About Me

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Yilan, Taiwan
I just returned back to the States after 11 years in Taiwan with my daughter. Taiwan is an excellent base for us explore Asia, while living in relative (gun free) safety, while benefiting from a cheap and efficient national health care system. The people are amazing too. I have Taiwanese friendships that are 20 years old and I'm always making new ones! My coworker here in CO is from Taiwan.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Malaysia-SIngapore Itinerary

So this is a rough sketch. I usally have an idea what Id like to see and where Id like to go, but Im very open to winging it, depending on the situation and with traveling, especially with a child anything is possible. My coworkers are going to KL at the same time too, so maybe if I send them my info we might have lunch together or something. On my list is henna for me and Z, she wants to go supra red, Indian anything, maybe get some salwar kameez made from an Indian tailor (always fun). I have to buy tea for friends, which is a good excuse to sample too much, or visit some of the plantations. A Malayisan cooking class, make some batik, shadow puppets and loads of street stall satay washed down w/fresh coconut milk.

Malaysia/Singapore Itinerary


Day 1-Day3 –Sunday July 18- Tuesday July 19 KUALA LUMPUR

Arrive KL 725am check in http://www.seraiinn.com/location.asp (45MYR x3= 1290TWD)

.Take Hop on/off bus around major sights, get familiar with city.

.Fish foot spa, Little India walk

.Petronas Towers (Tues am), KLCC Park (playground), Mercura KL Tower (38RM adult/28 child) (630TWD)

.Batu Caves (bus 11,4RM, 45 minutes).

Day 4-5 July20-21 Wed/Thurs: KL to Ipoho (train 4 ½ hours 20RM), bus to Lumut (12RM) or KL-Lumut bus (38 RM), then Lumut ferry to Pulau Pangkor(40 min ferry). Sleep at Teluk Nipah 2 nights. White sand beaches, snorkel, walking trails.

Day 6 July 22 Friday: return to Ipoh. Take 8 hour train (night train?) to Kota Bharu (50RM).

Day 7 July23 Sat: Kota Bharu Check in at KB Backpackers www.kb-backpackers.com.my. Watch Cultural Center shows, shadow puppets, batik painting

Day 8 July 24 Sunday: Kota Bharu, market 3pm in Marang, then take ferry (RM 25) to Pulau Kapas, sleep at Light House (RM50), diving, beaches, snorkeling. [Or skip Kapas and go to Cherating.]

Day 9 July 25 Monday: Pulau Kapas (RM 25 ferry), sleep at LightHouse. Stay another night or go to Cherating?

Day 10 July 26 Tuesday: Cherating, sleep at Mazrah’s Guest Home (RM35), beach, kayak, batik, turtle watching)

Day 11-12 July 27-28 Wed/Thurs: Cherating to Mersing to Pulau Tioman, stay at ABC Bungalows 2 nights(RM 50-150).

Day 13-15 July 29-31 Friday-Sunday: Mersing to Singapore (3 hours 14RM, 2buses daily). Check in at http://www.betelbox.com/hostel_rates.htm $S$34.50 p/night ladies only dorm ( NTD)

http://www.backpackers.com.sg/bookingpromotion.php

Fri: SIA Hop on bus www.siahopon.com , Universal Studios ($120= 2812 NTD).

Sat: all day at the zoo, Night Safari ($32 adult 16 child = 1125 NTD).

Sunday: Little India am market, last minute shopping, New Creation Church, check in airport at 2pm.

Links:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/malaysia +++

http://www.travelforkids.com/Funtodo/Malaysia/kualalumpur.htm

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1771440/top_five_best_things_to_do_with_kids.html?cat=25

http://www.travelforkids.com/Funtodo/Singapore/singapore.htm

http://www.nightsafari.com.sg/

http://www.rwsentosa.com/Attractions/UniversalStudiosSingapore

http://www.newcreation.org.sg/announcements/new-english-service-venue-at-the-grand-cathay

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2069034

http://www.mymalaysiabooks.com/singapore/Singapore%20to%20Malaysia.htm



KLM

Petronas Twin Towers and Kuala Lumpur City Centre Park – Start your day with a trip to the Petronas Twin Towers, 88 stories high, the third tallest building in the world (1,483 feet). Take the elevators to the Skybridge that connects the two towers of this elegant glass and steel building. The Petronas Twin Towers are open Tues.- Sun., and the Skybridge is closed on Fri. from 1:00pm - 2:30pm.

Adjacent to the towers is a large public park, Kuala Lumpur City Centre Park. There is a two acre modern kid's playground, wading pools (bring your swim suits), a musical fountain, artificial lake, sculptures, plenty of grass and shade trees.

Menara Kuala Lumpur (KL Tower) – Get the bird's eye view of Kuala Lumpur from the KL Tower, a big concrete communications tower with a space age look. Take elevator to observatory deck and grab a snack in the revolving restaurant.

Back on the ground, follow the walkway which links the KL Tower to Bukit Nanas Forest Recreational Park. Suddenly you'll find yourself in a green, shady forest, right in the middle of Kuala Lumpur. Bring your picnic lunch (picnic tables provided). There are trails through the park and a playground.

Central Market (Pasar Seni) – The Central Market, housed in a charming art deco style building, is a place to find out more about Malaysian culture, arts and crafts." Look for shadow puppet plays (wayang kulit), batik painting, art exhibitions, traditional music and dance performances. While you're at Central Market, buy kites. Kite flying is a national pastime in Malaysia. Look for the distinctive "wan bulan" or moon kite, cat kites, bird kites. Ask at your hotel for the best place to fly your kite.

