Wednesday, October 4 - Buka Puasa

Hari Raya - and most other holidays - bring the vendors out of the woodwork! Tents are set up and crammed with traditional clothing, food, decorations, and lots of junk!
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In my last entry (which I do realize was three weeks ago), I mentioned that we're in the month of Ramadan, which is the Muslims' holy month of fasting from food and drink from dawn to dusk. They also use this time to do good deeds, pray more, and be more spiritually introspective.

But imagine that. They don't drink anything ALL day. Can you imagine fasting from drinking during the day in a hot country like Malaysia?

Granted, only able-bodied Muslims participate, so pregnant women and those that are ill are exempted from it. But it seems to me to be a bit unwise to fast from drinking. In fact, some people do become ill from it.

Happy Deepavali! The malls here are almost always exhibiting some kind of decoration for some holiday. With so many religions here, the holidays are practically endless! Deepavali, also known as Diwali, is a Hindu festival celebrating the victory of good over evil.
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At the end of the day, it's time to buka puasa, or "break fast." (Actually, the word buka literally means to "open.")

Today I had a chance to experience Buka Puasa fully (well, almost). During the day today, my four oldest students and I took our lunch break to fast and pray, and a few of us even did a dawn-to-dusk fast. But I made sure we all got plenty of water!

So, tonight my coteachers and I went into the heart of downtown to Bukit Bintang and found a Lebanese restaurant where we could take our evening meal.

This is the beginning of making chapati, just one of the many kinds of breads offered in Malaysia. Here, the cook presses out the dough.
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(Unfortunately, I neglected to note the name of the place, and my coteachers didn't either! If I find out what it was, I'll let you know. I believe it's on Jalan Bukit Bintang, across the street from the eight reflexology salons. Yes, eight.)

Many restaurants during Ramadan will offer a buffet to tempt their patrons to glut, glut, glut! And that's just what I did. :-) But first I broke my fast the way they do - with dates!

Dates, usually eaten dried, are especially good for breaking one's fast because they're super-sugary. Plus there's some religious tradition to it - it's how they used to do it back in the time of Mohammed.

He twirls the dough like a pizza! The difference is that he will make this dough paper-thin.
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The meal we shared was wonderful! There was this deliciously aromatic yellow rice (saffron?) with cloves and some other visible spice – cardamom perhaps? - served with what appeared to be tandoori chicken. The restaurant owner let us know that it was, in fact, steamed chicken that happened to have a similar coloring as tandoori chicken. :-)

They also served stuffed green peppers, which ordinarily I don't care for, but these were scrumptious! Then there was the white lasagna, potatoes with meatballs, various salads, hommous and flatbread... and baklavah! I wish I could learn how to cook this stuff!!

Now he will fold it a couple times, giving the bread those yummy layers. Now it is ready to cook!
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During dinner we had the adventure of having the lights go out while we were eating!! The restaurant owner brought black-out candles to all the tables - just in time for the lights to come back on! Fortunately, we had been allowed to keep them, since the lights went out two more times after that!

After dinner, we walked around the food stalls and through the tents that have been specially set up for Buka Puasa, Hari Raya - the celebration of the end of Ramadan - and Deepavali, a Hindu festival.

The tents were filled with vendors selling the usual market items: shoes, watches ($3 Rolex, anyone?), perfumes, earrings (five pairs for RM10!!), broaches, purses and wallets, jeans, pajamas... Actually, the markets don't usually sell pajamas. :-)

But they were also selling traditional clothing for Indians and Malays (though no Chinese clothing that I saw), religious altars and decorations, special desserts to be taken to open houses during Hari Raya... It was amazing!

I imagine shopaholics would have a really hard time because there's such variety and so many good deals! I'm already thinking about Christmas! ;-)