Around-the-Island Tour of Penang

Today we ate breakfast and left the hotel around 9:30 a.m. We drove through town and then out to the coast, where we stopped at the Floating Mosque. It was the most beautiful mosque I have ever seen. It jutted like an island out of the water, and was surrounded by small fishing boats that bob peacefully on their anchors. The glistening blue water complemented the cream-colored building, and when standing at the entrance to the mosque, we could see all the way through to the open doors and ocean on the other side. At the entrance, they had dresses for us to put on so that we could be more covered to enter the mosque. As a result, we had some downright fabulous outfits. The inside of the mosque was beautiful too. Its domed ceiling provided amazing acoustics. 

Next, we went to Batu Ferringhi, an oceanside marketplace selling cheap souvenirs. There are a lot of fun (and very cheap) activities available there. For example, you can jet ski, parasail, or go on an inner-tube. Or, you can simply sit back and enjoy a fresh coconut juice with your feet in the sand. Nikki and Tessa decided to go parasailing together. That's the one where they attach you to a giant parachute, which they tow behind a jet boat. The boats and parasails are in a constant loop from the beach, out to the ocean, towards the cove, and back to the beach again. They were strapped to the parachute, and in a matter of minutes were soaring high above the water. To come back down, they had to yank hard on the parachute straps while the boat slowed in front of the beach. The landing was a little haphazard. (Apparently you're not supposed to land on top of each other.) But they both lived to tell the tale. You'll have to read a more descriptive account in Nikki's blog. 

Our next stop was the Batik factory, where we watched skilled craftsmen hand paint and stamp fabric in beautiful designs and colors. I was most impressed by the freehand designs that were painted by one of the women working there. We learned about the different stages of the dying and setting process, and got some souvenirs too. (Because what's a museum without a gift shop?)

After that, we went to the Chinese (Taoist) Snake Temple. They have an altar draped with venomous snakes, and side rooms where you can pose with boa constrictors (or another giant snake I didn't stop to identify). There were snakes in the trees outside the temple too! TOO MANY SNAKES! 

From there we completed our drive around the island. We were dropped off at the mall at about 2 pm and we were starving! The closest food was DOME cafe, so we went there again. Nikki, Eugene, Meggie, and I ate together. It was very delicious, and honestly it just felt good to have food in our systems. We had all been experiencing a strange combination of giddy slap-happiness and hangriness. Food was much-needed! 

We shopped a bit at the mall after lunch. The exchange rate is so good for us right now. The USD is about 4.3 Ringgits, and the Ringgit has even dropped since we've arrived. Every shopping experience makes me glad to have memorized my multiplication and division tables. (Thank you, Mrs. Banks!) To make labeling easier for international brands, each item is listed with at least four prices including the Euro, Yen, Ringgit, and more. So the first step is to find the right price for whatever country you happen to be in. Then I have to convert that price to American Dollars so that I have a bit of perspective on how much I am actually spending. Then if the item's on sale, that throws a whole wrench in the system. My easy shortcut is to find multiples of 20 or 100 in whatever price I'm looking at, because 20 Ringgit = about $5, and therefore 100 RInggit = about $25. The money here is so colorful, and there's four times as much of it as I would normally have, it almost feels like we're playing Monopoly. 

We walked from the mall to nearby Little India, where we were able to finally try Coconut Jelly. It is made from coconut water and put back inside a coconut shell. It was so refreshingly delicious!

We walked until we found a cab to take us to the Gurney Plaza mall and shopping area.  We found a Marks & Spencer! (My favorite!) We also got some lovely tea from TWG and looked around some of the other stores. Eugene showed us where to buy groceries for a good price. I was put in charge of finding breakfast supplies for the group. Tomorrow morning we will be leaving so early that our hotel won't be serving breakfast yet. We divided up the shopping list and got lots of supplies in record time! Not wanting to buy shopping bags, we stuffed the groceries into our backpacks and shoulder bags and carried the rest. Looking like a trail of sherpas loaded down with food, we made our way back to the hotel. We dropped the groceries at our hotel room, then went back to Gurney Plaza for dinner. It is only about a 10 minute walk, so it was pretty convenient. We went to an all-vegetarian, gluten-free, coconut-milk-free (not sure why people would want that, but oh well) Chinese/Malay/Japanese fusion restaurant. It was very good! My favorite were the steamed bao buns in the shape of pigs with pumpkin filling. They were so good!!

