VISIT TO KIM TAN AND HIS FAMILY - KUALA LUMPUR (OUT OF ORDER)

There was a bit of confusion as we left Sanur early on Friday a.m. The hotel we were staying in, Jampu Inn was connected with a larger, more luxurious other hotel that had the beautiful pool and beach area. I told the desk there, where we had to check in, that we needed a driver to the airport at 5 a.m. Friday. But there was another guy at our inn and we told the same thing. He said his brother would drive us. The brother Ari showed up at the room Thursday afternoon and took our names, time, etc. and said to meet him across the street from our hotel - not to get in another taxi. He changed the time to 5:15. When we came down at 5, there was the driver from the bigger hotel there ready to take us. Ari was nowhere in sight. I think the guy at Jambu Inn was trying to get some business for his brother! I felt badly but we left with the hotel driver, as we had an agreed-upon price of 200,000Rupiah (about $20). Poor Ari got out of bed early for nothing! We never saw him!

At the airport Betty had extra money so we had a lovely breakfast (Air Asia doesn’t even give you water unless you order food as well!). We shared a delicious chocolate muffin. Our flight was a simple 3 hours to Kuala Lumpur. I could see the volcanos on Java and the rugged terrain of Indonesia as we flew over. Arrival was pretty simple; a HUGE only 2 year old airport here. The usual lines through customs and immigration, collecting our bags and headed out to meet the Tans at the agreed upon Uncle K’s restaurant. I had sent them a picture of Betty and me (they had met me in Plum Village last May when I visited Doug.). But we saw noone waiting, looking for us. It was right near the car pickup so I kept walking up and down outside (VERY hot and humid!) thinking they would spot me if they were in a car. Betty waited inside with the bags. I was beginning to think what the heck to do next - when Kim Tan showed up from inside. Not sure where he had been waiting! His son brought the car around and we were off!

Kim’s oldest son Br. Dai Dung is a novice monk at Plum Village and will be ordained a Bikshu (official monk) at the end of the month in Bangkok. The family will go there for the ordination. That (Thich Nhat Hanh) is spending the winter there - he had a severe stroke two years ago, was treated in Bordeaux, then San Francisco and then back in Plum Village. He is paralyzed on one side, in a wheelchair and cannot speak. But he’s alert and can communicate his wishes. I saw him in May when I was there and he waved to us in the dharma hall. 

Anyhow, Kim and his 22 year old son Jackson drove us back to their home, a gated community with lovely homes on a golf course. We met Kim’s wife Esther there and we all headed out for lunch at a local Chinese restaurant. The Tans’ four children are 4th generation Chinese from mainland in the south towards Guangzhou (former Canton) area. Kim said the grandparents were farmers as were his parents. The first thing you see as you enter their gorgeous home is the family altar at the entryway. Thay’s picture is on the right, Kim’s parents photo on the left (his mother was 85 and father 90 when they passed); then three statues - Guanyin boddhisatva of Compassion; and two others I can’t remember. Then a seated Buddha and many candles and flowers. It is a beautiful altar!

The Tans have 4 children. Jackson just graduated in hotel management and is job-hunting. He had done an internship in Switzerland. Mabel, their daughter (about 25), is having a delayed graduation today in mechanical engineering. She was doing a 3 month internship in Alaska when the actual graduation last spring occurred so this is happening today. Mom, Jackson and Mabel later were doing flower arranging for bouquets today. Two sisters of Esther’s were arriving from Australia for a 3 week visit. Esther’s parents were staying with her brother and the father hasn’t been well - so that’s another reason for the sisters’ visit. The youngest son is studying real estate, in his second year of 3, in the UK. 

Throughout their home were many of Thay’s calligraphys framed on the wall. Kim has been a practitioner in the PV tradition for about 9 years - previously he was practicing in a different one. He really LIVES the life, is very calm and in the moment. He would make a great dharma teacher! I think he and Esther had visited PV before and later encourage Dai Dung to go there for a month. He did, came home, and then decided to go back as an aspirant and later a novice monk. Now he’s reached the 3 year end of novice and will be fully ordained. Kim says he seems very happy in his life choice. We had a discussion about Doug’s path and how HE came to become a monk. Everyone’s story that I hear is so different!! I think he said Br. Dai Dung is now 28. 

