Rebekah's 8th Birthday

I had visitors down at work on Rebekah's birthday so I couldn't take a day off.  Instead, we celebrated the Saturday before.  I let Rebekah lay out the itinerary for the day.  First thing, breakfast with just her dad at Starbucks (lucky me).  While we were eating, she had a nose bleed and made a mess on her pretty dress.  So, off to the store to buy a new dress (lucky her).  As it turns out, her bow and shoes no longer matched the new dress....off we go for matching accessories.  Deep down, I know Rebekah did not have a nose bleed on purpose, but I am sure she would have if she could.  She had a great time.

Then her lunch of choice: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and rolls.  Followed by an afternoon of swimming and dinner at the Japanese restaurant.  This will be our final birthday celebration in Malaysia.  Next up is Sarah in September!



Coincidentally, William also solved his first Rubix cube (with a little help from Youtube)



Everyday Malaysia

It has been suggested that my posts paint an unrepresentative portrait of everyday life in Malaysia.  I have added some pictures here to give a sense of some of the more ordinary aspects of Malaysian life.





Hanging clothes outside is the most common way to dry clothes. 

  


A wet market is where you can go to buy very fresh meat and vegetables.  The cage to the left of the meat holds a live cat!

 

I just cannot get used to the fish smell.



Pretty fresh....raw chicken sitting on top of the live chicken cages.




I wanted to buy a locally made blow gun from this street vendor.  They told me that they are made and used by the near by aborigines.  I thought it was a gimmick.



The guy that sold me the blow gun insisted on demonstrating it to me.  He pointed the blow gun out of the store, over the road, and up into the jungle.  If you look closely, you can see a small foam target in the jungle.  He barely missed it and wasn't trying very hard.  I decided maybe it wasn't a gimmick.



We pass this hotel every week on the way to church.  They claim to be the cheapest hotel in town at $6/night.  I question the accuracy of this claim as well as the wisdom of the marketing strategy.




This is where we go to church.  There is no parking so we have to park at a nearby hotel and walk about 1/4 mile along the street to get to it.  After a few months, Kristen could make the walk without crying.



A picture of our church (baby blue in the back ground) from the parking garage.




Petaling street, aka China town.  This is where folks (mostly tourists) come to buy knock-off goods





During the week I normally eat with my co-workers at the near by street vendors.  For my birthday, Kristen agreed to eat with me at one of my favorite street vendors.  We did not blend in very well.





Behind these cars is one of my regular lunch venues.




Walking back from lunch...watch your step.




Another lunch favorite.



The scooter street vendor comes in many forms.  This is one of my favorites.  After satisfying an area, off to the highway, canopy up, to find another customer base.




The pedestrian is the lowest class of citizen in Malaysia.  Here, Kristen chickened out as the rest of us crossed the road.  We patiently waited (and took pictures) while she chose her moment.




A ride in the subway.  Unfortunately, the subway broke down and we were all stuck in the tunnel!



Tioman Island

We decided early on that our year in Malaysia was a total waste if we didn't get to see blue/green sea water and go snorkeling.  Last weekend, we did both. With the Monsoon over, we were finally able to make it to the east coast to see some of the beautiful beaches.  We chose Tioman Island because it had some resorts on it and we didn't have to take a flight.  It was a 4 hour drive to the coast where we caught a ferry.  The ferry ride was 2 hours and dropped us off very near the resort.  A 5 minute shuttle (a little scary since there were no sides on the shuttle) and we were there.  The resort we chose was a chalet style.  We spent almost zero time in the room so it really didn't matter too much.

Some of the Malaysians claim there are much better islands to the north.  In my opinion, they are just spoiled.  I thought Tioman was gorgeous, like something from a movie.  Since it is not a holiday season, the resort was not very full and the beach was not crowded at all.  As I hoped, the water was the most beautiful blue and green.  Without the correct filters, I was unable to get any pictures to do justice to the water color.  The sand felt great on our feet and the kids could have played in it non-stop the whole weekend.

On our first night, we were playing on the beach with the kids.  Oddly enough, we looked down the surf and saw some folks we recognized!  They were some of our neighbors here, a German man and his Malaysian wife.  What a surprise to be in such a remote place and see someone you know.  We had dinner with them that night and had a great time.  The next morning I was talking to the restaurant manager and found that his best friend went to Texas Tech. 

