Malaysia!

MALAYSIA
Part I
Kuala Lumpur

We started our Malaysian adventure in the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. When we arrived in KL it was late afternoon. We took an express train from the airport- which was clean and beautiful, into the central station. From there we took the monorail a few short stops to what is called the Golden Triangle area where our budget hotel, "8", was located. We followed the directions the hotel provided on their website and found the place. We were so intent on getting our heavy packs off our backs that we had tunnel vision until we were checked in and were able to figure out what we wanted to do first in the big city.

The hotel was nice enough- not as fancy as the website makes it out to be but still a nice place for the price and in a great area, Bukit Bintang, the Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle area is where the Petronas Towers are located, some fancy shopping malls and theaters. If you check out the hotel website, I believe our room was the one featured. Check out the "doubles with bathroom attached" link. At least a couple of years have lapsed since they took that picture and some mildew invaded the windows and some spiders moved into the lofty ceilings. The room turned out to be just fine though. Air conditioning was a must and so we were happy in the end.

After getting settled, we realized that the sun was quickly setting and we were getting pretty hungry so we changed into our warm weather clothes, counted out some money, got our cameras ready and headed out. We were immediately impressed by the diversity in Kuala Lumpur. On the street in front of our hotel we saw women wearing hijabs- head scarves, saris and still others wearing shorts, t-shirts, jeans etc. The men were obviously of different ethnicities, Middle Eastern, Indian, Chinese and Malaysian. The diversity was also reflected in the shops and restaurants we passed on our way. We had so many choices we didn't know where to start!


Finally, while passing perfume oil shops like those I remember seeing and smelling in Egypt, and shops selling "designer" clothing we found a restaurant with a kebab stand outside and decided Arabic food would be the our perfect 1st meal in Malaysia. I was so excited about eating Arabic food that I ordered a sampler platter full of tabulie, hummus, babaganoush, olives, pita bread, grape leaves and pickled peppers and I savored every bite. Loren was drawn in by the tantalizing smell coming from the rotisserie and ordered a chicken schwarma. He knew from spending time with my family that he had to eat it with a Pepsi, so with out me even making a comment, he did so.



After dinner we strolled around, checking out the shops and restaurants by our hotel. The sky was getting heavy with rain clouds and beginning to fog over so we decided to stay close to our temporary home. As we turned a corner, we were immediately taken by a beautiful view of the famed Petronas Towers glowing in the mist and rising above the buildings framing our street. We couldn't resist and so spent about 10 minutes trying to get a perfect shot without tripods.

We were lucky we got our shots when we did because after that it started to rain and we figured we'd call it a night.

Our next day we were determined to see the Petronas towers first hand and to walk across the sky walk connecting the two towers so we set our alarm and were up by 6:30! We ate our free breakfast of fruit and toast and asked the hotel clerk how to get to the towers. He looked at us, all gung-ho and sadly told us that the towers were closed today but would be open tomorrow. It was 7:30 in the morning, on our first day and we didn't know what to do. He said most of the shops, etc. wouldn't be open until 10 or so but then he realized the the National Museum opens at 9am. We decided that would be a nice way to start our relationship with Malaysia and asked the clerk to get us a taxi.
He told us not to pay more than 15 ringgot for the fare and sent us on our way. The taxi drivers in KL are notorious for trying to rip off tourists. They almost never use their meters when asked and assess their fares based on how rich you look. We got into taxis many times and then got out again after the driver refused to lower his price. It was a hassle!
Our trip to the museum was worry free though and we arrived just as the doors were opening. We were the first guests. The museum was well laid out and started in the prehistoric times of Malaysia and took us all the way from Malaysia's conversion to Islam as their main religion, to Holland's colonization of Malaysia, to modern times. It was a nice introdction to Malaysia.

As we were getting ready to leave the museum, I noticed a group of young Malaysian ladies wearing brightly colored hijabs. They looked so beautiful and exotic that I had to take a picture.
I thought it was great when right after I took their picture, some of their other friends asked a group of young Malaysian guys if they could take their picture! One of the many wonderful things about Malaysia is the diversity. The people may all dress differently and have different religions, but they all speak and are Malaysian.

