Singapore gives us one last day

Evening sunset in KL, taken from Ali's brother's condo

After a send-off breakfast at Ali’s family’s house that included all sorts of yummy traditional Malay food (rice, fish, chicken, boiled eggs, cucumber, veggies), we flew to Singapore. We arrived at what is called the “Budget” Terminal. Too funny. Singapore's Changi Airport, one of the largest and busiest in the world, has three terminals plus a budget terminal. For riffraff like us. Riffraff as opposed to Raffles. Raffles would be the high end historic hotel for which Singapore is famous. Think Somerset Maughm, Ernest Hemingway, cream-coloured linen suits, cigars and gin...ok I might be making up that last bit. Anyway, Ali thought we should confirm our flights at the Singapore Airlines counter after arriving, given how much Air Canada has messed things up to date. Turns out we need to take a shuttle to Terminal 2, and then the Skytrain to Terminal 3. All I can think of is the pool at the VIP hotel that we are all dying to jump into and how hungry we are now getting, given we have been up since 6am (5am in my case – don't ask) and it's now 1pm. Ok, so I am a bit hypoglycemic myself. We get to Terminal 2 after wedging ourselves on the shuttle and I see restaurants. You're thinking....restaurants in an airport? Really? A good option? Really.  This is Singapore, remember. Nothing but the best in food choices and food quality...oh, and you could probably eat that food off the floors to boot. We spot a sushi restaurant – what a tonic that would be after all the rice and chicken and cooked fish we have consumed over the past three and a half weeks. We decide sushi warrants skipping  the last leg of our terminal hopping tour of Changi Airport. Air Canada will probably mess our seats in the end anyway.

Sarah and the just-finished-in-time tiger...

Street seller outside Ali's Mum's house

The sushi restaurant is stunning, with beautiful colourful booths and freshly made veggie sushi and edamame dancing by on a conveyer belt. Anywhere else, you might worry about the quality of fish sushi, but not here, in the land of all things top quality. You can order your sushi either by menu (how passé) or via computer. Oh, and while waiting for your sushi, you can play a few skill-testing rounds of "What makes up sushi dish X" and possibly win a coupon for free sushi – highly entertaining for the kids. Or, just as entertaining, you can always place Kipper on the conveyer belt and laugh hysterically as he goes around the restaurant while Ali shouts that we must stop that nonsense immediately. (Kipper is Hannah's rather large stuffed alligator). Kipper has become a member of our family and I am pretty sure has enjoyed Malaysia as much as we have. (As an aside here, it was highly entertaining to see security officials stare googly-eyed at the computer screen of the xrays at boarding – you see, the outline of Kipper xrays beautifully). We order softshell crab which is incredible; delicious soft Japanese tofu with mushrooms; sliced raw salmon with fish roe and japanese rice; some chicken thing for Jordan; and, oddly enough, Taz orders a curry. It's all a hit.We finally grab a taxi to our hotel, complete with the prerequisite chatty Indian Singaporean driver. The staff at the VIP remember us and we get the same room – 1 queen and 3 singles – and a lovely welcome. Bags literally dumped at the doorway, it takes the kids two seconds to get in their swimsuits and race down to the pool. We are all in, even Ali, within five minutes. Sigh. Do we really have to leave this part of the world?

The evening's intended plans, as recommended by someone, were to hit Singapore Zoo’s night safari. But what with zoos being zoos, the fact that it is a 45-60 minute drive from where we are, that the programmed tour (ack...I hate programmed tours) runs 7:30 to 10:30pm and that the whole production is quite costly, I dictatorially announce we are not going. Plan B is to wander aimlessly amid Singaporean nightlife, gawking at stores and having a nice dinner at some outdoor resto.  We taxi it (that would be "teksi" in Malaysia) to Orchard Road getting off right smack dab in the middle of it all. Who needs the zoo? There is enough of a human zoo here, all highly entertaining and all free! We go in and out of stores and up and down a few escalators – distracting Taz so we can get some birthday goodies for him – and then wander along some side street to where there are clusters of outdoor restaurants. Somewhat like Grand Allée in Quebec.  The kids choose a place called, ironically, Bobby’s Place and it's just perfect with tons of options. The kids are treated to Shirley Temples (Taz gets a second one comped, since it's his birthday) and our food is delicious. Hannah has some beef noodle thing called Beef Hor Fun, Jordan has satay, Taz has ribs, I have some Singaporean egg-lamb thing that reminds me of murtabak, and Ali orders that fancy new Japanese beef, wagyu, in a burger done rare...and a strawberry daquiari. I order a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. How civilized it all is. We wander the streets yet again, with Hannah staring up at the computerized light show all over the high rise shopping complexes (some of them look like office windows turning off their lights, but they are multi-coloured and simply all a show). And finally, somewhat regrettably, we grab a taxi back. It's close to 11pm. Everyone crashes. Well, everyone else crashes; I wrap birthday presents. Yes, it’s Taz’s birthday on our flight home. As I said to him, the good news is that your birthday is 36 hours long; the bad news is that it is all on a plane!



Bobby's place



Chinese shophouse architecture above restaurants



Shirley Temples on the last night



Taz' birthday dessert at "Bobby's Place"

And so...

We leave Singapore and Malaysia, waving goodbye out the airplane window with rather sad faces. Our wonderful trip is over and, although we look forward to our own beds and being back in our lovely home, we already miss the spicy sweet wonders of it all. Thank you Malaysia and Singapore. Thank you Ali's family. And thank you Allie, Anton, River and Kaelen. Thank you everyone and everything for opening your doors and your hearts to this crazy Rojak family. We will never ever forget this trip. The jungles, the islands, the caves, the batik, the crazy drivers, the smiling locals, the heat and the phenomenal food are all etched permanently in our memories.  

Terima kasih...and jumpa lagi.



