A bit of culture shock I must say! It's pretty crazy to be in a modern, busy and hoppin city! We got to Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia yesterday and have been filling our time exploring the sites. Along with all the modern ameneties readily available (a 7-eleven store on every corner; nearly any american food chain you can think of) gi-normous shopping centers, come more expensive prices for everything..(Go figure! I guess the $7 guestrooms we're used to staying in Camboida for, are more like $20 places. Ah well---- we're on vacation and enjoying it!
This place is quite a site to see! This morning we got up early to get some tickets to go to the Petronas Twin Towers (The Kissing Towers)....which were completed in 1996; and at that time were the tallest buildings in the world. (Now Dubai is the winner, w/ NY's Freedom Tower running in 2nd). After that we strolled around town to the tourism center; then to 'Little India' in which they were having a huge sale bazaar... then had some really good indian food for lunch. Now we're breaking for a bit then this afternoon will head to a city forest tour - and then possibly to a movie in one of the 18-cinemas that is in the Mid-Valley- Mega Mall!
Last night we found an outdoor food bazaar in some alleys where we sampled many of the local foods and then we went to the Times Square building - which was quite the shopping center. I haven't seen a place like that in a long time; it had an imax, cinema, small amusement park and I believe 10 floors. Pretty spectacular.... AND SO very different from the current place we live in. - The Mall of America is probably bigger, but this was more condensed into a sky-scraper situation so the shops just seemed to go up and up and up!
It is a very modern and very clean city... and we'll enjoy our time here while we can. We're going to head up to one of the islands on the NE coast of the peninsula for a little snorkelling vacation followed by some time in the rainforest. Sounds like we'll sneak over to Singapore for a day or two as well. So far... so good! I'll try to keep posted!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
So tomorrow we’re heading off in an aero plane at 8:30am to go to Kuala Lumpur. We’re planning to do some sightseeing in Malaysia for the next two weeks and intend on spending some time in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and then some time exploring one of the main national forests on the peninsula (which includes some rainforest and great waterfalls) and then also rounding up the trip at some islands off the northeast coast. It should be good! It’s sort of an end-of-summer-before-school-starts-late-2nd-anniversary trip. We’re pretty excited to say the least! I’m sure I’ll have a few stories to tell once it’s all said and done. Until then, over and out….
The last few weeks
So Mid-August we headed down to the southwestern part of the country to a province named Takeo. The K3 (Kampuchea group 3) volunteers arrived last July and we were down there helping with their training. They brought 10 of us from K2 to observe their teaching practicum and give them feedback from our knowledge bank as we of course know everything there is to know about teaching English in this country. Well, maybe not quite; but we did our best to provide good advice. We were down there for a week and it was a nice (pc paid) way to get to see another part of this country, spend time with some other volunteers and not to mention meets the entire crew of new trainees.
Takeo seemed like a decent province. Getting down there from Phnom Penh involved an interesting bus with an interesting bus ride. It was a small; AC broken automobile, and no place for Will and me to put our bikes but the back row of seats. (Luckily they were empty; but we did have to pay half fare for them). We decided to travel cross country with our bikes as they would be useful. Which they were; but in the end we sort of felt like they might’ve been more of a hassle than they were worth. Oh well. Live and learn. Half way through the hot crowded bus ride, the bus had quit and several of the passengers got out to help push and jump start it. We got it goin and we were on the road again and made it to our final destination, Takeo Provincial town.
The provincial town was actually pretty decent. It was on a river and had a nice feel. Plus there was a Tela Mart (which we frequented to purchase tubs of ice-cream) AND there was a small restaurant called “My Burger” which served American food and in all honesty wasn’t too bad. The burgers really did have a decent flavor, with a toasted sesame bun and all…however the meat patty was really quite small. (like really small.) Nonetheless we ate them without complaint as a change up from the standard Khmer meal is always nice. They also had fried chicken which rivaled KFC, and they also had hot dogs. Not a bad little joint for a provincial town of this size.
After observing practicum we headed down to our friend Emily’s site to hold a sports and health clinic at her school. Overall it went pretty well. We covered the importance of stretching and warming up, practiced basketball drills as well as other games involving plenty of exercise, went on a nature hike in the mountains behind her school and followed up everything with a session on nutrition. The attendees were sort of young; but they had a blast the entire time AND they got free transportation to the high-school via horse cart. Quite a trip!
After that week finished up we headed down south with another PCV Matt to Kah Tonsay for a few relaxing days together hanging out with good company.
We finally made it all the way back up to our province and settled in only for a week and a half (enough time for me to finish my 2nd sewing project: a skirt) as well as finish up the summer session English course for teachers. Before we knew it, we were packing our bags to head out of town for one last hurrah of the summer… which I’m sure I’ll report on once we return. : )
That’s all for now til next time!
Takeo seemed like a decent province. Getting down there from Phnom Penh involved an interesting bus with an interesting bus ride. It was a small; AC broken automobile, and no place for Will and me to put our bikes but the back row of seats. (Luckily they were empty; but we did have to pay half fare for them). We decided to travel cross country with our bikes as they would be useful. Which they were; but in the end we sort of felt like they might’ve been more of a hassle than they were worth. Oh well. Live and learn. Half way through the hot crowded bus ride, the bus had quit and several of the passengers got out to help push and jump start it. We got it goin and we were on the road again and made it to our final destination, Takeo Provincial town.
The provincial town was actually pretty decent. It was on a river and had a nice feel. Plus there was a Tela Mart (which we frequented to purchase tubs of ice-cream) AND there was a small restaurant called “My Burger” which served American food and in all honesty wasn’t too bad. The burgers really did have a decent flavor, with a toasted sesame bun and all…however the meat patty was really quite small. (like really small.) Nonetheless we ate them without complaint as a change up from the standard Khmer meal is always nice. They also had fried chicken which rivaled KFC, and they also had hot dogs. Not a bad little joint for a provincial town of this size.
After observing practicum we headed down to our friend Emily’s site to hold a sports and health clinic at her school. Overall it went pretty well. We covered the importance of stretching and warming up, practiced basketball drills as well as other games involving plenty of exercise, went on a nature hike in the mountains behind her school and followed up everything with a session on nutrition. The attendees were sort of young; but they had a blast the entire time AND they got free transportation to the high-school via horse cart. Quite a trip!
After that week finished up we headed down south with another PCV Matt to Kah Tonsay for a few relaxing days together hanging out with good company.
We finally made it all the way back up to our province and settled in only for a week and a half (enough time for me to finish my 2nd sewing project: a skirt) as well as finish up the summer session English course for teachers. Before we knew it, we were packing our bags to head out of town for one last hurrah of the summer… which I’m sure I’ll report on once we return. : )
That’s all for now til next time!
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