Kim story is also very interesting. He is from a family of 9. He is the only one who went on to school. He came from a poor village and the elementary and secondary education wasn’t that great. He got the opportunity to go to university in Melbourne and he said he had to fight and work hard for his degree in engineering. He got a job in Penang (where we’re going after two nights in Malacca) in the north and worked for Motorola for a couple of years. It was here he met Esther who was finishing her degree. When she graduated, they married and moved to KL. She worked for awhile (I think her degree was in chemistry or some science). But then with 4 kids to raise she hasn’t worked for awhile. 

Kim went to work for a company that had a factory and maintenance for some kind technology, I think. Later when his company was sold, he and his German boss took over part of it and he ran his own business. He retired at 51!!! to enjoy live and family and his practice more. That seems to be the focus of his life 5 years since retirement. He practices with the Malaysian sangha and in 2012 when Doug visited here with Thay and the monks, they did a retreat in Penang. We may meet up with another of Doug’s dharma brothers, Br. Kai LI, also a friend of Kim’s when we are there. He’s contacted me by WhatsApp and perhaps we’ll meet up. 

Had a late dinner (we didn’t need MORE food, but we went out anyway!). Kim went online for us and purchased our bus tickets to Malacca for us (Betty had some Malaysian money, Ringgit, I think it’s called) I noticed when I tried to give Kim MY credit card to buy the tickets that I couldn’t find my MC. Thinking I had it in another place, we paid cash. Then this a.m. on my email was a fraud alert from Bank of America. It gave me an international number to call them but I can’t figure out how to get to an International Operator and call. Ended up Kerry saving the day ….AGAIN!  She had to do this once in 1998 when Doug’s backpack was stolen with his passport and my credit card I had given him for emergencies!! I happened to be visiting him in Madrid when this happened and I simply called Kerry to cancel the card. 8 charges had been made when i got home but I wasn’t liable.

I WhatsApped with Kerry and she called the company to see what the charges were. There were like 5 charges, all online, all yesterday, for different programs. But I won’t be liable; they froze the card and will send me a new one when I get home. I have other cards and will have to be much MORE careful when using them!! Problem solved; THANKS, KERRY!!! 

Off to the bus station with Kim’s GPS. A NEW station is being built; no sign where the temporary station was; Kim had to keep asking! We found it with minutes to spare! That’s why I ALWAYS need to be at airport/station, WAY early!! I was trying to BREATHE and keep calm! Worse case is we would have had to sit at the station until the 1 pm bus! No biggie!! As Kim had to get back for his daughter’s convocation!! We hugged goodbye; it was a short but wonderful visit with a real Malaysian family and home!! Just what I most love about traveling! I’m sure we’ll see each other again!

TRAFFIC IN MYANMAR AND OTHER 2/26

MYANMAR (BURMA) - IMPRESSIONS

TRAFFIC!!! I have NEVER been anywhere in the world where it was such an issue! Even Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) that I had always said was the busiest, most congested traffic anywhere - this is worse!! Myanmar hasn’t been open to tourism until recently. They don’t have the infrastructure! WAY too many cars, mostly taxis! And the lines just don’t move!! Walking in most cases seems quicker! 

We arrived at the Pickled Tea Hostel - one of the friendliest, nicest hostels I’ve ever stayed at! In our 4 bed room, we were given an upper and lower bunk. Betty graciously took the upper - we handed up her suitcase. there was a platform up there, a huge cabinet - big enough for our suitcase to lay sideways and that locked, a comfortable bed with blanket and 2 pillows and a READING light and two plugs to charge stuff. Very up to date!! The bathroom across the hall had 5 toilet/shower stalls. The showers were the best - with those rain shower heads!! And no waiting for the hot water. And the room was air conditioned! Too cold most of the time for Betty but I was comfortable. 

One of our roommates, Terry had been just released from the hospital - she’d had a bad infection - e-coli (we are constantly washing our hands, using wipes, etc.! and not buying any street food! 