The next morning we went snorkeling.  They give you a boat ride to a tiny little island about a half mile away.  Near this island is a small wooden platform where they drop you off.  After that, you are on your own.  Occasionally the boat will come back and you have a choice to get on or stay.  For the first trip, it was just me and William.  Neither one of us knew what we were doing so it took about 20 minutes to get all the kinks worked out.  After having about a pint of sea water each, we sort of got the hang of it.  The water was amazing.  At the island, the water was about 15 feet deep but it was 100% transparent.  It was if we were looking through air.  The bottom of the sea floor was covered in coral with colorful fish everywhere.  We even saw a large eel that was about 6 feet long and 8 or 10 inches in diameter.  It was a little intimidating.  Our friends had told us the night before that we should bring crackers or bread.  We brought some crackers and opened them underwater.  We were instantly surrounded by hundreds of the most colorful fish I have ever seen.  They would eat out of our hands and swim all around us.  It was absolutely amazing. 

That afternoon it was Kristen's turn.  She took Rebekah with her.  I told her all of our troubles so that it might go better for them.  We waited on the beach for them and I thought they would never return.  When they finally came back, Kristen said she could have stayed there all day.  Rebekah took to it instantly and also had a great time.  This weekend was surely the best weekend we have spent in Malaysia.

The kids tried so hard to build a dam that wold hold back the tide...

...in the end, the tide won!

This is the resort dining hall where we ate all our meals.  We mostly ate pizza.

This is the little island where we went snorkeling.  A good swimmer could swim straight to it. 

Kristen and Rebekah on the boat coming back from snorkeling.

While we were having breakfast, some monkeys were playing around next to us.  I wasn't quick enough to get the mothers carrying the little babies.

Cameron Highlands

We spent this weekend in Cameron Highlands in an effort to escape the heat.  This is about 200km north off us and about 5000ft above sea level.  It ended up being one of the nicest weekends here.  The weather was gorgeous.  On Saturday we had some intermittent rain, but the temperature was in the 60s.  Cameron is famous for the 'Boh' team plantations and the many, many fruits and vegetables grown there.  Most of the vegetables are grown under green house coverings, but no supplemental heating or cooling is required.  There were a handful of things we were told were 'must sees': Strawberry picking, tea plantations, and sweet corn. 

The highlight of the trip was definitely the tea plantation.  To get to it, we had to take a winding road up to the top of the hill.  The road was mostly one lane with a few pull over locations.  All of the corners were blind corners and the entire drive was along a steep slope.  It was beautiful but I had to white knuckle it the whole time so Kristen enjoyed it more than I did.  At the blind corners, you are supposed to honk before proceeding so oncoming traffic will hear and move over.  After making the trip twice and noting all the damaged guard rails, I think the system could be more robust.  Nevertheless, we made the trip and were glad we did.  For breakfast, we ate at the plantation diner that serves tea and pastries.  It has a beautiful view overlooking the tea fields.  Since they are continuously harvesting the leaves, the tea fields looked like huge shrubbery fields.  In fact, they look almost identical to the shrubs outside our house.


When we went back to our room to collect our things for checkout, we found the floor drain cover near the toilet was popped off.  The floor was wet and the toilet and wall completely covered in water (the top of the toilet, not just the bottom).  I am not exactly sure what happened but glad I wasn't there to witness first hand.  At checkout, I told the concierge about what happened.  He said, "No worries...small problem".  I would hate to see a large problem!

This was our longest road trip so we got some snacks for the ride...squid chips!  The kids love 'em.

A photo taken from our balcony.  All of the crops below us were vegetables.

For lunch we went to a German style restaurant that served British food.  It was the best meal we have had since we left Texas.  The restaurant was designed to feel as if you were dining inside a home.  Since we were the only ones at the restaurant, it added to the feel of a private dinner.





At the top of the tea plantation, we pulled over to look.  There was a couple there that wanted to take a picture of the kids so we talked them into taking this picture for us, also.

One of our last stops was to get some of the sweet corn.  The kids loved it and were right at home eating the corn on the cob.  They felt like they were back at the Whitesboro Peanut Festival!