When we'd finished strolling through the museum, we wandered outside to see where we were. It turned out that we were close to the National Mosque. Loren had never seen a mosque and we were both very interested to learn more about the Islamic influence in Malaysia so we headed out. We passed many interesting buildings along the way.


One thing that I didn't even realize I missed about being in an Islamic country is the beautiful design and art work. Islamic design is full of intricate, geometric patterns. Even the Arabic script is beautiful how it slashes and loops around. In the mosque I was reminded of the beauty.
Before we were allowed to enter the mosque, we had to remove our shoes and put on purple robes to cover ourselves. If Loren had been wearing long pants, he could have gone in bare foot, no robe, no problem. I however, was wearing a skirt and showing some leg which is frowned upon.
We left the mosque and realized that we were right next to the Islamic Arts Museum and headed in. At this point we were incredibly enough not "museumed-out" yet. No pictures were allowed in the museum which was disappointing because of the beautiful art work and Mosque replicas that were on display. There was even a tapestry that had at one time covered the Kaaba standing about 2 feet away from me. It was incredible to imagine what the tapestry had seen, what it had felt as it draped and protected that epic site.

At this point, we'd been going since 7am with only toast, coffee and a couple pieces of fruit to sustain us. We were torn between checking out the other sites and finding some food. We peaked around a corner after leaving the museum to discover a bird sanctuary. The strange bird calls and sound of flapping wings almost beat out our hunger, but in the end we decided to head to "Little India" for some Indian food and shopping.

We were overwhelmed by Little India. There were so many different shops and people in Sari's and Bollywood movies being played and soundtracks being blasted from speakers that we were quickly disoriented. Weren't we in Malaysia? Not India?

It took us a little while to decide where to eat. Most of the restaurants looked maybe a little too local but we couldn't find any others so we decided on one that looked like it had a table open and had some vegetarian options available. We were very happy when the food came and scarfed it right down. It was delicious, and super cheep!

After we'd had our fill of India in Malaysia, we headed to the famed China Town markets. There were a lot of the same types of products to buy in Chinatown as we found in Beijing: knock-off purses, jeans, movies, and clothing. We were more prepared for this market than we were for our experience in Beijing and got right to the heart of bargaining when we found anything worth buying.

The experience quickly wore on us. It had been a long day! After Chinatown, we headed back to the hotel area for a nice dinner.


(Chinese Tea Shop with Malaysian flag.)
(Mosque in the same area. )
Our last day we set the alarm again for a 6am. We were determined to see the Petronas Towers! This time after the same breakfast of toast and coffee, we headed out to the towers and stood in line for a good 2 hours before we were given a time of 9:15 to enter the towers! I nearly fell back asleep in line just sitting there. It was worth it though. We were finally ushered into a waiting area with the history of the towers and the Petronas company then into a small theater where we were shown some propaganda about how great the Petronas company is and how well they treat their employees. It was strange when we were expecting to learn a little more about the construction of the towers etc.
Finally, we got on this small elevator with about 13 other people and were lifted to the walk way between the two towers. The views were beautiul and the experience was worth the wait.

My Art Students!

I've received some requests to show some of the work that my students have created. So, here you go! Again, I teach Middle School, Beginning and Intermediate art. I am really pleased with the quality of work I'm getting from the kids. They get to choose art as an elective instead of being placed in art whether they want to be here or not so I'm sure that helps with the quality. It's my first year teaching middle school and I was really nervous about it at first but these kids are just great! I don't have many discipline problems, the kids are mostly all on task and they hand in their assignments in on time. These could be because of the Korean culture or maybe they are so good because this is basically a private school. Anyway, life is good and I love teaching art! Next year I'm going to get to teach ceramics in a brand new art room along with my other curriculum so then I'll feel like a real art teacher for once!



