Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia: Hot Springs with Becca and Hunter

Ken's body was made for hot springs and cold water too. He inspired us all to dip in the hot then float down the cold, shallow river, riding the mild current.

Becca put her WHOLE body in that burning hot spring water!
What an adventuress she is.

The kids got their feet in.

In this more conservative Muslim part of Malaysia, the women were fully clothed and covered when bathing. But it was acceptable to sit in the same hot springs pool of water with men there too.

This is the river we floated down, to cool off after the hot springs.
It was bliss, peaceful, fun, safe floating.

February 2, 2011

Interlude: Alice's First Girl Scout Camping Overnite in a Malaysian Jungle

Camping lite: The tents were set up before we arrived and the camping was catered.

Alice's camping troop: They made the girls stand for ridiculously long periods of time in the heat, waiting for instructions and watching flags getting raised. It felt like a cultural difference -- the tough, Asian Dad led this part and liked to make them wait until all their lines were straight and perfectly spaced.

Scouts in Malaysia, and most of the world, is co-ed. There are mostly Chinese-Malaysians in the Malaysian scouts, not Muslim or Indians. These Malaysian scouts helped us the entire overnite, with such enthusiasm, love of scouting, and respect for nature. They were inspiring. They taught us Malaysian scouting songs and arm movements around the campfire.

Raising of the school girl scouts flag.

Girl Malaysian Scouts.

Obstacle Course

Knot making. Alice was a natural.

Kite-making led by the Muslim Malaysian forest ranger.

January 20, 2011

Alice's blog:

All the Girl Scouts in my school went camping overnight in the jungle. The first thing that we did was choose our tent. We could sleep with our troop or sleep with our Mom or Dad. After I was done getting there, I swung on the rope next to a little thing of water. We learned how to tie knots. After that, we made kites and decorated them. At nighttime we did a little skit around the campfire. After that, we ate smores and went to bed. We also went on a long hike. At the end of the hike, we learned how to give people slings on their arms. Then the Malaysian scouts got two sticks of bamboo and slid the bamboo through the shirt arms in order to make a stretcher. A little girl sat on it and we carried her.

When I went to bed, I heard all these noises from the jungle. And, it was very hard to go to sleep. In the morning, I heard the sound of a loud bird. Then we got our kites and drove home in my friend's car.

In memory of Peter.

February 16, 2011

Our brother-in-law, Peter, died last week, after a long, hard fight against cancer. Truly, a fight, a brave and, often, exhausting fight. But, the real truth is that we didn't see the fight up close, we only heard about it. Being on the other side of the world is hard at moments like this, when we were losing Peter.

His entire family, friends, and Scarsdale community came through in support of him and his family. Daily delivery of dinners were organized. Friends taking turns driving him to and from chemotherapy treatments. So many visitors, keeping him both quiet or chatty company in the hospital, depending on what kind of contact he needed in the moment. Jen was amazing, showing me how to be both an effective advocate and incredibly devoted in his care.

And, it was a time for family to be there for him, Jen, and the kids. Lisa, Mary, Harvey, Barbara, and so many more threw themselves into helping them. And, they helped for a long time. We could do pretty much nothing to help, other than offer to listen and send our love and support. I'd try to remind myself that this wasn't about me, it was about Peter and his family, I felt very helpless, though, unable to be there in the same way as everyone else. And, unable to say goodbye to Peter.

The last time we saw him was in the photo above, in Greece, In fact, I think this picture's from his family's glorious stay at a Greek island. Peter showed me how to slow down, take care, and really savor such a special trip and time with my family. I'd be rushing around the house, after a day touristing Greece, and he'd return from his day trip, sit down, and really ask me, with such authentic interest, what our experience was like, really deep in the moment of our conversation together.

Peter, I send you a message in a bottle. You are well-loved and missed.

Kuala Terengganu, Turtle Release

Meg, the Fulbright ecologist extraordinaire, who we visited in Kuala Terengganu

The mysterious abrasion

Terrapin turtle

Locals refuse to hold the turtle, at first

Finally accepted

Men sit at a separate house from the Muslim women.

Muslim women sit separate, but the sexes do mix in their own home.

Turtle race and release!

February 1, 2011

Our friend Meg, the Terengganu turtle researcher, warned us before our visit that we may see NO turtles during our stay. They are the most endangered turtles in the world, these terrapin turtles in this part of Malaysia. Even though we came during nesting season, when the turtles come out of the water to lay eggs riverside, we still might not see any turtles.

But, one day as we lay on the ocean beach, Meg called to say she had 3 turtles! All 7 of us rushed there and found them in a bucket. The Turtle Conservation Centre, where Meg works, pays locals to find wayward turtles and take them to TCC to be tagged, weighed, and checked out, then released. The local beach village kids gathered with us and Meg to see the turtles.

Meg taught us all about the turtles. Click HERE to see some of her teaching. You can't help but love these turtles. They have a permanent smile on their faces and don't really bite. They have a mysterious abrasion on their bottoms, she's not sure where from. They are nearly extinct because their eggs are sold at the local markets. In fact, the eggs are such big business now that Meg discovered that the men who stay up all nite, smoking, waiting for the mom turtles to nest on shore are actually paid a salary by someone in the big city an hour away. She'd previously thought that the egg eating and selling was all loca. Now it's getting bigger, and harder to contain as a result. She offered to buy each egg for the going rate of about $2 per egg. But, she got no calls from them later.

