Latest updates + our wild spring break adventure

 A few weeks ago, just before bed, Mike and I walked into the dark kitchen together while talking. I flipped on the light and a house gecko the size of a hotdog leapt through the air past our heads while I screamed. It’s so funny how geckos freak out when they’re surprised. I keep running into them unexpectedly and if I scream (which I usually do), they either fall from the ceiling, jump from the wall, or run in a panic across the floor. I always feel bad if they fall from the ceiling…

Well, we’ve been here in Malaysia for 8 months now. The time has gone by very fast. Since my last post, we’ve continued to explore and settle even more into our home along the equator.  Some days when I’m swimming outside in our pool, or walking down a steamy jungle trail, I still can’t believe we live here in such a faraway, exotic place. 

 

First, let me record some recent happenings:

The kids started karate. Our Sensei, Raj, is awesome and works so well with our kids. He started off coming to our house once a week. Now, the kids meet him down in our apartment gym for group lessons.  I love seeing them practice and we’re excited to watch their progress.

I’ve started tennis lessons. I haven’t played since my early college days and it’s been so good to get into the game again. I love that our apartment has courts and my coach meets me there for practice. Life is very convenient and easy here! I’ve also found a few people that live near me who also play so it’s been fun to play a few games here and there.

A few weeks ago, Mike and I decided to check out a local elephant sanctuary about an hour away. Since COVID, a lot of the interactive activities there have stopped, but we were still able to feed the elephants, pet their fuzzy trunks, and even see a baby elephant up-close. One scary thing that happened while we were there though: As we were walking along the path, a giant snake – black with green/pink shine-  popped out 10 feet in front of us and aggressively slithered across the road, disappearing into the forest. I couldn’t believe how fast and furious it moved! I didn’t have time to focus on what kind of snake it was or take a picture or anything - it just popped out, scrambled in front of us, and it was gone. Once again, we saw that Malaysia does not play around! You seriously never know WHAT is going to pop out of the jungle…

 2 weeks ago, we took a fun trip with friends to a local beach called Pantai Biru (Blue Beach). The water is shallow for as far as you care to walk out, so the whole place is like a giant, warm bathtub -safe and fun for the whole family. After swimming for a few hours, our 14-year old friend Garrett , who is much like a big brother to our kids (we sit by him each Sunday at church and the kids love him), led the boys on an adventure into the nearby mangrove trees lining the shore. I joined them to discover an entertaining new sport we named “mangrunting” or “mangranging.” In order to mangrange properly, you must climb across the interwoven, sometimes bouncy mangrove branches without touching the ground. Bending and crawling, grappling and maneuvering, high and low across the tangle of branches – The boys were in heaven. As for me, I don’t think I’ve climbed a tree like that for 20 years.  It was fun!

After exhausting our mangrange skills across an entire bundle of mangroves, we switched to crab hunting. After catching a few and depositing them into a watery hole dug by the boys, I was helping my son corner the next target, when the little critter clamped hard onto my finger, instantly releasing its appendage.  Boy did it sting! I tried to detach it but the claw was so firmly pinched that it would not budge. How can it do that when it’s not even connected to the crab’s body? I had to run back to camp to see if Mike could pull apart the pinchers with his brawny strength. But not until I took a picture first.

 A couple days ago, a crazy storm descended on our apartment. The rain and wind were so heavy and the lightening seemed to be crashing right on top of us. I walked out on the balcony to watch for a bit and was shocked to see hail bouncing off the railing. Hail in Malaysia?? I looked it up and apparently it does happen a few times a year. A bit later, I walked into the bathroom to drop something off and as I left, an enormous crash of thunder rattled the house and I experienced something I never have before. I heard the bathroom window wiggle and squirm with electricity! Like the buzzing electricity was trying to get in! After that, we had the kids gather far away from any windows, into the middle of the living room and wait out the storm, which left as quickly as it came. 

Okay, now it’s time time to tell you about our Spring Break vacation last week and what a WILD adventure it was – half-filled with interesting, fun discoveries, the other half with shocks and unpleasant weirdness.