These pictures are from my beginning art class. In this class I have 6th -8th graders. Mostly 6th graders though. These drawings are done in one-point perspective. They had to draw a room and imagine it being in an unexpected environment then break holes in it and draw that unexpected environment. They did a great job and really enjoyed the assignment.
This assignment, the kids were challenged to draw a landscape with an animal of their choice but to fill in the paper completely with lines. They were also asked to draw their animal in warm tones and the background in cool tones. This one is done by an 8th grader and the lion is done by a 6th grader.


The following art work is produced by my Intermediate Art Classes. The classes mostly consist of 7th and 8th graders. These kids really blow me away sometimes! I don't think I was this good in Middle school! This assignment was the typical value study. Choose a black and white magazine photo, cut 50% out and draw in the other 50% trying to match the values as exactly as possible.


These next pieces are my Intermediate Art classes One-Point Perspective assignments. They had to create an interior, add at least 2 pieces of furniture, a floor treatment, 3 windows, fully color it with a light source indicated as well as creating a surreal collage in the windows. Again, some of these assignments are incredible!



This assignment really kills me! I almost told her not to put the collage on it because the drawing was so incredible. The girl who drew it had never drawn in one-point perspective before and figured out how to draw both the stair case and the vaulted ceiling without my help!

Our Neighborhood

When people who had been to Korea knew we were moving here they all said that the fall is beautiful here. I kind of went "yeah, yeah, yeah, they're are just trying to make me feel better about moving to a cold place." But, after spending much time outside these past couple of weekends I think I would tell potential Korean residents that the fall is beautiful. The weather is a bit chilly but still quite nice with a scarf and coat on. All of the trees are changing colors and there are a lot of trees here.
So, instead of telling you about the pretty things I thought I share some pics I took while walking around my neighborhood this Sunday.






Families are always walking around together. Kids seem so happy here. There are tons of parks and places for them to play. Korea is also a very safe country. I encounter women and children walking by themselves even into the night without being overly wary.


These leaves come from the Ginko Tree which is the official tree of our city, Bundang.

Lovely day for a walk into "nature."

After months of seeing Koreans wearing their weekend warrior outfits, it was finally our turn to strap on the camelpack and venture off the beaten path. It was time to leave behind the world of subways, city buses, and neon lights. Our school provided a couple of buses to take teachers and their families to Mt. Daedunsan Provincial Park. Most of us were expecting to hike upon a meandering dirt path with the occasional cutback to make the climb easier. But Nooooooooooo, that was so not the case. When we arrived, we were surrounded by thousands upon thousands of other hikers. These hikers were not your average hikers either. You see, here in Korea, hiking is almost a national sport. The people who were at the mountain with us were clad in professional hiking gear. Everywhere you looked, people were covered in waterproof pants and jackets. Not only were the jackets waterproof, but they were the same color as their hiking boots, gloves, and hat. On occasion, the stripes on their hiking poles were also the same color.




You would think since Koreans took hiking so seriously, their backpacks would be full of gatorade and power bars. This is another easily made preconception that would be entirely wrong. Based on what I saw and smelled, the backpacks were full of booze, kimchi, and kimbap (Korean rice and vegetable roll up in seaweed). With all of the people and pretty clothes, it was easy to overlook the mountain looming in front of us.


We approached the mountain with muscles eager to be used after three hours on a bus. Those muscles were soon put to work. The path did not meander. It went straight up. There were not casual waves to the occasional fellow hiker. Instead we had to watch our hands when we put them on a rock because they were likely to get stabbed by somebody's hiking pole. We were surrounded by thousands of people all with the same idea of climbing this mountain on a beautiful fall day. We hiked up the mountain with those thousands of people. You had to keep moving or the people behind you would would puch you forward against your will.


