Borneo

Malaysia is split into two parts, peninsular Malaysia (where Kuala Lumpur is located) and Borneo Malaysia. This past week our family visited Kuching in the state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Borneo is the 3rd largest island in the world and is made up of 3 countries: Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei. Malaysia takes up the top quarter of the island and includes the states of Sarawak and Sabah. 

Visiting Borneo was a wonderful change from the high rise landscape and hectic pace of Kuala Lumpur. Kuching means cat in Malaysian and as you can probably guess, their  city mascots are cats and you can see them everywhere. Kuching has a population of 1 million, but consists mostly of low rise buildings and lots of green outside the city. So we spent most of our time outside the city ; ).

In the week that we spent visiting Kuching, we went to Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (semenggoh wildlife rehabilitation centre), Kubah National Park (http://www.sarawakforestry.com/htm/snp-np-kubah.html), Bako National Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bako_National_Park), and Sarawak Cultural Village (http://www.scv.com.my/main.asp). At Semenggoh, we viewed wild orangs during an afternoon feeding. At Kubah, we took a walk to a waterfall through the forest (no bugs?!?). After a taxi and boat ride to Bako, we viewed all kinds of great wildlife (poisonous tree and sea snakes, wild hogs, macaques, proboscis monkeys, a kingfisher, mud hoppers, and one clawed crabs). Finally, on our last full day in Sarawak, we walked to the Sarawak Cultural Village, right next door to our beach resort. The SCV is a living history village showing some of the indigenous Borneo tribes including the Iban, the Orang Ulu, the Penan, and the Bidayuh. Amidst the hot, humid jungle walks, we ate good food, walked along the Sarawak river, enjoyed a beach (on the South China sea), played some table tennis, put-put golf, and chess (Gabe), and Madeline got an air brushed tattoo!!! All in all, a great week.

Here is the Borneo Post for the last full day we spent in Kuching (take note of the first article about cats) http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/10/25/ferocious-thief/. This article might ring a bell with all the Davisites, just replace the crocs with coyotes...The most ironic part of this was that the article immediately next to the cat article was a piece about a group releasing baby crocodiles in an attempt to repopulate the crocodile population!

Hope you enjoy the pictures...  

Kuching (Cat)

Damai Beach, South China Sea

Madeline w/new tattoo

Orangutan at Semenggoh

Orangutan at Semenggoh

Gabe on rooftop pool deck

outdoor pool shower (I want one!)

meditating in rooftop pool

praying to the air con god

Ritchie the orangutan at Semenggoh

heart in nature (for Jan)

trail at Kubah

trail at Kubah

end of waterfall trail at Kubah

Madeline and Steph at waterfall

boat to Bako

sandstone at Bako

iron rich waters at Bako

tree viper

mangrove forest in the South China sea

mangrove roots searching for air

wild hog

adolescent male proboscis monkey

proboscis monkey eating tree fungus

too hot even for the hogs!

wild hogs at the South China seas with Mount Santubong in the distance

trail at Bako

roots everywhere on the trail

dreamy macaque

poisonous sea snake sneaking up on mud hoppers

Gabe in chess heaven at Damai Beach resort

bungaolow at Damai Beach resort

put-put golf at Damai resort

Sarawak Cultural Village

inside tribal longhouse

longhouse decorations

Iban tribal woman

longhouse

Penan nomadic Orang Ulu

welcome dance to the longhouse

longhouse decorations

Steph at Chinese longhouse

tribal Sarawak dances

hey, it's Madeline with the blow dart

Joe and the kids on Damai Beach on South China seas

No, Gabe didn't grow wings on his head

dinner overlooking South China sea

tribal swingset!

Orang-ulu batik and wood carvings we bought

Thunderstorms

When weather patterns in your country vary between rainy season and monsoon season, it is a good thing if you like rain. Madeline has always loved rain in California. She especially loved walking or running in the rain. In California, the rain brings warmth, but in Malaysia, rain generally brings a welcome reduction in the humidity and temperature.

Although I love the rain, I prefer to stay inside and read a good book on a comfy couch while listening to the rain and watching the rain. In colder climates, a warm fire would also figure into this picture.

Gabe and I were enjoying an afternoon thunderstorm several days ago while having snacks at the dining table. Every once in a while, a loud crack of thunder would cause us both to raise our eyes to look at each other and grin at the incredible sound that was happening around us. Looking outside, you could barely see across the street, the rain was so heavy. We were both thrilled to have a secure, water tight home! And Madeline was happy to be able to dance in the rain and do rain angels on the pool deck;). 

Madeline, dancing in Malaysian rain

Megamalls

As far as shopping goes, I feel like a fish out of water. When I moved to Chicago many years ago, I had the same feeling. Then, I had been a non-meat eater, moving to the meat packing capital of the U.S. But I found my way and found some great food along the way. 


 In Malaysia, where there are more stores and megamalls (200-500 stores under one roof) than I can count and shopping is the country’s major past time, I have not yet found my comfort zone. I continue to look for likeminded individuals to participate in cultural events and I look for more modestly sized malls to do my shopping in.

