Mari Makan

The Japanese table at Mari Makan.

The past few weeks have been jammed packed. The weekends have been so busy that going back to work has provided a bit of a rest.
The weekend after spring break brought the MKIS Road Rally. Part of the requirements of the theme was to dress like a rock band and so we joined up with Chris, Cindy and Laura and roared all over our section of KL in garb to represent the 'Beach Toys'. We had to find various business locations and then either perform some sort of weird task or gather a bit of obscure information. We ended up at a pasta/pasta restaurant for a great meal. Chris is quite a good singer/songwriter and our team got extra points for our song 'Durian' (a la Barbaran). Durian is a fruit that is sold on the streets. The Malaysians see it as a delicacy but the rest of the world can't take the smell of it. It literally turns stomachs.

Oh Durian, my Durian
You got me belchin' and a retchin'

You get the drift, I'm sure.

Last weekend we kept busy on both Friday and Saturday. Friday night we went to a wine tasting event put on by one of the Australian importers and organized by someone from our school. For a small fee we got to try a number of Australian wines and eat their appies. After a while at this event we grabbed a cab downtown to a fundraising event at one of the clubs. Steve's band, the husband of the drama teacher at our school, has hosted a 'Rockin for the Environment' night for the last 4 years. So we thought we would support them and the orangutans. His band, Benchmarks, (educators can easily guess where that name comes from) opened with some classic cover tunes as well as some good original numbers. The feature act that played later was some sort rap/heavy metal combination that quickly drove us old folks home.
A parent of one of Maureen's basketball players had been after us to join the Canadian Association of Malaysia for some time. We did and last Saturday was the group's AGM. It was fancy kind of affair held at the Canadian High Commissioner's house. We went and managed to avoid getting roped in for any kind of post but did take advantage of the refreshments after. It was nice meeting fellow Canadians. Most are Calgarians who work for oil companies but there were a smattering of others either working for mining companies or Bombardier or other Canadian manufacturers placed in Malaysia in various support roles.
This weekend we were also busy with activities. The highlight of the past few weeks occurred this past Friday at the school. It was called Mari Makan (literally translated as sit eat). Each country, with a sizable representation, set up a table with food from their country for a mega-pot-luck meal. The displays and food were incredible. The Canadians set up a table and served up pancakes with real whip cream, blueberries, strawberries, and maple sryup. It was simple faire compared to what most others were serving but was well recieved judging from the line up. Maureen and I had a turn at flipping pancakes and serving up the food. After the meal the party got into full swing. The Latin American contingent got the dancing going with their salsas and other latino dances. The moment they let things slow down a bit the Indians got the Bollywood dancing going. It seemed like each group had a go at leading for a bit. The New Zealand group got the prize for longevity as they managed to outlast everyone else and stayed around long enough to see the sunrise.
Yesterday we played in a slo-pitch game against the Americans. Bad choice, they think the game is a real sport. All in all it was a lot of fun even though the heat was almost overwhelming and the score was rather one sided. It hasn't rained for a few days and the heat has started to build as a result. We were totally drenched in sweat playing and consumed copious amounts of water. They had managed to find a sponsor for the event, so uniforms and water bottles and other things were all supplied. After the game we went to a restaurant (after we showered for the 4th time that day) which had offered to sponsor a dinner for the Canadians. Who could turn down such an offer? The food and company were great.
Tomorrow we are both heading off on an overnight trip with all the Grade 5 students from our school. There are 80 of them. I'll let you know how we made out in our next posting.
This was the Chinese table at Mari Makan. Altogther there were 15 different tables set up.





Mari Makan Bollywood dancing.

Mid Term Break

This is a rather long post but I broken it into 3 sections that can be perused independently.

Mid Term Break

I’m not sure whether the word break actually applies here. We kept busy over the last week and half. We started off on Tuesday, March 23rd heading off to Kota Kinabalu in the Borneo Malaysian state of Sabah for a teachers’ conference called EARCOS. After filling our heads, we set off to exercise our bodies by climbing Mt. Kinabalu, the highest peak in South-East Asia. We knew we would need a rest after that and so then we headed to an island off of East Borneo called Lankayan to relax on the beach, snorkel, and turtle watch.

