A Very KL Christmas
Christmas in KL is fun! I just never noticed because in most years, the highlight of my Christmas is dinner and presents at someone else’s house. I don’t go to church for midnight mass, I don’t do the whole tree-and-tinsel bit. Very unfestive, I must say.
This year, my aunt who regularly hosts Christmas lunch went overseas, so there goes the focal event of my Yuletide. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have fun, though!
For Christmas Eve, my family went to Nichii Fashion City. Despite the Japanese pretensions of its name (which usually doesn’t bode well for the selection inside), it’s really a very nice place to buy clothes. Probably has something to do with the fact that there are 2 floors of clothes, shoes and accessories to browse through, and that they have thoughtfully provided chairs, benches and vending machines to keep children, spouses and significant others happy while the ladies spend time and money oiling the wheels of the Malaysian economy.
Later that night, it was movie time. Somehow my sister suckered me into watching “Mean Girls” for, like, the 3rd or 4th time. In its entirety. I know the whole story, I know every twist and witty comeback, but I can still sit through the whole thing. Don’t ask me why. That teenage romp into girly bitchiness ended at midnight, so it was fitting that the next movie was Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, a classic of stop-motion animation that preceded “Corpse Bride”. I went to bed after this, but I didn’t dream of sugar plums or nutcrackers - they’re not really elements of a Malaysian Christmas.
It still didn’t really feel like Christmas. I took Jun out for a drive, my family packed into the car to head downtown, and we spent 40 minutes in our wheeled oven, roasting in the midday heat while waiting out the jam at MidValley. Low Yat Plaza barely acknowledged that it was Christmas season, and besides we were more interested in getting a good price for our PC stuff. On the way out of Low Yat, my mum gave us each a RM10 gift certificate for Starbucks, so despite my moral objection to that soul-eating conglomerate, my sis and I got a frappuccino each. Well, if I can’t have a snowy Christmas, at least I can have an icy one.
It would have been a really great Christmas Day if Bentley Music had been open, but when we got to the shop, it was closed. All I could do was look sadly at the instruments in the display window and make plans to return another day. Hey, the Holy Family got turned away at the inn, so this is no big deal.
After dinner I looked up a song I’d heard on the radio, only to find out I apparently had really bad musical taste. The music video pretty much confirmed that this song is not destined for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So sue me for being out of touch, the song is Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel”. The aforementioned music video had me slightly flummoxed for a while, before I decided not to take it seriously and just laugh at the bad acting. Can someone please explain to me why the vocalist’s wrists flop in that very un-rock-star manner? But I have to admit, the song does appeal to me on an emotional level.
After that downer, I had to end Christmas day with something happy, and that came in the form of 3 yummy Hong Kong boys named Stephen, Sam and Edison, in a vapid but enjoyable actioner. Hey, I’m not watching it for the storyline, I watched it to admire Stephen Fung’s amazing anime-style hair and to laugh at Sam Lee’s wackiness.
So much for Christmas 2006. Walking around Bukit Bintang with Starbucks in hand, admiring fine genetic specimens of my dialect group, shopping on my parents’ dime, and making countless left and right turns with my dad as a backseat driver. I told you I had fun.
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