Our destination this month was JADI BATEK GALLERY www.JadiBatek.com on Jalan Inai off Jalan Imbi, hosted by Pam Currie and Angela Burke Scharer.
 
This craft center has been in the area since 1976 and offers batik demonstrations and classes for all levels.  It also features a wonderful Malaysian gift shop with everything from fabrics to bags & all the souvenirs and curio one might need.

We had a nice sized group of 14 people and were all able to work on a same piece of cloth which was set up for our group.  

 
Our hosts at Jadi Batek, gave us a demonstration of how to use melted wax to lay out our patterns, and later we added the dye colours to the cloth with paint brushes.  The melted wax has the effect of maintaining the colours in place & once the colours have been applied it all creates a very vibrant effect.  The fabric is then dried and is available for collection the subsequent day.

There are various other interesting sites nearby, Pam Currie was kind enough to provide all participants with a list and a map. (Jade Museum, Levain bread & café shop, Chocolate Paradise amongst others).
 
We had our lunch at Chuai Heng Restaurant and banquet hall, we enjoyed a traditional Yee Sang and Dim Sum.
 
The area is quite disparate and is now home to the TRX – Tun Razak Exchange Financial district. Prior to the construction of the 1MDB building there were many homes which were an architectural blend of local and colonial styles.  Today very few homes remain in the area but take a stroll and you can imagine what it might have been.  I suggest you read this article from the Straits Times “Exchange 106” retells the story of “Land of the 106 Bungalows”