It was difficult to look at the beautiful scenery because you had to pay such close attention to your steps. It was also difficult to appreciate the trails because after every mile or so you would encounter a bottleneck as the crowd encountered a narrow set of stairs which slowed the flow of traffic. There was one time where the flow stopped becuase there was a woman and man facing each other and neither wanted to step out of the way and let the other pass. (Remind anyone of a Dr. Seuss story?) Many times the best way to approach those situations was to go off the trail and risk the loose rocks you would be climbing on. Sarah loved it when I did this because she had to follow me on a usually more difficult path.



As time went on, the crowds and the climb continued. It wasn't what many of us thought it was going to be, but the results were still the same. Once you arrived at the top the view was breathtaking. I looked down upon the backs of birds flying in circles. I looked down at the green, orange, red and yellow specks which I knew were trees. There was a fine haze masking the tops of other mountains in the distance. As you can probably guess, the peak was packed. Some of our fellow teachers found a rocky area off by itself and offering a fantastic view all its own. When I finally sat down to eat my dried mangoes and jelly bellys for lunch, I was tired, sweaty, and proud. I hope the pictures associated with this posting are your typical pictures which are worth a thousand words, but if I were to describe the hike in one sentence it would be: A day spent among thousands of locals so intent upon hiking in nature they make it almost impossible to notice the sights and sounds which brought them there in the first place.

The Official China Blog Post

Beijing is a super cool, busy, dirty, edgy city that smells like pee and pollution. That said, I would go back in a heartbeat. We stayed in this great hostel called Beijing Downtown Backpackers Hostel that is located in a Hutong (a traditional Chinese style neighborhood that has tiled roofs, tight alleyways and old houses with courtyards). It was great. The alleyway was full of hip curio shops, bars and restaurants. It was located close to the subway and only a couple stops away from some of the major tourist attractions such as The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.


Our first day we were so excited to be in China that we dropped off our luggage, grabbed our cameras and subway maps and headed straight for the Forbidden City. It happened to be right across the street from Tiananmen Square so we got to see both of those in one shot. We spent 4 hours cruising around and saw maybe half of what was in the Forbidden City. It was a very surreal experience for me. I had been there when I was in the 6th grade, about 17 years ago! I remembered looking at all the incredible buildings and sculptures. Before we moved to Korea, I actually found a photo of me that I unearthed for our wedding, (we were going to have a slide show of pics of us when we were little until now), that was of me posing in front of the main gate of the Forbidden City. I was wearing some crazy tie-dyed Chinese skirt I think. It was strange to be standing in the same spot so many years later. I never imagined I’d be back.


One of my most vivid memories of my first trip to China occurred at Tiananmen Square. I remembered seeing a mother unbuttoning the butt flap of her toddler’s pants and letting him pee right there on that historic place. Things in China have changed some; instead of butt flaps, little kids now have pants that haven't gotten the crotch seam sewn together so you can see their little butts hanging out and if your are unfortunate enough, their junk in the front. Poor kids! Another nasty memory that hasn’t changed since I was last there is constant sound of people hocking loogies and farmer blowing their noses. Yummy. Don’t let the nasty description I just gave turn you off to China though. We only saw Beijing and a bit of Shanghai and we are determined to go back and see more.

On Loren's birthday we hiked 8km up and down the Great Wall. The drive was 3 hours out of town but well worth it. The location wasn't tainted by random Chinese or Mongolians trying to sell us trinkets the whole way like other area of the wall. The hike was very strenuous. Some parts were almost straight up and down and crumbling to pieces. At some points Loren and I could barely make it to the top of the uneven stairs without stopping for fear of heart attack. I was just glad that I've been doing some running, swimming and stair climbing lately and Loren has been playing a lot of sports. Needless to say, that evening, Loren and I ate a large Indian dinner, had a couple Tsingtaos at our favorite communist themed bar, played some rummy and called it a night.


