SUNDAY BIKE TOUR THROUGH FIELDS OUTSIDE MELAKA

Out of sequence picture:  pile of palm nuts waiting to be picked up by the trail. Cut from the top of the tree. Used to make major product of Malaysia: palm oil

At the last minute yesterday we found this 3 hr bike tour in the countryside of Melaka. They could fit us in and picked us up at 8:30 a.m. The ride in a van out to the start site was breathtaking!! The Malay guy driving I thought was insane!! He roared through the streets here, stopping to pick up Helen from UK at her hotel. Already Herman, from Germany, was in the front seat. I tried to get a seatbelt on but didn't work! How he didn't bump off a few people crossing the street is beyond me! At one point he screamed at some Chinese tourists "Go back to China!"  Wow! I was hoping he wasn't our tour leader!!

Turns out he was! Alias is his name (don't think he told us). It's his company; his wife had apparently picked up the rest of the group (4 others). We were outfitted with helmets, if you wanted, and mountain-type bikes. Off we went with dog Poppy running after or even ahead of us the whole way. When we arrived back three hours later, about 5 tiny puppies ran out to greet "mom," I guess! She apparently runs this with Alias every time he goes. She was whippet thin! I never even saw her stop for water, unlike me!!

Poppy!

Pictures out of sequence but this is our walkway at our temple/airbnb when w

Amanda, in the middle. The gracious young Buddhist who helped us with the chanting in the temple when we returned.

Alias explaining about rubber. Frenchman living and working in Shanghai on the right.  

Showing how latex is collected.

Demonstrating rubber/latex collection. Tedious process. Rubber farmer stays poor. Middleman gets rich.

Alias! He was very calm on the bike! CRAZY behind the wheel! :)

breaking open a guava

Inside of the palm oil nut

Bunch up in the tree.

Alias is an expert on the flora and fauna of the country. He showed and explained the rubber trees and peeled bark off to show the latex running. There was a grandpa, dad and son (I'm guessing about 10) traveling together from Scotland. Alias wound a small strip of rubber into a ball that the kid bounced!

The main crop of Malaysia is the palm nut. There are many species of palm trees. Palm oil is their big export. Huge hunks of palm nuts were being harvested from the ground with long saws that reached the branches (used for animal feed) to cut them away, and then cut the cluster of orange palm nuts. Inside is a real nut and all of the tree and nuts are used for something. Most is shipped to China, as they cook at very high temperature and that's what this oil is good for. Not much used outside of Asia. I don't think it's very healthy for you. Used in making margarine.

Tumeric, pepper, peppers, bananas, pineapples, mango, and many other fruits and spices we passed. Because Melaka was on the "spice" route, when the Dutch, S.Americans, N. Americans, Africans, Asians passed by here and stopped, they took spices but also left products. I think the rubber plants originated in Brazil.

I pulled over to photo these guys playing a game that looked like dominos. Very friendly!

Pineapple growing near the trail.

Rice growing. Unusual in this area. Most is grown north near Penang and Thai border. Headed there tomorrow. Rice seed here is blown out onto a plowed field. Once it comes up, water is added. Unlike in Bali (see previous blog entry). It is harvested here by machines. This is done and controlled by the government. Most rice is imported from Indochina.

Jackfruit. Ones in the bag are being protected from worms while ripening.

Part of our group. Alias in the hat, our guide; Betty in red t-shirt in middle. 

Some kind of pod hanging from tree.

These aren't real pineapples but pineapple flowers - quite small.

Bike tour finished up about noon. It was maybe 45 minutes too long for me!! I was lagging toward the end. The "sweep", Alias's 17 year old son, was wonderful, biking behind me. On a couple of the last hills he biked beside me with his hand on my back pushing me!! Alias said later when I thanked him that that was his son's "job." I gave him a tip anyway! Very much appreciated! 

Our ride back to our temple wasn't quite as hectic as the pickup had been! We said goodbye to Helen who was headed back to UK after traveling for 3 months in Australia and New Zealand; then to Herman who was headed to a wedding in Singapore.  Part of the reason, I think, besides being dehydrated from sweating, even though I stopped frequently to drink, was we hadn't eaten any breakfast before this trip. We headed down the street to a cafe and had a "cheeseburger" at this restaurant which was actually a tough piece of steak. Betty had fish and chips. But it was cool; had lots of drinks (it's a Muslim country so no beer, or anything else in most places) and then a dish of chocolate ice cream!!! Great end of day!

We then headed back to the temple and walked in the front door. The temple was filled with about 70 people and we could see some monks on the altar. Our Chinese guide from yesterday (who had shown us the two temples; he's from KUL) along with another young woman invited us in to sit. Said they were beginning some kind of service. There was some bowing (familiar with this!); then we were given a piece of joss stick (incense) and paraded up like to communion. Raised it above our head with both hands and then placed it in the burning pot and returned to our seats. Books (like a hymnal) were passed out. Open from the back; read from right to left, top to bottom. Pages and pages of one syllable Chinese words/symbols. They began chanting. Amanda (she later introduced herself) came over to help Betty keep the place. I still couldn't really follow. We sat through almost 1/2 the book (maybe 40 minutes) of chanting when I decided to leave. Amanda walked us out to the lobby and we had someone take a photo. She was very sweet! 

Upstairs to our cool room, cold soda, and we were in for the night!! Exhausting, interesting, different, fun day! Was able to have a long WhatsApp video call with Doug after that. He explained that the chanting of syllables was an old kind of Buddhism (Thay had changed when he developed the PV tradition) and most people chant it as a kind of superstitious right. They sure all seemed into it; all ages from maybe 20 on up were there. Amanda indicated they come monthly for a couple of days for this kind of ritual. Interesting! 

Doug has arranged with another friend/monk to show us around Penang. Doug was here with Thay in 2010 and they did a retreat and day of Mindfulness in Penang. So he recommended this ice cream-type dish for us to try. Thay Kai Li has sent me WhatsApp messages and he will pick us up at the airport Monday afternoon. We will be there 3 nights before returning for one night to the KUL airport before moving on to Myanmar! Another week, another country!! :)