Christmas in Malaysia

This is our first Christmas away from home.  The kids had one goal...to go swimming on Christmas.  It was rainy in the afternoon but they go to go this evening so they were very happy.  The kids have been watching Christmas Story and wanted to remember this as the Christmas they were introduced to Chinese Christmas Turkey.  So we dressed up and went to a nice Chinese restaurant.  The duck was good and the waitress was kind enough to take a picture for us.

I got Kristen a power supply so she can use her US waffle maker here (can't buy local waffle makers).  Technically this is her gift but I will probably be the main beneficiary.  For breakfast we had the first waffles we had in 4 months and they were great.  Lunch wasn't exactly traditional but it was all American so that was nice.

Christmas is different in Malaysia.  However, our housing area had lots of decorations and a giant Christmas tree.  On Tuesday, a local church sat up a little stage and sang Christmas carols.  It was nice.

Now it is bed time on our first, and hopefully last, Christmas away from home.

K'nex Award Ceremony

What an adventure this turned out to be for a little 9 year old. I had a $2000 cap on the trip so I had to be a little creative with the travel itinerary. In the end, the trip looked something like:

To K'nex:
Kuala Lumpur to Singapore (over night) to Tokyo to LA to Chicago to Pittsburgh (over night) to Philadelphia.

From K'nex:
Philadelphia to Pittsburgh (over night) to DFW to Vancouver (over night) to Tokyo Narita to Bus drive across Tokyo to Tokyo Haneda to Singapore to KL

That is 12 flights in 7 days. All on time with no lost luggage. My expense report ended up being in 5 different currencies. It cost me 200,000 airline miles but I was able to get the whole trip under the $2000 limit.

We spent 3 nights in hotels, 2 nights in terminals, and 2 nights on an airplane. For both terminal stays combined, we probably slept 2 hours. The stay in Singapore wasn't much better at 3 hours. So, we were pretty tired. William handled it well, never complaining or even saying that he was tired. The only problem was that every time he got still, he would fall asleep and I could barely wake him up. On the last day, he fell asleep at the table where we were eating breakfast. After waking him, he would be certain that he was never asleep.

We were only in airport terminals until we reached Philadelphia and were able to get out and drive to Hatsfield where the ceremony was. It was a cold miserable rain and we had no warm clothes since we came straight from Malaysia. We were able to get there in time to do some shopping for Kristen and get some good Italian food. Most of the next day was spent at the ceremony. The folks at K'nex did a great job. They were very generous with their time in showing the kids the K'nex facility as well as the manufacturing facility. William even got a large check. I never thought I would actually see one of those large checks. Since we could not carry it back with us, they said they would mail it back to Texas. At the end of the day, they let the 3 winners fill a bag with any K'nex pieces they wanted. This was the highlight of the day for William. On top of that, they gave him some more pre-filled bags of K'nex. After some quick rearranging, we were able to fit all the K'nex in our carry-on luggage and all of the extra clothes in the checked luggage. William thought it was a little too risky to store the K'nex in the checked luggage. This helped pass the time at the terminals anyway.

On the way back to the airport after the ceremony, we had a couple of extra hours so I drove down to Independence Hall. William has always wanted to see the Liberty Bell. We were able to get there 5 minutes before it closed. Unfortunately, Independence Hall was under construction so you really couldn't see it. We saw some other neat things like the 1st US bank, the location where the 1st Continental Congress met, the building where the 1st US Supreme Court met and a few others. It was very neat but we had to make it quick because it was pretty chilly with no coat.

The next day we went to Vancouver where we had a 24 hour layover. To make the most of it, we got a hotel in downtown Vancouver. It was a beautiful place and very well decorated for Christmas. That was a welcome sight after being in Malaysia. We were so tired we spent almost all of our time in the hotel sleeping, but it was a great relief from the travel.

From there it was 4 more flights and back to Malaysia. I have finally adjusted to driving in Malaysia but driving in PA and Canada has messed me all up again. I keep putting the windshield wipers on when I want to blink and vice versa. William was the GPS navigator for the whole trip. That is pretty good considering it was in 3 countries. In PA and Canada he would tell me, "Stay on the right, Daddy. Stay on the right." Every time we came to a turn. That was very helpful and the trip was too short for it to become annoying.

All told, it was a great adventure and I hope William was not too tired to remember it. For sure, I have never been so glad to be back here!