On a previous evening Loren and I met an older Swedish couple who were teaching at a Swedish school in Beijing. They recommended that we go and check out a park in the morning then go to the Silk Street Market for some shopping. The suggestion sounded so good that we did just that the next day.
We woke up at 7ish and wandered down the already busy streets making our way through tons of bicycles, mopeds, buses and cars already starting their commute to work and found BeiHai park. There were lots of older Chinese people flashing their park passes to the guard that was stationed at one of the few gates in the large solid grey wall surrounding the park. Having no park passes ourselves, we had to buy tickets. We found it was well worth the negligable cost. As we entered, we first saw some old men painting Chinese characters on the stone walkway with water and huge foam brushes. Loren was impressed by this and imagined they were writing poems. With the crowd of other park goers watching engrossed, it was entirely possible. We were intrigued already with the energy of the park at so early an hour and moved deeper into the park. We saw a large group of older people practicing Tai Chi all in unison, and then heard some loud clapping and chanting further in. We followed the sound and on our way towards it saw more wizened Chinese making ribbons dance and fly through the air. Others were ballroom dancing while still others were practicing flowing forms with swords high over their heads, playing hacky sack, badminton and many other indescribable sports. When we neared the clapping and chanting at last, we were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people participating in the activity.
To explain the immensity of the crowd of clapping, chanting people, let me briefly describe the layout of the park. The park had a large walkway going through it. On one side was a lake with paddleboats and docks. The other side of the pathway was flanked by small hills covered tastefully with Pines and grass that were cut by meandering paths that lead to as of yet undiscovered parts of the park. On either side of the main path and up into the hills were 100+ people all clapping in unison to a steady beat and chanting in reply to one main caller. People walking through the mass of people either joined in on their way through or stopped behind or next to another entranced clapper and joined in. Loren and I stopped for a long time to let ourselves take in the experience. Beihai Park was an experience that will not leave our memories quickly. It made us forget the pollution, grime and smell and almost rethink our decision to move to Korea instead of China! It was truly inspiring to see so many people all moving in unison, chanting in unison, exercising, playing, and interacting because they know it is good for them. I had to drag Loren from the park so we could continue our day.

check out the video:


After the park, we went back to our awesome hostel and had our free breakfast, (watermelon, banana, toast, orange juice, sausage and eggs, of course I ate Loren’s fruit and he ate my meaty stuff) and got prepared for our shopping trip. A description from the Lonely Planet told us to be prepared for pushy sales people. We figured we were as prepared as we would ever be for pushy sales people so we hopped on the subway, changed lines once, got off and were ready to walk outside in the polluted air to find the Silk Street Market. However, the subway stop exited directly into the large 4 story Silk “Street” market. We walked into the basement level and were bombarded by sales people trying to get us to come into their stalls to buy their knockoff shoes, puma, DC, Adidas, Dolche and Cabana, Coach, UGG, Nike, bags, clothes, trinkets, electronics, toys, silk and jewelry. If you so much a looked at an item longer than a second, the sales person pushed it in your hands and asked you how much you wanted to pay. If you didn’t look in their stall, they grabbed your arms or shoved items in your line of view! After we got our bearings and put our game faces on, the same exchange took place for each item we bought. Here’s an example of a typical exchange.
Sales Person: “ Come in and look lady. We have puma, adidas, DC, UGG. You like Puma? How much you give me? How much? I give you good price.”
Me: “ I’m just looking thanks.”
Them: “ I give you good price, really how much?”
Me: “ok- let me try the red pumas. Size 9.”
Them: “ Ok- sit down I get it for you.”
At this point, she yells for her friend to run somewhere mysterious and get the size 9. In the mean time she asks me: “Where you from? I like America. Your husband? He’s a good man. You buy more than one pair I give you a good price. How much you want to give me for those?”
I try them on, inspect them for signs of leather, and am satisfied that they are truly knock offs but are comfortable and well made and decide that I only want to pay $15 max for them.
While this has been going on, Loren has been inspecting some Dolce Cabana black leather shoes- not authentic of course, but the leather is. We start to bargain. Loren decides his max price for the shoes is $30. They were very comfortable, and well made and Loren really needed them. So, the games begin.
Us: “If we buy these pairs together, how much do you want?”
Them: “I give you friend price, I like you. I give you good price. Normally I get, $100 for those shoes and $60 for those so $160 for both, but for you, I give you good price. $110 for both.”
Us: we laugh; shake our heads then, “ No way, that’s not a friend price, that’s too much. We’ll give you $30 for both.”
Them: “You joking! You joking! I make no money. Really, I can’t give them to you for this price. I make no money. $110 is good price.
Us: “ Ok, thanks we’ll go somewhere else.” We start to walk away.
Them: “ Ok Ok Ok Ok, come back. I have good price. Come here, really let’s talk. I give you $75 but that is best price.”
Us: “no way, we can’t pay that! You have to do something better. You have to give us a better price.”
Them: “Ok, I give you this price to begin, $160, then I say $110 now I say $75. You have to give me better price because really I can’t give you for your price. What you give me? Best price.”
Us: “ ok, maximum, our highest price and we can’t give you anymore for these shoes is $40.”
Them: “Come on! You kill me. Your price too low! I make no money!”
Us: “ thank you.” We begin to walk away and then they grab our arms, thrust the shoes in them and begin pleading some more.
Them: “I get you special size. I talk price with you and now you leave? Ok, give me your best price but you have to give me more. I give you for $55. That is friend price. Good price. That’s it.” They begin to look really dejected and sad and tired.
Us: “ That’s still too high.”
Them: “ come on, what you give me. But really, I make no money on this. What you give me? $50. Ok $50. That’s it. Take them. $50.”
Us: We get out the $45 and say, “this is it. We can’t give you anymore.”
Them: “ $50 come on. Just extra $5 for me. Just $5.”
Us: Walking away, “ thank you”
Them: with dejected frowns on their faces and shoes hanging at their sides, “ Ok, $45. You mean. I give you these shoes. I make no money. I give them to you.” At this point when the money is being exchanged, a small smile appears and they begin to relax. “Ok, thank you. Bye, come back again. You want another pair, only $30 extra? Ok, bye, have a good day.”

