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We are sitting at a coffee shop having the first real cup of coffee. The one they provided during breakfast was good but more of the substance is needed before we continue on and see the Batu Caves. I spent the morning troubleshooting my post as all the photos didn’t upload properly. I searched the problem through the browser instead of the app and the images are there but not in the post itself. I’ll need an actual computer to fix it instead of the phone. It’ll have to wait until my return to Canada. It seems that with the new update something has gone wrong with the WordPress App. 

  

I will have to reconfigure how I write my posts for the next little while. I can’t be sitting there typing away on the screen with someone sitting across from me. It’s kinda rude. Wait a minute I am doing it. We both are. There is an understanding however, and as we sit in the shade with the fans blowing a cooling wind on us we periodically converse and absorb the atmosphere that is around us. 

  

1823

We returned from the Batu Caves. They are a collection of spaces eroded by the water in which Buddhists have erected a bunch of temples. There were monkeys roaming the grounds posing for the tourists and stealing their water bottles. It was a long climb up the stairs but the view both inside and outside was worth it. 

  

There was an inner temple that was underneath an open space in the rock with the light pouring in it looked majestic if somewhat disheveled. I tried to take an arty shot as we were exiting the cave but I wasn’t impressed with the results. However, the time it took for me to take this shot resulted in enough of a delay to watch a ritual being performed inside one of the temples there. There was music being played and a family with a young child congregated outside. 

  

We were drawn by our curiosity of what was unfolding in front of us. Soon enough there was a group of people gathered watching as the priest ritualistically poured water amongst other things onto a spear shaped object. Many different liquids and powders were smeared onto it and then washed away interspersed with ringing of a bell and a candle with a flame moved around it. Eventually the spear shaped rod was covered with a fresh cloth and a flower necklace as well as fruit as an offering.  

  

The remnants of the colored spices were smeared in a pattern on the foreheads of all the participants at the conclusion of the ritual. We debated between us as to the meaning of the ritual. It appeared to be a prayer for something maybe the baby. The ritual acting as a kind of baptism for the baby. 

  

We returned to our starting point during rush hour. The trains were packed with people with the same blank expressions that are found on all employees returning home after a long days work. A person beside me moved and created a space for me to move into however there was a shopping bag left behind. An older man with a cane asked me if it was mine and I said no. I carefully looked inside through the opening at the top and inside were two flower shaped objects at the bottom. I told the man that what was inside and we both kind of laughed at the suspicious package that neither of us wanted to disturb just sitting there. 

  

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We are sitting at an Irish Pub having just finished a delicious dinner and are enjoying a few pints. They are playing blues music on the system. They just played “the Thrill is Gone” by  B.B. King. There are other classics that they played the electric guitar expressing feelings through rhythmic sounds amplified over the sound system. The televisions are showing yesterday’s football match between Barcelona and Paris the conclusion of which is already known. The atmosphere is one of relaxation. The neighborhood is filled willed with embassies and I suspect that many of the patrons here are from appearance alone well healed. Tomorrow will be a busier day as there is lots to do.