Certified Knockers.

Life is like a work in progress book. Days are turned into chapters, people we know are the characters playing their roles and moments are written as plots for the stories in our lives.

Now MySelangorStory is being written in my book, a whole chapter with many new characters appearing in it. And I'll look back to this event as one of the awesome-st story ever written at this point of time in my life. :)

Right. Let's get on with Day 2 where we departed from Carlton Holiday Hotel in Shah Alam to Setapak where Royal Selangor Pewter is situated. The journey took about an hour and in a way I find it funny because it's so close to where I live.

Despite the fact that I live nearby to Royal Selangor Pewter, this trip was my first visit there. I guess we tend to take something for granted when it's closer to you huh? Nonetheless, this visit might not be the last from me. There were so many other parts of RSP that we couldn't cover which had caught my interest during the visit.

So what does that mean? Round 2 visit ;)

We were divided into 2 groups hence why we needed two tour guides to bring us around :) They were pretty cool. I mean c'mon, look at the photo above and you can tell they are a fun bunch in RSP.

Like I said earlier, there were so many parts of RSP that screamed out storytelling worthy and we only covered (possibly?) 40% of the area. I really love the steel plate hand prints pasted all over the walls in the RSP building. These hand prints are RSP employees hand prints who have worked more than 5 years. I dare you to count the number of steel plates because I lost count!

Royal Selangor Pewter turns 125 years old this year. That's a century older than me! It was founded by Yong Koon. This is truly one of Malaysia's remarkable icon. You can't find any other tea pot with a story like the Melon Teapot. Even I was on the edge of my seat when I was told by their very special, very own storyteller whom I'll reveal towards the end of this post.

Fact of the day - Pewter = Tin + Copper + Antimony.

We were then brought to the second part of the building where the real work is being done. Watching everyone walking on single file reminded me of the old days when we would go for school trips. As we observed how flat material were transformed into amazing artwork, we became more aware how difficult it is to master this skill.

Yes like kids, we were at awe watching them knocking, polishing and carving.
*Insert oohs and aahs here*

And boy, it takes years to master this skill. Once you've got it - you're able to turn nothing into something in a blink of an eye. Ok I lied. A few blinks really. Still, I admire their attention to detail. Something I should be applying in everything I do..

On a cool note, we were able to drink 100 plus from their pewter mugs. I think there was a difference drinking from pewter and glass but I can't place my finger on it. Maybe it has something to do with retaining the temperature. That and it feels a lot "crispier" when drinking it. I told you, I can't figure out what made it different. Heh.

By the way,  aunty in the photo above has worked for more than 30 years for RSP. That means her hand print is definitely on the wall. Bravo!

We then moved to the furthest part of the building. The entire workshop was embracing us and it really was one heck of an experience indeed! Definitely an eye opener. I won't look at RSP's packaging the same way again after this, that's for sure. Oh, and I used the wide angle setting from Pentax P80 which stitches two parts of pictures together in case you were wondering what the middle section of the photo was. ;)

Ah, the things cameras these days can do I tell ya.

To think that was the coolest thing to happen. Ho ho ho. Merry Christmas everyone because RSP planned to blow our mind even more as we explore deeper in this mysterious building.

Look what we got ourselves into..

That's right folks, we'll be doing some hard knocking ourselves too. Never again will we ever take anything for granted after this. This school requires a lot of energy and focus, I kid you not. Just to spell 4 letters of my name was already tricky enough. I can't imagine what it takes to make the entire mug. -_-

In the end we all graduated from the School of Hard Knocks. Bravo MSS kids :) We are certified knockers!

While knocking the bowl like nobody's business, I found out that Sharmaine from RSP was my senior in Convent Bukit Nenas. The whole time we were there, I kept thinking she was so familiar but I don't know why. Then I nonchalantly blurted it out while she helped package our gift and she simply asked which school I was from. Bingo!

 

Like any other students, we have our own graduation ceremony too :)

What I love most about this part of the building is it's design that feels very homely. Maybe it's the english setting but I love it. Also, like many other trips we made, we're never short of food. Blessing indeed but really, wherever we go, it's always food food food fooooooooood. If my tummy could talk, it would probably be screaming throughout the 6D5N journey. Really.

I mentioned that RSP has it's own storyteller right? 

Yup, it's none other Datin Paduka Chen Mun Kuen. She came all the way to meet us and tell us of this enchanting story about the Melon Teapot. Who would've thought that something like that could save a man's life? And it so happened to be Datin's own grandfather's piece of work. 

Life, don't you just love to surprise people? :)

If you want to know what it's about, click on the link or better yet make your way to RSP. In case you are curious, RSP opens 365 days a year from 9AM to 5PM. Here we are complaining when we can't get a holiday, they pretty much work everyday. Salute!

And thank you to Hanin for pointing out from her comment - this tour is free for everyone :) So, no excuse not to visit and have a knocking time at RSP! 

Also thank you to a certain Anonymous for directing me to the right path - School of Hard Knocks is a group activity you need to book in advance; minimum 5 participants and maximum 50. The fee is RM50 per person (I learned something new!). Just dial (6)03 4145 6000 or head over to Royal Selangor.

It was certainly a treat to meet her and RSP really made sure this trip was a memorable one. So special, I'd get myself one of the Melon Teapots too the next time. Kudos Royal Selangor Pewter. You're definitely a gem!

I'm sure many of us know this but in case you don't .. we have the largest mug in the world at RSP :) Tadah!

Before I forget (besides voting for me at this page), let me introduce to you to my very faithful friend...Sheepy :)

Oh yes, this lil' fella has gone to India, KK and wherever I happened to throw myself to. 

So that's Day 2 Part 1. Next up, I'll be writing about our journey to the top of the world!