Home Thoughts From Abroad

This weekend we visited the awesome Batu Caves, the sacred place of the Hindus in Malaysia, which are situated thirteen kilometers north of K. L. They consist of three main caves and a number of smaller ones. The caves are made of limestone and stretch 400 meters deep into the rock. You have to climb 272 steps to enter the Temple Cave or Cathedral Cave which is the best known and largest of the caves. The ceiling is 100 m above the ground and this huge chamber is lighted by daylight from several holes in the ceiling which is 100 m above the ground.

 All the way up the stairs, you are greeted  by long tailed-macaque monkeys, which are very friendly, especially if they think that you have food to offer.

One of the newer attractions in KL is the Aquarium which is part of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center at the base of the twin towers.  The highlight is a transparent tunnel with a moving walkway which takes you under the Living Ocean exhibit.  Huge sting rays, tiger sharks with sharksucker fish attached, and beautifully colourful fish swim over your head.  There is a Living Reef tank packed with coral and multi coloured fish that make us long to get to the islands for some snorkelling.

I was sent on a mission by a member of the Child Development team from CPRI.  She wanted me to find her a monkey for her office.  Here you go Leslie, I have found the perfect little guy for you.  He is a Marmoset and will only be 18 cm long and weigh about 400 grams when full grown.  I warn you though, he loves to climb and can run fast.  Run it by Amy and see what she thinks.

Today is the first official day of work!  The new staff are all here now and it has been fun greeting just a great team of teachers.   We all got together on Friday night to get to know each other and to have a bit of a “House Warming” for Mark and Erin who are setting up their first home together.  The three other couples all managed to get apartments in our building so we have quite a little neighbourhood here.

The team is an excellent mix of four new grads with lots of energy and new ideas;  three with a few years of experience and three very experienced and mature retirees.   They are all pretty anxious to see their schedules and to meet their students. Missing in the picture is Mark Meyers, who arrived from China on Saturday, and Easton who is just late for the party.

At last, we have a Work Permit and a Contract!  Today, we were finally able to open a bank account, which you can’t do without a work permit.  Our landlord will be delighted when we can finally quit paying our rent with wads of cash.   Can a pay cheque be far behind?

I guess the vacation really is over.

The Orchids Gardens in Kuala Lumpur are definitely right up there on our list of the most beautiful things we have ever seen.   God could have created one pink orchid and that would have been beautiful, but He didn’t stop there.  Instead, He went on to create literally hundreds of different colours and shapes and sizes of orchids which are wonderously displayed in this lovely garden in the center of the city.

Malaysia, with more than 2 million hectares of plantations is one of the world’s principle producers of palm oil.  Large areas of rain forest have been cleared to allow for the cultivation of these large plantations.

The oil palm is planted in groves and bears fruit within three years.  Malaysia’s ideal climate allows for a harvest every two months.  The fruit is the size of a plum and grows in clusters much like grapes.  Each tree produces two clusters containing up to 2000 individual fruits per harvest.

Malaysia produces nearly 50% of the world’s oil palm , 85% of which is exported.  The large scale plantations are mostly aimed at the production of oil but it is also used to make foodstuff, medicines, woven material and wines.

Okay. Pam and I are new at this, and hosting a blog is going to take some getting used to. But we do want to stay in touch, and we are not too old to learn. So bear with us and forgive our mistakes as we attempt to navigate our way around this new domain.