Batu Caves – Hindu shrines were created inside these huge limestone caves, and the combination of spectacular natural beauty and brilliant colors is incredible. The Temple Cave is as big as a church. The Art Gallery Cave has statues and wall paintings from Hindu mythology. As you ascend the long stairway up to the caves, you may be accosted by macaque monkeys (kids hold onto your things)



SINGAPORE

Little India – From Arab Street, cross over the Rochor Canal to Serangoon Road, a neighborhood teeming with Hindu temples, shops with saris and spices. (On Cuff Road, one spice shop still grinds spices by hand.) In flower shops, watch garland makers creating beautiful flower leis. Have your hands painted in traditional henna designs, or your fortune told by a parakeet (the bird picks out a card with your fortune on it.) Shop for bangles and other lovely Indian jewelry, or a Kashmiri shawl. The Cultural Corner at the Little India Arcade has videos and other exhibits, where you can learn more about Indian culture and customs.

Don't miss the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, one of the oldest Hindu temples in Singapore. The gopurum (tower gate) is intricately decorated with gods, goddesses and fantastic animals. Inside the temple is a statue of Kali, with the elephant-headed Ganesha on one side, and Murugan, riding on a peacock, on the other.

Stop into the Temple of a Thousand Lights, the Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple to see a large footprint of the Buddha and a big 50 foot Buddha, adorned with colored lights. For a small fee, you can spin the wheel of fortune to have your fortune told.

Singapore Zoo – In this top-notch zoo the animals are in open enclosures, not behind bars, in a lush tropical rain forest. Plan to spend the day here.

Start out at Treetops Trail, a re-creation of the Southeast Asian rainforest, where you walk high above the trees, looking down to see red langur monkeys and siamangs, mouse deer and water birds below. Visit Orangutan Island and the Asian elephants enclosure, elephant rides are also available. Check the schedule for feeding times for elephants, white tiger, king cobra, and more.

As a special treat, have breakfast with an orangutan. You can feed the orangutan, (how are their table manners?) and have your picture taken. At the entrance to the Zoo, lockers, strollers and wagons are available for rent. Within the zoo are picnic areas, cafes and snack bars.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Climatic End of Something or Other

The past weekend was pretty meaningful and exhausting and brought together a culmination of work, friends and fellowship. It was full of saying farewells, like a closing of a chapter. The climatic end of the academic year in any Taiwanese ESL kindy is the “graduation” show. It’s a pretty big deal for the parents. My class (like last year’s) was the ‘graduating’ class. Next month they will start elementary school.

My former co-worker and housemate Megan (also from Denver) came Thursday night with her 9 month old son Cyprus to crash at our place. She came to see my class’ play (she used to be their teacher for 2 years prior) and her fiancé works for the airlines and they fly everywhere (so jealous). They slept on Z’s bed. I was shocked how heavy her backpack was, being partially guilty as my Dad passed onto her some books and bags of pinto beans from my mom. You’d think I’d be better prepared for a baby but I wasn’t. My floors are tile and Cyprus hit his head pretty hard a few times. He was fast and got into everything, I wish I had a playpen. Its so much easier to soothe a baby when its your own, in my case I’d just pop a boob in his mouth and strap him to my back, like Z. Speaking of Z, she was in total love. Prior to Cyprus she was saying how she hated babies because they drool and dribble and stink, but she couldn’t get enough of him. She wanted to feed him and be near him, sometimes to the dismay of Megan and Cyprus. It was encouraging to see Z empathetic and not focused on herself. Now she is talking about having a baby brother names Zander and a baby sister names Zoe (yikes).



Z feeding Cyprus
Since March, we have been learning and rehearsing our play “The seeds that grew to be a 100” based on the book of the same name, a kid’s rendition of the parable of the sower. At the end we sang my old time favorite “Let it Grow” by Eric Clapton. We were told the theme was “grow” so my coworkers did a play based on growing up in Africa and the “Very Hungry Caterpillar.” My kids did well, better than the rehearsals, they got their lines straight and didn’t mumble.


Friday night was the commencement ceremony, the play, the kids gave their parents tea and received their “diplomas.” I had to give a short teacher’s speech and when I felt the emotion starting to gush upwards and eyes swell, I quickly passed the mic to my co-Teacher Sandy. I’m not a crier by nature but when I get into a state of thankfulness and realize the simple things I’m grateful for, Grace around me is made manifest, I get choked up.

Cyprus, Megan, Z, Binh at dinner
Saturday lunch was my language exchange with Vicky, Saturday night was the parents of Megan and I’s student took us out to a Cantonese restaurant. Sunday lunch was a farewell to my Indonesian friend Nadia as she is returning home after finishing her MA at NCKU. She had danced a traditional dance that was closed to the public (I was disappointed), so we met at the second hand bookstore and walked around the corner for a cheap lunch and said goodbye. She kindly gave us a T-shirt from her city (Indonesian Borneo) and some yummy desserts. I thanked her for her kindness when she and some others came to my house to celebrate my 35th b-day 2 years ago (and I ate some of her yummy Indonesian cooking) and all the other times she was a friendly face.  So I hoped we could meet again, take a boat from Java or Lombok and see her hometown. That Sunday night Erica treated us all to some nice Taiwanese food near NCKU, great company.

Plans, plans, people, time passes and we find each other through the fog and mess of life. My two good co-workers from my Kid Castle days in Chu Wei just contacted me and one has been living in Tainan. It will be good to see her and her baby and catch up.

Megan and Cyprus left early Monday morning I heard him cry around 530am and fell back to sleep, totally missed seeing them off. And now there are 2 days left of the semester, tomorrow night is a staff dinner, one chapter is closing and ‘Im chilling in a proverbial hammock, expecting a better year.

Nadia and Z