillar ( everybody does it here ). Anyone who's been in Ikea knows that they have psuedo rooms set up so you can get an idea of how your room would look if you bought their stuff, I almost felt like I was at a museum exhibit with all the people inside. We picked out some furnishings that we thought would like nice in our new house and are going to do some comparison shopping just to make sure that's what we really want. I picked up a few little things in the meantime like lamps, bath rugs and shower curtains, and a wok. My main reason for going was to find area rugs, I think I'll need about 5 of them and found a couple that I like but I'll still look around some place else just in case I find something better.

We spent about 2 hours inside Ikea and when we left it was going on 6 pm so we decided to head home and try to get there without getting lost. We didn't too bad, only 1 U-turn and we were home. Oso was happy to see us because he had been locked up so he had a nice long walk after dinner. I'm glad to hear that so many people are enjoying my journal, it's giving me incentive to write in it everyday, although don't be disappointed if I miss a day I may just not have anything going on that day. This weekend, we are going to the flea market and getting haircuts, I'm kind of scared about the haircuts only because I don't know anyone here who can refer me to someone good. Who knows, maybe they'll cut my hair like the Chinese men and then I can look like I just stepped out of a Pokemon cartoon...I'll let you know!!