I had had an issue with my reservation so we spent some time with Wai Wai, the young Burmese girl at the desk. I had booked with a website called agoda.com and used my MBNA credit card. At the end of trip in Bali, I couldn’t find the card but was sure it was in my stuff. Then I got a fraud alert saying that there were some charges on it and the card was frozen. The day before we were leaving Malaysia I got a notice saying our reservation had been cancelled at Pickled Tea (that would have been a real shame!!) and so I quickly rebooked with another card. I had originally booked a mixed 8 bed dorm and now had to switch to a 4 bed female room. There was a price difference! Before we paid the difference, we had talked to Martin from Scotland. He gave us all kinds of good info on what to do in Burma. He mentioned Bagan which I had already thought about - it is further north, along the Irrawaddy (now called Ayeyarwaddy) River and is similar to Angkor Wat inCambodia - hidden, long forgotten temples, pagodas, stupas that had been abandoned and are now becoming a UNESCO heritage site. I decided it would be a shame to miss. so spent the hot part of the day in the cool small downstairs office/reception/breakfast room online planning what to do for our week in Myanmar (Burma).

People here still call themselves Burmese (rather than Myanmarese or whatever!). The people: they seem very friendly, stare at us a lot! The women and many of the boys especially young ones, all wear thanaka - a ground yellow bark of a tree, made into a paste - on their cheeks, sometimes in decorative designs, more often in round circles, and on forehead, nose, ears, etc. This is to protect the skin, supposedly a good sunburn preventative, bug repellant as well as astringent and generally good for the skin. It looks quite attractive once you get used to it. We tried it in the market the next day; not so attractive on old ladies!! and our skin pigment isn’t yellowy as theirs is. 

I love the longyi - the sarong-like garment that men and women wear here. Burmese have kept their traditional dress, rather than convert to western wear. The men’s longyi is tube-shaped and they wrap it and tie a big knot at their waist. They are constantly retying (sp?) it! The women’s is one long piece of cloth - beautifully woven patterns here - and tied with string at the waist. The women wear a short blouse with it. Men can have anything from a t-shirt to a long-sleeved white dress shirt - like in the hotels. Most of the men seem to have narrow hips and small bums - they look very attractive and masculine in them. 

We foreigners must look very strange to them! Yesterday (we just left Bagan) I was coming out of a temple and admiring these string puppets hanging on a tree when a young guy in a yellow tour-group cap - there were about 20 of them, I thought they were a Japanese group - they seem to always wear the same cap to identify them to the guide, I guess. Anyway, this young guy came up to me and asked where I was from and then asked if he could have a picture with me. I did; then someone took one with my camera. Then he brought his dad up and did a photo with baba! Pretty soon I had been squeezed and photoed by about 10 of this group! They seemed to think it was hilarious!! By the time Betty came out, they were headed towards their bus. Turns out they were Burmese - I think he said from Yangon. But hadn’t seen too many foreigners it seemed! Later when I had climbed 4 steep stone stairs on a temple, for the view, there came the yellow hats!! Same group! When they spotted me, OMG! You’d have thought I was a  long lost relative!! This time Betty was there to get in on the pictures!! Mama, Baba and son all in one photo with us!! Fun!! Very friendly!

Enough for now!!

ARRIVAL IN MYANMAR Friday, 2/24

On Friday we flew from Kuala Lumpur, after spending one night at an airport hotel, at 6:55 a.m. to Yangon, Myanmar. It was so convenient to stay right at the airport. We could walk a ramp way right to the terminal. It was a great night’s sleep! `The room was basic but clean and the location was perfect!

Our flight on Air Asia was only 2 hrs. Not sure how this works but I think there was a 1.5 hr. time change! So it was earlier when we arrived from Malaysian time. 

Our taxi ride from the airport went past Inle Lake, near Yangon University, where we saw students walking along, many young women in light pink robes dressed like nuns. This lake is where Aung San Suu Kyi lives. She is the daughter of a national hero, Aung San a leader here before and after WWII. He and his wife had 4 children, she the only daughter. One son drowned as a child. The father was a student leader, at one time a Communist, allied with the Japanese, thinking to gain independence from the British. But then realized his mistake and helped the British conquer the Japanese. He realized they were going to be more oppressive than the British had been. After the war he and the 30 Comrades formed a government. But at age 37, while in a government meeting in the Secretariat, a former British government bldg. downtown, rebels broke in and he and 6 others were assassinated. 