After dinner, I got some fresh fruit juice (I'm not gonna get sick, I'm not gonna get sick...) and Nikki went to find a pharmacy for some stronger cold meds than 7-11 has to offer. The pharmacy at Watson's drugstore was closed, so she and Eugene found a traditional Chinese pharmacy. One of the amazing things about Malaysia is that you don't need prescriptions for medications here. Nikki simply described her cold symptoms, and the pharmacist handed her prescription-strength drugs. The best part is that it only cost $6 USD for a week's supply of three different medications. Before  you get too worried, no, he was not a witch doctor. And yes, Nikki is doing great! She still has a cold, but she's up and at 'em.

Dr. Looi was so nice! He came and picked all of us up and took us back to the hotel. It has been great to spend time with Eugene and his family while we are here in Penang. They are all the very essence of hospitality, and they gave us a personalized tour of their beautiful island home. Thank you, thank you, Looi family!

Before we left, I tried to get money out at an ATM. My card had been declined twice that day, but that happens sometimes with different cashier systems. I went to a well-known bank's ATM in the shopping mall to do a balance inquiry and try and withdraw some cash. I put my Credit/Debit card into the machine, punched in my PIN, followed the prompts, and waited for the machine to think while a "Processing your request..." screen appeared. The next screen came up, but instead of my account balance, the screen displayed the message "Your card has been retained. Please contact your bank." I stared at the machine. "Could this be a bad English translation? Perhaps they had meant to write 'declined' instead of 'retained'. But the machine switched over to the "Welcome" screen again, and my card was nowhere to be found. *Insert mini panic attack.* I thought of calling the bank or the ATM people, whoever that might be, but it was almost 10 pm and my card had been declined twice that day anyway. Even if I could get the card back, it would be unlikely that it would do me much good. Now I know what you're thinking--Zoe has overspent and there's no money on her card. But I assure you that is not the case. The next challenge is getting ahold of the bank to figure out what in the world had happened to my card.

When I got back to the room, I was able to check my bank account online. As it turns out, someone has been using my card on a road trip from Los Angeles to Yosemite while I've been all the way over here in Malaysia. It's a public holiday on Monday (Labor Day) so I'll have to wait to contact the bank until Tuesday. Don't worry! I'm not stranded! My parents are helping me figure everything out with the bank back in the States. Plus, Nikki's here and she's loaded. Haha ;) It's just frustrating to be so far away from my Northern California credit union when something like this happens. :/ 

But other than the ATM experience, I have really enjoyed my time in Penang. I'm sad to have to leave tomorrow!

Sabbath and Touring Penang

Today we had breakfast at the hotel before heading off to church. We went to the Penang Seventh-day Adventist Church, which is where Eugene and his family attend. It was fun to see them again, as well as some people I met at church last year. Everyone was so welcoming to us. 

After church we went to the botanical gardens of Penang. There are acres and acres of velvety green gardens, paved paths, jungle trails, and steep climbs up the nearby mountains. The botanical gardens are both protected and ruled by the small tree monkeys that live there. They have a great deal of entitlement, jumping from tree to tree like they own the place. 

After the botanical gardens, we went back to Eugene's house for lunch. His family and extended church family was all there (we even got to Skype Stephanie!), and they had so much food for all of us! It was some of the best food I've had in a very long time. My favorite was the salad with egg, blanched veggies and potatoes, cucumber, lettuce, and more, all drizzled with peanut sauce dressing. Also, the blue sticky rice with coconut topping was amazing!

After lunch, we changed into our sightseeing clothes and loaded up the tourbus again. Eugene went with us, and we went to the Kek Lok Si Temple, which is also known as the "temple of a thousand buddhas". It looks like a giant layered cake, complete with elaborate frosting detail. On each layer sits a buddha from a different culture, and the walls of each level are covered in tiles painted with miniature buddhas. As you climb the stairs from one level to the next, the view of Penang gets better and better. The temple itself is the highest point on the greater temple grounds, and must be accessed by way of many flights of stairs, and winding through other temples and shophouses. I am really glad we got a chance to see it. 