So, here’s the story:

Our destination was an island called Perhentian Kecil, known for its excellent scuba diving. We spent 2 days driving to the port town of Kuala Besut. When we finally arrived, we had to wait for our boat to arrive, so we ate lunch in the port town and while Mike and the boys got drinks, I took the girls to a little park by the bay. There were a group of about 10 young boys there, laughing and talking in Malay under a pavilion. They kept pointing at me and the girls, obviously talking about us. I waved at them with a smile and they all waved back excitedly, patting each other’s back and shouting “Oh!!!” A bit later, I was showing my youngest a giant grasshopper that had flown into a coconut tree and all the boys were laughing and talking about “Kelapa” which is coconut, obviously laughing at the fact that I was showing her the coconuts as if they were some amazing wonder. I tried to remember some Malay and said, “Tak kelapa, ada Pepijak” Which (I hope) means, “not coconut, there is a bug.” Then they all repeated, “no coconut!! No coconut!!” and I said “Ada Pepijak - Panggil ‘bug’ dalam ingres” (there’s a bug, it’s called “bug” in English). The tallest boy, trying to figuring out what I was saying repeated “BUG!” Then they all kept saying “Kelapa – bug!” like the word for “coconut” in English was “bug.” Oh well, I just laughed along… A little while after Mike and the boys had returned, the group of Malay boys surprised us when each of them mounted adult-sized motorbikes and rumbled away. They had to be like 10 years old! I waved at them as they left and the smiles on their faces as they waved back were positively beaming, haha.

 At last, our ferry arrived, so we loaded our baggage onto the small speed boat and took the 40 minute ride to Perhentian Kecil Island.  When we got there, we saw just how small the island was – probably not even a mile long. Just a little turquoise bay, a short stretch of beach (called Coral Beach) and a row of shops and small-scale hotels. Our resort came into view instantly as it was the closest to the dock. The collection of chalets (small wooden cabins propped up on stilts to avoid flooding) looked beautiful nestled up on the hill among the rainforest trees and vines. We would have a beautiful view of the ocean - This was going to be so fun! 

Let me just pause the story a moment to mention that I had told Mike when we first moved here to Malaysia, that one of my bucket list items while living here was to stay in a resort inside the jungle, among the trees and wildlife. I always wanted to know what it would be like and it just seemed like it would be so adventurous and fun. So in answer to that request, this resort was what Mike had booked us, and from first glance, it looked just perfect.

We all exited the ferry and walked our luggage up the steep ramp to our resort. After checking in at the front office, we were led to our chalet. We walked along an elevated boardwalk, surrounded by tropical plants and trees to our little wood cabin chalet, number 501. It looked so cozy! The attendant handed us our key and wished us well. We opened the door.

We looked around. Okay…Hmm…Well, okay…The room was poorly lit and had odd pockets of space here and there which meant the walls hid many dark mysterious corners and holes. The lights that were present were dull.

The interior was wood, which was chipped, cracked, and stained. The drapes were dirty. There were thick layers of dust throughout the room - you could smell it swirling thick in the air as we turned on the fan. While the brochure we picked up at the front lobby showed a shiny, bright room boasting cable television, the actual T.V. in our room didn’t even turn on. But alas, at least the sheets were clean, and there was air conditioning. Also, we were relived to find as we turned on the shower in the bathroom,  that the water was hot and stayed hot consistently (at previous hotels we’ve visited here, that wasn’t so). 

Okay, we thought, not great, but we’ve had worse (at the already-mentioned previous hotels). We were going to try to make this work.  

So, we unpacked our bags and went back outside to explore the private beach that our resort provided us. A wooden staircase led down to the water.  On our dissension, we were startled by the movement of a small monitor lizard chomping on some garbage a few feet away – a foreshadow of what would come in the following days.   

The water was beautiful and clear. We took turns using our snorkeling masks and saw many gorgeously colored fish and even some coral right near shore. There were rainbow colored parrot fish, vivid green fish with bright purple fins, yellow striped fish, and cute little blue fish that kept nipping at my arms when I stayed still for a few moments. It was awesome!