Taz's dry ice extravaganza for his birthday from Singapore Airlines who treated him like a king



Taz's birthday celebration in Hongkong airport

A true sanctuary in every sense

Fresh roti canai with spicy dahl for dipping, all laid out on your banana leaf "plate"

How appropriate that our last day in KL we would make one last jaunt out to Raju’s, the place we had first breakfasted at when we arrived. Raju's is apparently one of the best roti canai headquarters in KL, as folk from all over the city head here. I had thought it was just a great place close to Allie and Anton’s. We walked over this time – people don't generally walk in KL – and this time we were meeting one last old friend of Ali’s, Deanna...a movie star, no less! Originally Swiss French – her Mum is Swiss and her Dad Malaysian – she has been in movies locally and abroad for the past 20 years. Not what you would expect in an "actress" as we think of them, Deanna is one soft spoken, lovely lovely friend. Perfectly fluent in English, French, German and Malay, she had all sorts of stories to tell us about her work and her life here in Malaysia. We even got a few more funny police stories. But I had better not put any of them up on the web, just in case the authorities come after me. But we had a good chuckle about Malay culture, and the pros and cons of living in KL.



Deanna joining us for brekkie on our last morning

We had some more yummy roti canai with fish curry dipping sauce and spicy dahl and the kids took photos this time of the roti dude as well as a short video (in honour of our breakfast company?) of the whole roti stretching and flipping thing. It really is quite neat to watch and I am hoping the video upload does it justice. Of course, Mr roti dude makes it look so easy, and both Ali and I are baffled as to how that superthin dough doesn’t tear. Roti canai is made with just flour, water and a tiny amount of oil, remember. Ali thinks it has something to do with when it is made and how long it rests. All I know is it is an incredibly deliciously simple breakfast item. Oh, and this time two of our kids had roti pisang, made with the addition of sliced bananas. Anyone's mouth watering yet?

Back home to attempt Take One of the MLPE (Massive Luggage Packing Event) in an effort to ensure we were within our weight limit. The big trip home on Saturday was not the issue, but rather our mini 45-minute flight from KL to Singapore via Tiger Airways, a discount airline. Being a discount airline, the flight is super cheap, however you prepay for (a) the number of pieces of luggage and (b) the weight of each piece. Here's where Ali's brilliant number calculation skills came in super handy. He estimated 5 bags (we came here with 4), the first two at 25kg each, third at 20kg and the last two at 15kg each. Carry-on was 7kg per bag, and only one bag each. See what I mean about tricky? Of course, for the larger-scale flight home, no issue at all as we are allowed 2 per person, each at 50lbs, and 2 check-in per persons (an allowance we never managed to use up).

Enough baggage about baggage.

Another flower interlude for Lynn, taken on Allie and Anton's street, on our way to Raju's for breakfast

A quick swim and lunch at home, we head off to our surprise: an elephant sanctuary. We had heard about it from someone, and were curious. I thought we would check it out first, as I am not one for captured animals or zoo scenes. And after the bird sanctuary and Allie's heads up about Malaysia and zoos, I wanted to make sure this was not some scam or something we would regret.

The elephant sanctuary, it turns out, was started by one single guy, in an effort to rescue elephants from all over South East Asia. Elephants who were old or no longer wanted. It is a completely unassuming place, along an extremely narrow road, deep in the Malaysian jungle yet only about 1/2 hour's drive from the highway. About one and half hours from KL, the exit is called Lancang (pronounced 'lanchung') – no mention of the sanctuary itself. But Ali's friend Richard had been there, so we knew it was all real. We arrive at a tiny parking lot (by tourist attraction standards) and start walking across this footbridge and path through the woods. There, in the clearing are about 8 or so elephants ranging in size, and a not-that-large gathering of some tourists and 2 school classes. No barriers, no cages, no confinement. It's all a bit surreal. The elephants are being introduced one by one by name and age – the youngest 8, i think, and the eldest 73 – and each elephant comes forward with very little prompting. After 10 minutes, introductions are over, and the next thing we see is a guy carrying two large flats absolutely overflowing with bananas, papayas, mangoes and watermelon, all in chunks the size of your shoe. We are encouraged to grab some fruit and feed the elephants their snack in one of two ways: either placing the fruit at the tip of their trunk, where there are two massive nostrils (!) or tucked into their mouths at the end and sort of underneath the trunk. We all feed them. These are happy, healthy and very peaceful elephants. And we are right there beside them. In fact, the shot below I took shows how close I am – no zoom used here.



One of the older Mama elephants

Snacktime is over quickly and a guy announces that anyone wanting a ride can head over to one of two raised sort of treehouse-looking platforms. The height is simply so you can get on the elephant. Ali takes photos and off Jordan and Taz go, and then Hannah and I are next as we wander around on a very wobbly elephant's back. I should add that these elephants are led simply by this one tiny Malaysian dude, who uses nothing but a few wiggly foot movements behind th elephants ears – no whips or sticks or shouting. And there are no barriers or anything. Of course the Mum in me also imagines that, should there suddenly be a massive stampede, we would, in fact, all be toast. But there is something so incredibly peaceful about this whole scene. These animals are absolutely stunning close up. I thought the physical power and grace of horses was my thing, but these creatures are incredibly beautiful, strong and gentle. Their eyes and the way they look at you is breathtaking, it really is. And the slow pace they do everything at only adds to their mystique. You can see why in the past they were considered nothing short of gods in some cultures.



The fence you see by the way is hardly a barrier, at about 10 feet long...I think it was more about us not surrounding the elephant or the elephant not devouring the entire tray of fruit in one go!

We spend only an hour here, but it is all so intensely real and uninterrupted. There is no admission, by the way, only donations to help fund the project. Another sign this is a genuine endeavour. There is no commercialism about the place (there is one tiny depanneur sized store on the way to the parking lot where you can get a juice or an ice cream), and it is really all about the elephants. In fact, when we were done our ride, off they all went. We asked where, and were told it was their dinnertime and time for a splash in the river. I had heard that on some occasions you can help bathe the elephants, but that was obviously not happening today. And that was very cool with us. We were the guests here, not the gawking invaders. I wish there were more places like these around the world. It has to be about saving all wildlife and ensuring their vital role in our ecosystem...and realising we are guests on this planet. This bit about owning and economics and capitalism is really quite absurd, especially when one is eye to eye with a 73 year old elephant mother. Awe-inspiring.