So the mother raised the 3 kids herself. Suu Kyi got a good education, including studying at a prestigious school in India. She I believe studied at Oxford or Cambridge and met and married a Brit and had 2 sons. Because she had been married to a non-Burmese, she can never be leader of the country. At one point she realized if she didn’t return to Burma, to help her people, she might NEVER be allowed back in. All totaled she was under house arrest, in her house on the lake, for       years. When her husband in UK was ill with prostate cancer, she wasn’t allow to visit (or not ever return to Burma) Her children are UK citizens and live abroad. She has been working for peace in her country and was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in        . Of course, she couldn’t attend to receive it, or she could never return. She since, after pressure from many governments, including from Pres. Obama, has been released from confinement. She created a position of State Counselor or some such but the military is in control, I think. 

Recently there was an attorney who used to be HER attorney, who was working to help a beleaguered ethnic group in the NW - a Muslim group called Rahingi, I think. Anyway, he was recently assassinated in the Yangon airport. There was a memorial service this past week for him and Lindy an American we met at the hostel, from Texas, who has taught here for 2 years, and now teaches in Chna - she said Suu Kyi showed up at the service and made a nice speech (Lindy seemed critical and didn’t think she’d show). The military, without any restraints fro the government, are raping, killing men, women and children in what Lindy called genocide! Many have fled over the border into Bangladesh (just what that country needs - refugees!!) Suu Kyi has yet to speak out against any of this, I’m told.

RELAXING SUNDAY AT SAKURA RESIDENCE 2/26

In the morning while I was checking on our bookings (bus, hotel, boat to Mandalay and flight back to Yangon before we head to Vietnam next Friday), Betty got acquainted with a real character, Lindy Mc something - a Scottish name, from Houston, TX (she said she got a great education in Baptist schools there), but isn’t Baptist now. She taught English for a couple of years here in Yangon so is very familiar with the country, seems to know some of the language, and is very knowledgeable about the politics here. She has friends and is concerned about the Rahinji people in the north, Muslims who are currently being persecuted (murdered, raped, driven out of the country) by the military. There was a lawyer a couple of weeks ago who was murdered in the Yangon airport. He had been working with this ethnic group. He also had been lawyer for State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi - a heroine here. But Lindy seemed pretty critical of her; there was a  memorial service going on and she wondered if Suu Kyi would appear. Apparently she did and made a nice speech. Suu Kyi hasn’t said much publicly about the military’s actions in the north where many of these people are “escaping” over the border as refugees into Bangladesh.

Lindy is currently teaching on an island outside of Shanghai. I hadn’t heard of where she is.

We took a taxi who had a hard time finding Sakura Residence. Our $15 got us a beach towel and a lounge chair by a beautiful pool in what looked like an apartment building, with most of the crowd there seemingly foreign. There was some kind of a makeup or women’s little market in the lobby set up for the day. Because of the hot sun, the pool was as coolly refreshing as I had thought it would be! Later in the day, as part of it shaded, it got cooler. But it was still a relaxing afternoon. 

After looking at the map, it looked like it would be not too bad a walk back to Pickled Tea. It wasn’t! There was a short cut the taxi hadn’t taken and we probably made it back quicker than with a taxi. I think it was that night that we went down the street for a Japanese Medical Massage, it was called. by a blind masseuse. I think it was $5. It wasn’t the most relaxing, comfortable massage as it was a lot of pushing on pressure points. And not much on my feed and none on my head, which I really like. But my bak and neck got a workout. 

We then headed to Pizza Center by the market and split a delicious Caesar salad, I had garlic bread and some spicy chicken wings. We topped it off with ice cream from Spencer’s next door. On the way back was a new stupa/pagoda that Lindy had talked about watching it be built the last time she was here. We also stopped in our neighborhood one (it had been closed the night before). There were some kids playing in there so it’s kind of a community thing. It’s a really nice little neighborhood where this hostel is, off the busy streets. Back to visiting with the interesting people at the hostel.