EARCOS

This is an acronym for East Asia Regional Council of Overseas Schools. There were about 1200 educators from all over South-East Asia attending the conference. All in all it was an impressive affair in a gorgeous setting, Sutera Harbor Resort in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. We arrived a day early to take part in a pre-conference training session hosted by WASC, an accreditation body sponsored by the University of California. Many of the international schools throughout the world gain their accreditation and thereby credibility through WASC. We trained on how to participate in an accreditation visit to other schools. Besides this, Maureen and I both attended some good practical sessions through-out the three days of the conference but the highlight by far were the keynote speakers. The conference had an environmental theme (the name of which escapes me right now), with a focus on sustainability, stewardship, and educating ‘global citizens’.
All three speakers over the course of the three days had a message of hope regarding the environment.
The first was Alan Atkinson, author of Global Citizen and Believing Cassandra. He spoke on how the defining characteristic of our time has been exponential growth. He described two possible outcomes of this, either overshoot and collapse or working towards sustainability. He then went on to outline examples of how we have worked towards developing sustainability.
On the second day William Lishman spoke. William is a the Ontario native who was portrayed in the movie Fly Away Home. He was a fascinating speaker who basically gave his biography He started telling about growing up in rural Ontario as a child, with what he later learned to be ADD and dyslexia and how this led to him eventually becoming a renowned sculptor, inventor, and environmentalist.
The speaker I enjoyed the most spoke on the third day. His name was John Lui. John has worked with many countries on major rehabilitation projects. He gave a great message of hope. He showed how the Chinese government has transformed large sections of the Loess Plateau from barren, deforested, dust bowls into rich, fertile, productive land. He demonstrated how by designating ecological land and agricultural land they have not only increased productivity but created a CO2 sink. His message was that ‘we left the garden when we reduced biodiversity’, and that the future for everyone will be determined by creating functional eco-systems based on appropriate land use.
Part of the MKIS crew at EARCOS.



One of the biggest benefits of attending the conference was meeting educators from all over Asia and being able to share experiences with colleagues from our own school. Besides the sessions there were two social gatherings with plenty of good food and an open bar (now that doesn’t happen in BC). At the closing social on Saturday night we were entertained by number of teacher bands(rock) from various schools. They were all quite good and got the crowd dancing until the wee hours of the morning.

Here is a clip of one of the bands that played the guy hopping around Steve is from KL and married to one of the teachers at our school.


Mt. Kinabalu

You can see Mt. Kinabalu from Kota Kinabalu, towering in the distance some 60 kilometers away, if you look to the east in the early morning. By noon the mountain is shrouded in clouds and invisible. Even from this distance it’s 13,500 ft., is an impressive and formidable sight. It is the tallest peak in South-East Asia and climbing it has become sort of a right of passage by locals and tourists alike. Since we were in the area Maureen and I had to find out what all the fuss was about.
The first recorded ascent of the mountain was in 1851 by British explorer Lowe. His biggest challenge lay in the journey through the jungle from Kota Kinabalu. Now there is a highway that runs by the park headquarters and is the starting point for the 150 or so climbers that make the ascent every day. Maureen and I got a ride to the park headquarters on Sunday from our friends from Mont’ Kiara School, Chris and Cindy Blessing. They had rented a car for their adventure in Borneo.
Everyone is required to hire a guide to assist them on their climb up the mountain. This does help support the local economy and makes sure some of the $ spent by climbers ends up in the hands of locals. Our guide’s name was Peter and he was a great source of encouragement and information on our hike. The hike for most mortals is a two day affair. The first day is spent hiking 6 kilometers up to a lodge area called Laban Rata at about 3000 meters up the mountain. The park headquarters is at about 1500 meters and so the trail is rather steep. They have put many steps into hillside to assist on the climb but these are at random heights and some were quite high. Maureen felt as though she had done the equivalent of a year’s worth of Pulpit Rock climbing by the end and had fulfilled her yearly quota of ascent.The top picture is of Peter, our guide, and a porter. We are near base camp and you can see the mist has rolled in. We managed to miss the rain but those behind us came up soaking wet. The bottom one is of the base camp lodge, Laban Rata, with Lowes' Peak in the background.