So, one and a half hours to get there, one hour there, and one and a half hours to get back to KL and it was all so worth it, we all agree.

Back to KL and traffic and tired hungry children and stopping by Ali’s Mum’s place and hitting rush hour traffic and general family breakdown point. Grabbed something at the grocery store to reheat at home and, as soon as we got there, the kids are desperate to finish their scavenger hunt. Not knowing how best to thank our incredibly wonderful hosts and friends – Allie, Anton, River and Kaelen – the kids decided to create this heavily anagram-clued scavenger hunt that would lead to some treat/surprise in the fridge. Oh. That would be my role in this project. My plan was to make some serious Canadian chocolate chip cookies, but alas that was not to be as I forgot to get chocolate chips. At the last minute I think of huffpuffs (no baking required, yeah!), so guess what I was doing at 10 at night on our last night in Malaysia? Mixing up guesstimate amounts of chocolate, butter and maple syrup (no Lyell’s golden syrup here!) with some rather thick organic Cornflakes, and then pressing it all into one glass dish (no paper muffin cups). It was then wrapped and “CONGRATULATIONS” written on the top. Taz and Jordan had written totally wacky clues, complete with intense anagrams and compass directions and who knows what else and had then taped them all over the house, beginning on the kitchen island. Hopefully the first note will be spotted by River and Kaelen when they come home this afternoon. Oh, it IS afternoon now. I have lost track of time. We are now on plane number three from Hongkong to Toronto. Much smoother trip than the one here...so far. Although I am still writing a letter to Air Canada when we get back. Their service, from booking cock-ups to the actual plane ride itself, has been abominable. Doesn’t help when you have a Singapore Airlines to compare it too. Now there is an airline that knows what they are doing and could teach Air Canada a few simple tips.

So, backtracking a bit to the next blog which was our last day in Singapore  – actually in Southeast Asia – yesterday...

Pasar Seni

Upstairs at Central Market

Thursday was the last go-for-it shopping day. We were armed with lists, wads of ringgits (remember, you get roughly 3 ringgits to the dollar), all 3 water bottles...and some extra patience. I think the biggest stress was worrying about not getting something for everyone we really wanted to. We were heading for one place only and that was back to the Pasar Seni or Central Market, the place chock full of batik, wooden crafts, Malaysian shadow puppets, clothes, pottery...and of course, that yummy food court for refuelling. The kids got distracted as soon as we got in, heading for some rather cool fridge magnets. Of course, I am a fine one to talk. I got distracted just as distracted, except by a Malaysian pottery shop where I bought a set of two pottery cups or glasses that would do nicely. We wandered around, collecting sarongs, tablecloths, gifts for our house caretakers and other bits and pieces. The next thing we knew it was 1pm, the time we had asked our driver to pick us up, so Ali had to quickly text him to let him know we were running late. At 1:30, we then did a split. Ali had had a last minute invite to his uncle's house. I decided to pass and keep on shopping, given there were a few things I had still to get and I wanted to zoom over to the KLCC shopping-centre-on-steroids. So off the rest of the family went, and I was free free free in KL. I headed onto the LRT, grabbing a ticket for KLCC and zoomed my way there. LRT tickets go according to destination, so to give you an idea, to go another 6 stops was RM1.60 – nothing at all. Once at the KLCC, I headed straight up to the 5^th floor to the famous Kinokuniya bookstore. Why? Because I had to use up my RM50 vouchers, didn’t I? (Once a Scot, always a Scot.)Alas, I could not for the life of me find a book for myself, so instead got some funky art cards, another book for Hannah and some UK car magazines for Ali for the plane. Good or what? As a side story here, I tried to get a new cover for my iphone. Too funny. I might as well have asked for a fuzzy cover for a 1950s rotary phone. An iphone 3? Short of bursting out laughing, the shop assistant politely told me that there is nothing for iphone 3s, only iphone 4s. Ah yes. Welcome to Asia.



photo I forgot to add earlier of Ali and Allie at the Twin Towers

Timing worked out perfectly because as soon as Ali texted me asking where I was, I was back on the LRT heading to Taman Jaya station, the station closest to where we lived. Ali said he could be there in 15 minutes. So he was, and we all headed home.  Jatmi had very kindly made us some spaghetti sauce for dinner. (Note to self: don't forget that letter to Santa re getting a Jatmi and an Alam.) She had also even gotten a massive stick – 5 feet tall, about 3 inches in diameter – of fresh sugar cane from her friend who grew the stuff. Ali had mentioned trying to get sugar cane for the kids to try...and there it was. She proceeded to cut it up for them, into French-fry-size sticks. Such a neat novelty...the kids spent half the evening sucking away! We all had a quick dip in the pool, ate Jatmi’s pasta outside, and starting doing a bit of packing while the kids wrote in their journals yet again. Little did they realize, Ali and I were trying to arrange one last surprise for their last day in Malaysia.

Batu Caves Blessings

Massive Hindu God in gold, and stairs to entrance of Batu Caves on the left

If you’ve been to Malaysia (you’ve probably been to Batu Caves. It’s somewhere I never got to, when I was here last. It’s only about 45 minutes out of KL traffic, just on the outskirts of the city, which is what makes it all the more interesting, geologically speaking. In fact, you can take the LRT – the metro –  there. (Interesting fact: The LRT, by the way, is made by Bombardier).

As you drive out of KL, you see this massive rock structure jutting up and towering over everything, literally on the side of the road. In front of it is a massive Hindu God in gold. The Batu Caves are a sacred temple for followers of the Hindu religion, therefore all things here are sacred. A good thing, as it is much less commercial. Sure there are pockets of stores and food stalls on the road before the entrance, but as you climb the stairs – all 272 of them according to Jordan – the only things that greet you are a couple of tiny blessing areas (for lack of a better term) and masses of monkeys roaming around freely. Supercute kid monkeys, tired-looking nursing mother monkeys and grumpy, scowling I-think-I’m-in-charge male monkeys. A bit like the world of humans, really. For the blessing area, you make a donation and are blessed, hands waved above your head and a red dot put on your forehead. All three kids were happy to donate and get dotted.

Beginning the great staircase up



Halfway there...



