Home Thoughts From Abroad

Thanksgiving weekend has always been one our favourite weekends of the year.  We love the fall colours and the opportunity to take stock of all our many blessings and all of God’s marvelous provision for us.  This is a bit of a special Thanksgiving for us since it was 30 years ago today that were engaged to be married.  We have been so wonderfully blessed to have three incredible kids, a lovely daughter-in-law and now an amazing little grandson.

There is, of course, no sign of Thanksgiving here and we are missing the Thanksgiving dinner with family, the friends we love so dearly and the privilege of worshipping with our friends at West London Alliance.

Our friends Ken and Susan loaned us a very basic underwater camera, so we decided to give it a try.  It was almost impossible to see through the viewfinder, wearing a snorkeling mask so it felt like I was guessing at each shot.  However, I really couldn’t go wrong and this will give you a bit of an idea of why we love to snorkel.

Our trip began early on Sunday morning, as we were instructed to check in at the Subang Airport by 7:10, ninty minutes before our scheduled departure.  Unsure of reliability of cabs and distances to the airport, we arrived at 6:50, to a totally empty airport with no sign of an airplane; but the doors were open and we managed to locate the Berjaya Check-in counter.  I think it was close to 8:00 before staff started to arrive and our luggage was weighed and x-rayed, both of which seemed to be totally unmonitored.

 Right on schedule, a Dash -7 plane arrived and the 20 or so people gathered, boarded, assisted by the same people who had issued our boarding passes and x-rayed the luggage.  Take-off was a little shaky and as we climbed, the cabin vents began to emit what looked suspiciously like smoke.  Apparently there are pressurization issues and this was simply condensation from the air-conditioning, much to our relief.

The flight was a short, one hour hop to the island with a very rough landing on a short airstrip on Redang Island.  We were met by a hotel bus which took us to the Berjaya Redang Beach Resort, one of only three resorts on the island, about five minutes down the road.  We were welcomed with a drink of something that tasted very unusual and even the staff’s explanation of it didn’t make us any the wiser.  It might have been fruit juice.

For some reason that we don’t understand, it is “off season” in Malaysia so there were less than 100 people at the resort.  The hotel was a beautiful, open air design nestled on the hill surrounding the most amazing beach and the blue waters of the South China Sea.  We all decided that it was this island that is used for photographs on all the postcards and travel advertisements that make you long to visit a south sea island.

We spent long hours reading on the beach, punctuated by little naps, examining the tidal pools, and snorkelling amongst the coral along the shoreline.  We spent a morning snorkeling at Marine Park and another on a four stop trip that circled the island.  We came to the conclusion that the producers of “Finding Nemo”, had spent time snorkeling before making the movie.  It is indescribable what it feels like to swim surrounded by hundreds of fish of all colours, shapes and sizes, that are feeding on coral that is in itself breathtakingly beautiful.  It did at times feel like you were in a scene where you might just find Nemo.

 We finished each day with our friends over a leisurely meal in the Palm Court restaurant serenaded by the d’Island quartet, who had just an amazing repetiore of all our favourite songs from years gone by, each of which set Bill and Steve off on great discussions of the original artists and their history.

 The week really was a trip of a life time and extra fun because it was ridiculouly inexpensive.

Yesterday morning at about 7:50 we both felt the effects of the second large earthquake that hit Indonesia.  Steve was on the fifth floor of Taylor’s College while I was in our condo, also on the fifth level of the building.  It was an eerie feeling but no local damage was done as the quakes were on the south-western side of Sumatra, away from Malaysia.

There have been 40 tremors in all in the last three days. They are called aftershocks here, but ten of them were above 6 on the Richter scale. Anywhere else each of them would be called significant earthquakes.

Tomorrow we fly out for our first real vacation together since we arrived. We know. It hardly seems fair as we are already in Malaysia. The place is called Palau Redang, and it supposed to be a snorkelers paradise. We will let you know when we get back. Our cell phones will still work, but we may not be able to ‘moderate’ your comments until we get back, so please don’t be offended if you don’t see your comment right away. Love you!

The Rough Guide (thanks Wyn for the gift) says “(Singapore) has sold its soul for prosperity” and that “improvements in living conditions have been shadowed by a steady loss of the state’s heritage as historic buildings and streets are bulldozed to make way for shopping centres.” Somebody must have dialled that one in from elsewhere, for that is not what we found.

Instead we found the most intelligently designed and conspicuously people-oriented city we have visited in our forty plus years of travel. Historic sites have not only been saved, but lovingly restored so that they gleam with classic elegance. Take the Fullerton Hotel, a frequent stop for Joseph Conrad in his many trips through this port, or the even older Raffles Hotel. Both are still very much a part of the architecture of the city, as are the old Parliament buildings and Court House. The new structures that have been build around them haven’t dwarfed them, as happens in so many cities. In Singapore the new buildings are not huge monoliths like the Petronas Towers in KL, or the TD Center back home, but are modest in height and focused on enhancing the existing streetscape both in proportion and beauty.