What the turtle egg stealers do is they catch a mom coming to shore to lay an egg, then they put the mom in a shallow hole at their home. They wait til she lays her eggs, then they return her to the river (supposedly) and sell all her eggs at the market. Hence, all the turtle population is dying out with no replacements.

Meg handed us the turtles and we eagerly held them. She offered them to the local kids but we were surprised that the girls refused to hold them, initially. We thought they'd be holding turtles on a daily basis, with the turtles' river as their backyard! After a bit, a couple accepted the turtles. And we all went down to the river to release them...

Alice's blog: I was bringing the turtle down to the river. The turtle legs can kick your hands as you hold them. We were at the river. We let go of the turtles at the same time. The other two turtles got released. But, my turtle didn't know where to go. It went towards a small boat. I had to bring it all the way to the river to make it go into the water. It went into the water. Click HERE to see the turtle release.

Kuala Terengganu, A Hammock Tale

February 1, 2011

Hi Guys! It's Griffin here. I'm here to tell you about a situation where I could have really gotten hurt. Fortunately, I am a monkey. So, there was this hammock tied to a tree between 2 branches. And, there were 3 hammocks below tied to a tree, like a foot above the ground. The hammock in the tree was about 5 meters above the ground!

So, I climbed up the tree and into the hammock. It was super scary but I managed it. The first time I was in, nothing happened. It was very fun being up there. It was like I was the king of the world. I seriously felt like I was in a high throne. Anyway, I got out of the hammock and Alice got in. She about said the exact same thing, she's the queen. And, so, she got out and I wanted a bit more time in so I got in the high hammock. That's when it happened.

The hammock knot loosened around the branch and slipped right out. If I hadn't been a monkey, I would have fallen to the ground. With my instincts, I grabbed onto two branches so fast that I hardly knew how I did it after. And, so I wrapped my legs around the tree and got up. I seriously was scared. Don't armies of red ants who bite live on trees? I got out of that tree fast because I'd already gotten bitten by one on that tree.

Click HERE for a video of us in the hammock in the tree.

Bye, so long, Griffin signing off!

PS Colleen here: We did the hammock swinging while visiting Meg at her Kampung, or little village, by the sea and river, where she lives with a Muslim Malay family, in a completely Muslim Malay part of Malaysia. Some of the kids in these pictures are the children of her host family.

Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia: River Rock Climbing

February 1, 2011

Oh, the kids were so happy to climb the rocks in this river! And, what a clear, crisp beautiful river it was surrounded by jungle, up in the hilly mountainous area, miles from the beach. Kuala Terengganu is about 95% Muslim Malaysian, while the rest of Malaysia is 55%. Every Friday is a big mosque prayer day, with most of the locals having the day off. On Fridays, this river is PACKED with fully clothed women in headscarves and clothed men. This was not a Friday, and we had the entire river to ourselves. What peace.

The kids acted like a team, helping each other over the rocks. Ken was up ahead scouting to make sure it was safe (after Griffin's near-death rapids event, we've gained some healthy precautionary tactics for the children in the jungle now). I pulled up the back, helping Boom over the slippery rocks, dodging any green slippery mildewy rock spots. We went down the middle of the river which was safe, shallow, with no rapids. Click HERE for a video. The kids had such a sense of accomplishment and pride by the end! And, more importantly, they were pooped for the long ride home.

Bram, on the other hand, just starts talking a LOT when he gets tired. In fact, he started nearly talking in tongues. Just created this language that sounded suspiciously like a mockery of Malay. He was deliriously happy sitting in the cool river, talking nonstop, with me and Kenny snuggling in the cold water for a moment, watching the weather change in front of us in seconds -- downpour for 10 seconds, bright sun for 10, cloudy and windy for 5. We were already wet, so we said for Mother Nature to bring on the downpour!

I, on the other hand, was wiped out after the climb and not talking, just spacing out. I started meandering down the river looking for tumble rocks - soft rocks well worn by the river current and rocky bed. All of a sudden I found myself pulled into the current of the part of the river we'd specifically NOT allowed the children to go because it was so strong and turned into rocky rapids. I freaked out because I couldn't get out of the current and screamed for Ken, who, once again, jumped back into the river to the rescue. I got pulled into the start of the rapids and somehow stopped myself on a big rock. I pushed against the current, waiting for Ken, seeing all the rapids and rocks that I would have hit (not deathly blows but they sure would have hurt) up ahead of me. Ken somehow climbed to me without getting sucked in and we struggled to find a way to get me back out without getting sucked into the rapids. Finally, we got out, with both of us breathing fast, hearts pounding, a ripped toenail, but okay.

Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia: Roti Canai on the way to the Beach Village with Becca and Hunter

January 31, 2011:
We are visiting the beach on the east coast of Malaysia with Meg, the Fulbright Student studying the most endangered turtles in the world. Meg is standing up here, speaking in Malay for us, since most people here don't speak English. Our driver, fluent in English, is on the right.

Roti Canai making behind posing cousins.

Roti Canai is fried bread with goodies inside, like eggs, sugar, onions.

The dough.
Click HERE to see how Roti is made.

The cook was from Indonesia -- cheap worker.

So many YUMMY, spicy sauces to dip it in. Only Griffin will dip.

But, the girls are happy to dip their roti in sugar!