From there, we went to Penang Hill, another great place to view Penang! We rode the funicular to the top of the hill, which was much higher than where we had been at Kek Lok Si Temple. At the top, there are many viewing platforms, restaurants, museums, and carnival-type attractions. We went to a Hindu temple, and then followed a path to an abandoned cottage that has been completely overrun by the rain forest. It looks like something Indiana Jones might happen upon on his way to the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. (In case any of you are fact-checking my movie references, Indiana visited that fateful temple whilst in Disneyland.) It was fun to go back to Penang Hill. It was one of my favorite attractions that we visited last year, and they've done a lot of renovations and additions since then. Now there are even more viewing platforms so you can truly get that panoramic view of Georgetown and the waterfront. Lots of tourists were there. We met a group from Australia and the United States who were traveling around as part of a floating book fair. Apparently that is a thing. Actually, I thought it sounded kind of cool. They take a boat around all over the world as a part library, part bookstore, and sell set up shop in all of the ports in which they stop. Crescensio and I introduced ourselves to a guy wearing an Enactus shirt. (Enactus is a global organization that encourages business ventures by students, with chapters at many universities including La Sierra.) He and his friends were students from Germany who were spending a semester in Singapore on an exchange program. Anyway, we got to meet some really interesting people at Penang Hill, which is one of my favorite things about traveling. 

Soon it was time to leave, and we took the funicular back down to the bus. We went to an all-vegetarian restaurant of Nyonya food (a Peranakan culture of blended Malay and Chinese influence) with Eugene and his family. It was so delicious. I am usually not a fan of mushrooms, but I didn't know that I was eating a good deal of mushrooms until after the fact, and they were all amazing! I am continually impressed with all the different varieties of food an all-vegetarian kitchen can whip up. 

After dinner, we went back to the hotel. We stopped at the 7-11 to get meds because LOTS of people on the trip are getting sick. They're dropping like flies, and Nikki is among them. I'm hoping that if I load up on my sleep and Vitamin C, I won't get it. Wish me luck!

First Full Day in Penang

Today we were able to sleep in a little while before our breakfast. Eugene met us at the hotel, and we were cruising around in our tourbus by 9:30 a.m. It was nice to see Penang in the morning light once again. It is so beautiful. Penang is an island off the coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It was colonized by the British, and many of the British colonial era buildings still stand to this day. Penang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so they keep really good care of all their historic buildings. So, there is a strong colonial influence in the city, yet it is a rapidly growing metropolis as well. To accommodate both the historic landmarks and the growing population, architects have begun incorporating colonial buildings into modern high rise apartment structures or shopping malls. For example, the entrance of a shopping mall might be through the doors of a colonial mansion. The shell of the house remains intact, but the inside of the house is renovated or replaced. Then the house is attached to the high rise structure, which may be of completely modern architecture. The striking contrast created with the juxtaposition of the colonial and modern architecture makes the buildings that much more beautiful. I love cities that appreciate their historical landmarks, and Penang has found a way to do so while encouraging growth.

We started our tour at the water's edge. We stopped by lapping tides of the Strait of Malacca, then walked by the Penang War Memorial and through the Supreme Court (another beautiful colonial building) to the first Anglican church built in Southeast Asia, the Parish of St. George the Martyr. It was commissioned and used by the British, and was built in 1816. It is a crisp white building, as are many of the colonial structures we passed this morning. The white paint is such a stark contrast to the greenery all around, and would have stood out even more in the days when these structures were originally built. 

From there, we walked to the Street of Harmony, where, in addition to the Anglican church, a Buddhist temple, Mosque, and Hindu temple all coexist on this street. This is a great example of what we have seen of Penang so far--that people of many different beliefs can all live together quite comfortably and peacefully on this Malaysian island. 