Monkey Mama




Inside the cave...and more stairs!



We climbed the steps in the morning heat, which was not nearly as bad as we thought, and the kids were thrilled at all the monkeys hanging around amongst us as we climbed. At the top was the massive mouth of the caves, with lots of swallows and the occasional bat swooping everywhere, although the focus of these caves is not bats, as I had mistakenly thought it was. The carving out of the inside of this massive cave is just incredible, gouged out by water over centuries, with stalactites and stalagmites still perfectly intact. It was obvious that no matter what, we humans were visitors and this was Mother Earth. I loved this about the Batu Caves. It is hard to describe the size of the cavity you are in, or how serene it is...and even the photos don’t really do it justice. But hats off to Malaysian capitalism not destroying it for tower triplets or another shopping centre or something.

We popped into a few shops for a tiny wooden elephant (for Taz), a few more postcards,  juices and ice creams and also a dozen fresh hot potato curry puffs to bring home for lunch. Our driver, Alam, was there promptly at 12:30 to bring us back home. I’m quite getting into the driver thing, despite enjoying my escapades driving here. I think I am going to ask Santa Claus this year for an Alam...oh, and a Jatmi too. Off we zoomed back to No. 10 for our curry puff lunch. We then grabbed our swim suits and towels, a book to read and off we went to the club. There was hardly anyone there, again, and the kids had a blast going head first down the twisty slides; Ali caught some good shots. After multiple slides, we ordered satay, springrolls and garlic bread snacks, and I read a few more pages of Roald Dahl’s About a Boy (what a fascinating life he had). The heavens then opened up with a massive thunderstorm just as Alam picked us up at 4pm – perfect timing. We swung by yet another grocery store for food for dinner as Eb was joining us again tonight. By this stage of the holiday game, our kids were asking for “anything but rice and chicken” so we got some chorizo to barbecue, with spuds, broccoli and sugar snap peas. Ali got it all ready while I finished making my knitted tiger (yeah! I finally finished it on time!) that’s a gift for cousin Sarah (Ali’s younger brother’s daughter). Hopefully she is into knitted green-and-white tigers! Eb showed up almost ahead of schedule, and we had a great dinner and chat about his business prospects (all very exciting and mysterious). The kids stayed up quite late writing in their journals (we are trying to prepare them for the brutal 12-hour time change when we get home) and Eb asked for multiple hugs from all of us. And then asked for one last set of hugs again as he walked out the door. We sadly waved goodbye.

A Tale of Two Towers, a Bird Park and Food, Glorious Food

Bird in Park = Bird Park

Monday was the Bird Park in KL – on a very hot day. We had been given tickets for it, so thought we should go and check it out. Allie joined us with River and Kaelen, hoping that it had improved since she had last been there. As we went through the entrance, we thought it looked good, but as we walked further and further through the park, it was a bit sad to see some rather large birds in some rather small enclosures. It is outdoors, and there are massive nets high up in the trees, so those sections are bearable; but there are some large horn-billed birds in cages with not really enough room to get a decent fly in, and they are going a bit wacko. Sigh. I am not very good with the zoo concept. Regardless, the kids still ran around through it, feeding fish in a pond and stopping at the Parrot Cafe for an ice cream – a hit in the heat. But alas, this outing will not be a memorable one for the journals, I suspect.
So, I have to say that, as a little interlude about names, Anton’s producer at the studio is named Alison. So he works with an Alison, is married to an Allison and has another Alison visiting his house. And then there is Ali. And lastly there is Alister (yes, that is how they spell it), River and Kaelen’s buddy, and his Dad is Alex. Instead of the city of KL, it should be the city of AL. Crazy or what, lah?



Anton playing us a tune



Kaelen engrossed in Jordan's puzzle deciphering

The birthday ping pong table that was such a hit

Lazing on a Sunday morning...

Oh, I forgot to tell you about Sunday’s dinner. In a household full of foodies, it is always fun to focus on food. Allie and Anton went out to buy fish on Saturday for our so-called Canadian dinner that night: a massive red snapper was barbecued and everyone dunked in chimichurri. Outrageously delicious. River and Kaelen are super eaters, so all the kids dug in and ate everything, loving the new taste experiences. So Sunday night – that was a little prelude, the description of Saturday night’s dinner, because in fact part of Saturday's purchase was used in Sunday's dinner...aren't you a bit curious now? – we did Eb’s squid recipe, the one with fresh curry leaves (something tough to get at home but here, well, they would be out in the back garden growing on a bush. Ah yes, THAT would be fresh curry leaves), turmeric, lime, ginger and palm sugar. And Ali made fish head curry with the head from the red snapper from Saturday night (there's the link). It was absolutely delicious. And, as if THAT wasn’t enough, Ali and Allie (more on the repetitive name syndrome later) called Richard once again to invite him over and he picked up chili crab on the way over. YUMMO. It was a crazy fish fest, and we managed to devour it all. Not surprisingly.



The nutty three: Ali, Allie and Richard



Last night we had Uncle Eb over, finally. I was worried we wouldn’t see him. For all those of you who remember him, he is alive and well and seems to be surviving. He is running around managing construction projects, living out of his suitcase, jumping all over the country and on one occasion nearly got mugged. (He was followed after being at a bank to cash a rather large cheque) and then his trunk was drilled into and stuff removed from his suitcase – important papers and contracts but not the cash – yikes. Anyway, it was really nice to chat with him. We brought him maple syrup and a copy of the kids’ book which he was thrilled to get. The kids were so happy to see him, especially Jordan. Jordan has the strongest memory of Uncle Eb, as he babysit Jordan on many occasions when he was little. There is quite the bond there, as was apparent by the world’s biggest hug from Jordan. Very sweet. Eb said he would swing by tonight for dinner (he came late last night and missed dinner) and he might possibly come shopping with us tomorrow at the Central Market, which would be great.

