Have Perut Will Travel...: DIWALI Walkabout: Kolam Hunting!

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Thursday, 31 October 2024

DIWALI Walkabout: Kolam Hunting!

Happy Diwali!

Coincidentally Diwali this year coincided with Halloween, which caused consternation among some. With nothing planned we headed out of our condo at half past eleven and hailed a Grab car for a fare of RM9.00 (approximately USD/EUR2) to The Exchange TRX.

What's a 'kolam'? A kolam is meant to welcome Lakshmi, the Hindu Goddess of Prosperity, into one's home. The decorative rice motif is usually drawn in the front of the house, attracting good luck and putting a smile on the faces of visitors who come for Deepavali festivities in the home.

Here we made our way to the main foyer to capture the Diwali decor. Sadly there were only two 'kolam' on display here.

We then spent some time at Uniqlo and LC Waikiki before making our way down to the MRT station. For a fare of RM1.20 (approximately USD/EUR0.25) it was just one stop to Bukit Bintang.

We alighted and headed out to Pavilion in search of the next 'kolam', and we were not disappointed! Apart from the large decor at the fountain by the entrance there was even a five minute traditional dance performance.

We then walked across Jalan Bukit Bintang onto Jalan Palmer then onto Jalan Walter Grenier before emerging at Jalan Sultan Ismail. We then took an escalator up to the Bukit Bintang Monorail station before it across into Sungai Wang Plaza.

No 'kolam' here, so we headed up to the third floor to have lunch at Vinh City Vietnamese Cuisine. We ordered the:

Crab Paste Vermicelli Soup
Pineapple Fried Rice
2 Iced Vietnamese Green Tea
1 hot Vietnamese Coffee

that came to RM42.56 (approximately USD10/EUR9).

We then took an elevator down and exited across Jalan Bulan 1 before a quick dash into Plaza Low Yat. Here we checked out several options to replace ever growing collection of portable external hard drives, but most would cost several thousand Ringgit.

We then exited Plaza Low Yat and walked across to Berjaya Times Square. We got to the main foyer and were happy to find a large collection of Diwali decor.

We then walked out, headed to the final mall on our list, LaLaport BBCC. Alas we could not find a single 'kolam'. With LaLaport BBCC our final destination we hailed a Grab car for a fare of RM11. 00 (approximately USD3/EUR2) back to condo. We found three malls with 'kolams' out of a possible five, which wasn't bad, but a little disheartening nonetheless.

Stay tuned as we go on an hour's drive south for the weekend!