Home Thoughts From Abroad

We had a choice when we signed a lease on this apartment to subscribe to cable TV. We declined. There are times, as in the recent Beijing Olympics, when we regret that decision. What we saw of the opening and closing ceremonies was incredible, and cable TV for those two weeks would have been worth it. But for all the rest of the year? Not so much.

We do watch tv occasionally, but mostly it is knock off Hollywood movies, with English subtitles that are mangled in such a way that is so screamingly funny we have to watch the movie twice to see what was going on. The one or two commercials that we do see are all about making our faces whiter. We figure that in this culture they are white enough already, so we find them kind of funny too.

Being outside of all the North American pressure to buy stuff is really nice. Life without commercials is much more peaceful;  you really have no idea. There is a reason that Christ spent more of his earthly ministry talking about the dangers of losing your soul to mammon than He did talking about any other subject. The road to perdition is paved with the distraction of obtaining earthly things.

But more than spiritual salvation is at stake. Murray Jordan in The Making and Unmaking of Technological Society argues that consumerism is at root nihilistic and destructive of the society it purports to extol. Certainly there is enough evidence of the decline of Western civilization to wonder if there is something terribly wrong and perhaps sick at the heart of our culture. I could think about that and do some more reading on the subject, or I could just relax and watch some tv.

Malaysia has its problems, to be sure. A quick look through the most recent pages of Asia Sentinel, a Hong Kong based paper affliated with the International Herald Tribune will be enough to convince you of that. ( http://www.asiasentinel.com/ ) Some of those issues we have presented on this blog over the last year and a bit.

But we would be churlish not to appreciate the beauty of this country and the hospitality of its people. For the moment Malaysia provides us with a nice home and a decent standard of living. KL is a travel hub for Air Asia, the region’s most affordable and efficient airline, and transportation to Pam’s principal places of ministry, Cambodia and Singapore is much easier here than anywhere else in the region.

And unlike Burma and even Thailand at the moment, Malaysia – albeit reluctantly – seems to be moving towards a two party democracy without violence. So Happy Merdeka (Independence) Day to our adopted home, and may this be a peaceful and productive year for all.

Laos is about the size of Great Britain with over 70% of the country  covered by mountains and plateaus and has a population of only about 6 million people. The 12th longest river in the world and the 10th largest in terms of volume, the Mekong is also one of the world’s most untamed rivers and the main means of transportation and source of fish, the staple of the diet.  We arrived in Vientiane, the capital city, a week after the worst flooding in forty years and although the water had receded, we saw much evidence of the damage that water can do.

In the north the Mekong River follows the Annamite Chain of rugged mountains with peaks as high as 2500 m.  We spent two days days on a “slow” boat and covered about 350 km of this 4000 km long river, mesmerized by scenes of awesome beauty, quiet little villages and local fishermen and their families.  Along the way we stopped to visit in some villages and the Pak Ou Cave, which houses thousands of Buddha statues of various sizes.  Fortunately, we had a fairly large and powerful boat with a very experienced driver as the swollen river was moving very rapidly and we were headed upstream.

Accommodations in the two villages on the river were pretty basic, to say the least, but it was neat to experience a bit of village life and it made us appreciate the lovely little guest house we had in Luang Prabang, with mattresses made of wood. 

The people of Laos may not have the best of resources but they have “Customer Service” down to a science.  Our every need was catered to by the most gracious of people, especially the cook (the drivers wife) who travelled with us on our boat and prepared amazing Laotian dishes for our lunches.  She, of course, was cooking on an open flame on the back of the boat.

One of the highlights of our visit was an afternoon trip into the hills where we climbed up to the Khouangsi Waterfalls where the water crashes down the mountain and over multi-tiered limestine formations and forms cool, clear pools which are perfect for swimming.

Summer break is not what it used to be. Used to be I’d get two months. Plenty of time to veg around the house or tackle a major renovation project, if I felt so inclined. These days I’m lucky to get three weeks. But although Taylor’s may not have long school breaks, at least they have frequent ones. We are headed off first thing tomorrow on a week’s break to Laos and Thailand.

I have long wanted to see the Mekong River, and we finally did see it flow past Phnom Penh in Cambodia around Christmas last year. We thought of taking a cruise then, but the boats were tourist traps and the trip was not worth the money. This time we will be on it for two full days with friends Gary and Kveta exploring the ancient culture of Laos from the relative safety of the river.

