Malaysia IS food!

Rewind two months and we come to my first time instructing a course! We went to briefing assuming we would be support as always but me and Alistair got taken into Syafris office and told we would be instructing a watch (15people) each with the help of Din and Fendy. Before instructing this course I thought I knew a lot about each activity and that instructing would be reasonably easy, how wrong I was! Its so difficult to keep the kids attention and make sure I'm one step ahead of the game. Most of the course went well, however the teachers on this particular course made life difficult for instructors by always intervening and telling the kids different meeting times to us. This also made it hard for us to gain the respect of the kids as teachers were always undermining us. My watch managed to lose their store key and a compass costing me 86ringgits! I learned a lot from this course and hope I get another opportunity like it to improve on my performance and there is a lot to improve on! The feedback forms made me laugh though, one kid commented

There should be less international instructors.

this particular kid was Indonesian and came from an international school! I had a rare free weekend and no plans so with 10minutes notice headed back to Alia's home in Ipoh. Her family are lovely, especially her mother who made me feel so welcome in her home. We visited multiple other family members who were equally nice. I got a full tour of Ipoh courtesy of Alia, her parents and her brother. We went to a couple of Buddhist temples, mostly situated in caves and have very colourful statues about (great for taking stupid pictures with!). We also went on a cave tour and visited Kellies Castle which was built by a Scot for his wife but she died before it was completed so the castle was left unfinished, still worth a visit although we were too stingy to pay the entry fee so just took pictures from outside! I'm pretty sure one day we had 5 meals, pretty standard in Malaysia, as Alistair said "Malaysia is food!" I had a great weekend getting to see another part of Malaysia, meeting Alias family and understanding more about malaysian culture. I also bought glow-in-the-dark stars so Libby and I can now stargaze before we go to sleep every night! We have Orions belt, the plough, north star, toilet star and light star among others! Back at OB and we're off on another training expedition. This time a kayak around Pangkor Island in two days. Heading up to Syawal took only 2hours, but once we got there we had to camp as participants so instead of our usual hammocks or dome tents we had to pitch a single tent made from a rope between two trees and tarpaulins over the top. Tents pitched, que the storm! Heavy rain threatened to flood our tent so mammoth trenches were dug, Libby hid under a wok and Alistair had a shower in the rain! Next day we started strong making good time, we didn't touch land for 6hours, only stopping for people to jump in the water to relieve themselves! And a mass capsize drill! The last little stint back to OB required good teamwork in each kayak to motivate those who were tired and sore but we all made it in one piece and without any fallouts! Habis for the moment! More to follow on Sunday (maybe)!

2013 begins...

Lets start at the very beginning, its a very good place to start... actually I'm going to start before the start! The last couple of days of December and 2012 were spent catching up with Libby, eating as much cheap and tasty Indian and Chinese food as our stomachs could handle and going to the cinema multiple times. We saw in the bells at the Rooftop Bar of Reggae Mansion with a view of the Petronas Towers. Drinks were drunk, party hats were decorated, games were played and Auld Lang Syne was sung. A very merry and cheery start to 2013! Until we were shown the pictures the boys had taken on the street, some admittedly hilarious others gruesome! The next few days were filled with films, food, films and food! Back at OB we were told there was going to be a staff cycling trip to the Cameron Highlands. 3am start! Going there is almost exclusively uphill on a road winding its way up through the jungle and tea and strawberry plantations! There were only a few extra bikes for PT'ers, practicals and those without a bike to use so we didn't cycle all 80km, some of the instructors did though! I think me and Libby did around 30km each and Alistair 40km! Up in the highlands though it is cold! Like camping out in Scotland in the Spring! But we were in hammocks, without sleeping bags. I literally wore all the clothes I had each night including my jacket, sarong and woolly hat, but was still cold! Aliff had the right idea, he had a thick, fluffy Reindeer suit! Libby had the wrong idea, she wore 3 sarongs, a woolly hat and a sleeping bag liner...during the day! We wandered round Brinchang and Tanah Rata and ate plenty of strawberries and ice cream and drunk some tea, all of which the Cameron Highlands are famous for. We didn't get to cycle back down (downhill all the way) because of "safety reasons" but hey ho we got to go to a tea plantation and run around between all the tea bushes! The rest a January was nice, I turned 18, did some training :O , had a staff training expedition doing Final Trek, seen Thaipuasm and my uncle and instructed my first course! My 18th wasn't quite as crazy as many others but I got birthday donuts, balloons and had a nice relaxing day, on a course! The Final Trek, also known as Hell trek, is a two day one night affair. It has steep, muddy hills, giant mosquitoes, leeches galore and no certain track for some of it! Day 1 wasn't too bad other than a disagreement about whether or not to follow a path that we found and the fact that most of the discussion was in Malay didn't help us, but hey we got over it and found the campsite! Day 2 was a lot more physically demanding, the hills were muddier and steeper, we had to cross a bog and we had 2 hills instead of one to climb. The worst part by far was the leeches though. The fact the hill is nicknamed Bukit Pacat, Leech Hill is bad enough. I'm not joking when I say that at one point I lifted the bottom of my trouser to find 15ish leeches on the one spot on my ankle!! Leeches are not my friend, apart from Liam (the Leech) he was cool. We rested in Pasir Bogak for a good while and then headed off up the last hill South Summit or 905. Easier than Leech Hill but finding the path is quite difficult. At one point the path leads through an abandoned hotel in the middle of the jungle, quite eerie! On the way down from the summit we accidentally disturbed a hornets nest so Alia, Shuek and Khairul all got stung. We three mat salleh couldn't help but be mat sallehs and go straight for a swim fully clothed when we reached Teluk Sekadeh! So refreshing! We headed down to KL the next weekend for Thaipuasm and so I could meet my uncle Edward. It was great seeing someone that I actually know and doing the touristy bits of KL! Went to KLCC to see the towers, tried to get Edward to eat proper Malay food but he's too chicken so stuck to western! We went up the Menara KL which is like 200m high and gives spectacular views of KL. Had a few drinks at Harrods and then Reggae Bar where we met Ali Hannah and Rianne again. Thaipuasm is probably the strangest thing I have ever witnessed. Its a Hindu festival celebrated on the full moon in the month Thai on the Tamil calendar. It is to commemorate when Parvati gave Murugan a spear to vanquish an evil demon. We went to Batu Caves to see devotees arriving after walking 15km with their kavadi (burden, so either carrying a small pot or carrying a big thing on their shoulders or some who pierce a spear through their tongue or cheeks, or have hooks in their body with weights hanging off). All devotees are in a trance like state as they have been fasting for 48days eating only Satvik food once a day. This was the scary part, they look straight through you as if there is nothing there and don't speak for the whole 15km. The final part is to walk up the 272 steps to the Cave Temple where they remove their burdens and pray. This felt like the hottest day we've had, there are over a million people visit the caves in one day so it was very crowded! Okay long enough post for now! I'll be back with the end of January and February happenings shortly :)but for now How I Met Your Mother must be watched!