Yesterday we headed off to the KLCC, which is basically the massive shopping complex at the base of the Petronas Twin Towers. We thought we would go early to beat the crowds for the tower. However, when we got there, they only had tickets left for the 3pm lift up to the Skybridge, and just enough for the nine of us (Allie had her two boys and Alister came as well). So we decided to go for it – there would not be another opportunity as it was sold out for today – and just make the most of being in a massive multi-floored air conditioned shopping centre. We grabbed an early lunch at the food court. Again, I have to say here, food courts, even in mega malls, are INCREDIBLY delicious. Incredible options, incredibly prepared food and way way healthier than anything you would see in a mall at home. Really well done. Of course there is still a MacDonald’s, and if you are really keen-sighted, you might spot an overweight white family chowing down on burgers. I think Jordan said it best when he said, “How could anyone choose MacDonald’s when there is all this amazing real food?”

After the early lunch, Ali and all six kids slipped into a cinema to watch Rio (hence the early lunch) and Allie and I headed off on our separate ways to check out the place. She picked out a couple of beach dresses for her holidays, and I headed to this massive bookstore called Kinokuniya. What a fantastic selection of books, with tons and tons of great UK finds. I was wishing I knew what the Wakefield Library Summer Reading Program theme was this summer so I could grab some books here that you would never find at home. I also bought a great Malaysian cookbook, some more books in the Arabel’s Raven series, some Lat books (Malaysian comics), some great Asian cooking and decor mags for the plane, Roald Dahl’s More About Boy (bio) and some great new books for J, T and H (and they bought more after the movie as well...ack...luggage weight??). In fact, we now have to go back there again, because we got a 50RM gift certificate, given all the books we bought. We also told Allie about the books our kids had enjoyed that hers might be into – Mysterious Benedict Society, Tanglewreck, the Mooman books, etc, etc. After I bought my books, I then found a lovely little cafe (no, really I did) and had a cup of tea – I know, a bit far-fetched for me, really – and a coconut cookie and sat and watched all the fat while expats struggle with shopping bags and argue with their spoilt children.

Eventually, we headed back for our 3pm Twin Towers extravaganza. Oh, I forgot to mention. The tickets for it were 3RM for Malaysians and 10RM for foreigners. Which basically meant that everyone paid 3RM except for me. Allie and I made fun of this for the rest of the day; I kept trying to get my money’s worth, since my ticket was SO much more. After heading through some serious security and leaving all our book bags with the ‘locker service’, we headed into to a tiny cinema to watch a 7-minute propaganda-esque plug for Petronas oil (they are, after all, the Petronas Twin Towers). Even Hannah figured that one out as she leaned over to me and whispered, “This is the wrong video, Mama, it has nothing to do with the Twin Towers”. Out of the mouths of babes, wot wot? ANYway, we then headed off up an elevator at top speed (but sadly inside the tower, so no view like the one you get on the CN Tower), and got out at the Skybridge, the connecting piece between the two tower buildings. Spectacular view, but not really my bag. However, the kids all enjoyed it and I know Jordan was keen to have gone up the Twin Towers. So we took the odd touristy photo – and Allie took a photo of the 10RM foreigner – and we headed back down the elevator, collected our bags and headed home via the grocery store (YES! FOOD!). Dinner was already done because I had put on some black beans before we left at 9:30am, as a treat for Allie. She is into all sorts of healthy organic food and does all this working out now, so I had been telling her about our favourite post-swimming meal of slow-cooked black beans. I caramelized some onions and garlic, threw those in along with cumin and a jar of organic tomato and eggplant sauce (sounded neat at the store) and it was a hit, with rice, avocado and grated cheese. Their boys both liked it. (Alister, not so much...he was still a bit miffed at the lack of popcorn during the movie). I also made a batch of peanut butter cookies for the kids (Calem, I had your recipe photographed on my iphone... thanks for that!) as a treat for dessert and for Allie and her gang to bring in the car for their trip today.

Outside KLCC in the Park

Touristy short No. 453: The Scott-Talibs do the Twin Towers. Sorry, the PETRONAS Twin Towers. (Hey the video worked.)

The Gang of Six being nutty in the KLCC

Hanging out behind where they should be...making authorities nervous

Sigh. Their trip today. Allie, Anton and the boys headed off at 7am this morning for their holidays, and we were all up to say our goodbyes. The boys are on two weeks’ break from school, so they had prebooked this beach holiday at a single-resort island about 3 hours up the west coast of Malaysia. So we saw them off, which was really quite sad. They have been unbelievable to us and their home has been an incredible home for us here. They have treated us to all sorts of things, chatted endlesly with us, laughed with us and really just made us feel so relaxed and comfortable; and the kids are now strong friends, I would say...very cute to see them all hugging and saying goodbyes. And as soon as they left, Jordan was quite bummed and said he was bored (at 7am, I might add). My response when he asked what he should do was, “You can go for a swim, play ping pong, read one of your new books, play lego...tons of things” to which he responded “Yah, but River and Kaelen aren’t here, so it's boring”. And that is what life is all about, isn’t it? Friends. And Allie, Anton, River and Kaelen have been incredible friends here. The good news is that they are planning to come to Canada for their summer hols in August. Everyone is thrilled, and we will be only too happy to return the home-away-from-home favour.

So now we are left with Jatmi (superwoman cook and maid) and Alam, the driver, who is taking us to the Batu Caves this morning. It is a ROUGH life here. We were going to drive ourselves, but Allie insisted we make use of the driver as he loves driving and knows all the best ways to get to places. Ok, we said. If you insist.

And now, time for eggs. I think I will make some eggs for brekkie this morning; haven't had them in a while. Ali and the kids are playing monopoly behind me, on the bed, and Jatmi is busy making something in the kitchen, and it’s only 8:20...and the driver comes at 9:30. Time to kick into gear. Batu Caves, here we come.

A word from Jordan on the trip to Taman Negara

Azli explaining our walk to us



The 'intro' to the canopy walk




Guess what this is!



RIING.

RIINNNNNG.

Even though I was foretold of the fact that we were leaving for Taman Negara, the famed rainforest national park, at 6:00, my head was telling me it’s just another early wake-up-its-time-for-school; but after we drove out of Kuala Lumpur, it was quite clear that this was no school day. The lush green hardwood trees, the enormous Batu caves, even that smell that just represents Malaysia (a combination of durians, sweat, nasi lemak and anything else interesting around). In five minutes we stopped for a packed breakfast of peanut butter and caya sandwiches. If you haven’t tried caya, it is coconut jam and I am excited to say that we will bring some back for you to try!