Next, we walked through my favorite area of Penang--the area that has all the street art and wall murals! The artwork is painted on the walls of buildings, or made of wire and attached to the buildings. We had fun posing by all the different murals. It was so hot, though. We were walking around outside, and the humidity was starting to get to us. We decided to stop for some fresh coconut juice at a small cafe in the tourist area. Eugene told us that the price was a bit higher than normal (because of all the tourists) but we gladly paid it. I swear, it was like drinking natural gatorade. Soon, we were energized and ready to go again!

We walked from the artsy area to Chew Jetty, a collection of shops and homes along a wharf. When we stopped at the end of the wharf for a break in the shade, our tour guide told us that factoring the humidity of the day into the temperature calculation meant that we were walking around in what felt like 115 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm not sure what methods he used for his calculations, but I concur with his results. (Side note: We randomly ran into a professor from La Sierra on the end of the Jetty. What are the odds?) Soon we headed back to our bus and the salvation that is Air Conditioning. On the way back, we saw some strange wildlife coming out of the ocean. It was low tide, and many of the small boats tied to the dock were sitting in the mud. And out of this mud, fish were crawling like undead zombies towards us. I could hardly believe my eyes. They had tiny hands and normal fish tails, like T-rex mermaids. Dr. Perumal told us that they were mud skippers, and were actually a type of salamander. And they provide a strong argument in favor of swimming shoes.   

Next, we went to lunch at a Chinese Vegetarian restaurant. It was 100% vegetarian! I didn't even know what to do with all of the options! We had eel, chicken satay, green curry, Singapore fried noodles, and my personal favorite, sautéed vegetables in a baked yam bowl. YUM.

After lunch, we headed for a nearby mall. On the way to a mall, we saw a lot of abandoned buildings that were beautifully graffitied and overgrown with jungle plants. It was as if the jungle was reclaiming the property. Here. even in the middle of the downtown area, any little patch of land can give a small glimpse at the jungle that must have existed everywhere before the years of urbanization.

After the mall, we reloaded the bus and went to a bazaar. We had an hour and a half to spend there, but we weren't really that interested in anything they were selling. Instead, Eugene led us to a nearby liquid nitrogen ice cream shop. (They freeze the ice cream right in front of you using liquid nitrogen.) It was a hipster haven. We played UNO and drank San Pellegrinos while eating chocolate banana ice cream and coconut ice cream that came in a whole coconut. It was such a nice break from the heat! Thankfully our unofficial tour guide, Eugene, knows where all the best ice cream places are! 

We rejoined the group at the bazaar and then loaded up the bus again. We went to see the fourth largest reclining Buddha in the world. The temple was about the size of an airplane hangar, and the giant Buddha had fabulous sparkly toenails made from mother of pearl. Afterwards we went to another Buddhist temple across the street, but this time Buddha was standing. 

When we were finished there, we had some free time to relax in the hotel. Again, we were very glad to escape to the Air Conditioning. I'm really glad I wore black today, because I was drenched in sweat. Honestly though, at this point on the trip we don't even care if we have giant sweat rings in photos and our hair is plastered to our foreheads. It's par for the course in this tropical climate, and to me it means that we are getting out there and exploring.

We were going to go to dinner at the cafeteria of the Adventist hospital across the street, but they closed their doors at 5:30 pm. That seems a tad early for the dinner crowd, but oh well. We had dinner in a small shopping area beneath our hotel, at a Thai restaurant. (We ate there twice last year!) It was delicious! We got lots of Pad See Ew noodles with either veggies or chicken. We also had fresh mango juice, and mooncakes for dessert. The mooncake I tried had a red bean filling, which was really good! 

After dinner, Eugene went home and we went back up to our hotel room. We blogged for a bit, then went to bed. We had done a lot of walking, and the heat really takes it out of you! Plus, we have to pace ourselves. We've got a lot more adventuring to do tomorrow!

Longhouse to KL to Penang

Today was a day in transit. We got up early and had breakfast at the Longhouse, then packed up and headed to the airport. 

