Old Kiwi icon that turned Malaysian

Day of Indulgence

We have a full day or indulgence in KL.  This is great city of eating.  The relative affluence means that you can enjoy all the traditional flavours without sacrificing quality … unlike rural Indonesia, chickens aren’t the size of a quail!

After the disappointment of exploring new malls early this year in May, we opted for well-trodden path … first to the Twin Towers (officially, Suria KLCC) then Pavilion.  Both had amazing food halls but the shopping was a bit high-brow for us.  So we had a detour to Bukit Bintang and Sungei Wang in between where you can get the usual bootleg DVD and blind massage without breaking the bank.

Meeting the former PM

At Pavilion, we ran in former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, surrounded by some fans!  He is responsible for putting the country on the world map and bringing many parts of the country into pseudo first world standards.  He has his critics of course … there have been some mega projects with variable degrees of success … and he doesn’t hold his punches with his criticism of Western hypocrisy.

A former Kiwi icon turned Malaysian

At the superposh Pavilion mall, we saw a very elegant chinaware (crockery) shop called Crown Lynn.  That is a very familiar name for Kiwis.  It was the default crockery for Kiwis during the period where there were import restrictions for these products.  Yes, the dark days when people had to buy expensive locally made products … but they had jobs.

A quick search on Google revealed that Crown Lynn was purchased by a Malaysian ceramic company called Goh Ban Huat.  I guess it gave them access to a nice name for their high end tableware products.  The world doesn’t need to know that Crown Lynn products were relatively industrial in feel … thick cups and saucers for Kiwis homes and the Railways!

Crown Lynn suffered a different fate from eg. Royal Doulton or Noritake … who have moved production to Thailand and Sri Lanka.  Instead of adapting to world realities like the others, it faced a demise in all ways but its name. [Edit:  It appears that the Crown Lynn attempt at elegant chinaware didn’t last and the brand has disappeared.]