Easter in Borneo

We made the most of the Easter break to visit the state of Sarawak in Borneo, East Malaysia for a week. We began in Kuching, the Malay word for cat, with an obligatory visit to the cat museum. A rather bizarre collection of cat-themed memorabilia, apparently the only one of its type in the world. It was rather random, even for Malaysia!

At the Kuching 'Cat' museum

Our favourite day was probably in Bako National Park, a really diverse mix of jungle, beaches and wildlife. During our very hot and sweaty 6 hour walk we saw three types of monkey, a viper and a bearded pig who potters around the HQ and cafe.




A rare breed of monkey at Bako National Park

After a long walk in Bako National park












We also joined a day tour to Semenggoh orangutan rehabilitation centre where the orangutans are fed every day, but otherwise live in the wild. It was great to see a mum and baby swinging from the ropes. We also took canoes down the river and visited traditional longhouses, some of which are still inhabited by the Orang Asli tribe.


Orang-utans in the almost-wild

Hitting the rapids in our canoe

A traditional longhouse

A short flight later and we reached our second destination of Miri, a town close to the Brunei border. We were lucky enough to stay with some fantastic hosts, David and Pascale, who made us feel really welcome and at home. David works at another Tenby group school and we arranged a house swap, with them coming to visit us in Penang in May. They are members of a boat club which, we discovered, is an amazing place to watch the sunset. They also arranged to borrow a boat, which we took up the river on our last day. Steve particularly liked driving it!


Steve having a go at driving a boat

Sunset from the boat club in Miri







We decided to spend one day across the border in Brunei. It surprised us by being a lot more jungly and less opulent and showy than expected. It has some beautiful and lavish buildings, like the Mosque, and a fun museum displaying lots of gifts received by the Sultan from countries all around the world. However, the capital still has a rustic charm and is less developed in some areas than we expected. We couldn't resist a visit to the Empire Hotel for high tea on our drive back. It was built by the Sultan's extravagent brother and cost US$1.1bn apparently! Even charging $25,000 per night for some of the rooms, it will take a long time to make the money back! We were very impressed that they had proper tea and even clotted cream for the scones, things you would never find in Malaysia. Shame we could only drink red grape juice, since it's a very strict Muslim country and alcohol is illegal.


Brunei mosque

The Empire hotel



Afternoon tea at the Empire Hotel

An hour from Miri are Niah caves, a huge cave system which you need head torches to explore. We went in the late afternoon to watch the bat exodus which supposedly takes place every day around sunset. We didn't see quite the 'exodus' we were hoping for but being in a national park by ourselves, after dark was a great experience nevertheless.



Niah caves

Waiting for the bat exodus in Niah caves 





 

We certainly made the most of the week off and now need another holiday to recover! It's only 3 weeks now until the next one, with the rather odd term dates this year. We're getting scared about our Mount Kinabalu climb, wondering if we've bitten off more than we can chew...

We hope everyone had a great Easter and we were jealous of you all with your Easter eggs (although the Easter bunny did bring us some cheeky mini creme egss by post!).  I struggled to properly explain to a local Malaysian where the Easter egg tradition comes from. It's more of a Christian celebration here, with many students missing school to go to mass on Good Friday, since it's not a public holiday.

A long half term...

Almost two months since the last blog and the early Chinese New Year holiday in January has created rather a long slog of a 10 week half term! We’ve both been working hard and enjoying our jobs but are definitely ready for a week off for Easter. Steve’s finishing his last few weeks in Singapore then returning to work in Kuala Lumpur which has its pros and cons. Not such a long commute is a bonus, but he’s enjoyed his time working there and it was a great project to work on. My job has been very hectic with A level and iGCSE exams just around the corner in May. A maternity cover in the department during the busiest time has been a bit stressful, but Malaysian’s are only entitled to two months off so she’ll be back before long! Her replacement is proving to be great, so it’s worked out better than I’d hoped for. I also arranged for our school, including primary, to take part in a worldwide maths competition. It turned into a logistical nightmare with 85 kids from different year groups taking 5 different papers in two different venues. But lovely to see so many kids keen to do extra maths!