It was about a half an hour drive to the closest airport, Sibu. We took a flight from Sibu airport to Kuala Lumpur (KL), where we stepped off the plane and into a bit of a culture shock. Hadn't we just woken up in the jungle this morning? We landed in KL, Malaysia's capital, and the airport is essentially a shopping mall with one of the best airport food courts I've seen in a while. Perhaps I was just hungry. We collected our baggage and re-checked it for our connecting flight to Penang, then Nikki and I found Dome Cafe, where we had veggie wraps, scones, tea, and bruschetta for lunch. It was a little pricier than other places in the food court, at $14 USD per person, but we felt it was well worth the money. (Especially since that is definitely not out of line for a nice lunch in the states.)

Our flight to Penang was very brief, and soon we had landed and were picking up our bags again. I must pack lighter in the future. At this point, my entire bag was pretty much dirty laundry, and I vowed to myself and others in the group that after check-in at the hotel we would make a B-line for the nearest laundromat. 

Check-in took longer than we had hoped, (it took an hour and a half) despite the fact that we called ahead and asked them to have everything ready. But I really like our hotel. We're staying at the Georgetown City. It is directly across the street from the Seventh-day Adventist Hospital, and centrally located in town. 

We asked the concierge where we could do laundry, and he said that we could have it done in the hotel. "Oh?" I asked. "Is there a laundromat in the hotel?" To which he replied that we could just leave it in a bag in the room and they would wash it for us. When we learned that we would have to pay per piece for items washed at the hotel, (That would certainly add up quickly!) we asked for the nearest laundromat. He directed us to one that was apparently very close to the hotel. We had planned to meet Eugene, one of our friends from La Sierra, for dinner, so we raced over with our laundry to find the laundromat the concierge spoke of. It turned out to be a dry cleaners, so we walked back to the entrance of our hotel. 

Soon we found Eugene! It was so good to see him again!! Sandra, Meggie, Nikki, and I hopped into his car (with our laundry in tow) and he took us to dinner! We went to an open-air Indian restaurant where we got lots of curry, rice, naan, and mango lassi. It was delicious. After dinner, Eugene drove us back to the laundromat we had used on the trip last year, which is still the closest one to our hotel. We started our laundry, then went for dessert. Eugene took us to a hipster ice cream place called Honey Comb. Their specialty is fresh plain frozen yogurt with a slice of honeycomb on the side. However, he encouraged us to try the option that has drizzled honey instead of the honeycomb, so I did. It was soooo good! After dessert, Meggie got some new shoes because hers had gotten stolen at the longhouse. Then, we headed back to the laundromat to switch our loads to the dryer. Once we had done that, we still had to wait for a while, so we went to Starbucks down the street. Starbucks here has so much more to offer than the Starbucks does in the United States. For one, their tea menu is much larger, and they sell even sell tea lattes! Their pastries also look much better than they do in the states, and they sell affogatos (ice cream with a shot of espresso). C'mon Starbucks, step up your game in the United States!

We had a great time hanging out with Eugene! He was an awesome tour guide, and was so nice to drive us around and take us to do laundry, and even wait with us while it was drying! He's the best! It's been so fun to catch up. I'm really glad the schedule worked out so we could visit Penang while he was home for the summer! 

First Full Day at the Longhouse

Today we got up early. Breakfast is served at 6:30 am, and everyone must be present for us to begin breakfast. The ladies of the village got up much, much earlier than we did, in order to cook breakfast. And it was a wonderful breakfast. We had fried rice, fresh fruit, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and hot chocolate. I am loving the fresh rambutan and bananas here--they come straight off of nearby trees. 

After breakfast, we had about an hour until we left to work with them in the pepper farm. We donned our new hats, piled into the back of pickup trucks, and set off for our farming adventure. We were shown how to weed the pepper plants so that each stalk was surrounded by a foot-wide border of clean, weed-free dirt. Our whole group was there, so the work was fairly light. We each needed to complete the weeding for eight stalks in order to finish the field. It was difficult at first, but eventually we settled into the work. (It reminded me of summers weeding at my grandma's house!) It was a good bonding experience for us to work together. Ranzinger even sang to entertain us while we worked. 

