A multitude of mosques, an art museum, and a photography lesson

Malaysia's National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur is something they're rightly very proud of. It's a beautiful building. It's cool, and it's very welcoming. Tourist me was invited in and greeted by a volunteer guide, who told me all about the place, the prayer schedule, and the special situation during Ramadan, which was in full swing at the time.

I've been invited into lots of mosques in Malaysia, and Indonesia too, and it's always like this. Friendly places, full of wonderful people. 

Right next door was a rather fine specialist museum, the Museum of Islamic Art. They exhibit all kinds of wonderful stuff, but perhaps the most eye-catching room was the one which housed scale models of many of the world's best known mosques (and other notable buildings of the Islamic world - the Taj Mahal for example).

There are lots of highly decorative copies of the Koran, of course.

And many and varied, beautifully arranged, bits and pieces.

I noticed an exhibition of excellent photography - the finalists in a recent competition involving Islamic subjects. As well as the fine works on show, my attention was taken by an informative exhibit which neatly encapsulated most of the composition lessons I tried to teach in the beginners' 'Taking Better Pictures' course I used to teach.