Met Sandy and John, friends from Seattle (actually I think Sandy said he graduated from Dartmouth - like 2004 or something). John works for a senator from Washington State. His is 1/2 Korean and 1/2 Irish descent. He had some interesting comments about how things are going in Washington. He was the one telling me, when I had just heard on Facebook about my brother Rod being invited by Senator Terry       from Wisconsin to be her guest at the State of the Union address! He said each congressperson is allowed so many tickets and the guests usually sit in the gallery behind the President’s family, which is frequently scanned by tv coverage. I wrote to family members to see if someone could DVR it for Rod!! How exciting!  Anyway, Rod and I are going to DC in April (it was to be his FIRST trip there!) for a week. John will help me find an airbnb in a safe neighborhood for us to stay while we’re there. I think he was just on a 3 week trip!

So that was Sunday!

President U Htin Kyaw 

CIRCULAR TRAIN AND DOWNTOWN YANGON - SATURDAY 2/25

I got up around 5:30 a.m. on our first full day at Pickled Tea and went to the bathroom. As I’mcoming out, Betty was washing her face at the sink. I was too tired to say anything or ask her why, and went back to bed. Pretty soon, before I got to sleep, she was standing by my bed, full dressed asking me when I was going to get up!!! I’m usually the early one! She had forgotten to change her alarm clock and thought it was 8 a.m. - it was only 6!!! I told her to go away! Good laugh at that!

A delicious breakfast was included at the Pickled Tea. We thought later, since we saw no evidence of a kitchen, that they, like the rest of Burma, goes out in the a.m. to get street food for breakfast!! Oh, well! too late! 

We took a taxi to the train station. There is a 3 hr circular train around Yangon. The one we caught headed north away from the downtown area. As we rode around for perhaps 1.5 hrs. pretty much all levels of society rode for awhile. Mostly were the hawkers, whole families of them selling water, souvenirs, apples, newspapers, etc. up and down the cars. Two families got on with very cute 2 and 3 month old babies. Monks rode for awhile. Businessmen on the way to work. Men with several huge baskets of produce I’m assuming heading downtown to the market to sell! We were able to get a seat and just watch the countryside go by. 

One station past the Central one, we disembarked and headed to the favorite market, according to Lonely Planet. On the way we stepped into the cool Anglican Church. At the market first on my list was an umbrella for sun protection. Got a purple one that I think Sarah will like when I’m finished. Had trouble, however, with the clip keeping it open. Sometimes it catches; sometimes not! Also was looking for a silky football shirt with Myanmar on it for Jackson - no luck!! Stopped when we saw a pile of oranges, we enjoyed a fresh squeezed - hold the ice! In case it wasn’t made with purified water! She also was mashing avocados for someone’s drink. I’ve tasted avocado juice, I think in Malaysia, which was delicious!

There is a Sule Pagoda right downtown so we went to take a look. As soon as we approached the entrance, two women popped out and shoved flowers and incense and something else on a stick into our hands. Yelled at us to sit down and take off our shoes! Then tried to get us to pay a bunch for these things. We said no and gave them back! Then as we headed up the stairs, we were going to have to pay a foreigner admission fee. By this time, we were turned off so walked back down, retrieved our shoes and headed out! Across the street is Independence Park with a large white obelisk, celebrating independence from Britain in 1948. Britain had taken Burma as part of it’s commonwealth in 1857 and made Rangoon its capital (was Mandalay under the king and queen of Burma). Then Japan controlled during the war and Aung San negotiated with them initially, thinking they would give independence to Burma. When he realized he’d made a mistake, he supported the Allies. The Allies bombed Burma and Japan withdrew. Briefly after the war Britain tried to regain its former status; Burma was the first of the British Commonwealth to become independent. 

There was an art exhibition and tons of families gathered in the park (it was a weekend). Around the park is the white city hall, former British bldg renovated. On the right was the red brick court house in the process of renovation. Many other buildings with European style architecture (like on the Bund in Shanghai) were abandoned and left to ruin. Squatters were living in the disheveled buildings. A few years ago some crazy ruler of Burma decided to move the capital 200 miles or so north called Naypyitaw. It apparently has wide streets (no cars!) and government business is carried on there, but government workers weren’t allowed to move their families. So they live in dormitory-like housing! NOBODY goes there!! 