Soon, we had finished the whole field! We walked back to the longhouse community with a deep sense of pride in our accomplishments. However, we were a mess. It was only 9:30 am, but we had already sweated through our shirts and gotten covered in dirt. After we cleaned up a bit, Nikki, Meggie, and I helped the women make lunch. We sat on the ground or on woven mats and helped chop veggies. After the prep work was done, the women made french fries and hot chocolate and sliced up a hard papaya to eat with a chili soy sauce mixture. I'm not sure if this is what they do every day, but I sure enjoyed it! Only one of the women spoke English, so she translated back and forth for all of us. The women all wanted to take pictures with us, and we had a great morning with them even though we couldn't understand each other's languages. 

We had lunch, then headed out to a nearby boarding school. We all rode in the back of a pickup truck to add that extra adrenaline rush to our trip (even though our entire drive was probably 2 minutes in duration). To reach the boarding school, we walked across a swaying suspension bridge that spans a wide river. When we reached the other side, we walked through the jungle, past the ruins of an abandoned schoolhouse, and then reached the school. There was not a child in sight. It was very odd. We must have arrived during the last few minutes of a study period, for soon enough, the kids began to appear. When they saw the soccer ball that we had brought, they were over the moon. We played volleyball, soccer, and basketball with the kids. It was so fun! Most of the kids were very proficient with English in general, but all of them had excellent soccer (football) vocabulary skills. 

After our visit, the school board, principles, and other members of the school community took pictures with our group. They also presented us with two banners to commemorate our visit. They were so generous!

After we said our goodbyes at the boarding school, we headed back across the bridge to the car. Nikki and I hopped inside the truck this time. Riding in the back of a truck is fun and all, but definitely not comfortable with a group. Everyone else went to the back of the truck again, and as soon as we took off it started raining HARD. It was the hardest I've seen it rain yet on this trip, but the driver did not pull over to let the people inside the truck. They were huddled together in the back, and we rolled down the windows in the cab to grab their smartphones and keep them from getting drenched. Soon, we arrived at a longhouse that was much older compared to our longhouse, and constructed out of wood instead of the more modern cement blocks and bricks. We all looked like drowned rats after walking from the truck to the door of the longhouse. It was still raining very hard. They greeted us with towels, and welcomed us in to meet their chief, who, as a side note, is one of the rare women chiefs. She showed us around, and soon they began an elaborate ceremony for us including speeches, dances, and many local delicacies. They had gone all-out on the planning, and it was such a wonderful experience to spend the afternoon with them. 

When it was time to go, we took the truck back to the longhouse and had enough time to pack up a bit and play with the kids before dinner. We were treated to a sprawling potluck buffet. The whole village came out for dinner, and we had a great time with them. As it began to get dark, Nikki brought out the glow-sticks she had stowed away in her bag from California. Not only were the kids in awe of the glowing jewelry, but the parents were equally enamored! All the adults wanted glow-stick bracelets too! 

After dinner, we went across the driveway to the other longhouse (the one we stayed in last year). While they were getting set up for the dances, a giant locust flew into the longhouse. It was huge--about 4 inches long--and had wings and flew. It was like an insect-bird. Giant wings. It flew. Flew, I say, FLEW! I will be having recurring nightmares about it, I'm sure. 

After we got the locust out and cleared the dance floor, we danced the traditional Iban bird-dance with various members of the community. It was hilarious and fun. Soon the younger crowd had brought out speakers and plugged in their iPods and invited us to join in their favorite dances. We followed their lead, and the songs and dances reminded me a lot of the ones I've tried on Dance Dance Revolution. It was probably one of my favorite memories of the trip! They wanted to see an American dance, so Royce, Matt, Satchel, and Andrew Ugalde showed them the "Watch Me" dance. They loved it, and I'm sure they will be practicing up so they can perform it for the group that goes to visit next year. 

Kids at the Longhouse

Kids at the Boarding School

The View from our home in the Longhouse

Kuching to the Longhouse

Today we woke up very early, got breakfast, and were down at the tourbus by 7 a.m. We took the bus to the boat docks, and got tickets for the ferry ride to Sarakei. 

