Taiping, jungle trekking and a hindu wedding

At the end of October, we had a very fun night at Oktoberfest. It's a big party organised by the German society with German beer, Bratwurst and Sauerkraut. There are also drinking contests, dancing and a big brass band. We made some new friends and had a great evening, if slightly hampered by teacher training at 9am the following morning!

Making the most of a long weekend (and one of 16 yearly days of Public holiday!), we headed to Taiping in Perak which is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Penang. It's not the nicest of towns but has some lovely lake gardens with hills in the background which makes it a great place to spend a relaxing few hours.

Taiping also has a surprisingly good zoo with big open areas for the animals. We liked the giraffes - reminded us of the West Midlands Safari park where you can feed them. Some big cats and bears too - not bad for 3 quid!

Bukit Larut, or Maxwell Hill, is close by and you can get a jeep most of the way up (or walk up if you are very fit or just crazy as it's a steep 22km!). There is a nice path up through the jungle to get to the very top. Disappointingly there's just a hill station at the top but still some decent views over Perak. Lovely and cool up there and quiet as most of the locals don't seem to venture up to the very top.













Suzanne's 'not impressed' face

Getting a bit of a taste for jungle trekking, we planned our first walk up Penang Hill with some friends but instead of taking the easier route, someone suggested taking a different route starting at school which turned a fairly tame walk into a 5 1/2 hour marathon hike! This was not helped by one too many wines the night before with some new friends for the US. Walking up not one but two hills with a bit of a hangover in 30 degrees and 90% humidity is not recommended unless you like taking regular breaks to puke all the way up. Enough said...



Really helpful signposts



We got up close and personal to some leeches for the first time, clambered over fallen trees and hauled ourselves up the last bit with ropes. And that's not an exaggeration... We arrived at the top muddy, exhausted, dehydrated and covered in blood from the leech bites. No wonder they weren't too happy to see us at the rather posh place that serves traditional English cream tea's complete with jam, butter and cream for the scones...




Also this month, we were very excited to be invited to our first Hindu wedding celebration, and really pleased that Thamarai (a maths teacher colleague from Tenby) invited us. It was big, colourful and had a great party atmoshere with lots of singing, dancing and great food. It was interesting to see how a different culture celebrates a wedding and lovely to see Thamarai looking beautiful in her traditional wedding Sari.

 

Last sunday, we decided to have a day being proper tourists so we visited the magnificient Buddhist temple of Kek Lok Si, on the side of Penang Hill. It's a beautiful temple and we look forward to returning for Chinese New Year where it is all lit up and a fantastic place to celebrate.

It's  hard to believe that's it's only 3 weeks of school left until the holidays (4 for Steve) and so we'll be heading home for Christmas in less than a month! Much as we're loving it here, we're really excited about coming home and catching up with everyone. Hopefully see you all soon x

P.S. Got our first visitor booked in for February (Steve's brother, Chris) - we're really looking forward to having someone to show around and hope he'll be the first of many!

Sumatra half-term adventures

When looking for somewhere to go for October half term, we thought of a few places in Indonesia - Java proved too tricky with the flights and Flores just too difficult in a week. But Sumatra is just a short flight away and the idea of going somewhere a bit off the beaten track with fewer tourists appealed to us. It's not your typical weeks' holiday destination but that didn't worry us too much...

Our pre-holiday reading about Medan told us many people consider it the worst city they've ever been! Not too promising but we were determined to find the best bits and only planned to stay for one night. It immediately struck us how unusual tourists are in this city - we were getting openly stared at wherever we went and accosted by lots of students wanting to practise their English. Having been assured that westerners are welcome to visit the Grand Mosque, we got kitted out in suitable attire (sarongs and a head scarf) and were shown around by an excellent guide. Having our photo taken proved more problematic - half the people of Medan wanted to have their photo taken with us so it took quite a while! It's very surreal to be treated like a celebrity, but I suppose they don't get giant white Brits visiting their mosque very often!