The local paper was at the ceremony and they have an article you can read here:
http://www.thereporteronline.com/articles/2010/12/03/news/doc4cf82a6cc9cec401458631.txt?viewmode=default

We spent a few nights sleeping in an airplane terminal.  Here you can see our accommodations.

A trip to the jungle

A few weeks ago we took a trip to a place called FRIM.  It is a jungle preserve that includes the mountains that bound KL on one side.  When you climb to the top of the mountain, you can overlook the entire city.  Surprisingly, it is only about 6 miles from our house so we can go there very easily.  Once there, you can take hiking trails through the jungle and up the mountain.  When I was told about this place, no one mentioned that it was a mountain.  I ended up having to carry a backpack and Rachel all the way to the top and all the way to the bottom.  I was exhausted but the kids had a blast.  So far, I think William still believes that the jungle trip is the best trip so far.  Mostly because they were able to get outside and run out in the woods.  I think they were the only kids on the entire mountain.  For some reason, it was only adults climbing. 

When you get to the top, there is a small rope suspension bridge that you can take out over the jungle.  It was scary, but pretty neat.  William was ready to get off immediately, but afterwards said it was fun.  The girls were completely fearless.  Coming down the mountain, you follow a water fall...pretty neat.

The pictures do not do justice to how far in the air we were.  It was from the bridge that you could look out and see the city. 

After the trip to the jungle, we cleaned up and went out for a meal.  This is the night we found a nice German restaraunt and ordered a suckling pig.  I did not know what a suckling pig would be but it sounded good.  Sure enough, they brought out a plate with an entire pig on it, head and everything.  Between the 6 of us, we ate the entire thing!

Kuala Gandah Elephant Park

This weekend, we went to an elephant conservatory so the kids could see and ride some Malaysian elephants.  It is about 1.5 hours away but it is a nice drive.  Even got Kristen to ride the elephant with Rachel, but no luck getting Kristen to let me post the photos.  They let you feed them peanuts.  It was pretty neat to see them work their trunks around to accept peanuts from everyone. 

Trip to Port Dickson

Today we went to see the beach at Port Dickson.  It is about an hour and 15 minute drive (no traffic) from our house.  The kids had never seen a beach before.  On the way, Sarah asked if it was like a swimming pool except with shells.  So needless to say, they did not know what to expect.  It was an overcast day so that kept it from being too hot, however, not too scenic without the pretty blue sky.

After we were done, the kids said it tied their favorite thing to do in Malaysia.  They had a great time walking around and picking up shells.  It was like a big treasure hunt. 

Port Dickson is on the west coast.  They say that you have to go to the east coast to find the pretty blue water, coral, and snorkling.  Unfortunately, we have been advised that we should wait until after monsoon season to go.  This will have to do them for now.

These were taken at an open air seafood restaurant.  We had fresh seafood fried rice, calamari, and shrimp.  It was great.

Butterfly Park

William got a camera for his birthday and I just got a new camera.  So we took the girls to butterfly park hoping to find the things to practice on.  The kids had a blast.  It was really hot.  Evidently just normal KL is not humid enough so they humidified the air inside the park.  It was worth it though.  Butterflies everywhere.  For some reason, they like Sarah.  Rebekah did everything she could to get one to land on her but nothing worked.  Sarah didn't do anything and they would just land on her.  Maybe it was the bright pink shirt.  Maybe more likely that she still had jelly on her from breakfast.

Batu Caves

Batu Caves are located about 6 kilometers from our house.  They are pretty neat caves, but they have been filled with Indian temples.  It is a pretty steep climb to the top.  Rachel only made it half way up but she walked all the way down by herself.  Once you get to the highest part it opens up to the sky for natural lighting.  Very neat looking.  I think I remember seeing pictures of this cave in an old National Geographic when I was little.  The main reason we went was because the kids wanted to see monkeys.  Sure enough, we saw plenty of monkeys walking up to the top.

For $1 that sweaty guy under the tent will cut open a fresh coconut for you to drink.  Since I am the only one that likes fresh coconut, the girls had a Coke.

The picture above is taken at the deepest part of the cave, but it opens up at the top for natural lighting.

Sarah's 5th Birthday

All the toys were left at home so the new birthday gifts were a big hit.

Visiting my old hotel

Today we went to visit the hotel I stayed at for 5 months.  I thought the kids might like the big elephants.