Next we looked for the Strand Hotel, down by the riverside. This was famous - Maugham, Kipling and other authors stayed here - only whites allowed, Burmese were the workers! It has been renovated. We stopped in because it was cool and quiet! A Burmese woman was playing some kind of instrument in the lobby and later a Burmese harp. We just sat and enjoyed the cool for awhile! Later we crossed the overpass to the ferry terminal where we rode for 10 minutes across and back. We had to fight off the hawkers who tried to talk us into a tour into the countryside on the far side. I fended them off and they finally gave up. 

We now headed to this hotel where you were supposed to have a cool drink and watch the sun set over the Shwe Dagon Pagoda. On the way I heard this lively music and we stopped in the Immanual Baptist Church. Only about 10 people were in it with a very enthusiastic minister leading them and a band playing on the side!

Long walk, getting lost but finally found the Alpha Hotel. On the roof people were drinking but no one came to take our order. Finally I went over to ask and we ordered lime drinks. Nothing came! We were told they had to go get ice! This is a bar!! I was ready to leave 10 minutes before Betty in disgust!! At the street we took a cab back to the Pickled Tea. I promised Betty a beer! So we had to walk out to a market a few blocks away. I was able to get seltzer and oreos and a beer for Betty. Much better!

Somewhere here at Pickled Tea we met Lucah, a German who has been traveling for several months while he decides what to do with his life. His father is a doctor and he thought about doing that. He ended up traveling on the bus with us to Bagan on Tuesday night.  

We also met a German couple who moved on but told us about Sakura Residence, a taxi ride away, where there is a swimming pool and workout room you can use for $15 for the day. That’s my plan for Sunday!!

WALKING DOWNTOWN - MONDAY

This was Monday and we headed toward downtown. There is a National Museum that we were headed to, cutting through the People’s Park next to the big pagoda. Nothing much interesting to see in the park. Until I came across a woman in the middle of a bunch of trees practicing the trombone. I asked if I could take a picture!! Turns out she is a Japanese married to a businessman working here. She asked if it was that unusual to see someone playing in a park. I said yes!!

We saw through some fences several swimming pools with kids splashing so knew there was some kind of a sports park or something. As we finally made it to the street, we passed the entrance to Happy Land, I think it was called. I took just a few pictures of the giant characters near some rides. The guy at the gate said the pools were in the back. Had to pay to go in so we kept walking. 

Anglican Church

Avocado juice

Monk riding the train

Fabrics in the market.

Squeezing our O. J. 

What thanaka is used for on women's faces

The bark is ground

Arriving at the National Museum, all we were able to see was a giant warrior statue outside; CLOSED ON MONDAY!! Our walk got us to Chinatown which just meant street markets all around and people out shopping for the day’s food. Our map wasn’t to clear on our next destination; a synagogue for a very small remaining (maybe 20!) Jewish population here. Originally this lovely synagogue was built by Sephardic refugees from Iran and the middle east. But I guess they’ve moved on and mostly it’s Jewish visitors here. Only the guard was out front. It was cool, peaceful, empty and beautiful inside. So we sat for quite awhile drinking water and eating some fruit surreptitiously. 

Ornate wood carvings on ceiling.

At the front where the Torah is kept. 

A menorah

Main part - not sure if it's called altar.

Since we were nearby the Shwe Dagon road, we hopped a cab and headed home. We walked to a Terry-recommended restaurant called Spike’s where I had a delicious Hawaiian pizza that I couldn’t finish (it disappeared as soon as I left it on Pickled Tea table!) but had room for brownie and ice cream!! Terry had left our room and finished and left me The Glass Palace about 3 generations of Burmese from 1857 on. The author had won the Man Booker prize for another book. Terry didn’t seem to like this one too much but so far I’m liking it. 