Feeling like celebrities - outside the Grand Mosque, Medan

Medan wasn't as bad as we'd expected, though we weren't terribly impressed with the 'palace' and won't be planning a return trip any time soon. This photo really sums up the chaos of the streets for us - there are cars and motorbikes everywhere, stray dogs and cats and all kinds of livestock on the side of the road. People manage to carry anything and everything on the side of their motorbike.




Fortunately we found a minivan company that could take us to Lake Toba, saving ourselves the rip-off 1.5 million Rupiah we'd been offered by a taxi to take us (80 quid but a months salary in Sumatra!) No journey is particularly pleasant or quick in Sumatra so getting to Lake Toba in 5 hours was pretty good and painless. It was worth the journey...

Lake Toba is the largest volcanic lake in the world with Samosir island in the middle which is the size of Singapore. It was a fantastic island to explore by motorbike, with wonderful views and quiet roads. We drove past cows, goats and chickens at the side of the road. We weren't so keen on the big monitor lizard which came across the road right in front of us though! We had some very red bits after being outside all day, but it was well worth it.

Our accommodation was basic but it had a lovely peaceful garden which backed right onto the lake so we could go for a morning swim every day and admire the view. We had a lovely last breakfast looking over the lake in a little cafe whose owners have 3 dogs, 11 cats and a monitor lizard as pets! We were amazed to see the lizard getting a cuddle, while its owner warmed it with a hair dryer - very bizarre. I went for a cuddle with one of the kittens instead!

Next stop Berastagi which is a small town sitting between two volcanoes. It's much cooler and tends to rain a lot. We felt pretty adventurous climbing Gunung Sibayak by ourselves, which at 2000m was quite a trek. We could smell the sulphur before we saw it but it was quite scary seeing the yellow gas coming out of holes near the top! It certainly felt like an active volcano and we felt a great sense of achievement making it to the top. Very cloudy so not the view we were hoping for but it made for some very atmospheric photos! We were very glad to make it back down before the rain started again. Very sore legs the following day so a good job it was a travelling home day.

Spot me in this picture!

The very gassy volcano crater

It's been a lovely holiday and although Penang was pouring with rain when we got back, it's still a fantastic place to call home. Back to work tomorrow but both agree there's no back to work blues this time...

September exploring - 2013

Time has flown since we last wrote our blog, but it feels like we've been pretty busy over the last month. We're both getting settled into our jobs and starting to develop a bit of a routine - haven't got used to the 5am starts on a monday morning yet though! We're trying to make the most of all the weekends to explore Penang and some of surrounding Malaysia.

One of the first weekends after getting the car we did a bit of trip around the island with a couple of new friends, Suzanne and Jen. Much of it is very quiet and undeveloped which is nice, and quite different from Tanjung Bungah and the surrounding areas where we live. We found a lovely Thai restaurant with wonderful seafood, right on the beach.

We also went trekking in the national park which, although only a 20 minute drive away, feels quite off the beaten track. The route we took included a canopy walkway - fun but not for those with vertigo! Also some quieter beaches away from all the tourists.

Georgetown celebrated the mid-autumn, or moon cake festival with lots of dancing and tasty moon cakes. It was great to see a bit more of old Georgetown and experience a traditional festival. Here is one of the Chinese temples in  Georgetown and some dancers getting ready to perform. 

Penang watersports centre hires out kayaks for next to nothing so we spent a very enjoyable sunday afternoon kayaking along the coast to a little cafe on the beach. Great fun... sure we'll be doing it again soon!









 Perhaps the highlight so far has been a weekend trip to the island of Pangkor. It's a popular holiday destination for locals but very few westerners go there so it feels a bit more like the real Malaysia. It was a rather tiring drive down the coast on a friday evening and having inevitably missed the last ferry of the day we spent an unexpectedly pleasant evening in the port of Lumut before heading to Pangkor the following morning. It's a really pretty, unspoilt island and great for a relaxing weekend with beach, sunshine, fantastic food and some exciting wildlife.

 These are some pictures from a tiny island we visited by speedboat to do some snorkelling and sunbathing.

Wild hornbills

We were very excited to see wild hornbills clustered around for 'feeding time' by a local man who brings them bananas which they will eat out of your hand! Also loved the fresh fish which they cook to order for you on the barbecue. Overall, a great trip, even if the only thing for breakfast was spicy noodles!