We boarded the ferry and found our assigned seats. We had tickets on the lower level of the boat, indoors. However, soon after the boat took off, we headed up to the top level to enjoy the scenery from outside. We sat on the starboard side, just to throw in some boating lingo I've picked up. Dangling our feet over the edge, we enjoyed the fresh breeze and pointed out little docks and villages as we went. It was so fun! I got a major sunburn from being outside for the entire trip, but it was still really fun. :) 

When we arrived at the dock in Sarakei, we were met by several members of the Longhouse community, including the pastor and the chief. (He is a new chief since last year.) They took us to a food court for lunch, and we were able to have vegetarian Chinese food. It was delicious!

After lunch, we had some free time in the town, so we stocked up on things we might need for the longhouse. We were told that we would be working with the people in the fields, so we decided to get hats, among other things. 

Soon, we loaded up the cars and headed out of the small town, over the river and through the woods, to the longhouse. When we drove in, a small boy met us at the gate. I remember him from the first trip as a boy that we called "Mickey Mouse" because of his Mickey Mouse T-shirt. Sure enough, he was wearing the same Mickey Mouse T-shirt a year later. He is the pastor's grandson, and despite the fact that he is a small child, he low-key runs the town. Anyway, when we saw him he was holding something in his hand. Upon further examination, we realized he was holding a giant flying beetle and playing with it. First holding it by its legs, then its wings. He had absolutely no fear of the insect. I wasn't afraid either, I just saw something on the other side of the village that I really wanted to look at. 

We divided into different homes within the longhouse, and distributed the mattresses, pillows, and toilet paper for our stay. This community made space in their homes for us to stay, and made it feel like we were completely at home there too. We settled in, and had some time to play with the kiddos in the afternoon. We brought out some simple yellow tennis balls and they went nuts. We created simple games -- even using our new hats to play a game of toss. It was so fun to see all the kids again. I can't believe how much they've grown since last year. 

Soon it was time for dinner, and we gathered in the community section of the longhouse for a buffet of delicious homemade food. We had fried rice, vegetables and veggie meat, (they were told that we were all vegetarians, which isn't the case, but I definitely enjoyed all the food!) fresh fruit, and so much more. We sat on the floor in the common area, and ate in small circles of people. It was fun, and nice to have a relaxing dinner after a day of traveling.

After dinner, we saw some flashing lights outside. It was a lightning storm. It wasn't actually raining at the village, but we could see the storm really well from the main gate. We stood out there in the darkness for a while, every so often interrupted by a flash of lightning that illuminated the whole sky. It was beautiful, and the simplest yet most epic form of entertainment I have witnessed in a while. 

Lunch in Sarakei

Our new work hats! The shopkeeper was so nice! He gave us all water bottles after we bought so many hats from him. (Plus, my hat cost the equivalent of $1.75 USD.)

Touring Kuching, Day 2

Today we awoke early, ate breakfast, and were down to the bus by 8:30 a.m. We drove through the city, suburbs, and at last, countryside, to find the Malaysian Cultural Center. If you've ever been to the Polynesian Cultural Center on the island of Oahu, picture a Malaysian version of that. So many cultures interact in this beautiful country, and this center highlights the unique facets of many of these cultures. We were able to tour through an Iban longhouse, as well as traditional homes from other tribes and cultures. For example, we also saw a Malay house and a Chinese farmhouse. At the end of the tour, we watched a dance show that included traditional tribal dances plus a "Malaysia" song that is still stuck in my head. (I read this to Nikki, and now she's singing the Malaysia song. *sigh*)

After the Cultural Center, we went back to Kuching to an open-air food court for lunch. The food court was situated beneath the Mosque and at the edge of Little India. We got delicious noodles that were very similar to Pad See Ew. (Yay for something I can recognize!) We also tried a salted plum drink that tasted like sea water that may or may not have flowed under a plum tree. For dessert we tried Ice Kachang again, but this time without the beans. It was basically shaved ice on top of different kinds of jellies, all drowned in coconut milk and condensed milk. What's not to love? 

From there, we walked through Little India on the way back to our hotel, where we got some down time before our afternoon outing. 