After swimming, we took the kids back to our chalet and showered. Mike and the boys went to find us food for dinner. While they were gone, I kept hearing a peculiar sound around our room. Clicking noises – lots of them. I almost didn’t want to know what they were because I had my suspicions. But I decided to follow the clicks to see what I’d find. I heard them in one of the walls where there were dark discolorations in the wood. I gently moved my hand along one of these discolorations and it cracked instantly, so that I could see what was inside. I looked in and saw hundreds of wriggling bugs squirming jam packed together, clicking loudly. EWWWWWWW! What were they??? My first thought was termites. I looked them up on the internet and yes, that seemed to match. But how many were there? Were they wiggling just under the surface of ALL the walls in this cabin? There were certainly discolorations in the wood all around the cabin. Could we sleep hearing their little clicks surrounding us? I google searched termite problems at our resort and found a review talking about how termites left wood shavings on their bed at night, but that this was a “first world problem” so they dealt with it. Well maybe this was to be expected in a jungle resort then. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal and we could deal with it. At least termites weren’t harmful to humans and at least the ones in our room weren’t making messes on our bed (at least that I could see).  As I was pondering these things, the power suddenly went out in our cabin and it was pitch black. “Hey, what’s happening?” said the girls who were playing on their kindles oblivious to their mom’s discoveries. I walked back towards them in the darkness and slammed my foot into the invisible step towards their beds. “YOUCH!!!” Grabbing my throbbing foot, I told the girls through gritted teeth all would be okay, and suddenly the lights came back on.

When Mike came back, I quietly told him about the infestation so the kids didn’t hear. I also told him about the power outage. It was late and the kids were hungry and tired. He talked to the management who said we could have another room the next day, so we decided one night with termites couldn’t be so bad.

We ate dinner outside at the table and chairs on our patio as to not attract more bugs indoors. Shortly, it began to rain- a heavy, Malaysian monsoon-type rain, so we quickly finished our food and got ready for bed indoors.

Our youngest went to bed instantly and we nestled her in a makeshift bed made of two comfy chairs and layers of blankets.

As we were getting the other 3 to bed, however, I moved toward the TV with another blanket and from out of one of the dark, mysterious corners, the biggest spider I’ve ever seen indoors came flashing out. It moved lightning fast as if it was roller blading up the wall, rather than crawling. Instantly the kids were gasping and jumping into a corner. The first words any of us heard was from our spider expert son, who said, “That’s a banana spider! It’s one of the most venomous spiders in the world!” Not a good thing to hear at this moment. 

 

The spider stopped on the ceiling, waited a moment, and then began gliding all over the room again at alarming speed, while we shrieked and held our breath.

“It’s moving toward my baby!” said our 5-year old.  “No it’s not, our baby is safe,” I reassured her, but inside I was like “AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!” Finally it seemed to find a cozy place near the curtains where it stayed put.

Mike and I looked at each other

 “Should we move to the new room tonight?”

“Yes. We should.”

So in the night, in the heavy downpour, while I packed and the kids crouched on the bed, our good daddy moved all our suitcases and belongings into the new room down the resort neighborhood.

The new room was still dirty, but it was bigger and it didn’t have termites or a giant spider (that we could see), unfortunately we discovered the next day however, that this new room didn’t have even a drop of hot shower water, but I guess you win some, you lose some. (By the way, I took a picture of that giant spider and posted it on a spider identification group that I’m apart of and found that it was a harmless huntsman spider which was SUPER relieving to hear. That whole “most venomous spider” comment by a certain little boy of mine really had me freaking out …)

In the morning, we went to breakfast table and saw that the table cloth had been used by several others and not cleaned. The next morning, it looked the exact same – the same table cloth, AH! Haha. The power had continued to go out every 2 hours each day, which meant the air conditioning popped on and off, heating up the room. After 2 sweaty nights of this, Mike had had enough (that man does not like humidity) and we decided to switch hotels altogether.

The new hotel was packed between other shops and hotels and boy was it so much better than our first chalets on the jungle-y hill. While Mike and I had to be in 2 separate, unconnected rooms, they were so clean, well lit, and had no creepy dark corners filled with dust and unknown creatures inside. Also the showers had hot water which was amazing. On the downside: The power still went out, but only 3 times a day and you just had to remember to switch the AC back on after it happened. Apparently power outages were an island-wide thing because all of Perhentian power works off generators, so that couldn’t be avoided.