Very excited to get our nine boxes from the UK after 6 weeks on a boat. Our flat feels more like a home now it has more of our things in it. Only one week left of this half term, can't believe it!

Next trip is Sumatra over half term which sounds quite a challenge as far as transport is concerned but sure it'll be worth it...

The first few weeks

Steve and I had a great time writing our blog last year so we thought it'd be nice to start one again, all about our move to Malaysia. Hopefully, it'll help us keep in touch with more people from home as well.

Well...nearly three weeks ago we flew out to Malaysia (two 7-hour flights and a long stop in Dubai wasn't the best but at least it was paid for). Slight fear that we might get sent straight back home again since we didn't have visas yet but it was very painless and smooth in the end. So begun the induction/orientation to Tenby International School for both of us. The first week was a bit of a blur of jetlag, eating out and generally lots of socialising. Also rushing around looking for accomodation, cars, opening bank accounts and lots of filling in forms. But from the first meeting, we've felt incredibly welcome and well looked after. They really help you to settle in and nothing was too much trouble for the school minibus driver who spent many an hour driving us around!

It struck us very early on that eating out is a way of life here and one we'd happily get used to when a meal is under a fiver and always delicious. There's such a choice from Indian to Thai and Chinese. Discovered a love for deep fried aubergine but so far avoided the fish head curry! Sadly, though, beer is very expensive - often 3 times the cost of your meal or more. We're reliably informed we need the 'booze man' who imports it from Langkawi where it's duty free. Steve's going to place an order tomorrow!

Getting set up with somewhere to live, bank account, transport and internet has been a bit of a mad rush before school starts but we've managed it. Even if it did take 17 signatures to set up a bank account! Apartment hunting turned out to be pretty fun, what you can get for your money amazed us. We've ended up on the 10th Floor of the Surin, a newly built complex with infinity pool, gym and a lovely view of the sea from our balcony. Here's a few pictures of it:

Trying to buy a car was less succesful - due to the extortionate rate of import tax on foreign cars the only option is a malaysian car. And they really hold their value - no chance of picking up an old banger for dirt cheap, its more like 2 grand for a 20 year old Proton with 200,000 miles on the clock! So we opted to lease one which is suiting us very well and not too expensive. But it's certainly not a car you can say you're proud to be driving...

 

A simple medical check up for your work permit turned out to be rather 'unexpected' as a colleague so accurately described it. A urine sample which you then parade around reception for all to see, then a rather scary poke around in your abdomen by the doctor was all a bit disconcerting to say the least. Seem to have passed the test though.

 

It's only been a week now since the kids have started back at school but I can honestly say they are a pleasure to teach. It's why you go into teaching, and what you spend your time naively hoping for... kids who want to learn, appreciate your efforts and even thank you for them! And a system that gives you the freedom to enjoy teaching without constant reminders of the dreaded OFSTED. It's easy to see how people get hooked on the international circuit. But on the down side, the local teacher training can be extremely poor so there are colleagues who have never considered using a starter, or differentiating their lessons, or even using any form of praise. It's quite an eye opener to realise how rigorous the PGCE is in the UK. So managing a department will have its challenges but I'm enjoying getting stuck into it.

 

Steve's not been sitting idle (though there have been a few trips to the pool). He's met with his new employer in KL, been exploring other areas in Penang like Georgetown and Batu Ferrenghi and had a meeting and lunch with the director of the Penang Heritage Trust. He's going to a lecture with the leader of Georgetown World Heritage Incorporate on saturday. He's also been sweating a fair bit with squash, tennis, football and swimming keeping him busy. He's meeting a very well connected bloke tomorrow called Zahry to talk about opportunities in Penang. He has a finger in a lot of pies including the Penang council so seems a very good man to know.  His work visa is being processed at the moment and he hopes to start work at EC Harris from the 16th September.

 

Well that's it for now, hopefully won't be such a long one next time. I can't believe no food pictures have made it in this time! So to finish off, here's the view from our apartment balcony at 7am this morning...Sorry, had to be done ;)