Our overnight bus leave at 8 p.m. tomorrow night but we have to leave the hostel at 5:30 in order to be there by 7:30 because of the traffic!! Turns out there is Lucas as well as Olivia, from Dedham, MA, a newly graduated nurse on a several month travel by herself! Really gutsy! So we all shared the 10,000 Kyat ($7.35 - 1360 kyats = $1) ride to the bus station, quite a ways out past the airport. Since we would be sleeping on the bus kind of early, we decided to get up and be at the Shwe Dagon temple when it opened at 5 a.m. to see it then and see the sunrise. It was much more peaceful but by 8 a.m. the crowd was picking up. Lots of people were doing private and small group prayers in side temples. Many people were buying plates of food - I thought it was for the monks but they would leave them out and I think it was to feed the millions of birds. Because of the constant haze over the city - I’m guessing because of the car pollution! - the sunrise wasn’t particularly spectacular. 

I took a rest in the AC in the afternoon and worked on uploading pictures. I’ll sure miss this wonderful hostel!

MALAYSIA SO FAR!

This is what I’ve learned so far! Malaysia was a colony of the British and became independent in 1957. At that time Singapore was part (it’s on the tip of the peninsula) but Kim said the leader, Lee (someone) - he was Chinese - was VERY strong! The rest of Malaysia offered Singapore, a huge Asian port, to be a city/state and it did! and has stayed that way! 

In Malaysia, it seems much more modern and upscale than Indonesia/Bali. KL started with tin mining, in 1857,  which Kim said involves a lot of sand, excavating, and straining when the tin falls beneath the sand. There is a lot of MUD resulting from this mining,  Kuala Lumpur literally means, in Malay, “muddy confluence,” of Klang and Gombak rivers. Now not much tin mining is done. We noticed as we landed huge fields of what looked like palm trees. Turns out palm oil is one of this country’s main products. They also produce rubber and oil - like gasoline. 

Malacca on the coast was a major stop along the “Spice Route.” Magellan stopped here (we learned about this in the Asian Museum in Singapore) and he picked up a Malay slave Enrique Malacca, who ended up actually sailing completely around the world (Magellan was killed along the way and never completed the circumnavigation). So now it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and supposed to be historically interesting. 

Kim took us downtown yesterday to see the sights of KL. Mainly we parked under the shopping mall at the base of the major tourist sight - the Petronas Twin Towers and Park. Built in 1998, they once were the tallest buildings in the world at 452 meters and 88 stories. There is a skybridge gaining them at the 41st and 42nd floors but we just took photos from outside in the lovely courtyard with a musical fountain (wasn’t running; being worked on). 

Same as everywhere.

Shopping in Chinatown

The other site we drove through was “Chinatown” but it wasn’t too impressive. We were looking for some “shophouses” that used to be wooden, but after a huge fire, I’m guessing there were shops on the ground floor and then the family house was on top. There are still some stone ones we saw. Kim pulled over and we got out for a few pictures. We also passed a few old looking temples. But really not too special.

Back at Kim’s house, we met Mabel, his 20-something daughter who was graduating the next day with a mechanical engineering. She had been doing an internship in Alaska when her class graduated so this was a make-up one for her. Mom and she were buying and arranging flowers for the ceremony. Picking up Jackson and Esther, we all went out to EAT MORE!!! Betty and I were still full from lunch. But we managed to eat some! I don’t think people in Malaysia cook! They have all these side of the road restaurants that are constantly filled. I think they cook so many dishes for each meal, it wouldn’t make sense to cook at home. You’d be preparing all day!! So they only cook special dishes for special occasions, is my impression. The kitchens we’ve seen aren’t very big. 

The next day, after a good night’s sleep at their lovely home, Kim took us to the bus station, where we were catching a bus for 2 hours down to Melaka on the coast - a UNESCO heritage site. This was a very important port on the spice route - along the Straits of Malacca. However, when we arrived and where Kim’s GPS said the bus station was, not too far from his home, it was under construction with no sign of where the current station had been temporarily moved! After many stops to ask people, and driving kind of in circles, we arrived at 9:15 - just when the bus was to leave!! He ran in to pick up our online ordered tickets; we stood by the bus so it wouldn’t leave without us; finally off we went!! Don’t like those last minute things when I travel! No one’s fault; I just get my adrenaline running! I knew the next bus didn’t leave until 1. Kim had to get home for the graduation. So we’d be sitting there for 4 hot, boring hours!! But all was well; we had a smooth ride there. Then found a taxi to our hotel - in a Buddhist and Taoist temple!!!

Amanda, our helper at the temple

Side entrance to our airbnb at the temple.