 Besides this, managing a pill of Gravol down my throat, getting lost at one point, and finding a stinky rubber plantation where we saw latex drip into pails (very much like the sap of a maple tree), the trip was quite uneventful. That is, the 3-hour car trip. The 3-hour boat trip is a whole different story...

I would have thought that such a bouncy boat trip in a long wooden boat would keep you awake, but I am surprised to say that I was out quickly. When I woke up, I was being offered a Malaysian equivalent of banana chips and after the usual “are-we-there-yet?” and “how-much-longer?”, I found out that I had slept for half the ride. From there I took out my handy GAMES magazine and spent the rest of the trip battling a diagramless crossword.

It was quite obvious when we were ‘there’ because up until now, there had been no signs of life except the longboat that we occupied, so seeing tiny wooden cafés floating on the murky river was quite interesting. We got off with the other tourists into the floating restaurant and after a couple minutes of listening to the ‘boss’ orient us, we were told to get back on, but just our family. It seemed alright to me and later it was confirmed as we neared a different floating café. We met our guide, Azli, and he politely showed us where we were supposed to go. By now we were all quite tired so I think it’s fair to say that I was relieved when we took a truck to spare us a 15 minute walk (which would have been 20 minutes lugging our packs) in the burning heat and humidity.

The Rainforest Resort had a silly name (I mean, come ON. Rainforest? Umm...) but was nonetheless beautiful, with each individual room a house on a ‘street’(our street was the national flower, bougainvillea). THAT was cool for I felt like I was living temporarily in a rainforest village.

Entering the house was ecstasy. Have you ever been lying in the desert all day only to enter an oasis at night? I haven’t, but that should be the equivalent of stepping into that air conditioned room. Because of all the travelling and the fact that we were going on a night walk later on made us lay low and watch Manchester United vs. Chelsea (for those of you who care, Manchester won 2-1).

Dinner was superb, but the real highlight for me was the night walk. Sounds boring, but hiking in the jungle, not really protected and other than the guide you are alone is quite the thought. Azli, the awesome 22-year-old who helped us throughout our stay, found so many interesting animals (such as big black scorpions) for us; I thought he would spot a clouded leopard or tiger ‘just for us’!

We got back at around 10:00, so there wasn’t much talking to do. We were all tired from the walk but I thought one last thing as I fell asleep: if we do more of the stuff that we did tonight, tomorrow, I want to go to Malaysia next year...

Hannah's blog

an ice cream break at the steamy hot bird park in KL

Hi, I’m Hannah and I’m going to tell you about Taman Negara. First, we went on a night walk. We saw stick insects, Black scorpions! And poison spiders!!!!!! Oh, and our resort was awesome!! In the next morning, we went on a Canopy walk which was a walk on the longest canopy bridge in the world! And finally after two days we made a rubber ball out of pure rubber, Jordan was happy. Then we went on the longest hike ever! On that hike we saw GIANT ANTS!! The beds were nice in the resort, and pretty much everything else!!!!!!

Big brother is cool

Words of the day: Awas, as in Awas Selekoh Bahaya  (Caution. Corner. Danger.)



Kaelen versus the Canadian crepes (with mango, papaya, banana, yoghurt and maple syrup!)

After a pit stop in KL for food supplies (we are doing dinner tomorrow night for Allie and Anton and also crepes – with all the lovely fruit here -- for brekkie), we are back at Allie’s. Not a long break, as Ali comes racing through from the bedroom (we are all flaked out all over the place, and J&T are playing ping pong with River, Kaelen and their buddy Alister) to tell us that we have to go NOW, because of traffic, to meet up with his oldest brother, for an eventual dinner somewhere. But that he is meeting us at point XYZ and then taking us from that point on to his condo. NOW. We have to go NOW. (Allie of course tells us we are crazy to leave NOW because the traffic in KL, on a Friday night, is vicious from 3pm to about 9pm). But no, we leave NOW, and Ali decides – in a fitfully dilemma-ed state that I should drive as he has instructions and will direct me as he sort of knows where we are going. Ok. Fine by me. But I need a shower before we go NOW. The kids are grumpy (we just GOT here, Papa, they say) and I think, oh boy. But I really want to meet his brother. Other than last year, Ali had not seen Charlie (his nickname) for close to 20 years...long family story...Oprah material, not blog material...and I am dying to meet him. I have a sneaking suspicion he will be cool.

Uncle Charlie is cool. Uncle Charlie has long hair, used to race cars and now has a workshop with a bunch of Malaysian Protons (car) in it and an old Porsche he is refurbishing. He also does elaborate displays of engine cutouts at various shows, commissioned by Lotus (now Malaysian owned) and other car companies. We chat a bit in their condo, where he and Ezra, his wife, and his grandchildren (Elix, aged 10 and Omar, aged 7) hang out. The grandchildren hang out at their grandparents’ place a lot, which is really cool. Charlie and Ezra are so laid back; it is obvious the kids love being with them. Charlie takes us out to a restaurant called the Laman Grill which has a team of award-winning chefs and the food is not only delicious but spectacularly presented. Gillian, you would have loved it.