The only bug problems we encountered in this new hotel were lots of mosquitoes, some black/red ants in the bathroom and also…

So one night, I stayed up late reading Harry Potter after the girls had fallen asleep. As I was reading on the bed, I saw from the corner of my eye something big and black move across the floor. I looked up from my book and saw the biggest cockroach I’d ever seen – imagine what a jungle cockroach would like like - the kind that are in all the movies, you know, that are enormous and fly. It starting darting away from my view. “Oh no you don’t!” I said aloud as I slammed my Harry Potter book down on it. After a few good smacks it was dead. Ick!

Okay, so aside from all the hotel fiascos, we did enjoy our trip! (And you know me, I sort of like the adventure of fiascos anyway-as long as there are no serious injuries involved). The beach there was absolutely gorgeous. Mike and I both took turns doing a refresher course on scuba diving while we were there, while the other stayed with the kids. Then the next day, we took turns going on a second dive. We both got to dive among beautiful coral reefs and saw huge, beautiful fish of all colors. We also saw sting rays, clown fish dancing in anemone, puffer fish, and scorpion fish – one of the most toxic fish in the ocean (and you can barely recognize them with how camouflaged they are –yikes).

 

It was funny, before going diving, my dive guide was explaining all the different creatures we might see.  I asked him if anything was venomous. He replied, “EVERYTHING is venomous.” Okay…Needless to say, I was sure not to touch a thing while I was underwater.

My first dive was a little nerve wracking. It had been 10 years since my last dive and there was A LOT I didn’t remember. The refresher course felt very brief to me and before I knew it, I was pulling on my vest and we were riding on a boat into the ocean. My entry into the water was very rough. After dropping backwards from the boat, I was so eager to float that I kicked myself into some sort of back flip underwater before surfacing. After chilling out a bit, me, my guide, and one other guy getting his refresher descended about 15 feet underwater. There on the sandy ocean floor, we practiced skills like taking our breathing apparatus out, letting it go, and finding it again, letting water into our goggles and blowing it out, and finding the perfect buoyancy. After we passed our skills, we explored the nearby corals filled with so many beautiful fish big and small.

 My second dive, I was much more comfortable entering the water and simply fell back and relaxed until I naturally floated upright – much better. This time, we dove about 60 feet to a 3-ship wreck. On the way down and all outside the ships, I was engulfed by enormous schools of fish. It was so amazing floating in the middle of a swirling fish tornado!

Mike dived about 2 years ago while he was traveling in Africa, so he was a bit more comfortable than I had initially been. His two dives were in corals and he loved seeing so many different kinds of fish.

Another day, I took the boys on a snorkeling trip where we saw sea turtles, explored another gorgeous coral world, and then finally – black tip reef sharks! At first, we didn’t see any sharks, but thanks to our awesome guide, Captain Joe, we spotted 3 or 4 swimming fast along the reef.

In between scuba diving and eating meals at the local restaurants, we were swimming in the crystal clear ocean, snorkeling, and playing at the beach. There were beautiful shells there and the water was the perfect temperature.

Another interesting thing about the island was how many monitor lizards there were lounging around. On my way back to the hotel from my second dive, there was an E-NOR-MOUS one blocking my path with a giant wad of raw meat in its mouth. A smaller lizard sat at its side. They both stared at me. I decided to jump a fence to short cut through the neighboring restaurant rather than walk through those guys. I did stop behind the restaurant wall to look down on them while they continued to eat garbage though. 

 

One morning as our whole family was walking along the beach, a couple local guys were chasing a big monitor lizard around their restaurant seating. They each held long, heavy poles and were running around swinging hard at the giant, laughing as if they were playing a fun sport. Their poles thudded against the ground as the lizard darted under chairs, around trees, and in circles trying to avoid their blows.  In its panicked escape it bolted right past us fleeing into the jungle. I didn’t even know they could run that fast.

On the night before we left, we heard there was a fire show on Long Beach, which was on the other side of the island, so at 8:30pm, we took the kids and hiked the trail through the jungle to the other side. It took about 20 minutes. The trail had faint lights overhead and a lot of it wound alongside houses and rundown resorts, while the rest ran through jungle. It was beautifully eerie walking through the trees at night. The stars were crisp and bright. As we walked through the hotel portions, we saw Perhentian Island Rock Geckos – plump and colorful all along the buildings. They are amazingly big, have neat markings, and from what I’ve looked up, rare (only found on the island I think). So that was cool! 