 I’ve recently had approval to take a school trip of 30 kids to Nepal during residential week in June which is daunting but very exciting. An added bonus is that Steve gets to go too! He’s been helping out at school with the International Award (IA) which is similar to Duke of Edinburgh, so he’s known a bit around school. We both recently went paintballing with the IA kids, and naturally I managed to get shot at close range. The bruise on my arm has only just faded nearly three weeks later and become a bit of an urban legend around school! So with another teacher from school coming to Nepal too, it should be a great team and a really good trip. Lots of planning to do before then though…

Steve’s been getting more involved with the Georgetown World Heritage, who work in conservation and preservation of the old buildings within the UNESCO world heritage site in Georgetown. They are still in the early stages of learning about conservation and Steve was asked to do a presentation to some of the local councillors and people involved in the heritage sector. It was great experience and he’s hoping it will lead to some interesting work opportunities in Penang in the future.

We have managed one weekend away, on the mainland in the state of Kedah. It’s fair to say it isn’t known for its hordes of tourists but a worthwhile trip nonetheless. We visited an archaeological site, went to the top of the tallest communication tower outside of KL and visited this beautiful mosque.

Our latest guest was a work friend of Steve’s from home who stayed with us for a week, then went with Steve to watch the Malaysia Grand Prix. Steve says the cars are still pretty noisy despite using much quieter engines this year. It sounds like they had a great weekend and at a fraction of the price of the European races. This was us at the top of Penang Hill and canoeing, just before an unfortunate capsize… They also went to see the World Squash Championships which was held in Penang this year. Steve was disappointed to see the local favourite, Nicol David, go out in the semi-final, but amazing to see such a high level match so close to home.

We’ve both been enjoying the dragon boat training once a week, in preparation for a competition in early June. We’re certainly not going to be the best team there, but it’s fun to do something different and lovely to be out on the water as the sun goes down. This is us with our Indonesian instructor trying to improve our paddling technique.

 I’ve just finished my second month at warrior bootcamp and have the obligatory t-shirt to prove it! It’s really hard, hot, and not exactly enjoyable but has become oddly addictive. There are some lovely, friendly people who go regularly so there is quite a community feel. It’s nice to meet local people with their insider knowledge of Penang. Obviously, it’s a pretty good way to get fit and lose weight too, and with some strenuous trips planned in the next few months, it’s exactly what I need.

During the Easter break we are off to Sarawak, on the Borneo island of Malaysia for a week. We’re staying for a few days in Kuching, then on to Miri where we’ll hopefully get to do some diving and visit Brunei for the day. We are doing a house swap with a science teacher from the sister Tenby school in Miri, with them coming to us in Penang in the May holiday. We’ve also just booked a trip for the May half term, with some friends from school, to climb mount Kinabalu, the tallest in South East Asia. It’s only a two day trip with a guide but sounds quite strenuous, especially the second day which begins at 2am to reach the peak before sunrise!

Here’s a final picture from our recent road trip around the island. A very quiet fishing village and beach on the south of the island.

First visitor and trips away

Steve and I visited the Cameron Highlands over a public holiday weekend in January. It is much cooler and less humid than other areas of Malaysia due to its higher altitude. It is, therefore, a great place to grow tea and strawberries. We certainly took advantage of this, visiting several tea plantations and pick-your-own strawberry farm. This is one of the locals telling Steve about the tea plantation, and me enjoying a nice cup of tea after a rather chilly walk around the plantation.

 We really enjoyed ourselves, staying at a great homestay with home cooked breakfast and lots of useful advice from locals who really know the place. The only downside was it was being rather cooler than expected, with two jumpers not really up to the job.


On our last day, we got up early to walk up one of the hills with a fantastic view over the highlands.

 

We have been looking forward to the arrival of our first visitor, Steve's brother Chris, and had a great time showing him around Penang and visiting some new places ourselves. This is the view from one of our favourite little cafes, right on the beach at Batu Ferringhi. It's a lovely spot at sunset and has relatively cheap beer so it ticks all the boxes! 

We had a very hot walk through the jungle in the Penang National Park, ending up at Monkey Beach. We did rather fear for our lives on the boat going back though  - driver seemed to be making up for lost time after turning up late!

This is the Blue Mansion in Gerogetown, originally owned by a chinese businessman and only recently restored, making it a popular place to look around. 

For the last few days of Chris's visit, we took the ferry over to the island of Langkawi for some relaxation, beaches and duty free (Malaysia's heavy tax on alcohol makes it disappointingly expensive everwhere else).We had a really fun day on mopeds, driving up Gunung Raya and exploring quieter beaches. We also had a surprisingly nice lunch at 'Scarborough' fish and chips. It's a bit more expensive than Penang, but has some lovely scenery and it was great to escape the heavy traffic of Penang for a while.

Our last evening was spent at the Bon Ton restaurant, which is also an animal sanctuary so as well has having wonderful food, there are lots of very tame and well fed cats around to keep you (or rather me) entertained. It also has a fantastic view over a lily pond at sunset.