 The riverfront is alive with little cafes and pubs in a wonderous fusion of traditional ethnic origins and modern kitsch – like The Clinic, with its hospital bed and wheelchair decor – and at night the entire river and esplanade is alive with people and colour, song and laughter. We had two delightful evenings there, and no, it wasn’t that expensive.

During the day we went to some of the city’s lovely beaches, which were refreshingly clean, both on the sand and in the water (we couldn’t resist!), or strolled through the parks, which were numerous and well-kept. The bike paths were full of cylists, strollers and skaters, all out enjoying the breezes which blow in off the Straits all day long. We did stroll along Orchard Road, the city’s main shopping thoroughfare, but found none of the anxious bustle of KL. Rather there was a leisurely ease to the crowds and a gentle, considerate attitude which was so refreshing after the rudeness of KL’s crowds.

Even the drivers are courteous here, stopping promptly at the crossings to allow pedestrians to cross, signalling on turns and staying in lane. Odd how quickly that all goes out the window once you cross into Malaysia. The traffic is relatively modest for two reasons: the cost of owning a vehicle in this island is extraordinarily high, and the public transit system here has to be the best in the world.

The subway system is clean, prompt, frequent and efficient. That goes for the bus system as well. We never waited longer than four minutes anywhere. All public transport is accessed by a debit card sytem that charges you just for the distance you travel. No one lines up at ticket booths, the stations are spacious and since there are no 7-Elevens or anything else everyone moves through rapidly and I don’t think we saw a single speck of litter or even dirt.

But that goes for the whole city. It is wonderfully clean, with real attention given to providing people space: parks, walkways, open plazas, trees for sound barriers instead of concrete walls. In short, everything that an intelligent and industrious people could do to make their city a liveable and pleasant place for people has been done. The result is a city that is a joy to visit. We will certainly be back!

August 31st marks Malaysia’s 50th year of Independence and everywhere you go there are signs of the celebration. Not only are all major buildings, parks and highways adorned but individual homes, shops and even vehicles are decorated.  On Saturday night we decided to take the bus out to Putrajaya to see the Fireworks competition, along with several thousand Malaysians. 

The fireworks display, put on by Italy, was fabulous but not nearly as amazing as the gridlock that occurred when every vehicle had to pass through just one intersection to get out of town afterwards. There were no lights at the intersection and the sole policeman that we had seen earlier had disappeared. I can’t say that I blamed the poor man, it was an incredible mess. We were lucky and got through before it locked up and got home in a mere two hours. Some people spent two hours just getting through that one intersection, I’m sure.

Anyway, it’s all part of the learning experience over here, and Malaysia is still a young country going rapidly through stages of development that it is not quite ready for. Everyone is very pleasant and patient with each other so it makes it all fun, if somewhat frustrating for us Westerners. We wish this country well. After only fifty years, it has made some remarkable progress.

When you live in a climate like this, it is virtually impossible to get enough to drink.  However, you can find some amazing fresh fruit and vegatable drinks; and in unique containers.   When you open a coconut at home there is about a cup of milk inside but when they hacked the top of this one,  we shared about a litre of sweet juice.

When we ordered carrot juice they picked up a bunch of carrots, ran them through the juicer and emptied it into the inevitable “plastic bag” for take out.

On Saturday the school provided a van and driver for us and Moaz, a Canadian teacher who has been here for a couple of years, took us on a city tour.  We visited Putra Jaya, the new administrative center for the city which is still being developed.  The area is a man made island in the center of a man made lake that is connected by seven bridges, each designed to represent a continent.  The architecture is spectacular! 

After a vist to the Batu Caves, Little India and the Eye on Malaysia ferris wheel we headed downtown for supper and to watch the sunset over the Petronas Towers from the Sky Bar at the top of the Traders Hotel.

Taylor’s College sent the staff to Pangkor Island this past weekend. Before we went I looked at the map and saw there was a pretty decent highway going north. We didn’t take it. Instead we took the “milk run” and went through every little town between here and the island. The road was paved, but the road bed was thin to non-existent. Erin wisely took her Gravol, but I was reaching for mine before we got there.

The hotel was not exactly as advertised either. The rooms were worn, the walls pockmarked with patches and the beds mostly unmade. The menu consisted of seafood or fish, that is if there was any left. Bill had rice and salad dressing for lunch once. I caught on and started eating with the earlier Muslim crowd. I don’t think I stood out, do you?

The beach was dirty, the water was murky and the tourist town stunk. I don’t mean metaphorically, I mean literally. There was an anchovy store every ten metres and the town reeked of them. Not even durian can compete with the smell of anchovies drying  in the hot Malaysian sun. They offered to leave us there to shop for three hours, but we politely declined.

What was fun was the games and the laughs we had. And it was great to get away for a couple of days. The school paid for our trip, so I really shouldn’t be critical. On the other hand we aren’t booking a return trip anytime soon. We’ve been to some great places since we arrived in Malaysia, but unfortunately this wasn’t one of them. One star.