We exit in northern Thailand where we’ll spend two days, and then fly home from Chaing Mai. Pam was in Chaing Mai earlier this year on a conference, and although I have never been there, her pictures showed a terrain much like the Hill Tract area of eastern Bangladesh: rolling green hills and lush rice paddies. It doesn’t look like we will be able to post for a while, but will continue to pick up our email when we can.

I am so happy because my dad is on line finally! 

 At 83 years of age Dad is still excited about learning new things and is not daunted by the challenge of entering the age of computers. 

While we were home we set up the old computer from our condo for him and Jon was able to find a new modem for it so he is finally connected.

Kuala Lumpur is a city designed for shoppers!  The malls are massive and beautiful, open virtually everyday of the year and always crowded.  Sunway Pyramid is our local mall, as seen from our pool deck in the picture, and it comes complete with a Skating Rink, a Lagoon waterpark and three theme parks.

We have been perplexed as we watched the sales promotions throughout the year.  When the “Spring Sales” arrived the malls were decorated with trees in bloom, umbrellas and spring flowers.  Lately we were attempting to find some light weight pants but when we asked the sales clerk he was quite shocked.  He informed us that we would need to wait for the summer clothing to come in before we would find light clothing.

In the sixteen months we have lived here, we have rarely seen the daytime highs at less than 32 degrees, with lows consistently around 26 degrees.  We finally asked the question, “How do you know that it is winter?”  The very helpful young man said he had no idea but they always use the same promotional themes as America so he thought it had something to do with their culture. 

 I guess our heavy pants will need to do for now because I m certainly not buying corduroy or knitted sweaters but I hope summer comes around again soon.

This year we have decided that we need to make a real effort to see more of our adopted country and to gain a better understanding of the culture.  This has been a challenge without a vehicle as public transportation takes you to a specific destination efficiently but does not allow you to experience much along the way.

We learned from our visit to Fraser’s Hill, that outside of the cities people are much less apt to understand English and sometimes the cultural differences mean that what seems obvious to us is not necessarily obvious to others.  We had lunch is a local restaurant, where Steve and I both ordered Chicken Fried Rice and Gary and Kveta each ordered Chinese Fried Rice.  The waiter misunderstood and bought food for only Steve and Gary, clearly not finding it the least bit unusual that only the men were eating.

Anyway, we have now begun spending a half hour each evening in language study and it is evident that our ability to memorize is not what it used to be.  It has taken us a full week to master the numbers and the days of the week.  Fortunately, we hear that Bahasa Malaysia is not a difficult language to learn.  The big challenge is the fact that they build on nouns and verbs to derive new words, so until you are very familiar with the root words, the language looks very confusing.

Additions can be made before, after, in the middle off or even around a root word.  So masak (to cook) becomes memasak (is cooking, memasakkan (is cooking for), dimasak (cooked), permasak (the cook) or masakan (cookery) and the list goes on.  By the time I figure out what the root word is, it is way too late to follow any conversation.

Oh well,  I figure that if I am not learning something new, it is probably time to pack it in.

 After school on Friday, Steve rented a car and made the four hour drive down to Singapore to join me for the weekend.  It worked out well to have a car there as it enabled us to pick up some packages at the airport and explore the east coast and the northern part of the island.  In the Orchid Gardens there is a water garden that has some of the most spectacular flowers and grasses that we have ever seen.

On the way home we detoured to Port Dickson, which is on the west coast Straits of Malaka, just outside of KL.  Found a lovely, quiet beach where Steve spent the afternoon marking essays while I relaxed and swam.  Who knew that there was a retreat like this just outside the city.

In the midst of all the travelling and moving around, we finally found the time to make use of a 30th Anniversary gift from our friends Ken and Susan.  Last night we both enjoyed a one hour Amoaras Relaxing Massage and it was wonderful!

We have shared many adventures with Ken and Susan this year and it is a privilege for us to count them as friends.  Their ability to understand Mandarin and Cantonese often came in handy and their familiarity with the culture challenged  us to experience things that we would not otherwise have considered. 

It was all wonderful, except for the durian, of course. 

They are heading back to Toronto at the end of the month to resume their teaching careers at home and we will certainly miss them.