The afternoon outing was a Sampan cruise along the river. There isn't actually a bridge across the Sarawak river in the center of town, so these Sampans act as taxis. We have 18 people in our group, so we rented two Sampan boats for the afternoon. We divided ourselves into a 'girls group' and a 'boys group' and filed into the small boats. The boats have an option of stand-up paddling from the bow or simply motoring around. For the full experience, we were to paddle the boats (and give the boat driver a rest) and make a lap from our dock towards the Astana (a white castle built by Charles Brooke for his wife) and then back towards the dock on the other side of the river. To make it even more interesting, we challenged the boys to a race. The boys began with a sprint led by Matthew Reeves, while we got off to a bit of a floundering start. ("Hey girls, shouldn't we be going past our dock? I think I see our starting point up ahead of us...") Building on skills developed in many a volleyball practice, we created cheers for our boat and were soon so loud that we had gathered quite a crowd on both sides of the shore. We also succeeded in distracting the boys. After some practice, we started gaining on the boys, and when Tessa got her second turn at rowing we overtook them! We kept up our pace until the end, and cheered the boys on from the dock. (I'm not sure that they actually appreciated that.) I think their boat used the common "shaming" method of motivation, because I was later told (jokingly) that many friendships were ruined during that fateful boat race. Positivity wins! In truth, our boat had a slight advantage because it ran on GIRL POWER. I'm proud of our victorious rowing team, can you tell?

After the race, we spent some time on the other side of the river and were able to see the older Malay community. The houses were built on stilts, and were brightly painted with the trim and shutters in contrasting and highly saturated tones. We tried a popular Malaysian dessert, which is a rainbow layered cake, and then went to the open-air food court. Nicole ordered lots of dishes for us to try, and once again, our favorite was the same type of Pad See Ew noodles we had tried at lunch. Another treat was the watermelon lychee juice. YUM. There were so many cats at the food court, which we tried to avoid like the plague. Kuching means "cat" in Malay, and the city lives up to its name.   

We took a Sampan back across the river (this time we didn't have to row!) and went back to our hotel for a little while. Then we met up with some friends from the Kuching SDA church for ice cream. It turned out to be a little bit of a fiasco, actually. The problem with all the food being so cheap over here is that I have gotten out of the habit of looking at prices. When an entire meal, drink, and dessert consistently costs less than the equivalent of $3 USD, it can be easy to gloss over the price section of the menu from time to time. On the way to meet up with our friends, we passed a gelato shop. When we realized that we were all craning our necks to see the flavors, we decided to take a closer look. The flavors looked so delicious! They had mango, cookies and cream, chocolate marshmallow, coconut, and many more flavors. We were all practically drooling. We decided that we should meet up with the friends and then come back to the gelato shop. So off we went. It was only a short walk to the mall where we met them, and soon we were back at the gelato shop with the entire group. We looked at the case again in awe, then glanced up at the prices and had to do a double-take. Could that be correct??? $14 Ringgit for a single scoop (approximately $3.50 USD) and $18 Ringgit (about $4) for a double scoop? We had some serious sticker shock. It was back to LA prices! It was a good lesson to learn -- just because we can typically find inexpensive food options, it doesn't mean it is an absolute rule. Especially in the more touristy areas, we need to look out for the prices. Another lesson we learned that evening is that it is not a good idea to simply skip over words you don't recognize. Nikki and I ordered a double scoop of ice cream, with the coconut flavor and a flavor called "Tuak". It had rice on the top, so we assumed it was sticky rice ice cream. However, Tuak is the name of the rice wine made over here, so we were in for a shock since we were expecting the flavor of condensed milk and rice. ("Has this ice cream gone bad? Oh, wait...")

Anyway, we walked back to the hotel in time for curfew and said goodbye to our friends. Thank goodness for Facebook so we can keep in touch! 

Tomorrow, it is off to the longhouse! 

Ready with our "Passports" and Ponchos at the Malaysian Cultural Center!

Pad See Ew for Lunch!

Ice Kachang

Studying the Sampan rowing technique

The boys' boat 

Parliament

We made it to the dock!

Nikki and Ariella are so prepared with their own silverware!

Dinner