Visitors from Nelson

Bikers in the Tour de Langkawi.


During this past week we had Ken and Marion Hunter as guests. They stopped on their way back to Dalian, China where Marion is vice-principal of a school. They arrived on the afternoon of Friday, February 13. We didn't give them a chance to unwind after their 17 hour journey to Kuala Lumpur. We headed off again to Malacca, our favourite get-a-way close to the city. We managed to arrive in time for the night market and had a great time wandering among the stalls, checking out their wares and sampling the street food. Everything is fried or deep fried and met Maureen's criteria for low fat food. Actually the palm oil business in Malaysia is big and that is the cheapest and most common oil used in food prep. Palm oil, of course, is rich in trans fats and everything else that is bad for you. Anyway we sampled deep fried veggies, fried oysters, other unrecognizable stuff, and even a kind of deep fried bread with ice-cream in the middle. A complete meal with the dessert but eaten in random order. Maureen even managed to hook up with a line dancing group she met the last time and couldn't leave until she taught them all a dance she knew. The next day we explored the city some more before heading back to KL.

Marion and Moe are shopping. Ken and Al, well, just hanging around directing traffic.


On Sunday we went to downtown KL to show Ken and Marion around and ended up watching the criterion event of the Tour de Langkawi, an annual international bike race. It really was amazing to see all the hoopla that goes along with a major bike race like this. There were about 100 or so riders taking part and each one seemed to have a couple of support vehicles and with a few extra bikes on top of the cars following them around on the course. We saw about 10 of the 12 laps of the race before we tired of the whole thing and headed home.
During the rest of the week Maureen and I headed off to work leaving our guests free to explore the city and relax on their own. Marion joined us one day at work and helped us both out in our assignments and got to see us and the school in action. We managed to find something to do each night and had a great visit. It was all capped off with a trip to the Skybar on Thursday which is located on the 35th floor of a hotel with a panoramic view of the Petronas Towers. We arrived before dusk and stayed until the towers were completely lit up. It was amazing sight.


Friday was the teachers' variety show at the school. This event has been a tradition in the school for some time and it was sold out far in advance of the performance. Performers for some of the acts seemed to be practicing for weeks. Maureen took part in two dance performances, Bollywood, which you can see below, and one called Margartia. There were many practices for both and elaborate costuming involved. Maureen managed to make as many as she could in between basketball practices and other commitments. I got roped in at the last minute to participate in a WrestleMania spoof. We spent about 5 minutes talking about what we might do, which is my kind of prep for something like this. It ended up being rather funny and will be one the elementary kids will be talking about for some time.


I've trjed to download the video with no luck a number times. The best I can do is offer this You Tube link. My video is better so I'll keep trying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yudfOz7f5cc












Here is the Wild Scot. He had to battle the evil Rubber Man.

Thaipusam, Weekend in Bangkok

I guess we must be getting used to the joint. It doesn't really seem like there is much to report that might be of any interest to anyone. What was once novel has now become routine, I suppose. Let's see, I bought some veggies and fruit at the market, did a couple loads of wash, worked a whole 4 days each of the last couple of weeks, and, and... Well I guess there are a couple of things.
Thaipusam was last weekend. It is an Indian festival in honour of Lord Murugan. According to legend he saved the world from the evil Soorapadme long ago and has been worshiped ever since. The son of Lord Shiva, Murugan, is considered the very manifestation of valour, beauty, youthfulness, vitality, masculinity, and the abode of happiness. This year about 1.5 million people came to pay their respects. Imagine the stairs and area in front of the statue crammed with this many people.

Many of the devotees come to pay penance for sins, to give thanks, reaffirm their faith, or pay homage to fulfil some obligation. The ceremony itself starts downtown Kuala Lumpur, some 15 kilometers away. A chariot is laden with an idol of Lord Murugan, which apparently is adorned with many precious stones and metals. This sits on an ornate bed of flowers. Two oxen and many devotees spend 8 hours bringing the chariot to Batu Caves. Once at the caves a whole range of activities begin. Some will shave their heads and cover it with a kind of rice flour. Others will have prepared food or drink to give to other devotees. The more serious will carry a large heavy shrine called a Kavati up the 272 steps to get inside the cave. They make these shrines from metal and they are elaborately decorated. Others will pierce their cheeks and tongues with skewers as an act of penance. The real serious have their backs pierced with dozens of fish hook like objects. Sometimes they will ask a fellow devotee to pull on the hooks as they travel up the stairs. The greater the suffering, I guess, means greater devotion. Malaysia is one of the only places in world that allow the festival to take place. Supposedly it is a bit to much for even the Indians in India.
Maureen and I didn't make it to Thaipusam but were given details by Geoff Bullen and his friend Mazi who were visiting us this weekend on their travels through South-East Asia. I did drive by on the freeway just as things were starting up on Sunday morning and a little later in the afternoon going the other way. Even driving by was an experience. You can imagine the traffic that 1 and half million people bring. In the morning people were beginning to park, right on the freeway. At this time they were using up one lane and by the time I drove by in the afternoon they were parking in two of the three lanes. You can imagine the jam, miles and miles long. Fortunately the second time I was going against the flow. One of the teachers said the police were directing people into the parking spots on the freeway (this could only happen in South-East Asia, I think)
We had planned to catch Thaipusam but Maureen was busy in Bangkok. Used to traveling to exotic locales like Sparwood for basketball tournaments she couldn't quite turn down the opportunity to serve as sponsor teacher on a school trip to Bangkok. The shopping (it's hard to believe I know) apparently is much better in Bangkok. She fell in love with the city and I know she(I) will be back. Taking care of a pod of hormonal adolescent boys does have its challenges though. We didn't get to Thaispusam (we planned to go after her arrival late Sunday) because one of the boys left his passport in Bangkok and could not get past immigration in Malaysia. Between waiting for the delivery of the passport on the next plane and the boy's parents going to the wrong airport she didn't arrive back home until the wee hours of the morning.
I was able to spend my weekend in relative peace(No comment necessary here). Geoff and Mazi arrived Friday evening. I showed them around a bit and then left them to their own devices. Saturday morning I helped out at the big regional touch tournament being held at our school. Touch rugby is basically a game of 'silly buggers' (for those of you who have played rugby before) with more rules. The rules, I guess, make it a serious school sport. It is played by young girls in short shorts (but that is not why I volunteered to help). In the afternoon I took a climbing course at Camp 5, which is the largest climbing facility in Asia. It is enormous, equal to about 30 times the size of Gravity Climbing in Nelson. I loved it and plan to do a lot more. Sunday I went for another ride up Genting Highlands. This time I was joined by one of my fellow Grade 5 teachers Derald Cook.


A funny thing the winning team does for the losing team after a touch rugby game. The MKIS (Mont' Kiara International School) team came second.



I stole this picture from Chris Blessing of Maureen and I hiking in Taman Negara.