When we reached the other side of the island, we walked along the waves and found the fire show. Kids who looked like they were around 8 or 10 were spinning fire sticks in the air. There were adults too, doing all sorts of neat tricks, while we all watched. It was awesome. The night wind from the ocean and the fire dancing made for a pretty special memory with our little family. (The walk back got extremely sweaty carrying the girls however). 

On our last day, we all went to the beach one more time for a final swim. We said goodbye to Captain Joe and our friends at the scuba shop as we walked to the ferry. We waved goodbye to the island as our boat sped back to the port town.

The van ride home felt so comfortable. It was seriously the quickest 6 ½ hour drive of our lives. Mike and I determined that it was because we were all subconsciously relieved to have a safe, secure area, free from heat and bugs. Except, that wasn’t quite true…On the way home, I kept noticing ants inside the van, along the dashboard. Not until we made our first pit stop did I understand why. When I opened the van door to get out, there was an explosion of ants inside the door hinge. Hundreds of ants were pouring out of it and into the van. I jumped out and started swiping them away. They fell off and starting climbing up my legs and more kept appearing out of the side of the door. It took me several minutes to swish most of them off. I guess wherever Mike had parked the van while at Kuala Besut must’ve been on an ant hill and while we were vacationing on the island, the whole colony decided to crawl up into hinge of the passenger door, so that with every pit stop we made, and every time I opened the door again, more came running out in all directions.

Yep, so that was our trip. Super cool and a little crazy… One thing is certain: Now we can say we know what it’s like to stay at a hotel in the middle of the jungle and it was definitely an adventure!

Welcome, 2022

The other day, I thought of another benefit of wearing Malaysian-style swim suits: you don’t have to shave. It just keeps getting better…

Our van arrived a couple weeks ago. We haven’t seen it for a year and a half – since we left Germany. I was just getting used to driving on the right side of the car, using the turn signal on the right of the steering wheel. Now I’m back to the left side of the car, and back to activating the windshield wipers when I want to make a turn.

That’s okay, I’ll get used to it again. With my orthodontic appointments across town and weekly vision appointments for one of my kids, I have lots of driving practice. You’d think with all this practice, I’d be able to stop missing so many turns by now. But nope. The i-phone map, Google map, my own GPS – Every one of them aren’t 100% in sync with the reality of what’s going on with the roads OR the signs on the roads. There’s so many discrepancies between what you hear and see on the map that’s guiding you, the signs you are reading, and the real-life roads in front of you, that many times you have to guess which road to take. And I’ve noticed something funny. I have about a 100% probability of choosing the wrong road. It’s like a special gift I have. About a week ago, I took one of those wrong roads that led me down an underground tunnel. I realized it was the wrong route the moment I entered. The tunnel seemed to go on forever – curve after curve, mile after mile, minute after minute with no exits in site. I had to take some serious deep breaths that day, trying to resist frustration.

Just before Christmas, we took a trip to a nearby resort island called Langkawi. It was beautiful, peaceful, and a great adventure. We took a mangrove tour where we walked through a cave full of bats and watched wild eagles feed. We visited two wildlife parks where we saw pretty birds, fed baby crocodiles and held a python. We all went kayaking in the ocean, swam in the pools, hunted for pretty shells, and enjoyed the beach in front of our hotel.

 One of the most exciting parts of the trip was a story I shared on Facebook – if you already heard it, you may want to skip ahead after the spider picture.

While at the Crocodile park, our son stopped to rest. Just as he was about to sit down, something fell on his neck/shoulder from the tree above and quickly crawled inside his shirt near the back of his shoulder. He was so scared that he froze for what he said was about a minute. He didn’t know what in the world was hiding in there! He tried to get our attention without moving but we were ahead of him with the other kids and didn’t realize what was happening. Slowly, he peaked inside his shirt but couldn’t see anything since it was behind his shoulder. He even gently put his hand on “the thing” over his shirt to feel what it might be. Well, the moment he took a step forward, “the thing” made itself known. This big, hairy guy shot out from the sleeve of his shirt, onto his arm, and then leaped onto a nearby wall.

“Mom! Mom! A giant tarantula just jumped out of my shirt! I was so scared! It fell from the tree and crawled in my shirt right here and then jumped on the wall. Do you believe me mom? I’m telling the truth!” I inspected the wall where my son said the spider jumped to and sure enough, there it was.