Hannah seriously enjoying her prawns nested atop a display case

Uncle Charlie and Omar

I forgot to say that, heading out that night, I drove us – between Ali shouting directions or getting headachey from reading directions scrawled on a piece of paper – to this meeting point, a Porsche dealership. Here on the side of the road (where everyone is doing 100kph+), Ali spots Charlie sitting in HIS Mazda MPV (green version of what we are driving), at which point we follow him. It’s complete organized chaos. I am already driving like a bat out of hell, but now I feel like I am in a car chase scene in some Jackie Chan film, the two of us driving quite unstable old vans, as I madly try to keep up with Charlie as he weaves in and out...and in and out...and in and out...of traffic and lanes...exiting...changing his mind...doing u-turns...and TEXTING Ali. Ali – who is half giggling (and half feeling carsick as he reads the text) says his brother has texted “No fair, lah, you got a driver...sooooo special. And matsalleh, too. Where got?” I think this is hilarious and know for sure I like this guy. He eventually leads us to his condo complex, where the guard begrudgingly lets the crazy matsalleh driver in after Charlie, and then we enter a narrow underground parking lot at much the same speed we were doing on the highways. I am on a bit of a high here (I feel there should be a wreath of flowers and some champagne at the end of it all) and zip into a spot beside him, edging the nose of the van right up to the wall, instead of about 5 feet from it. Ha, I think, feeling a bit like the character in Ten Apples Up On Top – ha, you can do three? See...I can do more. I can do four. Of course we get out of our vans, lots of greetings and hugs and kisses and, as we walk past the front of our van, he says, “So...do all Canadians park so close to the wall, lah, like this?” We all burst out laughing as I realize, you are SUPPOSED to park up to a certain line, leaving a big gap for people to walk by. Ooops. So much for my Jackie-Chan-turned-Jackie-Stewart manoeuvres.

So, getting back to dinner; it was delicious, the company was great, and Ali had a great time catching up with his big bro, both completely engrossed in cars and engines and bits about life in general. It’s all really easy and fantastic, and we part with Charlie saying we should go out for a pint sometime this week.

Today is Saturday and once again, we are happily hanging out, post-crepe-making fest with Hannah, Taz and Kaelan as Chief Crepe Flippers. There is a huge thunderstorm happening and it’s all quite cosy and relaxing. I can hear ping pong being played outside under the car overhang , other kids are taking turns on the computer and Hannah has discovered a lengthy string of tiny magnetic metal pearls, and is making crazy contraptions with it on a doorknob. Ali and Anton are off to the fish market for something to bbq for our so-called ‘Canadian’ dinner tonight that includes chimichurri, sweet potato fries, guacamole and a replacement green salad (cannot find kale for Phoebe’s kale salad! Canadian? Chimichurri? South America. Guacemole? Mexico. Sweet potato fries? Southern US. Oh, who knows. I also told Allie about Eb’s squid, and she wants to try that too. So that’s on the menu later this week.

Joompa lagi, blogglebugles.

Taman Negara Malaysian flower interlude No. 1 for Lynn

Taman Negara Malaysian flower interlude No. 2 for Lynn

Taman Negara Malaysian flower interlude No. 3 for Lynn

Taman Negara Malaysian flower interlude No. 4 for Lynn

Taman Negara...a jungly sort of trip

Words of the day:  Teh susu, kurung manis, tapau. (Tea with milk, not so sweet, to go. The ‘to go’ part is actually Chinese, I discover.)

So, here’s the scoop with getting to Taman Negara. Depending on what brochure, website or tourist promo piece your read, it can take 2 hours to drive there (to the first jetty) or 3 hours. And then, at the point of that first jetty, it can either take another 3 hours to drive...or 2 hours...or 45 minutes. I know, we were a bit lost too. A bit like driving in Malaysia, really. Anything goes. Any lane, any turn, any form of parking. Anything possible. Anywhere.



Not the best shot because it gives you no sense of the speed nor the weaving motorcycle factor

Of course, we assumed we were driving all the way in, so I thought: holy crap, to beat the traffic (traffic in KL is BRUTAL) we should leave early. Like 7 am early, especially if it’s now going to take us 6 hours, without a lunch stop (we had packed sardine puffs, Tandoori chicken puffs, potato curry puffs, diced papaya, thick creamy yoghurt, juice and water with us for a roadside stop). Of course, we only found out the details of our trip when Ali went to get the van, as it was his sister who had booked it all for us. It’s all been a bit haphazard really, but we are learning to be patient and just let things happen. So turns out we drive the 3 hours to the first jetty – called Tembeling jetty – and then taking the longboat right into the jungle to the second jetty, Kuala Tahan Jetty. So I drive us there, along the massive highway out of the city first, and then eventually on smaller side roads and finally through a little town called Jerantut (Ali and I comment that it reminds us of ‘kentut’ which means to fart, in Malay). We get there at 11ish, as we have stopped for a few snacks, gas, a cup of tea for me, coffee for Ali and even a roadside quick peek (and nabbing) of some rubber at a rubber plantation.

Rubber trees are carved (does not damage the trees) around the bark at a 45 degree angle spiral, causing the white sap to drip in buckets...very like maple tapping at home. The liquid rubber sets eventually in the bucket, at the end of the day, and then I guess they remove it from here and probably melt it to process it further. Quite fascinating.



Rubber sap drippingdown tree

Anyway, back to the trip. It turns out that, as part of our package, we get lunch at the jetty – there is one place there to eat, already half-filled with a number of other tourists and backpackers in the same boat as us...figuratively speaking. The boat – literally speaking – leaves at 2pm. Oops. We are a bit – ok a lot – early. (Alison strikes again). We eat, wander around, and hang out on some benches and read our books and chat with a couple from Germany. Ali practices his German. I practice my English.

the longboat

Heading off to Taman Negara up the Tembeling River

Enjoying the breeze created while on the longboat!

Buffalo of the water kind hanging out on the shores

There are a number of boats waiting that take travellers off into the muddy brown and fast moving Tembeling river into Taman Negara. The boats are long and narrow and incredibly stable. Think canoe, and then undo that thought. Nothing like a canoe at all. There is room for two in each bench seat, no more, and if you are rather large (as one Dutch tourist was), then it becomes quite a diplomatic exercise for the local boaters. There is a real strategy about where you are to sit, to balance out the boat, and all the luggage (we packed light this time – sooooooooo smart, lah) at the front. So the boys had to sit together, then Hannah and I and then Ali. I am glad we were near the back as we got to see more – the bags at the front really block the front view, as you will see by the photos. Off you zoom upstream, propelled by a buzzing 2-stroke outboard motor. (I have no idea what I am talking about. We had dinner last night – in real time – with two car nuts, Ali and his brother, and I guess the conversation has not worn off yet). We are travelling against what is a very strong current, hence the 3-hour trip. The return trip is 2 hours. It is a lovely, peaceful trip. In fact, so peaceful Jordan flops over to one side and falls asleep for the first hour. We see incredible lush jungle on either sides, the odd monkey and some big grey water buffalo who are eyeballing us back.