We've also been experiencing our first Chinese New Year (a little different to the KNGS outing to Chinatown last year!). It was complete with dragon costumes, drumming, lanterns and fireworks for a full two weeks. The temple of Kek Lok Si is lit up at night in celebration and people come from all over Malaysia to experience it. It made us laugh how they add on 10% to the price of everything during that time, even hair cuts!  

Well, that's about it for now. The next few months are not quite so busy, though we're hoping to fit in a few cheeky weekends away soon. We're also starting some new things over the next few weeks. I've recently started teaching maths at an orphanage for one evening a week, we're also both going to have a try at dragon boat racing and may even join a team for some competitions. I've also got a month pass to 'warrior bootcamp' which hopefully isn't as scary as it sounds, but is definitely needed after the excesses of the last few months! Steve's joined a squash tournament and is heading to the Malaysia Grand Prix next month. So maybe it's not a quiet patch coming up after all... 

Christmas and New Year

It seems like a long time since the last blog, perhaps because quite a lot has happened since then. We were really looking forward to our trip back to England for Christmas at the time of the last blog and it proved to be a lovely visit. Steve had three more days of work before we flew back so I joined him in Kuala Lumpur for some sightseeing and last minute Christmas shopping. The shopping malls were really nicely decorated, making it feel very Christmassy, unlike Penang where the build up to Christmas had almost passed us by.

This was one of the upmarket shopping centres with shops like Dior, Chanel, Rolex... oh and Marks and Spencers and Debenhams which the Malaysian's seem to view in the same light.

It was great to catch up with so many friends for our traditional yearly Christmas meal and Secret Santa. This was us - post crackers - at the Junction in Harborne. Lots of mulled wine and cider and great food followed by fun and games at the house of Francome. Favourite of which has to be eating a ginger bread man from off your forehead with no hands...

This very cheerful and contented baby is Denis, who we met for the first time. Lovely to catch up with his parents too, Dan and Berak. It was quite strange to visit some of our favourite places in Harborne - it certainly felt longer than 4 months since we used to live there.  

Steve and I spent Christmas day and Boxing Day with our own families, where we were very well fed and watered. Traditional English food was much appreciated, particularly cheese, mince pies, decent wine and beer. And of course the customary advent calendar chocolate...
It's a lovely time of year to be at home with your close family, and luckily the weather allowed us some nice country walks. This was a nice one which ended at one of our favourite spots - the Blue Ball pub in Rutland.

Loaded up with suitcases full of presents and favourite treats from England, we made our way back to Penang just in time for New Year's Eve, where the jetlag worked in our favour. We met up with some Penang friends at the sky bar in Georgetown, which is on the roof of a hotel and has great views. It was very different from previous New Year's especially as Steve spotted the World number 1 ladies squash player there. She was actually doing a DJ set, as a resident local celebrity.

This is the Tropical Spice Garden in Penang, a popular tourist destination that we recently got around to visiting. It has lots of trails running through it and many different spices - some more familiar than others. They do cooking courses which would be a fun day out, perhaps when we have people staying with us. A few too many mozzies there for our liking, which we've loved being free from for the last month, but still a nice place to spend a few hours.

A lovely gesture of thanks from Steve's work took us to the Eastern and Oriental Hotel last weekend, which dates back to the British colonial days, for a very posh dinner. The food was really amazing, delicious and wonderfully presented. It's not the sort of place we'd normally go to so it felt like a real treat. This was the delicious tiramisu with chocolate brownie.

 

Steve's job continues to be interesting and great experience and, with his latest job in Singapore, is also providing some opportunities to travel and explore new places. He's having a great time working on a project to build a new sporting complex in Singapore city, similar to the Olympic Park in London. It's due to open in April, all being well. He's almost full time now with some extra days working in KL and from home in Penang, but still finds time to play lots of Squash which he's enjoying a great deal.

Life at Tenby School continues to bring new challenges with staff changes in the department, a maternity cover to organise and iGCSE and A level exams fast approaching. But the kids continue to be polite, appreciative and full of eccentric quirkiness which makes them so lovely to teach. It's nice to lose the 'new teacher' status going into term 2.

We're planning a trip to the Cameron Highlands this weekend, making the most of the bank holiday on friday. It is known for its cool climate, strawberries and tea and has very scenic views so will hopefully provide a nice restful weekend. We've also booked a four day trip to Langkawi for when Chris visits, a duty free island known for its nice beaches... and cheap beer!