 So I guess big, hairy spiders can fall on you and hide out in your shirt here in Malaysia. Okay, that’s cool. 

We got home from Langkawi right before Christmas. The same night we arrived, our apartment held a Christmas caroling event. A few weeks prior, I had learned that every year, people in our apartment sang carols just before Christmas, but that this year, those who had been in charge previous years had moved. Someone asked if anybody knew how to sing or was good with music who could organize it this year and lead the choir. Now, I do love to sing, and I have been in a fair number of choirs, but I definitely didn’t feel qualified to lead one. Well, a couple weeks passed and after no one else said anything about it, I realized, something is better than nothing, right? So, I sent out an invitation for prospective carolers.

We had I think around four practices, down in the parking garage. The first night of practice, a few people showed up with their kids. The second night, more came. By the last practice, there were several adults and many kids excited to sing with their friends. There was a beautiful, magical Christmas spirit among us as we sang about Jesus and Santa and practiced simple dance moves while shaking jingle bells.

When it came time to “perform,” we all gathered outside, in front of the apartment swimming pool, where anyone could pop out of their balcony and listen. We sang 10 carols. People who didn’t plan on it, heard the music and were led out by their kids to participate. It was so much fun. And one of the sweetest Christmas experiences I think I’ve ever had. 

Christmas with the kids was really wonderful (My favorite part was watching them act out the nativity). One thing I have noticed about toys here in Malaysia however…They are cheap, but boy are they cheap, ya know what I mean? Let’s just say there are already more broken toys from Christmas than I care to think about. 

 

The kids had a 4 week break from school for Christmas. Four weeks is a LONG time when husbands go back to work after a week and a half, but we had fun reading books, going to parks, playing with the Christmas toys that survived, and swimming in our pool.

Speaking of swimming, we also visited our first waterpark here in Malaysia, called Sunway Lagoon. It was so big! There were tons of pools, waterslides, and attractions. I had a realization there about how my kids are growing up fast – they are big enough to ride their own tube down a waterslide now and we can enjoy these kinds of things together…I’m loving this stage of parenthood! A cool part of the waterpark was how the slides were built among the jungle, with trees and twisty vines hanging down them.

Last week, a friend and I went for a little walk around a golf course famous for its monkey sightings. Toward the end of the walk, after seeing lots of monkeys, a bunch of turtles, and two big monitor lizards lurking in the river, we saw a tree bearing fruit that looked like mangos.  We found one on the ground, took a picture and looked up what it was. The tree was nicknamed “suicide tree” because of the potent poison found in its fruit – so potent that it’s famously been used to murder people and commit suicide. Holy MOLY. Malaysia does NOT play around. 

 

 

Yesterday, we spent the day with friends at Cunang beach, about 1 ½ hours away. It’s a small beach, but we love it because it’s not well known and never very busy. It’s also more wild than other beaches, which means more creatures to discover. The tide was very low, so we dropped off our food and supplies at an empty beach canopy, and walked the loooong trek towards the sea. After crab and critter hunting along the wet sand, and swimming in the waves, we headed back to our stuff for a snack. As we approached, a bag of goldfish crackers crashed from the treetops spilling crackers all over the ground. Uh oh. What was going—MONKEYS! They had discovered our food and were pilfering shamelessly. We chased them off and took inventory of what was left. Apparently, they liked our friend’s food, because they ate most of it. Luckily, there were still snacks in their cooler left untouched – good thing we came back when we did!

After snacking on the remaining food, the men stayed to guard our stuff while my friend and I took the kids exploring among the muddy mangrove trees. Last time we came, that’s where we found a tangle of dog-faced water snakes, so we ventured out to see if there were any there now.

Right away, we found another dog-faced snake slithering in an inlet among an abandoned net. We changed course and decided to trudge through the mud for awhile, which was so deep that it slurped us up to our knees in some places. We found a nice spot in the tangle of mangrove roots where the kids could chase colorful crabs (bright blue and yellow) to their hearts’ content.

After digging deep holes, the kids found lots of interesting creatures, like a giant-sized mud guppy (I didn’t know they came that big!) a shrimp, a big ‘ol lobster, and of course, countless crabs of all varieties. 