We arrive right on schedule at the first floating restaurant aka the jetty (as with everything in Malaysia, there are multiple uses for everything and everyone – remember the movie Local Hero?), and I think I will let Jordan’s blog tell you the rest of this bit.

Floating Restaurant aka Reception aka Jetty

What I do want to say is we met the sweetest tour guide ever. He seemed to be our own private guide. He was a super handsome 22 year old named Azli who fell in love with our children on our first outing, the night jungle hike. After chatting and chatting with us, and totally relating to our kids in such a wonderful way, he then said, “You know tomorrow will be really busy on the canopy walk, there will be a line-up to go on it” and went on to make the suggestion that we do things differently to beat the crowds. He told us to show up at the jetty at 9am and instead of doing the hike first (a couple of hours) to the canopy walk, and then the canopy walk, he would take us by boat straight to the canopy walk and afterwards we would do the hike. Brilliant. We do this, the five of us, with our own private guide, lovely Azli, and then do the hike: a brutally hot and humid uphill climb for an hour and a half, after which we are all soaked with sweat and have used up every single one of our water bottles. I find the uphill fine; sure it’s a good cardiovascular workout but the downhill is torture on my knee (I have left my brace at Allie and Anton’s, of COURSE). The stepping down parts are steep gaps and by the time we get to the edge of the river (there is no levelling out, the last 8 steps are cement steps about 6 inches wide and a foot and half high), my left knee is shaking all by itself. It’s as if I’ve turned on a little motor (2-stroke?) inside it. Yikes. But it is fine, after that.

Ali versus the canopy walk...he made it!

Water break and fruit break...we are soaked with sweat.

The beginning of the jungle hike...

This was actually taken on the night hike, hence the weird (flash) lighting

Big spider (sorry...can't remember the species)

The view after our uphill climb

Again, another night hike treasure: the black scorpion

Anyway, to continue with how lovely Azli was, we were supposed to eat at a specific floating restaurant as part of our package. As he drops us back off by boat at the dock, he asks what time we are coming down for lunch. We say 12:30, given it is noon already, although our schedule says lunch at 1pm. We are not sure why he asks, as the next activity – shooting the rapids – is at 2:30. We walk back to the dock after a quick shower at our room (did I mention the brutal heat? There really is no getting away from it in the jungle) and we sit down at a table at the floating restaurant for our lunch. Halfway across the river is Azli shouting at us to come over to “the island”, a man-made strip about the size of our driveway where his Dad is starting a river rafting business (the boats only arrived the day before). So we hop on a boat and over we go. Azli invites us up to where he eats lunch, and this woman (I thought it was his Mum, but it was not...another woman, with a daughter who had a cute little 2 year old) and there is this spread before us that is delicious. It is his Dad who is hosting us. Crispy green beans with chillies, crisp-fried mini fish (about 4 inches long, you eat the whole thing, it’s so crunchy), delicious chicken, rice and a massive pitcher of bright green ‘kiwi juice’ (the Malaysian version of Kool-Aid). We are famished after our hike and totally pig out, and they are all thrilled. We feel really really privileged to be invited here, and are now officially in love with Azli. I want to adopt him.



This was our delicious lunch at Azli's Dad's place

After our lunch, we hang out a bit with Azli, and then off we go on our rapids shooting. Not white water rafting exactly, but fun nonetheless. A smaller version of the longboat, and Azli zooming us through shallow rapids and generally getting us soaked. We stop for a swim at “the Tarzan ladder” and Azli teaches Jordan how to do a back flip into the water. (As a sidebar here, Jordan lets go of the ladder too soon on one attempt and lands crumpled in the shallow water, landing on his neck and knee and I have a near heart attack – I am sure all the Mums out there can relate). Azli also does a series of flips, while standing at the water’s edge, which he keeps saying are for Hannah. He holds up both boys, at different times, again showing them how to flip while in the water. For a break, he gets us all to sit at the water’s edge super still so we can feel the “spa fish” nibble our toes. And indeed they do. Hannah bursts out into a fit of endless giggles...she thinks this is hilarious. I am in heaven. It is another one of those fantastic parenting moments where you think how incredible this all is, and how incredibly lucky to be where we are, all by ourselves, splashing in a river in the rainforest in Malaysia. Oh, and yes, I too did the rope ladder Tarzan swing into the river, several times (you think I would miss that?) and my darling husband caught it all on video tape. No, it will not be posted on the web. Unless you offer a very large sum of money.



J & T doing the Tarzan thing



Jordan really splashing out

Sadly we head back; sadly, because our time with Azli is over. The kids make him a card back at the hotel room and we decide to give him one of our new MEC backpacks. He always has a backpack, of course, when he hikes with his groups, and he commented how he had had his since he was in grade 4. We noticed that all he carried in it was a spare t-shirt (yes, even the locals sweat as much in this jungle heat) and a bottle of water. So as we say our thank yous, we ask him what colour he would like: grey, orange or green. After much persisting, he finally agrees on the orange. Ali returns to the jetty around 5pm to meet Azli with the orange backpack and the card, as he is heading back to the village of Jerantut that night for his time off. The kids are thrilled, as are Ali and I.

So for me, yes all the jungle activities were amazing, but the real clincher was the short but genuine bond our family made with Azli. He enjoyed our family enough to invite us to his ‘home’. He was the big brother to our children for but a few days, but made quite the impression. Another occasion, I guess, where the Rojak kids seems to really catch certain Malaysians’ hearts.

Hannah parking her goofy self in front of the hotel

Sorry, couldn't resist. Wacky translations.

Jordan, way too stressed out on the whole trip.

Our super lovely (and fairly new, I suspect) Rainforest Resort.

Conclusion? If you ever get the chance to do Malaysia, do the jungle. It is superb. Well protected and well maintained. Hats off.

I drive us back to KL (I am really getting into this maniacal driving on the lefthand side – a great release of any tensions, I think. Oh, I’m sorry, did I cut you off there? Ah well, never mind; I’m sure you’ll do the same to me in 5 minutes).