
Inspiration from Malaysia
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In February, David and I chose to do a fairly last minute trip to the Western side of Malaysia, without too much knowledge or planning.
My ideal travel, for me, is where I get a balance of cultural - be it art, ancient buildings, different religions etc, all which feed my curiosity and creativity. Balance that with some good weather and stunning landscapes, and the odd beach or two, good food and I am sorted! On returning from our trips to India, it was a WOW, FANTASTIC, STIMULATION, CREATIVE IDEAS. Malaysia didn't quite get that level of capital letters, but nevertheless, it was really interesting and diverse, and we would return to see more!
So without boring you all with pictures of me at the beach, or some of the more mundane touristy photos, I am sharing just the bits of the trip that touched my creative side!
First off, give me a brightly coloured wall and I am happy. In Malacca, the river front was faced with multicoloured buildings, and were instantly Instagramable!


Decorative carvings on buildings are often starting points for my mosaics, especially birds, but also on grave stones. In Malacca, there is a viewpoint with an old derelict church with massive headstones from European colonialists, with some fantastic carvings on them, and the Buddhist temple in Penang had beautiful bird carvings.


I enjoy the various ways that people get their message across. I was amused by the one (above) about not hitting your head on the low rock!
I am always a sucker for street art and graffiti. In George Town, there is an art trail of metal art pieces, created by Sculpture at Work, which told the story of the streets. A good summary of them can be found on the Time Travel Turtle site.


And who doesn't love a bit of Islamic art? The Museum of Islamic Art in Kuala Lumpur is really impressive. Bringing decorative arts from around the world, and putting them into context within the Islamic faith ticked lots of boxes for me. Again, mosaic inspiration.

Any anything quirky that I would take inspiration from, though in reality, I don't think the weather in Scotland would be a good fit for this one:

But there were moments of relaxation! this was at the Ombak Villa Hotel in Langkawi, a stunning island.