Eventually, everyone had come to see what the kids had discovered except for Mike and our youngest daughter. They were happy to hold down the fort, playing in the sand, snuggling in the beach towels (and keeping the monkeys away). Well, as the rest of us were busy thwonking through the mud, I got a call from Mike. The reception was bad, but I did hear something along the lines of “The monkeys are getting more aggressive,” so we headed back toward the camp. Mike was sure happy to see us. Before we arrived the monkeys were apparently closing in, starting to grab things, and not seeming to care when Mike tried to chase them away. Now that all of us were together, the monkeys stayed away for good.

After the beach, we got what I consider the best coconut shakes in the country  – thick ice cream milkshakes with ground up coconut pieces from a shop called “Morib Coconut Shake”– crazy delicious.

Anyway, that’s what’s been going on here the last few weeks. It’s a new year with lots of adventures to look forward to. We just signed the kids up for karate classes once a week. I just signed up for tennis lessons once a month. Mike is busy with work and enjoying being able to spend time with family in between. Life is good and we are happy! 

 

Cameron Highland Spiders, Fancy Balls, and More

Living as diplomats abroad is a weird mix of experiences. You attend cocktail parties and balls with ambassadors, you live next door to your coworkers, you go to doctor appointments at the embassy, your house is filled with government-provided furniture, your kids attend schools you would never be able to afford without State Department subsidies, you get a variety of wild driving experience, and the list goes on and on.

I am just really enjoying soaking all of these experiences up and observing it all in my own little corner. Life is such an interesting adventure, you know?

A couple weekends ago, we took our first overnight vacation here in Malaysia. We drove 3 hours to a place called the Cameron Highlands. Known for its cooler temperatures, high elevation, unique flora and fauna, tea farms, and strawberry fields, the Cameron Highlands is a popular tourist destination.

In places like this, hotels seem to be in one of two categories: 1) Cheap and dumpy, and 2) Expensive and nice. There doesn’t seem to be much in-between.

Not wanting to spend a fortune on lodging, we found the most expensive, best reviewed hotel in the cheap, #1 category, a place I’ve since named, “the Spider house.”

When we arrived to our home away from home, we made some interesting observations:

-We couldn’t drink the water unless we boiled it.

-The walls were covered in all sorts of interesting stains.

-The dishes that were provided didn’t appear to be clean.

-The bedding didn’t appear to be clean.

-It was cold

-There was no heater

-One ultra-thin blanket lay across each bed

-Ceiling corners were filled with tangles of large, winged bugs caught in cobwebs

-The house was filled with spiders, including one especially large mama in the living room, above the T.V. (The kids named her “Sneaker.” Thanks, Kids.)

I walked to the lobby and asked for more blankets. The woman at the desk said comforters weren’t provided, but that I could rent them for 50 rm per comforter per night. I returned to the room blanket-less.

A friend warned us about this– how the hotels up there were without frills and commodities. So, we took a deep breath, killed a few spiders, and dressed the kids in thick sweatpants for bed.

That night, after checking for bedbugs (no signs, thank goodness), I pulled the sheet back to climb into bed. Near my pillow, I discovered a wad of black hair.

I don’t know what else to say about that.

..

The next morning, we brought a few of our *grievances* to the manager, who responded apathetically but sent someone to spiff up our room a bit.

Meanwhile, we left to explore the Cameron Highlands! Our first stop was “The Mossy Forest,” an apparently beautiful hike up a mountain road. We had been warned that Said Mountain Road was slightly treacherous, but we decided give our gutless, 2-wheel drive Toyota Picnic the challenge anyway. 

 Boy, was that road a challenge. After about a mile, we hit a patch of potholes, gravel, and bumps that we thought would surely deflate our Mossy Forest dreams, if it didn’t deflate a tire first. On the ascent up this bouncy, air-popping section, we met a car coming down. Unfortunately the road was so narrow, we had to back down to the side of the road, stopping at a steep and gravely incline.  

When the car passed us, Mike attempted to get the Toyota up the incline, but the wheels spun against the gravel. We couldn’t move forward. We had backed up in such a precarious way that behind us was now a deep gulch. We couldn’t move backward. We were stuck.

Mike told me to get the kids out of the car. We all gathered to the side of the road while the kids said, “I’m scared!” and “I’m going to say a prayer!”

“Yes, let’s say a prayer that Daddy can get the car back on the road.”