Yup, and that is pretty much how we managed to buy two pairs of shoes each, some new sheets for our bed, a mask, a happy Buddha, a tea mug and various other things. By the end of the day, our heads were swirling with frowning faces, smiling faces, pleading voices and our bodies feeling abused from all the pushing and pulling and heavy bags in our hands. We felt tired but victorious as we left with our bags but still wondered who came away better, them or us. A few times, the sales people were too quick to take our last offer and we knew we could have beaten them down a bit more, but just like in sports and life in general; you win some and you loose some.
When we returned to the hotel, we stared at our small carry-ons and at all the new items we bought and we couldn’t imagine how we’d make it work. Eventually on our last day in Beijing, we did make it work and vowed to not go into another market for the rest of our trip.
That turned out to be quite easy because the next evening we took a sleeper train to Shanghai for our conference. The conference kept us so busy that we didn’t have time to explore the area. From what we saw, Shanghai is a very big, polluted city with some major growing pains. During a short break in our conference on the first day, we went exploring for some dinner. We got directions from some locals and went in search of a Mediterranean restaurant. On our way, the left side of the street was shaded by large modern and clean apartment buildings complete with landscaping and guards. The other side of the street was not as fortunate. There were old crumbly buildings that housed car part shops or little stores. In between the decrepit buildings were alleyways that created enough space for the less fortunate to erect some lean-tos. We were not too impressed with what we saw in Shanghai but we realize that we didn’t give it much chance. We were told there is excellent shopping there. Thank God we were unable to go explore.
All in all what we saw of China was intriguing. We forgot at times that China is a country that is infamous for it’s human rights violations, and it’s bullying of Tibet among other terrible things. It is industrial and polluted and it is changing more quickly that its people and land can accommodate. It just hosted the 2008 Olympics and it is going to be hosting the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. I am very excited to see what change is going to continue to do to China. It is already a fascinating country steeped in history; what’s going to determine its future? We’ll have the check it out on our next trip!