..."left off caring about home"... Nelumbo nucifera (lotus) in The Special Abode, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
The wonderfully efficient KTM Komuter train whisked me from Kuala Lumpur to Seremban, the capital of Negeri Sembilan, in just over an hour. That state is sometimes called "The Special Abode", and this honorific brought to mind Homer's "Odyssey" and his Land of the Lotus Eaters.
It's not very clear what plant Ulysses's Lotus actually was, but one of the candidates is the Nelumbo nucifera. His men ate from it and gave up caring about returning home to Greece. The Rover had to tie them down to their galley seats and force them onwards, onwards... ('The Odyssey, Book IX).
Seremban, Negeri Sembilan's capital, is a lovely and pleasant provincial town. Originally a tin-mining community, it is now a thriving market centre, only recently made a 'city'. In its centre quite close together are a huge new mosque, a large Hindu temple, and a much older Catholic church, built by Chinese contract laborers, dating from the nineteenth century. Together they are dominated - as contemporary times dictate - by an enormous shopping mall with the ubiquitous Parksons and Starbucks. But all remains quite picturesque.
The centre of town is made airy and green by a huge Lake Gardens. Just about every tree and shrub is carefully labeled, and the two large lakes are exquisitly landscaped. In an appropriately muddy pond in these Green Grounds is a patch of lotus lilies. That's where I took this photo as Homer sang in my mind.
..."left off caring about home"... Nelumbo nucifera (lotus) in The Special Abode, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
The wonderfully efficient KTM Komuter train whisked me from Kuala Lumpur to Seremban, the capital of Negeri Sembilan, in just over an hour. That state is sometimes called "The Special Abode", and this honorific brought to mind Homer's "Odyssey" and his Land of the Lotus Eaters.
It's not very clear what plant Ulysses's Lotus actually was, but one of the candidates is the Nelumbo nucifera. His men ate from it and gave up caring about returning home to Greece. The Rover had to tie them down to their galley seats and force them onwards, onwards... ('The Odyssey, Book IX).
Seremban, Negeri Sembilan's capital, is a lovely and pleasant provincial town. Originally a tin-mining community, it is now a thriving market centre, only recently made a 'city'. In its centre quite close together are a huge new mosque, a large Hindu temple, and a much older Catholic church, built by Chinese contract laborers, dating from the nineteenth century. Together they are dominated - as contemporary times dictate - by an enormous shopping mall with the ubiquitous Parksons and Starbucks. But all remains quite picturesque.
The centre of town is made airy and green by a huge Lake Gardens. Just about every tree and shrub is carefully labeled, and the two large lakes are exquisitly landscaped. In an appropriately muddy pond in these Green Grounds is a patch of lotus lilies. That's where I took this photo as Homer sang in my mind.