Then we watched as Daddy put the car in low gear and gunned it. Wheels spun, the engine roared, the car grunted and gripped at the gravel, and lurched itself up the hill to where asphalt waited. Thank goodness!

We hopped in the car and continued up the windy dindy mountain turns.

The Mossy Forest was beautiful. A wooded pathway led us through pitcher plants, a misty mountain lookout, a giant centipede, and lots of jungle. When we started the hike, the jungle was quiet and cool. By the end, it was warm and sunny, bringing the jungle to life with noisy cicadas and other insects. 

On the much smoother ride down the mountain, we passed several wild dog packs hanging out on the side of the road. They looked so friendly, all tails wagging  and trotting along. You could tell they were very used to human interaction, and I almost wanted to pet them, but knowing wild dogs can carry rabies here, we thought it best to leave them alone.

Next we visited a tea plantation.  The tea plants lining the hillsides were beautiful. We ate lunch at the Boh Tea Center, bought some herbal tea, and came across the biggest millipede I’ve ever seen in my life. All of us were mesmerized.

Next, we stopped at a small carnival since the kids were begging, and enjoyed watching them have fun on the rides. We all rode the Ferris Wheel together – that thing seemed awfully old, rusty, creaky, and freaky, but we made it safely back to the ground and everyone was happy. 

 

We ended the night going to our first night market in Malaysia. It was packed with street food that smelled delicious. After buying all sorts of fruit, goodies, and fried foods, we returned to our spider house, which we were pleased to discover looked a bit cleaner (and the sheets had been changed). 

That night, we decided to take showers (we were too scared to the night before). The hot water lasted about 2 minutes, so we kept them pretty short. 

Speaking of hotel room adventures, we kept discovering all sorts of interesting bugs in and near our room. It was so fascinating.  

The next day, we attempted a hike through the jungle. We found the trail to what was supposed to be one of the “easiest” hikes in the area. It started off in a field of beautiful wild flowers buzzing with bird-sized bumble bees. It quickly turned into a tunnel of overgrown vines you had to climb through. We didn’t last long before kids were protesting, but we enjoyed the echoing call to prayer from a nearby mosque on the way back. 

 

Other destinations in the Highlands included:

-The Lavender Garden, which had lavender ice cream and a giant castle

-The Bee Farm, filled with boxes of beehives and beautiful flowers

-Cactus Valley, filled with cactus and flowers

-A cool, Chinese Temple

-The morning Market, where we ate popcicles and rode on more rides

 On our drive home from the Highlands, we stopped at a small rest area to prevent a repeat vomiting incident. There were some interesting wildlife hanging out (or up) nearby. What a fitting way to end our adventurous trip. 

 

Another notable event from the past couple weeks was Mike and I attending our first Marine Ball. We got to dress up fancy and stay up past midnight – two very rare occurrences.

After checking into the hotel where the ball was taking place, we mingled for a bit and then entered the dining room where the marine presentation took place. A marine ball celebrates the birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps, so the presentation highlighted its purpose and history as well as honoring marines present. I really liked that and couldn’t help but feel proud that my dad was a marine who fought in war courageously, and was awarded the Purple Heart.

Next, we were served a three-course meal, followed by dancing for the rest of the evening.

What kind of music will there be at a black tie embassy event? I wondered this in the days leading up to the ball. Mike and I practice our fox trot, swing, and cha-cha, just to be prepared.

Well, there was one cha-cha song, which we had a nice time dancing to. The rest of the night was techno music, songs like “it’s getting hot in here,” and weirdly, a significant number of NSYNC hits. It was like traveling back into junior high, (but with drunk people).   

I had a lot of fun dancing with my girlfriends in our own little corner while our husbands watched from afar. What a different, fun, glamorous experience – definitely something you don’t do every day – or even every 10 years.

 

It’s Christmas time here in Malaysia. The warmest Christmas we’ve ever experienced! I’ve heard of people cranking the AC up in their houses and dressing in warm clothes to feel more festive. I may try that. But with the Christmas tree up, stockings hung, lights gleaming through the window, pine scented candles, and Christmas music playing in the background, it’s pretty merry and bright around here. 

It also helps that our home finally feels “complete.” The decorating is done. The pictures are hung. We feel cozy and comfortable in our Malaysia home. 

That's it for now. See you in the new year!