We were the first climbers to leave the HQ in the morning and so had a quiet and enjoyable start to our journey. The lodge at the top has no road access and is supplied only by local porters who get RM3 per kilogram ($1CAD) they carry. After our first 2 kilometers into the trip the first of them began to pass us heading up the hill with incredible loads of full propane tanks, cases of beverages, and supplies of all sorts to equip a lodge servicing about 170 people each night. Our guide would point out different details about each one. One was the Malaysian marathon champion, while one was the light heavyweight bodybuilding champion of Malaysia, both combining the portering job with training. Most however, were villagers trying to earn a living At about 3 kilometers we began to meet the first of the climbers descending the mountain. The fittest were first followed slowly by climbers of all shapes and sizes from all corners of the earth but predominantly Asians. We met three teachers from our school descending at different intervals. Meeting one of my Grade 5 teaching partners was enough to inspire both of us to continue. At 66 years old she was both an impetus and a motivation. At about kilometer 5 the effects of the altitude began to take hold and we found that we could only hike at a very slow pace with frequent rests. As fate would have it the trail took an abrupt sharp upwards pitch at the same time.
We arrived at the lodge a little after noon. The timing was perfect. There were only a few climbers ahead of us so we were able to have a hot shower and nap before most of the hustle and bustle began with other climbers arriving. It was rather quite amazing the spread that was put out before us for our evening meal considering the manner in which everything arrived at the hill. They provided a great buffet and we spent a short evening chatting with other climbers and playing Scrabble.
Our final ascent began the next morning at 2:30 am. We skipped the 2:00 am breakfast, the thought greasy eggs and chicken sausage before the climb made us nauseous. During this last section of the climb they have anchored rope down to use both as a guide to the top and for support on the higher pitches. It is, of course, dark at this time and it was a surreal sight to see the line of headlamps both in front and behind us as we began our ascent. I guess we had acclimatized to the altitude overnight as we discovered we were able to climb at a quicker pace than the day before and we found that we were passing most of our fellow hikers. Unfortunately our pace was too quick and we arrived at the top about 50 minutes before sunrise. For the first time since we have arrived in Malaysia we were absolutely freezing. The wind howled like crazy and we sheltered, shivering with cold, as well as we could in the hollow of some rocks. When the sun did peak above the horizon we were greeted with a spectacular sight of mountains and colour. We took pictures and enjoyed the view for about 30 minutes before we began our descent. It is best to get off the mountain before the rising tropical air condenses on the cold granite of the mountain and the clouds begin to form and the rain starts to fall. The trip down was perhaps more difficult than the trip up. It was very long and steep and we no longer had anything to look forward to but the end. We returned to KK that evening and headed straight away for a massage. This momentarily relieved the pain but three days later we were still walking down stairs sideways and moaning and groaning with each little movement. The calves and quads have never been as tight.

Lankayan Island

The description ‘tropical paradise‘ may be a little cliché but I‘m not sure how else to describe it. It is a jewel set in the ocean surrounded by coral reefs and is a Mecca for divers.
The morning after our hike we flew from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan on the east side of Sabah, Borneo. Lankayan is an hour and half boat ride from Sandakan. The water was a little rough and I kept getting meaningful grimaces from Maureen as we bounced along endlessly over the waves in the Sulu Sea. Lankayan Island is combination turtle research station, military outpost, and resort. It is in the Sugud Island Marine Conservation Area and the resort supports the funding for the turtle research that goes on here. The military base is located in the centre of the island and basically is there to keep an eye on Malaysian territorial waters as the Philippines Islands are not far away. Unfortunately some of the Filipino fishermen have a bad habit of discharging dynamite to make gathering fish a little easier. Understandably the Malaysian don’t really think this is a good idea in their designated conservation area.
The resort consists of 15 waterfront chalets, a jetty with a dive headquarters, a combined research/interpretation center, and a restaurant-meeting area. They have worked hard to make the resort eco-friendly and sustainable. The resort is beautiful but it is the setting that is dazzling. The island has palms and coconut trees lining the beach. A walk around the island takes a little less than half and hour. The water that surrounds the island is an azure blue stretching to the coral reef which surrounds the island. Sitting on our deck we saw giant green turtles and black-finned sharks swim by. (Apparently the sharks are the friendly kind.) On our first evening here we saw a release of 85 baby turtles into the sea and later that night we got to watch a mother turtle lay her 70+ eggs. The snorkeling was amazing. There is a vast diversity of fish ranging in all shapes, neon colors, and sizes. While snorkeling we saw sharks, eels, and followed giant turtles.
The best part of being there was that we were totally isolated from everything else. We had little else to do besides snorkel, read, and, regrettably, eat. Thanks to our Swedish contacts at school we became immersed in reading the ‘Millennium’ series by Stieg Larsson. We can hardly wait until the third book is translated into English. Listening to the surf crash on the beach and watching sunsets were the highlights of each day.
The resort set up an inclusive package for us and on the way home we were able to visit the Orangutan Sanctuary in Sepilok. We managed to catch a couple of the orangutans at the feeding station. This just whet our appetite for jungle cruising on our next visit to Borneo to see them in the wild.
View from the deck of our chalet.Turtle release. It was incredible how fast they scrambled off to the ocean and swam away.