Here are two megamalls in KL:

www.midvalleygardens.com.my 430 stores

www.suriaklcc.com.my ???stores, 6 floors of stores

KLCC

in front of KLCC and the Petronas twin towers

Fall

What does it mean to live in a place without seasons? Since we arrived in Malaysia in summer and it was hot, all was good in my world. But now that it is mid-October and there is no lessening of heat and no shortening of our days, I feel a little discombobulated especially since I love fall so much. It is the relief of cool days and nights after many days, weeks, and months of hot summer that refreshes and rejuvenates me. It is the pumpkin patch and the corn maze that energize me and remind me of all the falls past. It is PUMPKIN PIES!!! It is Halloween. It is preparing the garden for winter. It is making soups and stews and warming foods. It is fires in the hearth. And it is my birthday. 

Some of these things I will still be able to enjoy like pumpkin pies (now that I found some canned pumpkin ;)) and my birthday, of course! Pumpkin pie has always represented the fall as my birthday is at the end of October, just before Halloween. This year, pumpkin pie will be the entire representation of all the fall traditions I love as Halloween isn’t really celebrated here and neither corn (for corn stalks) nor pumpkins are grown here. I think I can do it ; ) By the way, a medium sized pumpkin here is $33!!! Guess I won’t be buying any pumpkins this year :( Enjoy your fall and have something pumpkiny for me ; ).

Below are some pumpkiny times from our past...

Steph's pumpkin

Madeline w/pumpkin vase

M at pumpkin patch/corn maze

the cutest pumpkin ever...

K, M, & G at the corn maze

the phantom and a mermaid

witch, wizard, and scare farmer...

And here are this year's fall pictures :

a coconut I found on the beach in Sarawak, Borneo, became my pumpkin this fall

Madeline's Halloween cat

steph's bday dinner at Laziz, a Mediterranean restaurant (yum!)

Kopitiam

A generation ago, when Malaysians still talked to most of their neighbors, they would often invite each other over for coffee and a chat. Today, Malaysians tend to have coffee at Kopitiams (Cafeterias) or in restaurants or coffee shops like Starbucks and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Coffee at the local shops can be as cheap as RM 1(30 cents), but as expensive as RM 15 for a specialty coffee at Starbucks or the Coffee Bean. 

Malaysia has their own style of offering coffee. Below are a few of the most common coffee options.

Kopi  is the standard coffee and includes sugar and milk-often sweetened condensed milk is the additive.

Kopi-O is coffee without milk (sugar is still included).  

Kopi kosong (plain) is without sugar (milk is still included). 

Kopi-O-kaw is unsweetened black coffee. 

Kopi-C has unsweetened evaporated milk.

Kopi-peng will get you an iced Kopi (or you can order Ais Kopi).

You can also order Kopi panas (hot) or ais (iced).

You can also order tea (teh) the same way as coffee. It’s quite surprising that people aren’t fat here considering how much sugar they enjoy in their coffees.

My experiences as an expat in Malaysia is that every group you join has weekly or monthly coffees to socialize. In Mont' Kiara where I live, they congregate at the Coffee Bean where there is always a line out the door.

Kopi

Kopi (notice the condensed milk at the bottom)

Masjid Negara, the National Mosque

Joe and I visited Masjid Negara, the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur. It is the main place of worship in KL for the Malay Muslim population. Muslims make up >60% of Malaysians, around 17 million people. This mosque can accommodate 15,000 people for prayer and welcomes non-Muslims at other times. There are many mosques around Malaysia and although you may not see a mosque nearby, you are likely to hear the call to prayer which happens 5 times a day from loud speakers at the top of towers at all mosques.

To visit a mosque, you must time your visit not to coincide with prayer time. We lucked out and entered the mosque just before the midday call to prayer. We left our shoes at the bottom of the stairs as requested and then I put the purple visitor's gown on. This gown is required clothing for all women (and men in shorts).  A tundung or hijab (headscarf) is also required apparel for all women. Fortunately, I had brought a head scarf with me so did not need to borrow one.

Below are some of the pictures of our visit:

prayer room

prayer room

steph in full muslim garb

donation container

National Mosque

visitors in purple

 muslim women & men eating separately 

mausoleum at mosque

Joe with muslim woman

Plants of Malaysia

I love tropical plants. I love the fragrances. I love the huge leaves. I love the palm trees.

On Thursday, Joe and I visited the Orchid and Hibiscus gardens in the Lake Gardens area of Kuala Lumpur. Hibiscus is the national flower of Malaysia and although both orchids and hibiscus are in bloom year round in this tropical climate, only the orchids were present in profusion. I was thrilled when I found a stall at the orchid garden selling potted orchids for RM 3 & 5 each ($1-1.60). Of course I had to buy 3 to put on our condo porch. They are easy to take care of as long as you know what to do. Orchids require filtered sun, high humidity, and weekly watering. Their planting material should be something very porous like coconut husks, bark, moss, or pebbles. I also learned that they like to be crowded in their pots. I am excited to be able to grow a plant that I wouldn’t normally grow at home. 

Here are some of the plants I am enjoying this year...

Hymenocalis caribaea (Carribean spiderlily)

ginger

Heliconia pendula

tropical fern

alocasia

my orchids

tropical foliage

frangipani (plumeria)

at the orchid garden

orchids at the orchid garden

orchids for sale

more orchids for sale

Joe captured a photo of this dragonfly at the hibiscus garden